The past two weeks were spent in central Florida getting my mother moved from the small apartment she and my deceased dad lived in for 7 years into an assisted living suite just across the parking lot. That meant dealing with all the "stuff" from over the years. I had to leave the apartment completely empty...which it was other than a roll of TP when I last locked the door and turned in the keys.
Of course, that did mean bringing some stuff north and since the one piece of furniture I chose to keep was a leather recliner that would not fit into the back of my Ascent, I had to rent a small trailer from the nice folks at UHaul. It was a good tradeoff...a leather recliner that probably cost a bundle when new that I can use for my late night reading vs $105 for the trailer rental and a little more fuel.
That brings me to the experience. Yes, this was not a large trailer...4x8 and no taller than the Ascent...so wind resistance was lower than many types of box trailers. The empty weight was 850 lbs and I probably had about another 800 lbs of boxes and said chair in it. Towing was nearly effortless, very stable and other than some minor noise when I hit a bump, it was hardly evident the thing was "back there". (I did have the sense for the entire trip that someone was tailgating me...LOL)
I was also happy with the fuel economy. Going down, I managed 28.1 mpg (measured) which was a slightly better than my first trip a month ago. Coming home with the trailer, I got an impressive 22.8 mpg (measured) at a steady 65 mph with very occasional passing at a few MPH higher. RPM towing at cruising speed tended to hover at about 2K while towing which was a couple hundred RPM higher than cruising without the trailer...accounting for some of the fuel use difference. I guess the computers matched that RPM and CVT ratio for optimum with the extra load. For the two slow-downs on I-95 I experienced, the Eyesight ACC was great and made things less tedious by managing movement, even at 1 mph and when there was a complete stop, the "hold" feature kicked in with just a tap on the skinny pedal to tell the Ascent to start moving agin. Steering actually seemed tighter while towing, but that could have been my imagination.
That brings me to the experience. Yes, this was not a large trailer...4x8 and no taller than the Ascent...so wind resistance was lower than many types of box trailers. The empty weight was 850 lbs and I probably had about another 800 lbs of boxes and said chair in it. Towing was nearly effortless, very stable and other than some minor noise when I hit a bump, it was hardly evident the thing was "back there". (I did have the sense for the entire trip that someone was tailgating me...LOL)
I was also happy with the fuel economy. Going down, I managed 28.1 mpg (measured) which was a slightly better than my first trip a month ago. Coming home with the trailer, I got an impressive 22.8 mpg (measured) at a steady 65 mph with very occasional passing at a few MPH higher. RPM towing at cruising speed tended to hover at about 2K while towing which was a couple hundred RPM higher than cruising without the trailer...accounting for some of the fuel use difference. I guess the computers matched that RPM and CVT ratio for optimum with the extra load. For the two slow-downs on I-95 I experienced, the Eyesight ACC was great and made things less tedious by managing movement, even at 1 mph and when there was a complete stop, the "hold" feature kicked in with just a tap on the skinny pedal to tell the Ascent to start moving agin. Steering actually seemed tighter while towing, but that could have been my imagination.