Alright guys looks like sometime this year I will be in the search for a new commuter car. Basically if I stay where I am at more than likely I will be commuting at least 45 miles most likely over a mountain that happens to have one of the deadliest passes in the state (Cabbage hill / Dead Mans pass). Not a ton of curves but a few fairly steep grades both up and down that tend to cause trucks to burnup their brakes. Another fun bit is we get a good deal of nasty ice on the roads up there and snow for oh five to six months a year at times.
So that being said what would you guys recommend for a commuter that would not suck out my soul every trip across the mountain that would also be commfortable and possibly awd. Subaru obviously comes to mind but then I live in Oregon and basically everyone has or has had one. Any other options from the collective? Keep in mind the thing will basically be climbing up and down a mountain everyday so things like good brakes and reasonable power are a must.
Geo Metro convertible! 
I see one everyday at my son's school. It's a bit ragged looking, though.
I don't think that could climb the mountain...and it would most certainly get run over by the local truckers 
I am kinda thinking it is going to be between an Audi and a Subie. I basically need to find something that is not soul suckingly bland for doing a drive like that on a daily basis. Heck if it wasn't for the ice and snow during such a large part of the year I would just get another 944.
EDIT: I should have made the title $10k mountain climb commuter
Well, I'm probably the only one on this board that would recommend the Audi over a Subie. Most economical choice would be an A4, but an A6 Avant or Allroad would be awesome.
Man. Can you narrow it down any more? Are four seats necessary?
Yeah, I'm afraid a mid-00's AUDI might not be soul-sucking, but will probably be wallet-sucking in a way that your price limit implies you might want to avoid. I know that consumer reports is not a beloved institution here, but if you check out their "cars to avoid" list it reads like a VAG dealer catalog through the first few years of this millennium.
A check in the Subaru column: anecdotally, they seem to do well in accidents. I know that early Subaru ABS (like, late '90's ish?) was not tuned well for ice/snow, a small amount of research should turn up when that was fixed. I do imagine that 10 grand probably buys you a new enough car to avoid that worry though.
In reply to poopshovel:
Not 100% required but it would be nice. Basically this will be to replace the Taurus that is currently our only rig that hauls more than two people. Mostly back seats will be used by young neice and nephew so two doors could work if back seats were at least somewhat usable.
We do live in a smaller community on the east side of the state so no dealers or local shops for either of those. But that is why we have mail order.
MazdaSpeed6 if you can find one.
Any Subaru is good, some mechanical issues you may want to plan for accordingly.
SAAB Turbo-X for the complete odd ball?
Alright I am home now and on a real computer not my tablet so I can write up a bit more.
Okay as mentioned the primary life of this rig is going to be scaling up and down a mountain twice a day five days a week 45 miles each way. The road in question can actually be fairly dangerous during the winter and has quite a few wrecks every week. It is also heavily travelled by big rigs including many "first timers" that have no idea how steep the grades are or how quick some of the corners come up. Being able to avoid situations caused by those that don't know the road requires having a nimble vehicle that has good brakes and abs system.
During the winter there is basically always ice and snow on the road lending to my preference of the vehicle having AWD. With the steep grades a vehicle that is low on power is a liability as it does not climb the hills as well and you end up having some idiot running up on you while they talk on their phone. Some of the areas that we run around to here in the valley are only accessible via dirt or gravel roads, some of which have dips, holes and bumps that would bottom out anything that sits to low (in some cases the Taurus is to low).
Locally we only have three car dealers, Chevy, Ford and Dodge. Also the only two in town parts shops are a NAPA and a Baxter's and both mainly only stock domestic parts most of the time. So more than likely most parts will need to be ordered online.
I am a big guy 6'2" with a long torso so low roof lines will not work so well for me unless you sit low in the car. Obviously with a commute like mine something that comes with all out sport style seats won't work. We also live basically in the middle of no where and the nearest real civilization is about two hours away. This is reinforced with having to use the car as our regular drive in rig. So being able to sit through two movies without getting sore would be nice.
As mentioned before four seats would be preferable though as it would mostly ever be young kids in the back two doors could work. No SUV's or similar rigs. I am really not a fan of wagons though I do have an odd attraction to the WRX wagons.
The $10k is not set in stone though I would prefer to not go into huge amounts of debt for a car that is basically going to be getting its wheels driven off on a daily basis.
