kahfean

My top concerns are reliability, and low maintenance. By low maintenance I mean something closer to being a facet of reliability. I want it to not be prone to frequent expensive repairs. I am accustom to putting a descent and consistent amount of money into monthly or bimonthly maintenance and upkeep, that's fine! I've grown up driving only Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers that, while still requiring all the routine maintenance, can handle the cold and occasional things I violently run over. I'm not expecting a Subaru to be able to handle light rock climbing and mudding like my 08 Rubicon, but I want it to not be phased by daily driving year round, significant puddles, and "two track" roads in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that are only groomed in the summer. I need to get through some respectably sandy and muddy trails for camping and visiting my Aunt's cabin. I'm confident that the powertain in the Subaru's mentioned above will be plenty sufficient. With that accounted for, my main concern is: Reliability Durability (Resistance to significant breaks) Longevity (6 years would be excellent) Versatility (Snow driving + sleeping space) Things like initial cost to acquire and cost of monthly upkeep should be more negligible for me. Gas mileage is not as important either but I would like something that gets 20+ MPG highway. I don't care if it's fast or handles agilely. I want a practical car for a practical MMMAN!

You guys are so wonderful. Thank you! I'll entertain these options in more detail this weekend and will then share what course of action I'm leaning towards.

What car would you buy? Criteria: $10,000 - $12,000 to spend (maximum of 15k if worth it) AWD (west Michigan roads get pretty awful in winter) Cargo space enough for two short and thin people to sleep in 20+ mpg highway Must survive 4-6 years of daily driving + light "two track" offroading Do I need to worry about rumors of reoccurring head gasket leaks? How do I avoid them? What model? What year and what mileage would you aim for? Hello friends, I just registered with your fine internet community to receive some advice. Pretend you're me, complete with a long and pointy red beard. You finally payed off your 2008 Wrangler Rubicon 4-door and want to either trade-in or sell it privately. You know you could get at least 12-15k for it. You could get closer to 20k if you spent 3k in cosmetic and minor mechanical repairs. So you figure you have a comfortable 12k to work with in your quest to find a AWD car with enough cargo space to accommodate a double size memory foam pad for you and your smokin' hot petite wife to "sleep" on when camping. You're just 5' 8" and that's alright because that's above the average male height in Ireland so all of those 6ft+ tall Americans that made you feel so insecure in High School are just a bunch of freaks with disproportionately sized genitalia being most probable. You would know because you do nursing work and have had intimate contact with hundreds of samples. You just remembered to stay on point and that you probably just crossed the line between a lighthearted request for help and an obnoxious attempt to be funny. You decide to make bullet points for the people that chose wisely and skipped your paragraph of nonsense and narcissism. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance to anyone that may reply! Serious and sarcastic replies are welcome. Nothing wrong with a little fun.