How well suited is Toyota prius for a long drive , with a U haul trailer attached on its hiny..?

Lets look at the towing capability of the entire Toyota line up (as an example)
Yaris 0
Corolla 1500 pounds
Matrix 0
Camry 0
Prius 0
Avalon 0
Sienna optional 3500 pound Towing Prep package.
Tacoma 3500 pounds
Tundra 8100 pounds
Rav4 1500 pounds, optional 3500 pound Towing Prep package for V6 only
Venza 1000 pounds, optional 2500 pound Towing Prep package for I4 only, optional 3500 pound Towing Prep package for V6 only
Highlander 1500 pounds, optional 3500 pound Towing Prep package for I4 only, optional 5000 pound Towing Prep package for V6 only
Highlander Hybrid 1500 pounds, optional 3500 pound Towing Prep package
FJ Cruiser 5000 pounds
4Runner 5000 pounds
Sequoia 6900 pounds
Land Cruiser 8200 pounds

The Prius tows pretty much the same as the other Toyota cars
The Hybrid Highlander tows pretty much the same as the other 4 cylinder SUVs. (better than some)
But each gets about 30% better city mileage as the 'other' Toyotas with the same towing capabilities.

I would suggest you find the group of vehicles rated to tow the weight you want to tow, THEN rate them by MPG. I bet a hybrid rises to the top of each comparison.

The dream that you will find a SUV or full sized pickup with 50 MPG is a dream, but trying to tow more than your car can cope with is likely to be a nightmare.

 

You sure about some of those figures? HowStuffWorks "Toyota Towing Capacity Chart" lists they non-hybrid Camry and Avalon at 1000 lbs. Many non-hybrid unibody passenger cars have at least 1000 lb. towing capacities.

I would steer FAR away from the Saturn Vue Hybrid. Not only is the brand dead, see http://priuschat.com/forums/gm-hybrids/84014-yet-another-gm-mild-hybrid-recall-malibu-aura-vue.html and Another battery recall? - Page 2 - SaturnFans Forums. Yep, only the BAS hybrid was sold. The two-mode was built but none ever made it to market.

 

I see at least one hybrid option with towing: The Ford Escape hybrid apparently has an available towing package that handles up to 3,500 pounds. This is a better, full hybrid, similar technology to the Prius (not the "mild" hybrids some carmakers are selling as hybrid). Due to the size it doesn't match the Prius mileage, but it looks like it should average around 32. I know someone who has an Escape hybrid, and they seem satisfied with it (I'm not aware of them using it for towing, though).

See 2011 Ford Escape | View Towing Specifications | Ford.com

 

For some further data points, here are are some results from Consumer Reports mileage testing.
Most fuel-efficient SUVs
Most fuel-efficient cars
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...-fuel-economy/best-and-worst-fuel-economy.htm

I don't know what engine and transmission were on the OP's Rendezvous but (for comparison) on CR's testing of an 02 Rendezvous CXL AWD w/3.4L V6 and 4 speed auto, they got 11 city/24 highway, 16 mpg overall and 21 mpg on a 150-mile trip. It looks like model year 07 was its last but there were many engine choices.

 

There are a number of factors that go into a tow rating. They include weight, handling, wear on the car, braking capacity, tire capacity, market positioning, transmission heating, legal history, and probably another dozen considerations that I haven't mentioned.

An issue with hybrids, and the Prius in particular, is that the gas engine is much lower power than in similar sized conventional cars. As long as there is enough charge in the traction battery, the electric motors provide additional power in order to match the performance of conventional cars.

The Corolla and the Prius have similar total power available. So if a Corolla can pull 1500 pounds, then so can a Prius. The handling, braking, tires, etc. are also similar.

The difference is that a long uphill pull could exhaust the traction battery on a Prius. Rather than explain this limitation, my take is that Toyota chose to simply rate the Prius for zero towing.

The answer to whether or not you would ever be in that situation is determined by how long an uphill pull you need to do, and at what speed. There have been reports that Gen2s have exhausted the traction battery heading west into Colorado. When it happens, you're running on the gas engine only, probably over in the right lane with the fully loaded trucks.

I've pulled a 560 pound travel trailer about 1000 miles and never even got close to draining the battery. So my guess is that a 1000 pound trailer would work with a Gen2. Since the Gen3 has more power, it could probably pull a bit more. 1500 pounds seems to me to be a real chore - possible but on the ragged edge.

Anything over 1000 pounds really needs electric brakes on the trailer. I've considered them for my 560 pounder, but just haven't gotten around to it.

As for a U-Haul, those suckers are heavy. You might consider a Harbor Freight foldable 4x8 trailer like I use. See http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...iscussion/88330-towing-tear-drop-trailer.html for a picture of my trailer and further discussion on trailer pulling. Basically, I can confirm that it is practical to tow 600 pounds, probably 1000 pounds, and no way would I consider 2500 pounds.

 

I've brought up some other considerations at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...missio-cooler-towing-question.html#post857891.

As for exhausting the traction battery, I've driven my Gen 2 Prius between San Jose, CA and the Los Angeles area as well as between SJ and Vegas before. I know that on SJ <-> LA trips I have pretty much exhausted the traction battery on uphill highway stretches w/no trailer and just myself in the car. I had no ScanGauge yet (to monitor state of charge %) but IIRC, MFD was showing 1-2 bars and the car was noticeably more sluggish going uphill w/the low SOC.

The sections that stand out in my mind were the Grapevine area and I believe the hilly stretch of highway 152 between 101 and I-5.

The recommended tow rating for the Prius is 0 lbs. I'd be wary about towing anything more than a couple hundred pounds for a long distance, esp. if you care about your warranty given the 0 tow rating.

If you plan to tow, get something w/a non-zero tow rating.

 

No. I just looked up each vehicle on toyota.com and checked capability under Specs. Many Toyota models may have a tow rating someone at Toyota forgot to document.

 

The Grapevine definitely sounds like a challenge. My gut feel is that 152 would be ok. LA to Las Vegas has a long uphill just out of Barstow that would be a problem. I've had no problem on 101 between Santa Barbara and Eureka.

Even if the traction battery gets depleted, it's not the end of the world. It's just time to get in line with the slow trucks for a few miles.

If I were writing policy for Toyota, I'd probably rate the Prius as a zero-tow vehicle. That's a lot easier than taking flack for saying that it could tow 1000 pounds when you'd get stuck in the line of trucks up the grapevine. But I'm not Toyota, and I've found that the car is adequate for my needs. Towing a 560 pound trailer to the places that I want to go works. If I lived in Bakersfield and regularly traveled the grapevine to LA, then that probably wouldn't work. Traveling 101 along the coast several times a year works fine.

 

To add to (and repeat) some of the conditions I stated at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...missio-cooler-towing-question.html#post857891, I thought of some more.

Think about the forces on the body of the car, tires (each of them has a max weight limit), wheels, suspension, axles, steering components and ABS and stability control calibration in cases like these esp. when a combination of factors are at play:
- load in trailer shifting or sliding around
- car already loaded to max load capacity (~825 lbs.) in addition to towing a trailer
- possibly also with a shifting load, making sudden sharp braking or sharp turns (e.g. swerving left to right then back to left) to avoid an accident
- having the car or trailer hit a go over a curb while rounding a corner
- goes over a series of big dips or bumps (the jolts are going to progress sequentially over each set of wheels)
- going up and down steep grades while doing the above or braking (imagine braking at high speed, going down a steep grade and suddenly having to make a sharp right and back left)

Not directly related to towing but the Saturn Vue had suspensions collapse when performing a fishhook maneuver (Saturn VUE under Investigation for Suspension Problems). This resulted in a recall. The above vehicles weren't towing anything so they didn't have the additional forces and stress that a loaded trailer would impose.

Some of these are not one time events over a long drive. One must consider a lot more than just straight and level driving.

 

I do suspect Gen III is better... I haven't driven extremely long uphills like crossing the Rockies in mine, but I do drive a couple of steep, longish hills (over a mile), and though the engine sounds like it's working hard, I've actually seen the hybrid system indicator show charge being added to the battery while climbing these steep hills (and no bars are lost off the charge state by the time I reach the top).

So, the Prius might be able to handle a moderate size trailer, but since it's not recommended, and we've listed a multitude of possible reasons why it shouldn't be done, it's probably safest to not advise anyone to try. In addition, since it's not supposed to tow, it might be hard to find a hitch that would fit properly or is made specifically to fit this car (all the plastic covering the underbody won't help either with fitting a hitch).

If you buy a vehicle with a towing package, you may be getting all sorts of things... heavy duty cooling, stiffer springs, bigger brakes, etc., in addition to the hitch.