on the passes that you may not maintain full speed limit but it gets
there while sipping gasoline.

How about my 2000 Mazda Protege ES? 70mph towing an 80's Cobra
trailer with a DG-300 inside. Over the Cascade mountain pass between
Seattle and Eastern Washington state I get an even 20mpg. :-)

But I will admit that strong cross-winds and speeds over 70mph are a
problem, as the car itself is fairly light-weight and the wheelbase is
shorter than most SUVs and trucks (I put 75lbs of lead in the front of
the trailer and it helped a lot). I would have the same concerns with
a CR-V.

--Noel