Potentially looking for a new car--what AWD?

What cars fit these requirements?

• Budget of $10,000ish
• Relatively new (figure a 2008ish and up)
• Lower miles (under 80k) (inversely proportional with the above)
• AWD, because one car in the winter in Chicago
• Automatic, but still fun (REQUIRED)
• Safe (REQUIRED)
• Reliable—maybe not Corolla level, but not far behind it
• Can handle Chicago Potholes
• 20 minimum city MPG (REQUIRED)
• Not a Saturn
• Nicer interior than the Corolla--so no WRX/Imprezza, but a Legacy is ok

Keep in mind that most of these are guidelines rather than requirements.

So far my list has the non-turbo Legacy, Forester, and... uh... well, thats it. How are the E46's and E60's? Any cute Utes? CTS's? Infiniti G's? Anything else I'm missing?

Yes, but nobody here has any love for VAG products. My Passat VR6 4Motion wagon has had exactly one mechanical failure that required a tow and that was covered by the extended warranty.

Comfortable, sporty, spacious, 300 hp AWD. Available for about the price you quoted. But go ahead and avoid it because of the perceived horribleness of everything VAG.

(can you tell I'm a little tired of the constant bashing I get )

Matrix/Vibe came with AWD and auto trans.
Would be Corolla reliable! But interior may be on the same level as Corolla, though it is different.

She won't go for a VW. She's scared of it. And frankly, with it being our only car, I am too--I've been stranded in an admittedly beat up B5 Passat. My cousin, a mechanical engineer who is hard on cars but does take care of them, has told everyone in his family to hit him with a 5 iron if he ever gets another Audi after his B5 A4. His dad had an allroad, and got so pissed with it he replaced it with a RAV-4 because it went all Audi on him (which was quickly replaced with a Subaru, because he hated the RAV-4 because it was boring)

The auto requirement really hurts your choices.

BMW automatics are nightmarish, skip them. They are a manual-only vehicle since they ditched the GM transmissions. VW automatics are not known for being robust either, the rest of the car aside, even the fans will tell you that. I can't tell you about any of the Infinitis or anything. You could look at like a Rav-4 or CR-V but they aren't known for fun, though they offer cockroach-like reliability.

As someone from just up the road in Milwaukee, you are really probably best off with a Subaru of some kind. They are goddamn everywhere around here for a reason, it seems.

Any Cute-Ute is probably the right answer. They often have tall sidewalls to their tires which is what you really need in a pot hole environment.
If the lady if the house will be driving this then I assure you that she will like the higher seating position offered by the Cute-Ute.

Quick search of CL with your requirements (excluding the mileage one) yields a lot of boring crappy sport cutes.......Except Saab 9-7x. Bunch of those, might be worth checking out. GM suv reliability with Saab quirky fun.

And I don't hold your VAG prejudice against you but honestly if they really were that bad nobody would ever buy them. My Allroad was a bit quirky and I wouldn't recommend one as an only car. The Phaeton was a maintenance intensive beast. But neither one ever stranded me and the B6 Passat really is a good car.

Mitsubishi Outlander?

Kia Sportage/Hyundai Tuscon?

Matrix?

Nissan Rogue?

If you're willing to go a bit older, what about a Chrysler Pacifica? Luxurious, AWD, V6, and actually pretty good to drive.

I've heard Pacificas called a lot of things "good to drive" wasn't one of them. (and yes, I did test drive one once, couldn't get it back to the dealership fast enough)

Yeah, Pacifica is out, as is anything Mitsubishi

Has the Nismo Juke depreciated into your price range yet?

The Power Search function of www.fueleconomy.gov might be helpful to you.
You can put in an age range, select awd and automatic and then set a minimum mpg.
It will then spit out choices.

So I'm gonna rant a little here. [rant] You don't need AWD! You don't need to waste fuel carrying around the weight and complexity of an AWD system for 80%+ of the time you'll never need AWD. The only thing AWD is gonna do is give you false confidence to do something stupid "because I have AWD" in the snow. AWD does nothing for traction on black ice.[/rant]

Okay now that's out of my system. You need a nice FWD car and a good set of snow tires.

I personally recommend a Mazda3 Hatchback with the Skyactive engine. The prices on the early ones are coming down and you should be able to pick up a higher mileage 2012 for near your 10K price point. We're getting about 38mpg average MPG with over 60k and nothing but oil changes in ours.

t25torx wrote: So I'm gonna rant a little here. [rant] You don't need AWD! You don't need to waste fuel carrying around the weight and complexity of an AWD system for 80%+ of the time you'll never need AWD. The only thing AWD is gonna do is give you false confidence to do something stupid "because I have AWD" in the snow. AWD does nothing for traction on black ice.[/rant] Okay now that's out of my system. You need a nice FWD car and a good set of snow tires. I personally recommend a Mazda3 Hatchback with the Skyactive engine. The prices on the early ones are coming down and you should be able to pick up a higher mileage 2012 for near your 10K price point. We're getting about 38mpg average MPG with over 60k and nothing but oil changes in ours.

Well, wifey works at a hospital. Not a doctor, but she should be there even in the bad storms. IF she isn't she gets vacation taken away. Last year she had to take the bus in the snow. Twice. If she had days when she could work from home, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But you can't administer a tube feed on a burn victim remotely.

Trust me. I drove a Miata with snow tires year round for 4 years in Chicago and Northern Illinois. For me, I didn't need AWD. Does she need it? No. But there are times when it is nice to have.

Aside from that, FWD and I do not get along.

rav4?

In going to agree with t25torx, here. Snow/winter tires trumps [unprepared] AWD. Which end the driving wheels are on is irrelevant, but RWD is certainly more fun, though.

Case in point: last winter, I never used 4WD in my Blizzak-shod Sonoma (admittedly, not by choice - the actuator puked). Many times, I was able to get through snowy, slushy intersections easier than Subarus, Audis, and other vehicles spinning All-Season tires on both ends.

But AWD with proper snow tires is just a riot.

I plugged your requirements into AutoTrader, and mostly got Subaru Legacies back. A couple of things I had forgotten about also came up, like the Acura RDX and the Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan/Lincoln MKZ.

The RX330 and Ford Escape Hybrid might also be worth considering, but those miss on the fun factor.

Suzuki SX4

All on Cars dot com, for <$12K, <80K miles, AWD, none SUV/CUV. There's also just about anything growing on the Subaru tree.

is250
MKZ
MKS
C300
X-Type
CTS
STS
G35x
G37x
Kizashi (CVT, yuck!)
Sable
Milan
XC70
S80
S60
335 XI (or other E90 with xDrive)
9-3 XWD

RealMiniParker wrote: In going to agree with t25torx, here. Snow/winter tires trumps [unprepared] AWD.

While 100% true, this gets trotted out around here a lot and is kinda bullE36 M3. It's not like the two options are mutually exclusive. Me? I have 2wd and snow tires. But if I had AWD I would still have snow tires.

But AWD with proper snow tires is just a riot.

Yes, yes it is.

I came here to say G35-7x, but bigdaddy covered that a whole lot more. Seems like they make an AWD version of most midsize sedans these days.

RealMiniParker wrote: In going to agree with t25torx, here. Snow/winter tires trumps [unprepared] AWD. Which end the driving wheels are on is irrelevant, but RWD is certainly more fun, though. Case in point: last winter, I never used 4WD in my Blizzak-shod Sonoma (admittedly, not by choice - the actuator puked). Many times, I was able to get through snowy, slushy intersections easier than Subarus, Audis, and other vehicles spinning All-Season tires on both ends. But AWD with proper snow tires is just a riot.

we do not get a lot of snow here down by Atlantic City, but I always run snowtyres on my Disco in the winter. Makes a -huge- difference in traction

I know you don't want to hear it but I think your best bet is going to be something with a Subie badge on the front. Also, it might be worth looking at a Jeep Patriot or Compass. They would be in your price range and meet mpg requirements.

92dxman wrote: I know you don't want to hear it but I think your best bet is going to be something with a Subie badge on the front. Also, it might be worth looking at a Jeep Patriot or Compass. They would be in your price range and meet mpg requirements.

Who said I didn't want to hear it?

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything

In reply to keethrax:

Notice I said unprepared AWD?