richthevet

Hey,

I need to replace my car, at present I'm in a 3 series BMW estate covering about 30,000 miles a year on mainly A roads and country lanes. Unfortunately the engine on the beemer has given up so now looking for something slightly more suitable to my job (i'm a vet) which can involve driving down rough farm tracks. I would like something with a bit more ground clearance than a normal estate so I stop scraping the bottom of the car, and with 4 wheel drive for the winter ice and snow. Ideally I guess I'd get a diesel subaru but the new diesels are still out of my price range, so am considering petrol engines and I've got a couple of questions:
1. does the Legacy have any extra ground clearance compared to a normal estate car ie bmw or audi or should I get an Outback or a Forester?
2. what sort of mpg do people get from their Outbacks and Legacys over say 10,000 miles? The 320d beemer did about 42mpg which, (rough calculations) worked out at about £4300 a year in diesel to cover 30,000 miles - Average 500 miles per tank, £72 to fill a tank (at about 119p/L), 60 tanks of fuel x £72 = £4320. Does anyone know roughly what it would cost to do the same in a petrol subaru with a 2.0L engine?