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The 3 series wagon is butt ugly. A3/A4 wagon all the way, IMO.

 

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Very slim pickings with those criteria. People who have Volvo and Subaru wagons tend to hang onto them. Finding a low-mileage used one is rare.

The last-gen Forester is a good suggestion. They're smaller than the Outback/Legacy. Anything Audi or BMW will likely break the budget.

Naw, you can get a CPO 3-series/A3/A4 with low miles for 30k easily. Plus you let someone else eat all of the initial depreciation, which is win.

 

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Or a one-off lease Impreza. :yesway:

 

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Lexus IS, Lexus IS F SPORT | 2014 | Design & Safety Features

Something like this:

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detai...dId=34023&sf1Dir=DESC&aff=national&listType=1

 

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Also, FWIW I get about ~27MPG highway out of my 3-series, which is AWD. You'll have a hard time finding something decent that gets in the 30s without being FWD or some flavor of hybrid.

 

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So, what'd you end up going with, Josh's Dad?