trailer is attached to my vibe via a trailer hitch i picked up at etrailer.com. hooked right up to my vibe with two bolts. ran about $150'ish.
this one uses an inch and quarter reciever - believe the bigger sized ones are for trucks/suv's.
the thule N1205 with the optional double aluminum side rails.
size is 4 foot wide, 7 foot long, 14 inches high. mine has the double rails, so it is 28 inches high. then throw on the clamshell top - adds probably another 6-8 inches at least.
weight is around 285 pounds with nothing in it, the max you can put in it is around 1400 pounds.
vibe's towing capacity is something like 1500 pounds - but don't quote me on that. look at your car manual.
also needed to get a ball hitch for it - think it was a 2 inch. double check that, i don't remember if it was 2 inch or 2 1/4.
would HIGHLY suggest getting a wiring harness - etrailer carries them. use the harness and you don't have to figure out the brake/turn signal wires. otherwise, watch your father try to figure it out for 3 hours. ran around $40.
as far as driving goes, can't really tell your even pulling anything. car handled same as if it wasn't on, but with the other rails on it, the trialer blocks your view in the rear view mirror.
also, if you are thinking that your local THULE dealer/bike shop can get you this trailer, you may be disappointed. THULE cargo split off from the bike carrier side a few years ago - so forget your pro deals bike geeks as this bike geek tried the same thing.
gas took a little hit - think my dad said it was averaging around 25 to 27 miles to gallon with it fully loaded and two bikes on the top racks. much better then the 10-12 of my sisters SUV.
rough figures, at 650 miles at $4/gallon gas:
sisters SUV one way cost: $260
vibe with trailer cost: $100
so, roughly speaking again - it will pay for itself travel wise in less then 10 trips.
worth it - definetely. fits in my garage with both our cars - that way it will last longer and i can keep it about 1/2 way packed up. may even end up using it during cross season.
sologoat out
4 comments:
That's pretty sweet; thanks for sharing! I'm suprised that you say you can't tell anything is back there. When I have 3 bikes on the Thelma rack on my Vibe, I can tell the weight is on the back when going over any bumps or dips in the pavement. I'm so glad I got the Vibe; I've averaged about 35mpg for all of my driving over 9,000 miles.
I might look around and see how much a trailer rental would be from U-haul. Also, what kind of roof rack are you using? Did you get the rails for the roof rack from Pontiac?
-gb
rack - i'm using thule bars/mounts with rockymounts trays. had them on my old subaru outback and they work fine.
didn't get the rails from pontiac as they were pretty pricey and didn't come with the car.
but - my wife has an older vibe and the rails came on the car installed. rockymounts actually has trays that will hook up to the pontiac rails.
but - you need to run them with the bikes pointed backwards as the tray sticks out and will hit the back of the hatch when you lift it.
Looks like I may be interested in getting one of these. I'm going to be a tester for the new Mini Cooper Clubman hidden receiver hitch....I'll let you know when I have it and I'd like to check out your trailer.
Live from Louisville! Good Luck in your race.
Rick
Dear Solo - you said normal thule sources don't readily, if at all, sell these however you did not say where the heck you got yours or ideas on that. googling returns less info than I expected. I did get to see one of these in person at "Rack-n-Road
in Seattle but that was 2 years ago and I never thought I'd need one. Now I have an Audi S4 wagon that this would be perfect behind. I already have a custom 2" hitch rated to 3500 lbs and wiring plugs installed.
How water tight is it so far?
Thanks! ;)
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