4-cyl towing thoughts?

Wow, 170k! My comfort level says to keep it under 100k for a used car. But that’s less based on the engine wear than on the electronics. We had a horrible experience once with a Nissan Altima with about 80k. Was running great, but the electronics were getting wonky and the first time it happened was when we stopped to get gas in the middle of nowhere. My husband left the keys in the ignition when he stepped out to pump, and I left my purse in the car when I got out to go into the bathroom. The blasted thing locked its own doors, and both his key and mine were locked inside!  We had to wait forever for a rural tow truck to come and fidget the door open.  So I tend to equate age/mileage with wonky electronics. That’s probably not fair as a blanket policy, but once burned twice shy.  Ever since, if I leave my purse in my car to step out to pump, I always open the window before I shut the door! Always. 

 Still, that was ~15 years ago, 1998 Altima. Electronics have progressed.  I’ll keep senior Lexus SUVs in mind. Have never thought of anything that luxe, but it certainly appeals. :)

Coincidentally I also own a 1994 Land Cruiser with only about 130,000 on the clock. They are built like for the end of the world, but not built to make work on them easy, or for efficiency. We call ours the Land Bruiser.  It's for sale btw if there are any interested parties out there. Just way more truck than I need anymore....and to be honest the ride is a whole lot better in the Highlander.

I get about 14 mpg towing my rPod with the Highlander (level ground, no wind, 62-ish mph). But I don't think that that number is going to be much different with any modern vehicle with an efficient drivetrain you choose, wind drag from the trailer dominates the hp requirements while towing, so there's really no changing it. By modern vehicle I don't mean something like the LC, that gets about 10-11 towing, but its got an old, bulletproof engine design and a massive drivetrain and frame not meant for efficiency. 

I'd recommend that you get the vehicle you want, and if that means getting something a couple years older that's fine, just get something with low miles on the clock.  In the first 15 years or so of ts the miles on the odo that matter more. If you're over 20 years or thereabouts then things start having to be renewed because rubber and plastic become brittle even if the vehicle hasn't been driven much, and corrosion starts to get into things. All of the maintenance on my LC has been of that nature: a bad fuel injector because the electrical connector lost its seal, a cracked plastic header tank on the radiator, that sort of thing. Nothing that strands you in the middle of nowhere though.

BTW, I did remove the valve cover on the LC when I got into the injectors, I needed a new valve cover gasket, the old one got dried out and was leaking pretty good .

Truth to that - while the one I bought had been well-maintained (from the records, the prior owner was somewhat anal-retentive; he replaced stuff that really didnt need replacing), the spark plugs were still the original set (15 yrs old!). My mechanic said they still looked semi-reasonable considering their age. I replaced them of course. Amazingly well-built vehicles and a very comfortable ride. I'm sure some electronic stuff will go in the next 5-10 yrs but with what I have invested in it, that's ok if I have to spend a few $,000 to keep it rolling for another 100k miles. Driving it, it still feels like a new vehicle. Now if I only kept my collection of cassette tapes.....