Probably a good choice... The Foresters are a good all around car. They last longer than their keys if you take care of them.

Personally I would have gone for the outback if you wanted something for occasional offroad. The outback has the 3.6 liter H6... (Still mad that they don't make the Forester XT anymore - aka - Forester with a WRX engine)

While they make decent trail vehicles, the AWD system ultimately limits where they can go. X-mode helps, but ultimately no locker will limit you. Also, no armor.

That said, Subaru's driver assist and technology integration is top notch for their price point. Eyesight's adaptive cruise is freakin awesome in traffic... Cruise control from 80mph all the way down to 5mph then back to 80mph? Yes please.