What car? v. awd,slushbox for the parents

I got rear ended very hard while driving my parents 1999 rav4 the other day. Only ~70k on the clock and I'm hoping insurance will give us 7-8k for it. (I'm assuming they'll total it out as the trunk floor is scrunched up. I couldn't even re-hang the muffler after the accident and the exhaust hanger wasn't even close to where it should be.

Requirements would be automatic, reliable as gravity, awd, good mpgs.

My current favorite is the vibe awd/matrix awd.

Tie for 2nd would be a 02+ cr-v but i'm sketched out by high mileage honda auto transmissions and it's more difficult to find one in the price range

And of course a newer rav4

I apologize for my poor sentence structure/thought process I have a mild head injury.

Aside from your CRV/RAV4 thoughts, I'd drag them past the Subaru lot to see if they have anything used in that price range, a '05-08 Legacy/Outback would probably be the sweet spot, with a '03+ Forester being a close second. The Honda and Toyota would likely be cheaper to maintain, of course.

Do all subaru's run off of a timing belt still? I'm not familiar with the maintenance schedule for those guys. And do the newer 05+ 2.5s still have headgasket issues?

Timing belt is a yes on everything but the new RB series engines(newest Impreza and Forester). Belt interval is 60k on DOHC cars, 105k on SOHC cars. Headgaskets on '05+ normally aspirated cars are about as good as most any other car, '04 was about the last of the crapshoot cars. The turbos have had better headgaskets all along.

Awesome, I really want to get a subaru. Great mpg, real awd, reliable and safe.

Rear passenger room is going to be less than in the matrix/rav/cr-v but we'll see if i can convince my parents.