Subarus are very popular in New England, but my personal experience (good friends have 2) is that they are sluggish on the highway and we couldn't really fit 4 bikes and luggage for 4 people going on a trip in the station wagon.
I had a 4 runner for 6 years. I loved it. Drove great in heavy blizzards and my son drove it to races all over New England. No need to take the wheel off.
I would personally go for the new Rav 4. It's much bigger than the previous models and you get Toyota reliability.