ok - thanks for the clarification.
A few things jump out at me. First, whenever anyone talks about a vehicle "upgrade" it automatically triggers thoughts of buying a more expensive (and fancy) car. That of course is unmustachian.
You addressed the commuting problem - not everyone can commute, that's just a fact of life. I hope work is at least reimbursing you for your costs to meet clients.
My advice then for you is to do one of two things; either
1) just keep the Torrent (which seems to get a rather miserable est. 19mpg combined), drive it as sparsely as possible and maintain it so that it will be your car for years to come, or
2) sell the Torrent and find something used with much better MPG. There are a lot of cars that can carry two canoes on the roof.
What matters is how many miles (km) you drive per year, what fuel prices are in your region and what your Torrent is worth now. If you can fill in those details it would help me (and others) give more solid advice.
FWIW, I'm in a similar situation - I own a 2005 compact pickup from another job and another lifetime ago that isn't worth very much at resale. I drive about 4k-5k miles/year, so my fuel expenses are relatively low. For me, I want to go the higher mpg/car route, but I've hesitated because I'd likely need to bring a few $k to the table in order to buy a used vehicle, and that expense would take a few years to recoup. but I'm on the lookout for a reasonable replacement in good condition in my area.