Prius towing a travel trailer? Yes.

Road Ruler wrote:

skipro3 wrote:

Toyota Prius is a lot bigger than I thought.
Checking around on the internet and there are other photos of Prius towing;

The Prius is doing what the Explorers could not...(tow a uhaul) LOL

Here is another...

Love the Scamp. Always wanted to get one to tow behind my 2000 Trans Am WS6. With its big brakes (and trailer brakes of course) and 420 RWHP the scamp should tow easy. It would be nice to have the Trans Am in some of the spots we camp. I could take the T-tops out and go for a nice ride!

Deleted...Wanted to quote someone else!

45Ricochet wrote:
LOL Mike
Someone gave you "their" best apology which was really a backhanded slap. Typical since he has never been wrong before. Being called a liar is,well typical from some folks behind a keyboard. Pretty sure they wouldn't say it to your face :W I pity his 71 year old DW.
It's really sad getting old and losing one's mental capacity. He sounds like a FIL of mine before he passed, One big Know-It-All who nobody liked.

Get the Yugo pic next time as I hear they are legal also in your state :B

The name was purposely left blank for forum rules and guesses from those in attendance.
I got to run back to work now, selling Chebies :E

Yugo!!! Awesome!! I spit my beer all over the keyboard.

Hey I was on Submarines for a lot of years so I am thick skinned. Don't let anyone on the boat know what your button is because it will get pushed!

Now I work for the Navy now as an Engineering tech. I spend my days with Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, pouring over prints and using CAD to determine the best way to fix things with current parts and materials. I appreciate their dedication and they appreciate my experience. We all work well together.

When it comes to Submarines...We like to be very accurate. Not sure why :). But we all makes mistakes. We own up to them quickly and move on because it is safety of ship, equipment and most importantly PEOPLE.

At any rate this is the most replies I have gotten on an internet thread ever...I love it! I may go take a picture of my 20HP riding lawn mower hooked up to my 32 foot trailer and let the fun begin.

I do like this board because I like Camping, RVs and anything with a powertrain.

skipro3 wrote:

Toyota Prius is a lot bigger than I thought.
Checking around on the internet and there are other photos of Prius towing;

The Prius is doing what the Explorers could not...(tow a uhaul) LOL

Here is another...

LOL Mike
Someone gave you "their" best apology which was really a backhanded slap. Typical since he has never been wrong before. Being called a liar is,well typical from some folks behind a keyboard. Pretty sure they wouldn't say it to your face :W I pity his 71 year old DW.
It's really sad getting old and losing one's mental capacity. He sounds like a FIL of mine before he passed, One big Know-It-All who nobody liked.

Get the Yugo pic next time as I hear they are legal also in your state :B

The name was purposely left blank for forum rules and guesses from those in attendance.
I got to run back to work now, selling Chebies :E

Thanks for the new pic of the Prius/trailer combo. It explains a lot that was not obvious in the OP's pic. Yes, I agree with the OP that the trailer IS sitting on a non WD hitch on the Prius, however, both pics posted explain a lot as what it's all about. The pic IS an optical illusion and likely staged as a person viewing only see's one side at a time.

The setup is an advertisement for Prius as is clearly evident on the non as OEM built Prius. Both pics show the narrow Prius parallel to the lines on the pavement while the 2-3 foot wider trailer is canted on an angle. Not normal to be towing like that! There's a reason for it to be this way! If it were pulled in as normal for fuel etc the trailer wheels would be over the yellow line on the pavement on both pics. Why? The Prius rear wheel width is 60 inches and the trailer wheel width is 80" to 90" or 10" to 15" per side wider.

Very evident in the OP's pic as the Prius is nearly an exact side view while the trailer front is at a 29 degree angle and should be at a 6 degree max angle which I didn't account for in my CAD overlay rendering because I failed to recognize the angular illusion created by the staged parking. That was my fault.

The trailer in the pic is about a 15' to 16' long box with approx 3 for the hitch making it about 18' plus total length. I looked up the 50's thru the 70's single axle trailers and they are all over 3000 lb weight in weight which requires a very min of 300 lbs hitch weight at 10%. Even a totally stripped out with no propane in the tank shown is still well over 2000 lbs.

I am posting the Prius specs below and the link.

Add approx 200 lbs for the driver with no passengers and no other cargo. the hitch weight, 12 gal of gas, and over 200+ or 300 lbs of weight on the ball and you are at or over the Prius GVWR. So, I went down to our Walmart and there was a bright blue Prius in the lot the same 4 door model as the OP's pic and I parked behind it. Got out with a tape measure and measured the rear bumper height from the ground and then put just my 210 lbs on the bumper and measured it again. Hmmm, 3-1/8" drop! The Prius in the pics doesn't drop a bit! Sure is not an OEM setup and what else isn't OEM on the staged advertisement Prius?

Survivors of Titanic said ship broke in half while sinking.
Engineers said not possible.
Glad this didn't take as long to resolve.

And yes, I respect engineers, but sometimes........

I think that hitch must be to tow it to a charger when it runs out.

ls1mike wrote:
The tongue jack is not behind him. It was that close to car. Call me a liar if you will, which is what you are doing but I saw it with my own two eyes. It is hooked up to the Prius.

This is clear as I can get it.


Clearly this dude is standing between the two. There is noting else in front of the trailer.

If that man is 6' tall, then that Toyota is also at least 6' tall. The rear deck is higher than his elbow.

Toyota Prius is a lot bigger than I thought.

I'd also would guess the inside of that trailer has been gutted to cut weight and the tongue weight is near zero.

****EDIT****

I see e-trailer sells a hitch for the Prius



****MORE EDIT****
Checking around on the internet and there are other photos of Prius towing;

ripperoo wrote:

ls1mike wrote:
STAGED? SERIOUSLY? At at Costco in Silverdale Washington at two seperate spots in the Parking lot by two different people who posted on two diffrent boards?
I did not mention a WD hitch anywhere. I just said it was not sagging.


Maybe the guy works for Toyota? Who knows? Maybe he did upgrade the suspension. Who knows? All I saw was this dude waiting in the gas line with his Prius and Trialer so he could get gas. I was pretty amazed as you just don't see that everyday.

Maybe he has airbags on the Prius, or the trailer is loaded tail heavy. Both would reduce sag.

I thought maybe tail heavy too. I imagine, from my experience towing, that would make it porpoise a bit more.

Glad to see this come to resolution (although it had been in my mind from the minute the OP posted his observation). It's maddening that folks that can't be tolerated in real life have a platform on the internet.