We just purchased an 05 Forester XS. We stayed away from the turbo(premium fuel and lower mpg). We opted for the 5 speed and the standard equipment is awesome(heated seats, climate control, fog lights, pwr seats).
As far as getting a used sub, the area of the country you live in makes a difference. We are from the midwest and subbies aren't as popular as say on the east and west coasts. The cost of an 2002 (the ones I could find) were pretty steep. I would say, if you can, research on edmunds.com the prices of the 05. An X model(pwr windows, locks, cruise,a/c, single cd player recently had $2000 cash back). You could pick one up for under 20k. Well good luck...............Frank...........