I see where you say you don't want to drive a "truck" but I pulled my Jayco X17C with a 2012 Nissan Frontier with no problems. It's smaller and drives more like a car. As far as the weight of the ends, they are not heavy...just a bit cumbersome. As someone stated above, making sure the canvas is tucked in seems to be the hardest part. I tend to get in a hurry when folding the ends up and have to hold the bunk about half-way closed while tucking in the canvas. There are probably work arounds that could help you with this.