I have a 2014 mirage ES with cvt and have towed a trailer a few times this summer. Things worked out well and I'd like to share my experience. This is not an endorsement of the mirage's capability to tow or a recommendation that you do it. Nor is it an invitation for your judgement or scolding- I know there are strong opinions out there, particularly regarding towing with the CVT.
Equipment used:
-
Curt class I trailer hitch receiver
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Curt custom wiring harness
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CVTz50 app to monitor the cvt temperature
- Veepeak Mini WiFi OBD II Scanner to connect the phone to the car's computer
Relevant things I did in preparation:
- changed CVT fluid (Car is at about 100,000 km)
- changed front brake pads and rear brake shoes
The first thing I towed was probably about 1,000 lbs- a 4x8 harbor freight trailer with stuff in it. I was planning to use it to move across the country but didn't in the end due to a bunch of reasons.
The longest I've towed was about 2 hours, of mixed highway, hills, and gravel road driving. It was a 4x8 uhaul trailer weighing about 900 lbs empty carrying a queen size pull-out couch for a total of probably about 1050 lbs.
What was it like?
Acceleration and Deceleration: It took a little longer to get up to speed and more effort to stop. I think it would be fair to say that driving on flat ground felt a little like driving a little bit uphill and braking felt like going on a slight downhill. But all in all, I had no trouble merging on the highway, even on a slight incline. It helped getting started from a standstill to be in put the gear selector in "B" mode to prevent the CVT from shifting into the upper range too early. This was especially the case when I tried starting on a steep uphill incline from a standstill. It shook and complained for the first couple of seconds and really needed the B mode to get moving but it was fine- albeit probably shortening the life of the transmission some.
Handling: It felt pretty stable, even at highway speeds. I never exceeded 65 mph and tried to keep it to 60. The whole combination is a little bit rattly on bad pavement especially when empty.
Fuel consumption: Normally I get something in the range of 5.7 l/100km (41mpg) but towing the trailer on a hilly highway, it was about about 8.8 l/100km (27 mpg)
CVT Temperature. Many people say the world will end if you tow with a cvt mirage because their uncle said it's too flimsy etc. and they all seem to agree that the failure mode will be overheating. I monitored the temperature with the CVTz50 app to try to understand what happens a little more and to know to pull over and rest the transmission if it looked like it was getting too hot. The mirage's thermostat is set at 90C, meaning that when it only makes an effort to cool down when it exceeds this temperature. The car itself would also start flashing a warning at 137C, so I regarded that as an absolute upper limit you should not exceed, especially since other cars seem to display a warning at a lower temperature. I had planned to pull over and rest the car if it exceeded 120 but it never did. An hour into the two hour highway trip with hills and highways, I saw it mostly stay between 89C and 103C. There was a moment after a long climb when it hit 110, but then it quickly dropped back down to the typical range within a minute or so. For reference, the outside temperature was about 23C that day (73F). On the same drive without a trailer, the CVT temperature tends to stay between about 88 and 95C.