I drove down to Cap Hatteras from Montreal a few years back with a Chevy lumina Van with the 3.1l engine. We were carrying the cat with extra stuff on the trailler and the van was packet to the roof. The van worked very well and I doubt that it packs more than 180 lb-ft of torque



Lately, I have been towing my Nacra on a steel trailler with the car packed as always with my 2000 Subaru Impreza (142hp, 149 lb-ft torque). Again it worked well but in the hills, the 5th gear was not enough and on really steep hills, even the forth gear was slowing me down



Between the two, the Lumina van was much better. It gave us a nicer ride and had a faster cruise speed. I believe that the automatic transmission is really much better for towing. Also since the Lumina Van is much taller than the Impreza, it also deflected the wind from the trailler and the extra drag was less noticable



The major problem is braking, not power. Usually, almost any car will have a safe riving speed while towing and if the car is well maintained, it should not suffer any problems. The power to weight ratio of a car towing is still much better than a RV or a truck



If you have an automatic transmission and plan to tow alot, you might look into an transmission oil cooler. Also make sure that your brakes are in good condition and always keep a good distance for braking.



Also, if you have normal steel wheels, moving to rally wheels or mags will allo for a better cooling of your brakes and will improve the safety while you tow.