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.
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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.
