Tow vehicle ideas needed!

You might wish to check out a Ford Ranger 2019 or newer. The 2.3L Ecoboost engine will surprise you. A Chevy Colorado Diesel would be a great choice also. Both will have the loads of torque you need. The Diesel should give you better highway mileage also. We have a 2010 Nissan Frontier. Being naturally aspirated, it does struggle a little out west on those climbs, but it doesn't have the 10 speed transmission that the Ranger has and it isn't turbocharged either. Still, a newer one would likely be okay as would a Toyota Tacoma.

I agree that you can't really go electric yet on a tow vehicle unless you don't travel very far to camp. You can have my place on the waitlist for a F150 lightning if you change your mind, when they started at $39k they were a good deal but I'm not spending  55k for one either.  

I agree with the suggestion of StephenH that a Ford Ranger with a 2.7 ecoboost engine would give you very good service.  We considered a Ranger when we bought our F-150, but wanted a little more interior room [6 passenger capacity instead of 5 and with a roomy back seat area], so we got the full crew cab, but with the 2.7 ecoboost engine.  It is comfortable to drive long distances and the fuel economy is about as good as you can get for a pickup truck.  The ecoboost engine gives you all the torque benefits of a diesel, but without loss of power at high altitudes and the very high fuel cost, plus it burns much cleaner.  We put a camper shell, aka topper, on our F-150 and it essentially functions as a station wagon for purposes of stashing stuff behind the passenger area, except that the volume is much greater.  Usually, we keep the rear seats in the stowed position and I use the rear passenger space to carry my tools or other large things.  We have about 40 cu.ft. of space there and on long trips I've even managed to put 2 bikes in there along with a lot of other stuff.  If you can't use the greater volume of the full size truck, a Ranger would probably be a better choice as it is not as wide or long and is a bit easier to park and maneuver in tight places.  [I have to confess to a bias, however.  I have not had good luck with GMC products and tend to shy away from them.]  

Thanks for all of your replies - lostagain, we had a Honda Ridgeline before the Lexus and it did the job but just barely. Living in the West, we're almost always climbing hills or just about to. If we were only in the high country occasionally, we'd probably be fine with a 5K towing package, but unless something better comes along, we'll probably go for the larger rig.

Tesla just dropped pricing aggressively on its whole product line, so it seems like perhaps the inflated pricing post the Covid shortage on new cars in general and EVs in particular might be ending. Ford may well need to price more  sensibly on the Lightning soon too. Hope so anyway. In the meantime tho lowest cost EV on the market is the Bolt, which is what I'm getting.