Greetings (new 172 owners in CA)

We picked up our pod in Omaha and drove it back to California over three days. The first two nights were excellent, overall. We found a few bugs to be worked out (a couple of plastic pieces/fasteners broken and the clock display on the TV/DVD player is almost unreadable). We tested out almost everything. The a/c sure is loud and rumbly; it does its job though! The bunk beds were comfy enough. I'm not certain I'm happy with the hitch set up yet. The weight distributing hitch the dealer put on leaves the trailer nose high/tail low, and, I need to experiment to see if I can even get the van and trailer relatively level. Otherwise I have a sense we'll have to buy a different/modified attachment that allows the WDH to be bolted on lower compared to the van. With heat, humidity and headwind we got atrocious mileage; 10-13 mpg...hoping that will get better with some targeted tweaks. Thank you again for all the help so far.

Originally posted by Explorer We picked up our pod in Omaha and drove it back to California over three days. The first two nights were excellent, overall. We found a few bugs to be worked out (a couple of plastic pieces/fasteners broken and the clock display on the TV/DVD player is almost unreadable). We tested out almost everything. The a/c sure is loud and rumbly; it does its job though! The bunk beds were comfy enough. I'm not certain I'm happy with the hitch set up yet. The weight distributing hitch the dealer put on leaves the trailer nose high/tail low, and, I need to experiment to see if I can even get the van and trailer relatively level. Otherwise I have a sense we'll have to buy a different/modified attachment that allows the WDH to be bolted on lower compared to the van. With heat, humidity and headwind we got atrocious mileage; 10-13 mpg...hoping that will get better with some targeted tweaks. Thank you again for all the help so far.

For my 172 and my Toyota Highlander (V6) I have found that MPG is really a function of wind resistance.   Gas milleage really starts to tank if I am over 55MPH.  (10-13MPG, worse with wind)  And its largely due to the wind resistance and gearing of most smaller vehicles.   With my V8 I don't see as much of a difference between towing and not towing as engine has more available power.    Oddly enough when towing with the V6 I get around 14-17 while towing in the mountains which I generally equate to the fact that most of the mountain roads I am on are in the 35-50 range.

Congratulations Explorer, My sister lives in Sacramento. Kidnap her when you come east :)

Hi!  We also just picked up our 172T and love it as well!  There are quite a few 172 owners...  Awesome!

Congrats on getting a R-Pod.  We just bought our 171 this year.  We brought it back from Ohio to our home in Nova Scotia, Canada.  It has proven to be just what we wanted.