Owning a Prius is like being a turtle, you get to take your home with you wherever you go. It’s not a very large home, so hopefully you have a bigger one at the end of the day, but in a pinch, it’s fabulous and comfortable compared to the alternatives. You can fit a twin size mattress in it, or even a full size futon if you trim the area where the wheel wells are located. You can sleep in freezing weather or 100 degree desert heat, and spend less than half a gallon of gas to keep you warm or cool all night. That beats paying 50 bucks a night for a dingy motel room with questionable hygiene any day!
A Prius also makes a great moving truck, all you need to do is install a hitch and rent a trailer. For a one-time expense of about 300 dollars, you get the advantage of using your car like a big truck any time you like, and instead of getting 15 miles to the gallon on a regular basis, you’re getting 25 miles to the gallon towing 1000 pounds cross country, or 45 miles per gallon when you’re helping your friend move their mattress in the back of your car.
Of course there are limitations. You can only tow about 2000 lbs max, and breaking can be a challenge on slippery surfaces when you’ve got a lot of weight. But for those of us who don’t have many possessions or are willing to pare down our belongings, the Prius gives us the flexibility to move a decent amount of stuff when needed, with the smallest cost possible.
As trailers become lighter, the Prius has even become an option for people who want to live out of small teardrop trailers or converted cargo trailers. There are modifications you can make to make your towing safer, and modifications that will turn your car into a powerful generator, capable of powering your entire house in an emergency for days.
The more I look, the more I find amazing hacks that people have done to make their Prius more useful than ever, and you aren’t limited to what Prius owners before you have managed. A little research on YouTube and sites like etrailer.com yields ideas on trailer builds, inverter hacks, solar hookups and more. These are topics that I’ll keep exploring and posting about in the near future. Stay tuned!
Tiny Prius Travel 