I bought a 2013 Subaru Forester and love it. This is actually our 2nd Forester, we have a 2002 also. I bought the base model because I'm not into bells and whistles (sun roofs and such just seem to me like things that will malfunction at some point), and the price was right at under $23K. I test drove the CR-V as well, and it had some nice touches that the Subaru lacked, but the Forester has the best visibility by far. My DH's Mazda 3 annoys me because of its blind spots. And for some reason the CR-V seemed larger than the Forester, in a way that I didn't like. I got an automatic this time (my first), and while it lacks some of the "oomph" I can get out of a manual, for city driving (and even busy freeway driving) it is so nice. The Outbacks are nice too, but I didn't want to pay that much more. Installing an after-market hitch on the Forester was no big deal (U-Haul).