What kind of car do I want?

I sold my 300SDL I had been daily driving because I was ready to move on to something else that needed less work to be reliable enough, but now I need to find a replacement.  I currently have a slightly broken Boxster than I intend on repairing for occasional use until it dies or I get tired of it, and a Subaru Legacy Outback that I recently did a bunch of work to but something has failed in the front suspension/steering that is too loose to drive, but not loose enough to find the problem, so I'm going to blindly throw a few more parts it it in the hope of getting lucky but it is probably dead (or at least not of further use to me). 

I would like a vehicle that gets 20 mpg or better, will do 0-60 in 8 seconds or faster (after driving a bunch of different cars, that's about the threshold to safely deal with the metering lights on my commute to work), is capable of driving on average to poor condition forest service roads (a stock 4x4 Tacoma on street tires will easily do anything I would want to do as far as that goes), and is available for ~$15k used (budget to pay cash plus have money for repairs and maintenance), or ~$30k new (budget to pay off a loan in 5 years). 

Other than being too slow the Subaru was fine for what I wanted, but the CVT ones are terrible and the manual Crosstrek is too slow.  I wanted to get a 2 door manual base model Bronco but they are apparently vaporware for the foreseeable future, and I saw a 4 door one in person and the build quality was disappointing.  I only have to drive about 9 miles to work so I could buy another $5k beater car and rotate between that and the Boxster and replace as necessary, but I want to buy a car that doesn't always need parts that take 2 weeks to get before being able to travel, go camping, etc because working on cars is fun to do at my convenience, but annoying to have do before being able to do something else id rather be doing.

The best Toyota / Honda you can get for your $$$  

In reply to dean1484 :

A 3rd gen 4runner with 300k, a 4th gen with 200k or a first gen Tacoma seem to be about the only choices in that range.  A possibility for sure, but I am not sure a 15 year old 4runner would solve the problem of not wanting to work on cars I want to use to actually do things.  Anything new is closer to $40k.

A mid teens Grand Caravan with the 3.6 will do 0-60 in 8.1s seconds. 17 city. 25 highway.

Tk8398 said:

I sold my 300SDL I had been daily driving because I was ready to move on to something else that needed less work to be reliable enough, but now I need to find a replacement.  I currently have a slightly broken Boxster than I intend on repairing for occasional use until it dies or I get tired of it, and a Subaru Legacy Outback that I recently did a bunch of work to but something has failed in the front suspension/steering that is too loose to drive, but not loose enough to find the problem, so I'm going to blindly throw a few more parts it it in the hope of getting lucky but it is probably dead (or at least not of further use to me). 

I would like a vehicle that gets 20 mpg or better, will do 0-60 in 8 seconds or faster (after driving a bunch of different cars, that's about the threshold to safely deal with the metering lights on my commute to work), is capable of driving on average to poor condition forest service roads (a stock 4x4 Tacoma on street tires will easily do anything I would want to do as far as that goes), and is available for ~$15k used (budget to pay cash plus have money for repairs and maintenance), or ~$30k new (budget to pay off a loan in 5 years). 

Other than being too slow the Subaru was fine for what I wanted, but the CVT ones are terrible and the manual Crosstrek is too slow.  I wanted to get a 2 door manual base model Bronco but they are apparently vaporware for the foreseeable future, and I saw a 4 door one in person and the build quality was disappointing.  I only have to drive about 9 miles to work so I could buy another $5k beater car and rotate between that and the Boxster and replace as necessary, but I want to buy a car that doesn't always need parts that take 2 weeks to get before being able to travel, go camping, etc because working on cars is fun to do at my convenience, but annoying to have do before being able to do something else id rather be doing.

With today's low interest rates really consider looking at new.  The interest rates are just about the rate of inflation and likely to be below inflation in the near future.  
   New comes with a warrantee, so for the foreseeable future you won't be fixing or waiting on parts.  New cars realistically last 20 years or 200,000 miles without a lot of maintenance.  But there is a catch.  You need to do the required service work. Oil changes etc. do those with good quality when they are due and you'll get those years and miles. 
     Now how much can you afford?  Remember no repairs for at least 60,000 + miles.  So you do need to have that emergency fund you have now for the unexpected repair.  Plus new cars have safety stuff older cars don't. I was paying more for insurance on my 20 year old truck than my new one cost.  
     Now how about something like a Chevy Bolt.   Electricity is Penny cheap.  Around here neighbors with EV's say they spend $20-25 more for electricity per month but save $100-150 a month at the gas station. 
   That Bolt will more than meet your speed requirement. 

I don't think a new car would last 20 years/200k as a reliable daily driver, most 2000 cars are very rough at this point, I'd plan on about 10-12 years and be happy with that.  I don't need a new car to get to work, I can do that with literally anything that is functional enough to drive safely, but I want a car to use for things I would enjoy doing. 

The problem is any car that will do that (ok gas mileage, sufficient power for freeway driving and capable of mild off-pavement stuff) is closer to $45k (and even still a compromise at that point).  I could barely afford it, but wouldn't have enough extra money to use it for any of the stuff I wanted a new car for. 

Electric is not for me yet, I regularly drive enough I would have to charge once or twice in a day, so it wouldn't be able to replace a gas car.  I could drive one to work if they had more charging stations but I would still need a gas car for travel, camping, etc. 

CRV?  RAV4?  The Tacoma that you mentioned - get an early 2000s that has been maintained and mileage really won't be an issue IMO.  

In reply to Caprigrip :

V6 RAV4 is one I want to try driving, a new Tacoma is about $36k, and considering the condition of the borrowed 2011 with 130k miles on it I have been driving I couldn't afford a Tacoma I'd have the time to work on.  I just checked craigslist earlier and an 05 with 100k more miles was $14k.