My family of four planned a 3,200 road trip to the Tetons, Yellowstone, and Black Hills, and while we enjoy tent camping, we decided it was time to look for a pop up camper. With the Vibe's 1,500 lb tow capacity, we were limited to pop ups with an 8 ft. box. I read every post in every forum I could find about whether the Vibe and similar small 4 cylinder cars would pull a pop up- particularly in mountainous areas, and most folks seemed doubtful, although at least one forum member on genvibe has admitted to towing a trailer over the Vibe's tow capacity, but for short distances in flat areas. I wanted to prove that my efficient and economical 15 year old 127,000 mile daily driver could take us on a vacation that most people think they need an SUV or truck for.
After a lot of searching and after looking at quite a few train wrecks in person, we lucked upon a 2003 Jayco Qwest 8u camper. It is the perfect size for our family, with two full size beds, a dinette that converts into another full size bed, A/C, an awning, a sink, a 2 burner gas stove, and (now) a fridge. The unloaded weight of the trailer is 1,165 lbs with an approximate hitch weight of 160 lbs. While I know that this exceeds the Vibe's hitch weight of 150 lbs, I thought the vibe was up to the task, and I planned to pack the car as light as possible to stay under the GVWR of the Vibe to account for the hitch weight. Per the door sticker, we are limited to 850 lbs of people+gear, and without telling you how this is divided up, after accounting for the hitch weight, we had 300 lbs left to spare for gear.
While the pop up was in great shape and ready to travel, I was not going to take it on the trip without electric trailer brakes. I installed a Dexter axle complete with brakes, along with a brake controller for the vibe and new wiring for the 7-way trailer connection. I found a used 3-way fridge on Craigslist and replaced the icebox in the pop up. For those of you who aren't familiar- the 3-way fridge runs off of propane, 110v, or 12vDC. Given that our Vibes are equipped with power inverters, I figured the alternator was up to the task of keeping the fridge cool on DC through the trailer wiring while in transit. And it worked perfectly except for 1 hiccup (later).
Preparing for the trip gave me a good excuse to do some preventative maintenance, as described in another post. In short, I added a B&M tranny cooler, replaced all struts and springs, replaced the tranny fluid with synthetic, changed the engine oil to synthetic, and replaced my tires. I made sure the car was in excellent mechanical order before the trip.
So, with only a rubbermaid of clothes and some odds and ends in the car, and the rest of the gear in the popup, we set out on our journey. Aside from a blowout on a brand new trailer tire, and a jump start from my portable jumper after spending too long with the fridge running off the battery at Old Faithful (1 hour is ok, 1.5 hours is not), everything worked flawlessly.
As for performance, we live at about 900 ft above sea level, and the highest we got was 10,950 ft. So, we definitely gained a lot of elevation. We went up and down a lot of mountain passes pulling the trailer. With the electric brakes, stopping was never a problem. Because bias-ply trailer tires should never exceed 65 mph, that was my top speed. I kept it out of overdrive on hills, but let it shift into overdrive on the flat portions of the interstates. While we definitely struggled on the mountain passes, we slowed down to about 50 mpg on long climbs, sometimes requiring a shift into 2nd gear. If we made a stop on a climb for a scenic overlook, we were usually only able to get up to 35 mph before gaining speed as the slope decreased.
But here is the thing- everyone else pulling a camper had the same issues. I think most people tend to buy the biggest camper their vehicle will tow, and even semis struggle in the mountains (I know because I passed a few).
Long story short? As long as you are careful, and properly equip your Vibe and trailer, I wouldn't hesitate to tow 1,500 lbs with a little econobox. Did I mention that the worst mileage I got while towing with my AWD Vibe was 19, with an average of 23 mpg? I guarantee that the other RVs and tow vehicles paid more at the pump (although with the AWD's tiny gas tank, I definitely stopped more often).
A pic of the camper (post fridge install, pre-axle replacement):
IMG_7093 Some pics of the Vibe and the camper in their natural environment:
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IMG_7620 and 
IMG_7455 This one cracks me up- many places in Yellowstone have dedicated RV parking, and, well, I couldn't fit in a regular spot...
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