I own a 1993 Ford Lightning that is basically useless for normal driving activities, but I love it and its paid for + it tows my boat to the lake. I want to keep miles off it and have something more suited for normal DD status, road trips, etc. I'm really attracted to wagons and started looking at Audi A4 and VW Sportwagons, but at my initial $10K price point I was told to steer clear of anything German. That led me towards Subaru wagons and Acura TSX wagons. The more I look at the Acura the more I like it, but they are $5-10K more than I wanted to spend... I can afford that as I will be paying cash, but the more I save the better right!?! Acura seems to be a lot of car for the money too! If I went Subi I would lean towards Legacy GT's for the engine, but that would also be a problem as I'd want to throw money at it for performance mods.
I don't really have a need for AWD either and the GT wagons seem to be harder to come by.
So here are my criteria...
Good mileage 25 MPG or better.
4 doors... Leaning towards wagons.
Easy to maintain as I tend to do the work myself.
Fun to drive meaning no minivans or other lame cars.
Would like to keep it around $10K, but could double that if a particular car was worth the extra expense.
What say WW's? Give me your input!