My wife and I recently returned from a 30 day, 6,000+ mile trip from Northern California to central Florida and back.
We towed our Airstream Basecamp trailer and, after removing the 2nd and 3rd rows of seats, the back of the van carried two Recumbent tricycles and various cycling parts/ tools bags and personal luggage. The van was topped with a largish Yakima box mounted to a Yakima tower rack.
On balance, the trip was good and everything performed reasonably close to expectations. Here are some observations that deserve mention:
Towing - Weight
The 16.5 ft. Airstream trailer is about 2,500 lbs dry and about 3,000 ready to travel. Using the standard 10% of tow weight as a starting point for hitch weight capacity, one might think that the 5,000 tow capacity of the Metris would leave quite a bit of headroom for the hitch, but the Basecamp is designed with most of the heavy parts like fridge, stove and kitchen cabinetry at the front of the coach so, without loading it up, it starts with some 425 lbs tongue weight. Having two full propane tanks on the front of the frame is common for trailers, but they contribute greatly to the total 470 lbs presented to the ball hitch.
The result of that weight was a lowering of the rear of the van to a point just short of feeling a light front end and consequent iffy steering or raising the angle of the headlights to a point where oncoming drivers started freaking out. In fact, we drove over 3,000 miles with only a hint of lighter steering feel and never had a problem with headlights being too high.
Still, I wanted to regain some of the sag that came with hooking up the trailer so I ordered a set of Superspring rear coil inserts while on the road which I installed after they arrived at our destination in Florida. The inserts gave back about 1.5” of that which was lost after hooking up the trailer. That translated into more rear travel and more feel in the steering wheel. I would guess that anyone towing a trailer that brings more than 400 lb. tongue weight to the Metris would do well to add something like the Superspring inserts. Ideally, an airbag solution would be more flexible, but as of last month when I was researching options, non of the airbag manufacturers offered a setup for the Metris.
Towing - Electric Brakes
I use a Prodigy in my Jeep Grand Cherokee while towing the Basecamp and it works great. Unfortunately, my 2018 Metris Passenger van has none of the wiring/modules that are necessary for getting a signal from my right foot to the trailers electric brakes so some kind of wireless controller was in order. To add further misfortune to the missing circuitry in the Metris, the Prodigy RF receiver has to be bolted to the front of the trailer frame (oh boy, more tongue weight) and has been found to be iffy in pairing with the Metris without first pairing it with a Chevy or some other American vehicle. Too many chances for failure for my liking.
Just prior to our trip, I discovered the Curt Echo Bluetooth controller. It had just been released and I decided to give it a try as it added no additional weight to the trailer frame and was designed to work from a smartphone app (iPhone, in my case).
The controller plugs into the 7 pin receptacle on the Metris and the 7 pin plug from the trailer plugs into the controller. You pair the controller to the phone and you are in business. The app gives adjustments for brake power and sensitivity. While it does not seem as intuitive as dialing in the Prodigy P3 that I also use, I fussed with the settings during the early part of the trip and it didn’t take long before I forgot about the controller. It simply worked to keep the trailer from pushing the van and it reduced braking distance significantly over no trailer brakes.
Only downside of the Curt Echo was discovering that the plastic flap the covers the female end when the trailer plug is not inserted and also serves to provide a plastic “catch” which keeps the trailer plug in place broke in half which made for no safety catch to hold the plug in. Luckily, I discovered it at the next stop and whipped out several zip ties. The zip ties worked for the remaining 4,000 miles which gave me the confidence to ask Curt to hold off on trying to get me a replacement while on the road. The new controller arrived a couple of days after we returned. Kudos to Curt.
Check Engine Light
After leaving New Orleans and heading toward Dallas, we passed through Baton Rogue and encountered rain that lasted some 450 miles; at times at an intensity that made simply seeing the road ahead difficult. Though the Metris handled the physical act of getting us through the downpours safely and sure footedly, the check engine light light decided to come on which turned the engine from a turbocharged four into a Briggs and Stratton V twin with one fouled plug. I shut things down and fired it up and the light went out... well the first time, it went out. The next time it came on without reducing power and the third time it went into Briggs mode again.
We made it to Dallas and luckily stayed about 4 miles from a MB dealer. They took us in early the following day and cleared the fault. They were not sure what caused the light to come on so I mentioned the rain and wondered whether water could have gotten into the airbox. The tech took it apart and agreed that the airbox that draws air from the passenger wheel well must have sucked just enough moisture (after 450 miles of monsoonal rain) to trigger the fault. No problem since. My suggestion while driving a Metris in a monsoon is don’t or at least slow way down to lessen the water force/volume coming up the front wheel well.
Road Noise
We chose the Passenger van for many reasons and reduced road noise over the cargo version was high on the list. In practice, that decision was borne out as worthwhile except for one set of circumstances.
A significant portion of our American roadways are in horrible shape or have been repaired with poor performance patch jobs that are more third world than transcontinental US super Highway quality. The net effect is that while the passenger van is generally acceptable on road noise, crappy patch jobs (which in some states last for dozens of miles) or application of chip seal instead of quality asphalt makes for tire noise that can (and does) drown out music and books on tape. Even the mega buck sound system I installed couldn’t overcome the tire noise on certain long lasting highway sections.
The stock Continental VancoFourSeason tires are, in my view, very loud over less than pristine surfaces; even louder than the Michelin X-Ice snow tires that I ran this past winter. Anyone who has similar experiences with stock tire noise is encouraged to add their comments.
Bottom line is that the Metris performed admirably. It was comfortable for long (up to 675 mile) day’s. Mileage was 15-16 mpg overall with trailer and large box on top, cargo space is amazing with preinstalled tie downs, air conditioning was spot on throughout the van and power was quite adequate. The van has a ton of torque which makes it ideal for towing. All in all, a good trip.
We towed our Airstream Basecamp trailer and, after removing the 2nd and 3rd rows of seats, the back of the van carried two Recumbent tricycles and various cycling parts/ tools bags and personal luggage. The van was topped with a largish Yakima box mounted to a Yakima tower rack.
On balance, the trip was good and everything performed reasonably close to expectations. Here are some observations that deserve mention:
Towing - Weight
The 16.5 ft. Airstream trailer is about 2,500 lbs dry and about 3,000 ready to travel. Using the standard 10% of tow weight as a starting point for hitch weight capacity, one might think that the 5,000 tow capacity of the Metris would leave quite a bit of headroom for the hitch, but the Basecamp is designed with most of the heavy parts like fridge, stove and kitchen cabinetry at the front of the coach so, without loading it up, it starts with some 425 lbs tongue weight. Having two full propane tanks on the front of the frame is common for trailers, but they contribute greatly to the total 470 lbs presented to the ball hitch.
The result of that weight was a lowering of the rear of the van to a point just short of feeling a light front end and consequent iffy steering or raising the angle of the headlights to a point where oncoming drivers started freaking out. In fact, we drove over 3,000 miles with only a hint of lighter steering feel and never had a problem with headlights being too high.
Still, I wanted to regain some of the sag that came with hooking up the trailer so I ordered a set of Superspring rear coil inserts while on the road which I installed after they arrived at our destination in Florida. The inserts gave back about 1.5” of that which was lost after hooking up the trailer. That translated into more rear travel and more feel in the steering wheel. I would guess that anyone towing a trailer that brings more than 400 lb. tongue weight to the Metris would do well to add something like the Superspring inserts. Ideally, an airbag solution would be more flexible, but as of last month when I was researching options, non of the airbag manufacturers offered a setup for the Metris.
Towing - Electric Brakes
I use a Prodigy in my Jeep Grand Cherokee while towing the Basecamp and it works great. Unfortunately, my 2018 Metris Passenger van has none of the wiring/modules that are necessary for getting a signal from my right foot to the trailers electric brakes so some kind of wireless controller was in order. To add further misfortune to the missing circuitry in the Metris, the Prodigy RF receiver has to be bolted to the front of the trailer frame (oh boy, more tongue weight) and has been found to be iffy in pairing with the Metris without first pairing it with a Chevy or some other American vehicle. Too many chances for failure for my liking.
Just prior to our trip, I discovered the Curt Echo Bluetooth controller. It had just been released and I decided to give it a try as it added no additional weight to the trailer frame and was designed to work from a smartphone app (iPhone, in my case).
The controller plugs into the 7 pin receptacle on the Metris and the 7 pin plug from the trailer plugs into the controller. You pair the controller to the phone and you are in business. The app gives adjustments for brake power and sensitivity. While it does not seem as intuitive as dialing in the Prodigy P3 that I also use, I fussed with the settings during the early part of the trip and it didn’t take long before I forgot about the controller. It simply worked to keep the trailer from pushing the van and it reduced braking distance significantly over no trailer brakes.
Only downside of the Curt Echo was discovering that the plastic flap the covers the female end when the trailer plug is not inserted and also serves to provide a plastic “catch” which keeps the trailer plug in place broke in half which made for no safety catch to hold the plug in. Luckily, I discovered it at the next stop and whipped out several zip ties. The zip ties worked for the remaining 4,000 miles which gave me the confidence to ask Curt to hold off on trying to get me a replacement while on the road. The new controller arrived a couple of days after we returned. Kudos to Curt.
Check Engine Light
After leaving New Orleans and heading toward Dallas, we passed through Baton Rogue and encountered rain that lasted some 450 miles; at times at an intensity that made simply seeing the road ahead difficult. Though the Metris handled the physical act of getting us through the downpours safely and sure footedly, the check engine light light decided to come on which turned the engine from a turbocharged four into a Briggs and Stratton V twin with one fouled plug. I shut things down and fired it up and the light went out... well the first time, it went out. The next time it came on without reducing power and the third time it went into Briggs mode again.
We made it to Dallas and luckily stayed about 4 miles from a MB dealer. They took us in early the following day and cleared the fault. They were not sure what caused the light to come on so I mentioned the rain and wondered whether water could have gotten into the airbox. The tech took it apart and agreed that the airbox that draws air from the passenger wheel well must have sucked just enough moisture (after 450 miles of monsoonal rain) to trigger the fault. No problem since. My suggestion while driving a Metris in a monsoon is don’t or at least slow way down to lessen the water force/volume coming up the front wheel well.
Road Noise
We chose the Passenger van for many reasons and reduced road noise over the cargo version was high on the list. In practice, that decision was borne out as worthwhile except for one set of circumstances.
A significant portion of our American roadways are in horrible shape or have been repaired with poor performance patch jobs that are more third world than transcontinental US super Highway quality. The net effect is that while the passenger van is generally acceptable on road noise, crappy patch jobs (which in some states last for dozens of miles) or application of chip seal instead of quality asphalt makes for tire noise that can (and does) drown out music and books on tape. Even the mega buck sound system I installed couldn’t overcome the tire noise on certain long lasting highway sections.
The stock Continental VancoFourSeason tires are, in my view, very loud over less than pristine surfaces; even louder than the Michelin X-Ice snow tires that I ran this past winter. Anyone who has similar experiences with stock tire noise is encouraged to add their comments.
Bottom line is that the Metris performed admirably. It was comfortable for long (up to 675 mile) day’s. Mileage was 15-16 mpg overall with trailer and large box on top, cargo space is amazing with preinstalled tie downs, air conditioning was spot on throughout the van and power was quite adequate. The van has a ton of torque which makes it ideal for towing. All in all, a good trip.
