Subarus are awesome cars. Nobody else makes any direct competition. If you disagree with that, and think there's comparable options, just walk away from the Subarus, because you're not using what you're paying for...
Subarus were never meant to be long lived, high mileage vehicles. They're top out a lot sooner than other makes.
The problem with ALL newer cars is that the idea of "fixing one up" is not feasible. It changes by make, and even by models within a make, but the last cars that were "simple enough" to "fix up" and "keep up with" when they get old is 2000 through 2015 models. And older than that, yes, you can still replace (almost) everything, the market is small, and "good" parts have dried up. And you're into the neverending circle of aftermarket parts, where they have a life span that is NOT convenient for a vehicle that you intend to get high miles out of...
The time to get rid of a car is three years out (any miles) when the payments are done and you own it, 70 or 80 thousand miles where potential buyers aren't scared of "high miles", or 10 years, where OEMs pretty much cut off all but the most popular part numbers. OR, drive it past 10 years, up to 150 thousand miles, get out from under it before it shows rust (on a walk around, not so much a thorough inspection), where there's a good auction price. That's kind of the dollars per mile points. There's also this- When a modern car starts to nickle and dime, it's not nickles and dimes anymore. It's three, four, sometimes five figures to do what used to be routine repairs. "Waiting that out", and "keeping up with it" until you can get another good run often costs more than buying a newer one straight up.
The old rules of DIY or professional "keeping a car going" are not the same as they used to be. Not even close.
Personal opinion, given what you've said about the car, given how they get before they have things "start to go", given how "not far" they go before "more things start to go" after the first round is caught up with... I'd plan to A, drive that car with no repairs until it stopped working or I couldn't get it inspected, or B, I'd let it go.
Personally, my "fleet"- I've ALWAYS bought CHEAP rats that somebody gave up on, and literally made nice vehicles out of them. The electronics don't bother me in the sense that I have tooling, service information, and 35 years in auto, mostly truck, and some equipment repair. It's all different, but when you get it... That doesn't scare me. (I despise it, I miss my old Ranger... The ONLY thing automatic on that was the self canceling blinkers...) But new doesn't scare me because it's what I do. The maintenance cost for older vehicles is creaping up dramatically, and the repair cost, while often lower per visit, involves unreliable replacements, ALWAYS having to order out for stuff (need a second car anyhow...), and constantly being in the shop. If you've got five parts with a 20 or 30 K life span... How many times in a month is that in the shop? It adds up fast. Plus the big bonus, the flat out easter egg hunts looking for obsolete things.
I'd suggest that your Subaru, right now, has as much residual value in it as it's ever going to have going forward. What's the trade in, and how many months/years do you need to get to recover that if you keep running it.....
No car is perfect, but if you want to buy something, drive it for ten years with nothing but (ALL) required maintenances (Don't skip, new stuff doesn't "recover" like old stuff does), and what you really want is to just drive it for ten years- Toyota or Honda. They're good, they keep parts available for as long as the cars typically hold out (and their market segment tends to hang on to cars), they're a little high on individual repairs (not really much in the big picture, but a little), but you'll be banking all the time in between because the repairs are very infrequent. They don't want much except the scheduled maintenance in the owner's manual. Either one, whatever fits your needs, they're just good.
Unless.... Unless you really NEED that subaru. What kind of driving does your wife do? To be completely honest.... Most Subaru owners buy them on the premise of their foul weather capability, and drive them on mostly maintained, paved roads. That's NOT a challenge for any all wheel drive vehicle these days. Most Subarus never deliver what makes them excpetional. It's kinda like a club that's left over from when they were (almost) the only game in town in that department. Not so any more. They're good, but if you're not blazing trails (which I don't recommend in a car anyhow), you're not cashing on on what Subaru gives you in exchange for the higher maintenance and shorter longevity.
