Yet another trailer question

I tow a flow 5x8 trailer almost daily to and from home Depot I'm in the middle of building a dwelling there is no way in the world a U-Haul 4x8 trailer sounded horrible behind my one mzfev6 sienna van which runs beautifully has a beautiful receiver has the hitch quieter thing on the back of it it is set up to tow and I'm going to tell you the 4x8 trailer that I used from U-Haul one time for 40 minutes was an absolute disaster it sounded horrible it made the back end of my van sound bad I thought the trailer was going to come undone from the vehicle it was not bad trailer bearings none of that that trailer picking it up sticking it on my ball brought the car to its knees not really but you could tell picking the thing the U-Haul trailer up 80 lb at the hitch at the receiver at the at where I'm picking it up at my little flow five by eight is about 25 lbs if that so I would urge you to get a lightweight trailer borrow somebody's harbor freight in Northern hydraulics on their website sell some pretty light ones my 5x8 I believe it's 300 lb or just shy of it it's made by f l o e you should check them out Middle America company came in a box in the back of a freight truck

 

4x8 is their smallest covered trailer... 850 lb empty.
We pulled one with several furniture pieces from CO to WA, over 1000 miles. Probably less than your 1500 lb. I installed a prius-specific tow bar.

Challenges:
* Ensure the tongue weight is appropriate. You don't have a lot of wiggle room (do not overload, yet make sure there is enough downward pressure!)
* We were going west on i80 in Wyoming, into a 50mph headwind. Headwind meant low gas mileage (20!)
* The worst bit: not enough power going up long grades. It drained the HV battery, so we were only going 45-55 at the top.
* I hope you have experience pulling trailers. The usual caveats apply:

- Don't go too fast. You have less control.
- Verify tire pressure! And axles are OK. May want to consider a cheap remote thermometer... ensure axle not heating up.

Why? Just last week we were on an interstate and watched in horror as a trailer had a tire/wheel blowout. It literally exploded, spewing wheel / tire / fender parts all over. Amazingly no cars were hit and the large pickup pulling it was able to wrestle to the shoulder...
... but I have seen smaller tow cars flip when their trailer went over. Not fun.

We didn't want to hurt any components so drove gently.

I can tell you our poor little Prius danced for joy when we took the trailer off

I would only do it again if truly necessary.

 

Brakes and suspension are far undersized for towing

 

I'll go as far as pulling an 800lb (loaded) trailer ~10 miles across town on secondary roads with nothing/nobody else in the car.

I wouldn't try anything like what you're talking about.

 

Just to clarify: my rationale is that the car is built to safely stop roughly a 1000lb payload. So I keep the total weight of driver, passengers, trailer & ALL cargo to under 1000lb.

 

Here's a possible surprise for us all: starting with the 2016 Gen4, UK Prius officially supports a towbar!
Toyota sells the towbar and wiring harness.

The all-important capacity question: 725 kg == 1598 lb.

They do NOT sell this for the USA market. I have no idea if there's anything actually different about Gen4 or about the UK version. It seems most likely to be marketing to me.
Found this:

"With a maximum towing capacity of 725 kg (1,598 lbs), the new-gen Prius has been engineered to tow a trailer or light caravan, for the first time in its 19-year history.​

Its new ability has been made possible thanks to heat management measures introduced in its main electric motor-generator and differential. This, Toyota hopes, will endear the popular hybrid with its extended practicality to appeal to a wider range of customers. with its extended practicality to appeal to a wider range of customers."​

(NOTE that there is a huge difference between in-car load vs towed-load capacity. The struts/shocks/etc are not loaded down by a trailer.

 

True as far as it goes, but then the struts/shocks really are about as far as that goes. Everything else (the powertrain, the brakes) becomes responsible for the full added mass of the trailer and cargo. The powertrain has the easier job, as it's pulling, so all it feels is the extra load.

The brakes feel the extra mass, and that mass is pushing from behind on a pivot-y ball hitch well behind the center of mass of the car.

 

Keep in mind that when you tow in the UK, you are required to operate at lower speeds than regular cars. Also there's considerably more speed enforcement in place.

What works at a tightly-regulated 50mph on an English motorway might not work as well at "75-ish" on an American interstate.

 

What are the towing capacities of the latest Toyota models? - Toyota UK Magazine

 

I towed 1600 lbs on a 2010 Gen 3 (103k) 1300miles 75 deg F and got 23 mpg at 55-60 mph. On the return trip same temps but 65-70 mph and got 30-33 mpg with the exact same load. The first trip out there I had 50-60 mph winds I battled. The terrain was mostly flat both ways. I used POWERMODE to start up from a stop each time then flipped to Eco. I used a drawtite 1 1/4 " with 2" ball and safety chains and less than 200#lbs tongue weight. The rear suspension was enhanced with Firestone Coil-rite airbags (easy to install) at 30 -35 lbs inflation. The ball height was 16-17 inches. My trailer weighs 450 -600lbs and the Can am spyder 1000lbs.