Now that's a beautiful Ford truck Furpod!

  

One cannot have enough or too much tow vehicle, even for an Rpod.  That's the true message.  Mass equals safety.

Contrary to a previous comment most all who haul heavy loads up steep mountains around Cody, Wy drive one of the many turbo charged diesels (I'm talking  horse trailers with eight or ten horses aboard), and not necessarily with dually wheels--and dual wheels has nothing to do with engine torque or power to pull.  

I miss my diesel pickups, but the maintenance costs for them are too extreme when I only haul a few dozen miles or a couple hundred.  Yet I pull the same big heavy loads with the V10 and accelerate up steep mountain roads almost as well as my diesel friends do.  Unfortunately Ford doesn't offer that engine in pickups today.

My other truck, F150 Ecoboost, pulls the Rpod nearly as well as the V10.  Maybe better when the twin turbo's kick in. 

 

Mass ahead of the trailer is what it's all about for stopping safety, and power gets you out of the way of trouble and up the mountain. 

I highly recommend an F150 Eco-boost as the best tow vehicle for an Rpod.

I'm still waiting for someone to write in and ask if they can pull a Pod with a Harley.  Yep, I'll bet you could, but you couldn't stop....Get enough tow vehicle, and you don't have to worry. 

That's a great story, I remember the 2013 floods very well. Trail Ridge Road is an awesome drive...more so during the broad daylight! 

Times change and we should change with them. 

My 2200 pound 171 tows quite well, even cross-country, with a Jeep Cherokee at 4500 lb towing capacity and a factory tow package. If the trailer weighed 4400 pounds, or maybe even 2900 pounds -  where a lot of R-Pod models are I believe, I'd agree with you and go with a truck-type, but a lot of 'Newbies' are into trailering because of the attractiveness of using their general purpose family vehicle as a tow vehicle and excluding these seems to be arbitrary. 

Note that I am specifically limiting this to the lighter 2200 pound R-Pods, not heavier ones.

Note:  You are in Oregon? Diesels are notorious for not towing well in mountain country. Fine for low altitudes and flatlands. Around here, the folks on the flat will pull their big stock trailers with diesels (duallies), and those on the steeper side of the state rely on big internal combustion horsepower.

My wife and I just returned from a trip from our home in southern Oregon to Joshua Tree California. This trip is approximately 800 miles each way and crosses many passes and higher elevations. We hit high wind conditions of 30 mph gust, drove in 90 degree weather, climbed passes that were miles of fairly steep accents and descents, etc. etc. 

I can tell you that with our experience I couldn't be happier with my choice of vehicles. Our Highlander could not have towed more flawlessly. I drive 65mph most of the way, but at times got up to 75 mph and could hardly tell I had a trailer behind me. Also I never felt any negative reactions to the higher winds (I also have a sway bar), went up all the passes without trouble, and all in all couldn't be happier. 

So, a full sized truck, or larger type SUV would do the job. If you do decide to go to a smaller unibody SUV, with factory trailer tow, use a WDH (and probably sway bar thrown in for good measure), has a factory rated trailer tow capacity of 4,500 to 5000lbs, I think this will also be a great choice and you don't necessarily HAVE to go to more of a "truck" if that is not something you necessarily want in everyday driving. For others who want a truck anyway, then obviously that will work splendid also. 

Good luck. It sounds like the vehicles you are considering will work fine. 

John

Been great combo for us. NJ=>CA=>WA=>ME=>FL and many points between.

fred

Do you want a pickup truck or an SUV? All of them will pull an R-Pod, but the Ecoboost 3.5 would be the best tow vehicle. The 3.0L Ecodiesel Jeep GC would also be very good, up to 7200 pounds.

The new 2017 ecoboost is very impressive with a lot of HP and torque, but the nod for fuel economy goes to the diesel.

it's nice to have choices.