Trunk-mount bike rack vs. hitch

The trailer will affect FE of course, but the receiver alone will not.

Practically ALL of the hitches available for the Prius mount the same, and hide away about the same. I bought the Curt 11473 as a replacement for the previous one I bought, which was a Reese, and the Curt seems more sturdily built (I was rear-ended, and the old hitch took the majority of the impact and is bent, so I don't trust it anymore)

I recommend, no matter what you're hauling, to get a hitch tightener, as the rattle from the drawbar rattling in the receiver will drive you mad. Something like this

 

Normally the most discreet hitch is the Torklift Ecohitch. Unfortunately it is also the most pricey:

Torklift Central | Prius - Toyota - EcoHitch - Rear Mounted Receiver Hitches - Trailer Hitches

But I hadn't realized until now that the Gen4 non-plugin is not shown on their product list. Has anyone heard why?

(Disclosure: I have two of these on different cars, and the business is 'sort of' in my neighborhood, regionally speaking.)

 

Mine is a Curt hitch, purchased from etrailer.com. The bike rack is same manufacturer, but I think I purchased from Amazon. I just moved my son and pulled a 1500 pound load over two mountain passes with no issues. I monitored the vitals using an iPhone app (OBD Fusion). No issues. No trouble keeping 70 to 75 MPH at any time.

I installed it myself. A perfect diy project. No special tools or skills needed.

Pulling a load can halve your mpg, but light loads about 10 percent. None of the safety systems were disabled, but I have a plain jane early Two without the sonar radar.

 

So, I'm guessing there is no concern for voiding the warrantee by installing a hitch?

 

Installation and use does not automatically void all or any warranties. Warranty providers must provide a reasonable explanation about how the modification lead to the failure in question, before having legal ability to dishonor the warranty coverage.

 

I'm hoping that's the case as I'd like to install this one: Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class I - 1-1/4" Curt Trailer Hitch C11473

 

dbf, I just purchased that same hitch for my 2016 Prius II with the intent of installing it myself. Have you installed yours yet and did you install it yourself? Any special tools? Was there much trim work involved? How did you do the trimming?
Thank you.

 

I haven't purchased it yet as I'm still on the fence about the warranty.

 

OK. Yesterday I bought and installed onto my 2016 Prius II a Curt Class I hitch with 1 1/4" receiver, part # 11473. Cost was $162 w/tax at Texas Hitch & Truck. Overall it was not a technically challenging job. Having two people would have made it easier. I was working by myself. I was not hurrying and the whole job took me 3 hours from the time I walked into the garage until cleanup was done. I took some notes while I installed it:
No hardware came with the hitch. Installation uses bolts that are already on the car.
The only tools that might be considered unusual: Instructions say to have some "aviation shears". I had some tin snips already, but a utility knife would have worked fine for the little trim work necessary. Also, a torque wrench was specified. I couldn't get my 18" long torque wrench into the space for the top two mounting bolts on each side, so I estimated the amount of force to put on my 8" long 3/8" drive socket wrench that I could fit into that space and basically tightened them down until they wouldn't move anymore. (About 35lbs of force on the end of the 8" wrench.)
I used jack stands to keep back of vehicle raised for easier access.
Since I was alone I used my floor jack to support the hitch and bumper assembly as I installed the mounting bolts. Other than figuring out how to support the assembly during bolt install, the thing that took me the most time was removing the under-body panel fasteners. I was very careful not to break any, and not being too bright I couldn't figure out how those darned twist fasteners work! (You just turn the fastener CCW about 10-15 turns and if it doesn't fall off its metal post on its own, just give it a good tug straight down. The fastener stays attached to the panel it's holding, unlike the other pop-out fasteners.) Figuring those two things out added about 45 minutes to the process.
The only trimming I needed to do was to the center under-panel and the left-rear under-panel (the side opposite my exhaust pipe).
The hitch winds up being very low-profile. I was concerned it might decrease the under-body clearance but it actually sits higher than the muffler. Photos attached. Hope this post helps.