Hey Senza:
I admit, I'm pretty hard on the Mo. Not a tank goes by that I'm not towing my motorcycle (<2,000) or bassboat (~2,000) or driving wtih the 16 foot Coleman canoe on top. What can I say? I bought the Mo to help with the toys!! As a result, I usually put in premium. I'll likely switch to regular (87 octane) as the warm weather season dies down.
On a side note, lately, I've noticed that I'm not getting the mileage I used to. Although the average is about the same (15mpg to 18 mpg around town), the range is nowhere near what it used to be. I used to get 400 plus miles a tank on the fuel economy gauge. Now I'm lucky to get over 300. I think there's some program in the ECU that stores overall fuel economy for the vehicle despite the reset button and I'm seeing the results of all the towing and hauling I've been doing. Can't complain though, the Mo has handled all of it well with the only downside being poorer than expected gas mileage. CVT has held up well.
As for temps, my understanding is that the CVT does not generate heat like a conventional automatic transmission. Although heat clearly is generated, towing does not add enough to warrant a separate tranny cooler - at least that's my understanding!
Jim C.