2010 Sierra Scotty HiLander

so i was avoiding this as I don't believe in suv's and mini trucks towing anything over  2000lbs, but I did have a tent trailer about the same weights (my second RV) and when I got it I had a 91 ford ranger with the big 4.0L in it.  so did it tow it, ya it did, but it was gutless in the mountians, didn't get good milage and so on.  a family situation caused me to need a bigger truck so we ended up going to a F150 with the 4.6L V8.  night and day.  it didn't even notice it behind it, got good fuel milage, flew up the mountan passes.  it basicly went from a ok experance to a relaxing one. 

 the difference will be frontal area, my tent trailer basicly had none this has a ton.  that is what will kill you at highway speeds and such, especialy if you have a head wind.   the curved section of the frontal area actualy makes it longer but offeres some wind smoothing, big formula for what I can see is not a lot of difference in the results.  the longer rear surface going so close to the ground is going to make more of a drag on the rv from the dead are space from the negitive pressure zone anyways.  I would just calculate it as full frontal area then get a truck that can handle that no problem. trust me it is a much more pleasent towing experiance if you are over trucked than if you are under.  I would look for somthing that the tow rating is 7000lbs or higher myself.  

thanks guys, def some useful...and not so useful advice here.  The 4k above refers to the towing capacity of the trucks i was looking at, not the weight of the trailer, apologies on the confusion, my bad.  since my question was specifically about the air resistance, not the weight, i didn't include the weight specs, i have included them below.  Not sure how someone would come to the conclusion that i have no towing experience.  I would give my self a solid, high level beginner, low level intermediate towing.  Done a bunch with U-hauls, utility trailers, etc... over long distances. 

• Approx. Dry Weight .....2590 lbs.
• GVWR ..........................3500 lbs
• Approx. Tongue Wgt ....280 lbs.

The reason i asked the question the way i did was that i am looking at a Ford Maverick Hybrid, with the towing package which says it can pull up to 4k lbs and has an 8000lb total load limit, however there is a trailer front side square footage restriction of 40 sqr ft.  I realize that trailers are like pulling a parachute behind you, but i also know that a lot of that depends on tung length (which is pretty short on the HiLander, i think like 4 ft), and how the turbulence off the back of the vehicle passes on the the front of the trailer, and the shape of the trailer. Some users on other forums have said that the 40sqr ft should actually be thought about as space that is in excess of the shadow of the vehicle.  So a truck with a cap is going to have a different air resistance that an truck without a cap, vs a hatchback vs a car.  Not sure that i buy that entirely, but it is a thing to consider.  I am trying to understand this square footage restriction better to see if this hybrid truck can pull my trailer. 

The people on the Maverick forums seem to think its fine in general, especially if you watch your speed.  Obviously, elevation, climb, and temp matter and you wouldn't use a hitch that wasn't rated for your weight. But, towing capacity being >1K over the dry weight (or lets just call, it packed weight at 3k).  I know ppl tend to be suspicious of the hybrids, but the community seems to be happy with the Mavericks in general, and the non towing gas mileage is great.  so trying to see if it makes sense.  I am looking for something that get decent mpg when not towing, but can still handle a decent load.

You’ve indicated that you don’t understand the considerations and dynamics of towing and tow vehicles. And also that your participation in this discussion is lacking. 
That aside, you also haven’t provided other parameters or limitations suck as budget, other intended uses and spatial limitations for the vehicle at home. 
For the vehicle itself, regardlesss of budget etc, your experience or lack therof with both vehicles and towing tip the scales pretty heavily to getting a vechile that is more than capable vs just barely capable. It will help reduce or decrease your risk of doing something new that is potentially dangerous when you don’t know what you’re doing. 

I'd go with simple math on this one. It is true that the curved sections will reduce the effect, but the math for that is complex as well as marginally significant for your purpose. I'd also definitely err on the side of more car than you need for the simple reasons mentioned above: capacity to go uphill at altitude in summer heat. There is a certain level of terror at finding yourself ascending in the heat and slowing down while watching the temperature gauge on the dash climb toward overheat/cylinder head gasket territory as traffic piles up behind you. You definitely do not want to experience that.

There are actually several factors to consider: tongue weight, car payload, surface area of trailer, car towing capacity among them. Towing a camping trailer is akin to dragging a parachute. Experience has shown that often but not always, car payload turns out to be the deciding factor, but you can't ignore the other factors.

This might be a good rime to address the tongue weight issue. You will have about 12 to 15 percent of the weight on the tongue which would put it at less than 500 pounds if it is properly loaded. That puts you in a spot that does not require a weight distribution hitch but does require a hitch that can handle the weight. That you do not need a w/d hitch allows you to look at unibody cars that can handle the tongue weight and tow 4k. You will also need a seven way electrical socket as your rig requires brakes. Remember that even cars have cargo carrying capacity. Look on the door pillar of any car you are considering for the info on that specific vehicle. 
 If the sticker says it can carry 1200 pounds, subtract 500 for the tongue weight and then subtract anything you will put in the car to travel. If you come up with a number that is negative then you need more car. When I was new and getting a first trailer the best choice was a small truck. You might want to rethink your search.

You have a 4klb trailer that will pull like a 6-7klb flatbed. 
Find something good for 6-7k if you want decent power in all conditions. 
Uour intended use, distance, time of year, climate, grades and altitude will have as much bearing as the trailer specs. 
IE it would tow ok behind a midsize suv with 4k capacity in Nebraska on a cool spring morning. It would be almost prohibitively bad at 10kft uphill in the dead of summer. 
Since you don’t have any towing experience I’d say don’t err on the side of barely big enough.