Onkey is that the 175 hp non-turbo engine? I would guess that's enough engine for that car, particularly with a stick. The XT Ltd.'s turbo seems like the hot rod version of the Outback. You pay a fairly stiff premium for it too - but you get a faster Outback. I would have preferred the BMW AWD 3 series wagon, but that would have gone over $35K and it would have put me in another Euro car. I do love Volvos/BMWs/Saab (owned 'em all) but we put 5 GRAND in 'minor' repairs on my '98 Volvo between 130K and 160K miles (a 'minor' repair on a Volvo is anything under $1200 or so).

On a Scoobysnack you change the oil (if you remember that is) and the car runs 250K+ miles. OK, maybe you have to replace the shocks @ 190K.

And here's the interesting part: 5-10 years back, I didn't think the Japanese cars weren't nice enough for me. The Saabs/Volvos etc. were that much nicer than the Toyotas/Hondas/Subarus. Not now. The Japanese cars have made huge strides in design. So they are starting to eat the Euro companies' lunch too. VW is getting totally slammed in dropping sales. And their cars don't suck. They're gorgeous. But they BREAK. And then they're expensive to fix.

You make cars that break and consumers will gravitate to the ones that don't. I have all Japanese cars in my driveway now. And I've been a Euro car weenie for 20 years. I think they call that 'the handwriting on the wall'. I wonder if they're reading it in Stuttgart and Sweden?