Last weekend we look our maiden voyage with our 2006 Highlander Hybrid Limited towing our new 16' Quiksilver Airstream. We went to Hershey, PA (about 200 miles each way) and I am happy to say that the trip went very smoothly and a good time was had by all - myself, my wife, and our two young children. The HiHy got about 17 MPG - not as good as our normal 25 MPG, but much better than the 10 MPG we got earlier pulling the Airstream with my parents borrowed Jeep Commander.

For those contemplating using their HiHy to pull a travel trailer I offer the following based on our experiences...

0. It will take longer than you think to gather the necessary parts and install them.
1. Get a Class III Hitch Reciever designed for a Weight Distributing hitch (e.g. Valley)
2. Install a 7-pin connector on the HiHy. You will need:
....a. Either the drawtite HiHy wiring harness (#18248) or a pair of Toyota parts
....b. A 4 pin to 7 pin adapter
....c. A good quality brake controller (eg tokonsha prodigy)
....d. A connection to the brake control wire in the drivers side door sill since the HiHy doesn't have a brake controller plug.
Unfortunately, this is not as straightforward as one might hope. Because of the brake controller
issue I ended up having Hecht Trailers do the installation.
3. Get a good quality WD hitch with sway control (e.g. Equal-i-zer)

And for those contemplating an Airstream Bambi...

You will need to pay close attention to the tongue weight. Loaded with cargo distributed equally and with a normal start of trip setup - full LP and fresh water, empty black/grey tanks - the Bambi can easily exceed 600 lbs of tongue weight. And so...

4. Pack heavy in the back (e.g. tools) and light in the front (e.g. toilet paper)
5. When not boondocking, travel without fresh water. 23 gals of water weighs almost 200 lbs.
6. Get a custom mattress for the rear bed. We chose a tempur-pedic custom cut for the Airstream by Savvy Sleeper. It is much more comfortable than the standard issue mattress and the extra weight in the rear helps.

We ended up just under 400lbs of tongue weight and 3500lbs of total weight - 11.4%, close to ideal.

The Highlander Hybrid is a GREAT tow vehicle. The electric motors can provide max torque at any speed which allows for very smooth starts. The towing MPG can't be beat. And when we unhook, we have a 7 passenger vehicle that gets 25 MPG that we can drive easily on the smallest village or city street.

The 16' Airstream is a GREAT travel trailer. It is very easy to tow, you can park the tow vehicle and trailer in a 'normal' supermarket double space, and you can even make U-turns if you have to. Assuming you just want a place to sleep and have breakfast, it is very comfortable for a family with small children. And as my wife says, it IS cute as a button.

 

I pulled a similar trailer and got 18 mpg, Mine was lighter, My question is do you think you could pull more weight maybe 4500-5000 with a brake box set up???JOE P.S. It would be short trips of about 10-20 miles at a time

 

To pull 5000 lbs 10-20 miles I'd borrow a friend's pickup or full size SUV. The HiHy could probably move a 5000lb trailer safely around your own yard OK, but you don't want to use it to tow a load that big anywhere that you had to worry about other drivers.