Considering you have a '98 Audi right now, I'd assume you are going to get a newer model year. My wife and I just bought a '99 forester. The '98 is a model I'd avoid, personally. It was a DOHC is unique among Forresters for that. I like to be more of a main-stream'er. If you are looking for an '03 or later, I believe that was the year that the headgasket thing was licked (more or less).
Here is why my wife and I love our forester: Tons of room, pretty good mileage (less than thirty, more than twenty-two) for its size/shape, handles like a dream, bad weather is never an issue. Easy to work on! Basic Maintanence is a dream. Only car I've owned with a drain plug for the AT fluid.
But what I really love is that its practically the definition of versatile. It holds a ton of cargo. It drives phenominally on any kind of roads. But my wife and I can go camping in just about any area of Colorado without issue. Camping is so much nicer when you can drive 200 miles on roads, and then hit the logging roads and still get great mileage.
I've had a toyota, honda, ford, jeep, and a chevy. My wife and I will always have a subaru. I highly recommend them to anyone.
The only caveat is to make sure you change the timing belt when you are supposed to. Its a bit spendy, but it doesn't need to be done till you have 105k miles (or so) on it.
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