what is the most durable model for pulling, offroad, and hauling capacity?

out of what choices?

90-94 2.2 Japan built Legacies, imo.

 

all of the "new gen", whatever that is, looking to "upgrade"

 

for old gen, I would go with my 85 gl wagon dr, and power everything

ah okay I believe they're all pretty similar, but of course you'd have more space in a wagon. Dunno if the forester actually has more cargo room or not as compared to a legacy/outback but I believe it's got more ground clearence than a legacy, not sure about outback though. I wouldn't think imprezas would have as much space seeing as how they're smaller in general. I do believe that all have the same towing capacity, which is supposed to be 1 ton. though I don't think I'd be towing a ton's worth of crap in/behind my legacy as far as offroad, none of them are 4wd so no real offroading will work well. the awd system hasn't changed much if at all from 90 to present, manual or auto. though the outback does have VTD, which someone once noted the SVX has aswell, but there was no real conclusion to that. Honestly I don't see the purpose of buying the outback simply for VTD. All the 4eat's can distribute power to both driveshafts up to 50/50 but I guess VTD is more rwd based or something. anyway, if I messed up on something someone please correct me