4-cyl towing thoughts?

Where is Bernouilli when you need him? Maybe if I put a wing on top of the Outback I can get some lift off of it to compensate for the drag. Hah!

Ouch! 10-11 mpg. That’s sort of negates the point of a small trailer to me. I was interested in a Born Free Built For Two, but they are built on a Ford F350 chassis and I just found out that they only get about 10 to 11. Ugh. As it is, towing our A-frame drops our mpg from 30+ for the Outback on the freeway (not towing) to about 17. That’s about as low as I think I can stand to go.

I fell in love with the Scamps in the mid-‘70s. They were pitching them to the drivers of small compact cars. I’m a 4-cylinder subcompact girl, so that always appealed to me. Our daily driver is a little Honda Fit and the Outback is mostly for road trips.

Given my experience, no, the sloped front does not help enough. There is also the air that flows off the top of the tow vehicle and then piles up against the front of the trailer. That is where the air deflector helps. However, it would not be sufficient. Limiting tow speed helps. We just completed a trip of almost 6500 miles, most of which was at 60 mph or lower with rare excursions above that (mostly on downhill runs). Even so, we probably got about 11-12 mpg with our Frontier. When we hit strong headwinds, the mileage was more like 10-11 mpg, especially when combined with uphill climbs.

They probably put a class III [2"] receiver on your car.  I did this with my Forester but not with towing in mind; it was for a bike rack.  The hitch as all the capacity you need, it's what it's connected to that complicates the situation.  Bottom line, your Outback doesn't really have the towing capacity to safely manage an R-Pod.

A wind deflector such as the AeroPlus from Purpleline or the AeroShield from Icon helps, but not enough to compensate for too much frontal area. The advice above is very sound. We just returned from a trip of close to 6500 miles with our 179 (Frontier tow vehicle). You would do well if you could manage to catch a strong tailwind every time, but probability is that you will encounter head- and crosswinds which will exacerbate the frontal area problem. Check Subaru's towing guide (should be specified in your manual as I could not find anything from Subaru online except the towing limit). For that vehicle, the pop-up is the best choice. As Fred stated above, perhaps you could fit a portable toilet in for the times it is neccessary at night. Eventually, you will be able to trade tow vehicles and then it would be time to revisit the R-Pods or even something a bit larger with a walk-around bed.

Trish, if you are in your 70's you have plenty more time for camping.  And you are absolutely right about the 3 a.m. issue.  That's one of the reasons we went to a Pod with a functional head, especially if it's raining or worse.  With our 172, we have no frills and I have taken out as much as I have added in weight.  That version comes with bunk beds up front, one of which I removed.  We also replaced the table with one that weighs a 10th of the original.  But in the end, Furpod is right, you may be able to get the weight down to something pretty close to your car's capacity, though certainly not below, but you still have the issue of windage.  Wind resistance on a full height trailer puts a tremendous load on your drivetrain and can affect the stability of your car on the road.