Personally, I'd resist that change. We went from a mini-pickup that was rated to weigh about 2500 to a midsize pickup rated to be 3500 but scales out at 4000. We can feel that difference with our V10. If you had opened this thread asking "how heavy can I go?" I'd've said "3000" and you're already there.
That said, Honda CR-V is somewhat bigger than a Matrix, is a very nice, reliable daily driver, and I'm told it weighs just a little south of 3500. I'd settle there but my advice is don't go any heavier. PLEASE NOTE: 2014 is the last year of towable CR-V's. 2015 is coming out with a CVT (EDIT: Continuously Variable NOT "Constant Velocity" Transmission - SORRY - Didn't look right when I typed it!) and nearly every CVT is NOT Towable.
