Will you mainly use your car in a city environment? In that case is top speed not so relevant, a smaller engine size sufficient, and is smaller car size preferred due to small parking spaces. On the other hand, if you need to travel longer distances, on highways, then a larger car with more luxury, more powerful engine, will exhaust you less during longer trips. Which makes you feel better when you arrive and step out of the car. What will be your main use cases for the car? If sturdiness and long life reliability are important topics, then the Japanese brands are generally preferred.
My $.02... I've had a Subaru Outback (6-cyl) for 7 years. Has been trouble free. Roomy enough to carry a Costco haul home or take 3 dogs to the vet. Leather seating. Good stereo, A/C and heater. Lotta bang for the buck. Have had half-dozen people ask to buy it off of me (of course not at a premium price, mind you). Wifey suggests we "trade it in on something newer". I say NO. Whatever we get will be only newer and more costly... likely not better. BTW... According to auto insurance companies here... THE #1 insured vehicle in Colorado (Unfortunetly I had to put a sticker on the bumper... "I'm not a Lefty school teacher"... very popular with those folk.) FWIW....
Colorado is one of the states- like Oregon- where you see people with a car worth two thousand with a bicycle worth six thousand on the roof. Of course, one of the major, major appeals of an outback or forester in areas such as Colorado is due to four very important factors: snow, snow, snow, and more frigging snow.
Colorado has been "Californicated" to be much like them and Oregon, sadly.... but that's another story. The Outback is not just a "snow car". I live in a small town south-east of Denver... kind of "under the dome" where many/most snow storms pass over without dumping here. Outback is not only good in snow, it's also a good all-around vehicle.
That's a common view of many. However the fact is... while the mountains and ski slopes get plenty of snow, we get hardly any at all just onto the eastern plains. Have had couple of years where I ran my snow blower only once during the winter. It's almost shocking how little snow we get.... especially compared to how much outsiders "think" we get.