elfs | Anyone got any car advice?

Omaha and I are thinking about buying a new car. The Ford Escort, which was 4 year old when we bought it, has been a reliable friend now for ten years, but it's time to let it go. Fuel economy is down 10%, there's a slow oil leak in the front, a worrisome rythmic sound from the bearings when turning left, and the rear defogger doesn't work. That said, it still gets 28MPG in mixed driving, the cabin is roomy and comfortable, braking and handling are excellent, the stereo sounds pretty good, and the trunk space is amazing. (A friend of mine once said that, having decided that trunk space was important, would tell salesdweebs, "Don't show me any car where the trunk can't handle two bodies." This both set his criteria and rattled the salesdweeb.)

Our current list of makes and models is:

Subaru Outback (2008, 2009)
Toyota Matrix (2008, 2009)
Subaru Legacy (2009)
Pontiac Vibe (2009) - may have road noise issues
Subaru Forester (2009)
Mitsubishi Outlander (2008, 2009) - may have road noise issues

The comments are there because road noise has always been an issue with the Escort. While obviously not so annoying that the car was a flop (actually, the Escort was always a best-seller, even when it morphed into the Focus line), it was the single most annoying thing about our car in all the years we had it.

Anyone out there have any experience with any of these cars? Any tips or recommendations? All of these are family-of-four-with-sporting-equipment models, station wagons and car-frame SUVs with decent mileage and excellent ratings from Consumer Reports, which is where we started.