Well Zeus it's all about compromise I must say. If it were up to me, we'd be picking up a 1997 40th Anniversary Land Cruiser (look it up and check out how much offroad gear comes standard!) or another VX (). Sadly neither of those vehicles meets her minimum mileage standard (she wants 30+, they get 12/14 and 15/18 respectively). Personally I'm against hybrid technology since who knows how expensive that crap will be to replace some day (and we'd be buying used so it's an issue that's important to us). And these plug-in hybrids that are coming out over the next few years don't give you much distance (remember we drive to Wisconsin from Virginia 2X each year) and still rely on coal-powered electrical plants to get their energy.

So unless we want to get a sedan (blah, ultra-boring), we're looking at something with a diesel powerplant. Generally speaking that eliminates your choices down to wagons and SUVs made by the Euro-brands (BMW, MB, Audi) all of which are pretty pricey, both in terms of purchase price and repairs.

So it seems to me that this is an intriguing option depending on how the price and quality issues shake out. It's projected to cost $20K, get 29-30 MPG, and have at least an AWD transmission (not enough for off-roading I know, but good for winter nonetheless). That said, I'll gladly entertain suggestions.