If you have a car you can use for a while, why not wait and see if you'll actually need AWD? I didn't want to take the gas mileage hit of AWD, and am very happy with the new family car - a Jetta Sportwagen TDI. It approaches 40 mpg in mixed driving. But - I don't live somewhere it snows a lot. I looked at Subies too, and the best I was seeing was in the 25 mpg range (and the reviews I read indicated that was a stretch).