Hello - just got here. I'm a longtime Alfa guy who's managed to fetch up with a 2001 Forester, and I'm pretty happy with it, except where I'm not, but we'll discuss that later...
This is actually my third Subie. #1 was a 360 van that I spotted out in rural Tennessee and just had to have. So tiny, so cute, so amazingly handy for carrying great big items, so intent on killing me...! Yes, the geniuses who designed it accomplished the impossible: a chassis/suspension that could not handle the full force of 16 hp. (Can discuss later.) The other was a '90 Justy, and I really liked that car a lot. In fact, if anyone knows of one for sale, I'd be happy to hear about it.
The Forester has taken over daily-driving duty from our still reliable but increasingly fragile '87 Alfa Milano. There are some striking similarities between the two - they both have 2.5 liter engines, though the Alfa's is a V6. Their dimensions are within a couple of inches of each other, except the Forester is almost a foot taller, and almost 400 lb. heavier. Both supposedly 5-passenger 4-doors, both a lot more comfortable for 4 people. The Alfa is of course RWD - I enjoy driving a car like that more in a sporting way than either a FWD or AWD, though I have to say the Forester's drivetrain is amazingly neutral - it's almost impossible to tell which end it's driving from. It just grips and goes.
Not much more to say by way of introduction, except that I'm looking forward to sharing the Subaru Experience with y'all. Oh, and I'm in the LA area.