Prius c towing

i don't own a c or a ski, but i wouldn't tow 800 lbs with my prius, that seems like a lot.

some of it depends on the route, speed, hills, temp and etc.

i'm not against towing, but i think you need to be cautious. hopefully someone who owns a c and has pulled 800 lbs out of the water can advise you.

how much you want for the tesla?

 

If that's an 800lb ski and a sub-200lb trailer and you're pulling it across flat ground a few miles to the lake? I wouldn't worry at all.

While i have not launched or recovered boats with my Prius, I'd be pretty confident. Electric torque is no joke, and a Prius gives you plenty and very good control over it.

As for ordinary towing, I have towed about 1000lbs with our c, and it was completely fine for short and flat journeys with no passengers or in-car cargo. I did have to do one start from a traffic light on a steep grade and it pulled just fine.

 

From Toyota's own stable, the RAV4 (hybrid or prime) would address this need squarely. It's properly built for what you're describing, give it a look.

You could also consider the Prius for those short local runs, then rent a pickup for the long distance stuff. U-haul will rent them ready for tow duty. You'll burn a pile of fuel on those runs by comparison but the point is that it's occasional.

Good luck!

 

Having had 4 C's in my family, I do not think this will be a good match for you.
I share your concerns.

You might get by IF you can resist the temptation to tow on the highway AND the ramps you use are not steep.

I wonder what a dealership will tell you if you ask them about installing a hitch for this purpose ?

 

Who ?
A quote would be helpful.
I didn't see anybody "offering" anything.

 

try to follow along sam

 

Someone has done it. Here's a pic from a customer this poster had. You could read that whole thread. Personally, I wouldn't on the highway for sure since I don't know if the braking system would be up to operating safely to stop vehicle and trailer at those speeds. I'd also be concerned about bottoming out on steeper driveway intersections given already low ground clearance. You could mod the rear suspension to help with that I suppose or somehow make sure the tongue weight was low.

 

Prius C curb weight: 2500#
----
Jet ski: 800#
Trailer: 200-300#

I think that pulling the trailer forward on a road should not be a problem...HOWEVER (comma!) that ain't TOWING.

When you tow something, you also have to do worry about turning and stopping....because......Sir Isaac Newton doesn't really have much of a sense of humor about these things.
His pal, Charles Robert Darwin sometimes gets to play too.

 

I'm pretty confident it would work fine. I do a lot of towing.

 

I think there is only a Class 1 trailer hitch for the Prius C (I could only find one for my 2015 C 2). The Class 1 trailer hitch has a tongue weight limit of 1000 lbs.. My C has a weight limit of 800 lbs (even though occupants are inside the car, it is still towing those passengers). The engine could easily pull the weight; however, the rest of the car from the transmission/transaxle, brakes, suspension, etc, is not made for weights higher than 800 lb...

 

I tow a jetski and the C did well. I would say 1000 lbs total with and drove 1000s miles. Use a scan gauge to watch temps.

I have the Firestone air bag that sits inside the rear springs. I would get it with any towing to level out and for the tongue weight.

I use Triton trailer which is aluminum for wight savings.

Always run the AC down so that it feeds the battery intake with cool air.

I run Redline oil in the engine and transaxle. It handles higher temps better. When climbing hills in 100+f and no trailer I have seen MG2 temps hit 250s but towing I have seen 270s. I see the temps go on on the down hills. The reason is the C transaxle has air cooled and oil cooled. If your off throttle down hill, the pump is not turning as much. The B mode helps turn the pump and slow you down the hills.

The eco hitch is very well made and mounts to 4 points.

The other upgrade I wanted to do is the rear disk brake conversion and possible electric brake for the trailer is another option. I have done hard stops and it did stop very fast. I'm sure the regen brakes helped but these 2 options would really help.

Oh and always make sure the fan and AC are on for the battery temps to stay down which you can monitor with the scangauge. Also I run the battery fan at speed 6 all summer which you can do with the scanguage . I only have 118k miles on my C and the Dr. Prius shows 94% battery life left. I'll be doing a prolong battery restore on it next year and see how far I can go with the OEM battery and once it dies, go to the nextgen lithium battery.