Went through the same thing when buying something to tow. During our Big Adventure, we didn't tow anything. We ended up spending $3000 on rental cars. During the six months on the road, I did and informal poll of what class As were towing (looked at every class A going by) and 95 percent were CR-Vs or some flavor of Jeep. So of course, when it came time to buy, I started shopping for one of those. Talk about sticker shock. A ten year old CR-V with 200,000 miles and a beat up interior for $18,000??? No Thanks.
I got a 3 year old Equinox for the same price. Underpowered, but considered to be one of the great 4-down toads.