2025 Subaru Outback vs Subaru Forester vs Hyundai Tuscon vs Ford Escape

My beloved 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis is finally starting to show its age, so I've been vehicle shopping for the first time in my life.

Feel like I want to get an SUV or something similar to alleviate some of the hassles I had trying to camp with the Mercury (cargo space, light off-roading, etc). I've shopped around and narrowed it down to the four in the title. RAV4 was the worst to me (felt every bump, and it felt very firm, plus didn't care for the interior), CRV felt very boring, I loved the Sportage but the dealers were not great and it seems it'll just be annoying to actually get what I want, the CX5 and CX50 were fine but unremarkable (and I'm not a fan of most of their interior color pairings). I initially felt the Forester was unremarkable but got talked into a second look at it as well as the Outback, and they've both made it back onto my shortlist.

Lifestyle: Georgia, just outside Atlanta, but regularly travel to rural parts of the state. Probably 55% Urban driving, 30% urban driving on interstates, 10% driving on long interstate stretches, 5% rural driving. Like to do camping and light off-roading at parks and stuff, but nothing like rock crawling (it's all been stuff even my Mercury could handle, though I guess it would be nice to be able to do a bit more). Need to haul large items occasionally. No need to tow. Not terribly concerned with getting the best fuel savings, though stopping less often for gas would be a plus for the time saved.

Ford Escape -- 2.0L Ecoboost. This is the only one I haven't test driven yet. A little worried about its space/size. I generally like how the interior is setup, and I like its colors inside and out. Base engine seems like it'd have good power. But I've heard these have also been known to be problematic.

Hyundai Tucson -- Nonhybrid. Straight up, I just can't deal with the noise the hybrid makes. I know that sounds nitpicky, but both the beeping and spaceship sound drive me insane. (And the gas savings aren't a top consideration for me. I'm more concerned with ride, safety, features, reliability, and comfort, and I don't mind paying a bit more for that.) Loved how it drove, though. So then I testdrove the ICE version, and the engine sounded very noisy and like it was working way too hard just to pass on the highway. But otherwise, I love the interior of the vehicle and the ride/steering. This alongside the Sportage were my top two picks when I was considering the Hybrid, but now that I knocked Hybrid off my list, I'm not sure about the ICE version.

Subaru Forester -- As I said, I had knocked this off my list. It was my first test drive alongside the Sportage, so I think it just got overshadowed by how much I enjoyed driving that. Upon returning to the dealership, I found the Outback to handle well enough, and by association I've added the Forester back onto the list since I appreciate it's visibility, design, and abilities light off-roading. Not a fan of the infotainment, so might even back up a year or two on it if I were to go with Forester.

Subaru Outback -- Didn't get to test the turbocharged engine, but I want to. It felt adequate enough in testing, but since on paper I think it's relatively similar to the Tucson's base engine, I'm worried it's going to ultimately feel like a chore to pass or merge, so the turbocharged engine is the primary reason I'm looking at the Outback now. Don't love the infotainment/climate controls, and the interior feels very blah. Seats weren't as comfy as Tucson, but they did well enough to be fine for my needs. Feel like this would also be the closest of the bunch to my Mercury in terms of driving experience (both being boats, basically).