You CAN tow a trailer with a Prius

it started with the grand concept of a coast-to-coast-to-coast trip by my wife and me, with our two dogs.

rental car? too expensive, too small. rental camper? too much gas. mobile home? ditto on all cost levels.

how about the Prius? not quite enough room for enough luggage, but the gas mileage savings would pay for hotels and meals alone, over a medium sized RV.

how about a trailer?

nah, they say it can't be done. why not? run some numbers. hitch weight: adjustable: under 50 pounds, easy; = no problem for the rear suspension. gross weight? maybe 350-500 pounds. about the same a four large people, their luggage, and a six-pack or two. let's see if it'll work.

search for trailers. find a nice 15 cu ft motorcycle trailer for a nice price on eBay. removed from bidding. i would have gone to $500.

find a nice 25 cu ft trailer, but it's a kit. $1300 or so, but so much bigger. ok, let's do it.

first, get the coastal-tech hitch. have it modified for safety chains. start assembling trailer. learn lots about assembling small trailers.

test run from cupertino to san francisco airport and back. trip mpg about 36, down from normal 40-41. quite acceptable.

test run from cupertino to truckee, CA and back. two dogs, luggage, and a spare 50 pound weight i had lying around. maintains 65 mph up all hills, both up the west side and up the east side of the sierra nevada. this looks promising.

plan the coast-to-coast-to-coast trip. load up the trailer, sans 50 pound weight, but include more luggage, tools, 2-gallon spare gas tank, extra dog food, water, etc.

will it climb pacheco pass? yup. no problem. will it climb the Grapevine? yep, passed trucks all the way up.

the story, so far, is on my website, with relevant links at
http://www.plusaf.com/coast/coast1.htm and
http://www.plusaf.com/prius/prius.htm for info on some other mods.


bottom line: average mpgs without trailer: 41.56. (for about 4000 miles)
average mpgs with trailer: 35.66 (for about 4000 miles, so far.)

handling: at virtually all speeds, you don't know it's there unless you check the rear-view mirror.

visibility? the top of the trailer comes about to the split in the rear windows, so you don't see anything but trailer out the bottom, and you see just over the top out the upper hatch window. no problem.

so, one experiment is worth ten thousand expert opinions, as my dad never said....

you can ponder it all you want, but i've done it. 4000 miles so far, and even ran out of gas once, and discovered a wonderful benefit of the hybrid... you can not only pull off the road, you can drive to a safe place on the shoulder to refuel! try that with your plain old IC engine car!

see the travel blog for details.


so, y'all can debate yourselves blue in the face, but i'm doing it, and so far, so good.

the return trip will include colorado and horsetooth reservoir, above fort collins, and across utah and nevada to the full eastern slope of the sierra nevada, again (with a stop back in truckee, of course.) note, also that taking I80 north of colorado to the west will involve passing the Bonneville Salt Flats.......

if anything breaks, i'll fess up to it, but after 4000 uneventful miles, other than some teeming rain along the Gulf coast, and missing the tropical storm through Tallahassee by a week, it's been smooth sailing.

ok, now back to your debates as to whether it's possible or not.

 

how do you like driving the 400h?