New York to Oregon, relocation

I'm sorry, but both of your towing options would require you to significant overtow the weight limits of your car. The 1st option would actually have you towing a load that is heavier than your car and would make it quite literally impossible to control. You would be a missile coming down even the slightest of incline, much less the roads you'll have to cross getting through the rockies. Please, do not under any circumstances consider that as an option.

Your second option is not much better, as the empty trailer is already at or near your maximum towing capacity, and it doesn't take hardly anything to put 200 pounds in the trailer. In fact, if you are looking at a trailer to pull just 200-300 lbs of stuff, then it would be vastly more economical to ship that stuff, be it with uship or even with UPS/FedEx.

I will say that your fuel cost estimates seem extremely low, as I don't think there is anyway you will be getting anywhere near 20 mpg, much less 30 mpg, when pulling that kind of weight. I would also be budgeting a significant sum of money for repairs because of the extreme load you'd be placing on your vehicle.

Route-wise, weather will be something to keep an eye on. I-90 stays generally at a lower elevation than your other options. But I have to say, based on what you've come up with at this point again, I would urge you very strongly to give up on the idea of towing with your Yaris. You won't be saving any money if you crash the car, or have a burned up engine/transmission when you arrive in Oregon.

In checking some of the other forums online, for most years and models of Toyota Yaris, Toyota says NO towing, period. Some Canadian models are equipped to tow maximum of 700 lbs -- the trailer you intend to tow outweighs that with nothing in it.

Michael gives you very wise advice. My husband has been a verbal part of this thread, too, and said exactly the same thing Michael said about fuel mileage, burning up your engine or transmission, major possibility of an accident (hubby used the words, "that's an accident itching to happen"), and more. He also suggested that it might be cheaper to ship the bike, load what personal possessions you can in your car, ship the rest by FedEx or UPS, and drive the Yaris. At least that way, you won't have to cough up the money for another car when you get there. A mattress, btw, would be cheaper to buy when you get there than it would to ship.


Donna

Hate to break it to you like this, but in the US, Toyota doesn't even rate the Yaris for towing ANYTHING.

Can't you buy a new mattress when you get there?

EDIT: Donna types faster than me!

Not to rub it in or anything, but as said, towing is not an option. As also mentioned it would be cheaper to buy a mattress and knickknacks when you are there than it would to rent the trailer, but I doubt it would cost significantly more to ship the mattress and all your other bits with the bike in an enclosed truck. You can't put a cost on safety.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by glc

Hate to break it to you like this, but in the US, Toyota doesn't even rate the Yaris for towing ANYTHING.

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I would discount that at least a little. Car makers pretty much across the board in the US have started to understate the towing capabilities here, and often are just going to the "do not tow" for practically anything beyond a full sized truck. The Yaris in the US and Canada are the exact same vehicle, so it's a bit silly to me to think that in Canada it can tow 700 lbs, but you cross the border and suddenly it loses that ability.

If someone was looking to move 700 lbs, maybe even 1000 pounds, across town I wouldn't worry about it all too much, but doing either of those loads for a cross country trip, or a 1,500 lbs load under any circumstance is just an accident waiting to happen. And of course, just because a car can pull a load does not mean it can safely pull that load at 65 mph.

Of course, I suspect part of the reason why the US has such low/non-existent towing limits is because of liability, and automakers want to limit their potential damages in lawsuits if/when people cause crashes or damage their vehicles by doing more than the vehicles are designed to do.