What car 49735238541: lowish dollar awd luxo edition

So my better half has decided she wants a new car. Well, not a new car, but a different car.

Currently she's riding around in 2003 Subaru Forester xs. Leather, cruise, all that stuff.

She'd like something similar. Not a full on SUV, not to big, not to ugly, still drives kinda fun, has space..... And a bunch of other really unhelpful thoughts as to what she'd actually be happy with.  Which really.... Leaves Subaru. She's not opposed to that, but the facelift SG Forester is ugly, so Is the next generation apparently.

I've shown her liberty wagons and sedans which she actually doesn't mind. She got pretty excited over a nice clean Black 06 liberty gt wagon and an 07 sedan.

Then, while trying to decipher what would tick the boxes of acceptable I showed her a bunch of stuff. Honda CRV... Nope, don't like it. Ford territory, not bad, but maybe to big. Lexus rx330/350, not really her cup of tea. Neither of us like the Nissan offerings.... Aside from maybe a Stagea wagon, but good luck finding one, and then even better luck finding one at the right price worth owning. Mazda doesn't really have anything in the price range that fits the bill. Didn't like the Toyota RAV4's.

Then a BMW X5 shows up, well that's kinda sexy apparently. Ok, I tried the Merc SUVs... Nope, don't like. And then Volkswagen got quite a positive response for both Tiguan and Touareg.

So where I've got to is. Subaru works, it's a known quantity, good part availability, interchangeability and affordability, reliable (head gaskets aside)

Stagea is highly unlikely. ford territory could be an ok option, but she's not currently enamored with them

The euro contenders are attractive but somewhat daunting. And realistically the crux of why I'm here asking/rambling at you all.

The first gen BMW X5, what can you tell me to sell me or dissuade me on them. Same goes for the VW options of first gen Tiguan and Touareg. Any first hand experience with any of those would be greatly received. 

Is there any reason I should steer her away from or towards the euro options over Subaru? 

Is there any obvious cars that have been missed? Remembering that I'm in Australia and the offerings here can be quite different to what's available in the US. 

TL.dr: what car should my partner get next that is sub $10k, has awd, is available on Australia, is a little bit luxury ( think leather, cruise, climate control etc) and isn't going to be a complete nightmare to own, drive or repair.

Did you get the B6 Passat?   VR6 motor and AWD, similar size to the Outback but much nicer to drive.   Mine just passed 170k miles.

In reply to KyAllroad :

We did, though her parents have a Passat wagon, so I may have a hard time selling her on a Passat. I'd probably have more luck trying to sell her on an Audi allroad (yep same cars more or less, but logic won't apply here)

If Stagea might be in the running, don't forget the Legnum and twin turbo Legacy. ALthough the latter isn't really a luxury vehicle.

I've never had a Mercedes and I'm not a deep fainboi of Mercedes but if I was shopping on looks and that look held the Forester as a standard...

This 2010 Mercedes GLK has very Forester-like dimensions:

Was the Mercedes GLK ever offered in Australia?

EDIT: Ooops,  this GLK wiki entry says: The GLK-Class is not sold in RHD markets, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, due to a driveshaft used to operate the front wheels on 4WD versions of the GLK. It is positioned such that it occupies the same space as the steering column for RHD models, and as such the two configurations are not compatible with each other.

How about something from the lifted Volvo wagons?  Did you get the Volvo XC 70's in Australia?  

Really, the only answer is Volvo.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

The legnum is cool, but a quick search puts it in the category of harder to find than the Stagea.

The legacy was sold here as liberty and is one of the few sedans she has actually looked at and liked alot, also likes the wagon. The heritage 3rd gens and gt 4th gens both seem to have enough to tick off her version of luxury. 

In reply to John Welsh :

Damn, that Merc is nice! It's a shame it didn't find its way out here.

I've tried showing her Volvo's but they normally get a pretty like warm response. I showed her an 850 wagon, nope.... But its got pretty much the same styling as a Stagea.... Nope.

Interestingly though, the XC90 and the newer XC60 both got pretty good reactions. But I have a feeling she'll baulk at the size of a 90 in the flesh.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

It's not the wrong answer, but logic isn't the top of her list here unfortunately. I can show her 2 cars the same in 2 different colours and go from a hard no to a "hey, I like that"

I missed the bmw X3 last night, wether that is better or worse than the X5 I've got to do some looking.

On the bmw front. Plenty of x5's here came with the m54 3.0 inline 6, manuals aren't unobtainable (is the auto a box of trouble?) And the 6's also tended to come with coil spring suspension as opposed to the air suspension in the v8's. Ditching the air ride and the V8 seems to remove alot of the bad that the x5's are known for.

Touareg will be to big I think, and research says 1st gen Touaregs can be the stuff of nightmares. Tiguan is still  research in progress.

I presume it doesn't get a bunch below freezing there, so a BMW might be OK.  I could probably ship you a carrier ship full of X5s with blown engines from here in the great white north.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

You presume fairly correctly. It'd be a rare day that it drops below 25f where I'm living. It does drop below freezing occasionally, but definitely not for days and weeks on end. 

I'm assuming the blown engine's are mostly v8's? What's taking them out? If either the X3 or X5 get across the line it'll be one with an m54 or m57 engine