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Cosmick goes too far in putting down Subaru. Sure, you won't be doing vertical rock climbing in one, but the offroad capabilities are substantial. Ground clearance is the only thing that stopped me in my 1996 Legacy. I've pulled many pickup trucks out of the ditch on snowy days. The neutral handling in slick conditions is excellent.
The head gasket issue is no joke. Just plan to loose one every 100k. To have this known problem over several decades of manufacturing seems outrageous to me. I will say that my 1996 Legacy never had a head gasket leak in over 240,000 miles. Perhaps the 2.2L engine doesn't have the problem?
The manual transmission is the way to go. The auto is just too sluggish and gets far worse fuel economy. I averaged 28 MPG in my old Legacy.
You might consider a RAV 4 or CRV, although I don't have any experience with them.
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