step-daughter has one and camps out of it...very reliable and good on fuel and does well on semi-offroad. when I say off-road for the Forester, I mean more of the unpaved service roads and fire roads, etc.
slightly bigger tires would help clearance some.
not a bad platform to work with and it does have decent room in it considering its a car. I had a Subaru in highschool back in the 80s and it was very reliable and the engine was very tough...I abused it like a teenager is supposed to and it took it with no problems