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I would say wire in a trailer plug and get a set of trailer lights and mount them. I have a 1 1/4" receiver on my car and the wifes. In June we did a roadtrip to California and back. On the way back we had a large tote with camping gear on the basket, as well as a full trunk and back seat (probably pretty close to maximum weight for the car) and I still managed to get 44MPG at 80MPH. I'm thinking to some extent that it worked like a box-cavity. I was surprised at the mileage mainly due to the fact that the car was very much squatting in the back. Point being, putting stuff in the wake of the car will minimize (to some extent at least) the drag it induces, and in some cases can reduce drag overall.
I definitely wouldn't drop that much just to get access to the rear. I feel I would just strategically load stuff to minimize my need to access the rear when the hitch rack was on. You could probably figure out a way to have to rack fold down once the bikes are off to allow access. A little design work and welding could likely take care of that issue.
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