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Things you cant do with a Prius

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 10:47 am
by marktime
I feel it's good to own up to your weaknesses before someonelse points them out. There have been instances of Prius buyers not finding out until after the cheque is cashed that you can't tow with it.

I imagine that the original design brief for the developers had a few comprimises in it and if you consider the 1.5 engine in a car where you might expect to see an 1.8 or 2.0 litre engine you can see how towing might be an issue.

For this reason you wont find a 'type aproved' towbar and this can be a problem if you want to use a towbar mounted load carrier. The folks on the Prius forum know of a source for an apropriate towbar assembly.

That said the Prius has no problem carrying loads, the boot/ hatch is a good size and the rear seats fold down and there is a false floor to the boot with a suitcased sized compartment underneath.

It will also take a roof rack and I am able to fit 4 bikes mounted vertically on the roof without a problem but this does muck up the aerodynamics a lot and it clobers the MPG.


MarkTime

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 1:33 pm
by aminorjourney
I can't get our Prius between bollards or park it completely on the pavement in an emergency like I can with the Cityel! :)

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:16 pm
by marktime
Well, this has become a very long list :D :lol:

Mark

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:48 pm
by qdos
You can't tow with a Ford Ka either. It's got nothing to do with the engine size or power these days it's to do with bureaucracy. Nowadays 'they' have decided that a manufacturer needs to get a kind of type approval for towing and obviously car manufacturers really can't be bothered to go to the expense for a handful of people who might or might not buy one of their cars, so you will see fewer and fewer cars 'approved' to tow anything with. Basically you'll be left with the big SUVs and perhaps the odd Volvo although I wouldn't be surprised that the Ford Focus may get certified given it's popularity.

Who else has seen a trailer attached to a motorbike? I saw one the other week and there's also the ones for push bikes which my next door neighbour has too.

Towing

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:56 am
by retepsnikrep
Can't tow with my Honda Insight either.

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:23 am
by ChrisB
Can I play to with the cant tow bit ??

Cant tow with a Berlingo EV either as the rear battery is in the way of the towing bracket.

ChrisB