4-cyl towing thoughts?

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   Having towed out west in the mountains with both a 4 cylinder (Ford Escape with 2L Ecoboost) and 6 cylinders (Nissan Frontier with 4L naturally aspirated engine), I think I have the ability to speak on this topic. While we live in NC, we have been out west 3 times with our 179 in passes up to and over 8,000 ft. as well as in the eastern mountains of the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) and Appalachians.

As others have stated, torque is the key. In any but low altitudes, the 4 cylinder Escape had more torque and horsepower than the V6 Frontier since the turbocharger kept the air supply to the engine adequate to generate torque while the V6 (according to Nissan) lost 4% power for every thousand feet in altitude. The torque curve of the Ecoboost engine is also flatter than a non-turbocharged engine.

The Escape was rated for 3500 lbs. The Frontier (Crew Cab 4x4) is rated for 6100 lbs. The extra gears in the Ford helped also. I used to tow in Sport (Schlepp) mode which locked out overdrive and changed the sift points. With the Frontier, I turn off overdrive if I am not driving in flat terrain. Both vehicles would pull up a hill and I never got down to 30 mph unless I got stuck behind a tractor-trailer and could not pass. Still, when I could pass, I was able to gain speed albeit in a low gear at high RPMs (most recently a few days ago).

The one time I had heat problems with the Escape, it was climbing a twisty "scenic byway" in Virginia up to the BRP. I could not gain any speed so airflow across the radiator and transmission cooler was inadequate.The engine finally cut power to reduce heat but still I had to stop for a few minutes so it could cool before continuing. Our speeds were about 5-15 mph on that climb. Once we gained speed, cooling was adequate as with the altitude, the ambient air temperature was also lower. After that trip, I had the transmission oil changed to make sure we had good fluid for the next trip. 

The Escape was okay with strong headwinds as long as we limited our towing speed to 60 mph or less. If it were a crosswind, the lighter weight of the Escape plus the frontal area of the R-Pod made it too squirrely so lower sppeds were less "white knucle" than trying to go faster. Even with the Frontier, we limit our speed to 60 mph with rare excursions to 65 mph. It is better for the gas mileage that way. Plus, the towing speed limits in many states are 55 or 60 mph, not the stated 80 mph of the Interstate highways out west.

After our accident, we bought the Frontier. We are on the final leg of a month+ trip from North Carolina out west to Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Monana, Wyoming, returning by way of Yellowstone NP and Mount Rushmore. The Frontier does not have the pep of the Ecoboost, but it did serve adequately. On many of the climbs, it did have to switch to a low gear with high RPMs, but it did climb okay as stated above.

The problem with the Subaru is that it while the short wheelbase is not necessarily bad (short distance between center of rear axle and center of hitch ball) means that the trailer exerts less force than if the distance is greater. We noticed this when we got the Frontier and the same winds and trucks that nudged us with the Escape were much more noticeable with the Frontier which had about 2' more distance between axle and hitch ball than the Escape. The engine and gearing are a concern. The Escape worked because of the Ecoboost engine. If the Subaru is not turbocharged, I agree with the other posters that you would find it woefully inadequate for the western mountains.