My Tacoma kills my back and after being T-boned in my old Tacoma and waking up in the hospital again, I didn't feel safe driving my Odyssey van any more, so I traded the van for a new Outback.
My new Outback will go most of the place my TRD Off Road Tacoma will go and may be better on ice and snow than the truck is, but gets much better gas mileage, is much larger inside, especially headroom and also backseat leg room, is the best all around "you name it" hauler I've ever had and the driver's seat is MUCH more comfortable than my truck's.
I'm at the age where I really should have a new, red sports car and a 20something girlfriend, but screwed up I bought the Outback instead. Crazy thing is, I am very happy with it. YMMV
I think the Subaru cars are well-made. Problem is that around Boulder, CO I think they come with 0bama bumper stickers pre installed. I would not be able to convince my wife to ride in it. An old 1997 4Runner works fine for hauling dogs or firewood. My wife does not bounce off the ceiling if it gets dirty inside.
I got a MB C300 today. It had been a demo car and has 2,500 miles on it. But it has the premium package with really nice AMG instruments and pretty much all options. The dealerships are dumping the 2013 models, especially the demo models since the 2014 models are coming in. It is a “Certified” MB car and has the warranty bumped up from 5 year 50K mi warranty to a 6 year (from 6 months ago) and 100K mi warranty. And I got $8K knocked off MSRP making it less expensive than the mid-grade 2013 4Runners I had been looking at. It has almost half the horsepower of the Audi S6 I just got, but I think it is good for a long didtance commuter car.
I’m also at an age that if I did have a 20-something girlfriend:
A) My wife would kill me. If I wasn’t married at the time,
B) I’d have to buy a back friendly vehicle cause I’d.....well, you know.