I put a hitch on my Mazda Protege5, also a 4 cyl. It works fine, tows well, and I can get highway mileage in the mid-high 20's....As to towing capacity, take a look at the European tow rating of cars, it will amaze you to see what they allow over there. My US Mazda owners manual said not to tow anything, while the European guidelines for the same car were something like 2500lbs with trailer brakes and 1200 without, so I am not worried about my trailer and H16 with a combined trailer weight of about 750 lbs. A Jetta (2.5 L? 4 cylinder) over in Europe tows braked travel trailers in the the 1300kg range!