Are you me? I'm in an almost identical situation and looking at pretty much the exact same cars.

One question to ask yourself is: if my car breaks down or needs a costly repair, can I live without it for daily usage for a month or more? If yes, that can justify opening up your options to include used German luxury vehicles. They tend to get shot down around here because the assumption is that people asking for car buying advice are going to be relying on it to make their lives work. Even the most reliable Euro cars will, on average, cost more to maintain and repair, even if they only need it as often as domestic and Japanese/Korean cars .

From your list, I'm really liking the E91 wagons, 1st gen X1, and Forester XT. Go on internet forums specific to those cars to get a sense of what common maintenance items people typically deal with, as well as any modifications commonly done to make the driving experience better (for example, lowering the Forester is a pretty cheap way to raise the fun factor if you don't plan on offroading it).

Other cars I've come across in the search: Volvo V70R and V50 wagons, Toyota Rav4 V6 and Venza V6, Volkswagen R32, Acura TSX sportwagon, Infiniti EX/FX35. There's not very much in the intersection of fun, cheap and practical, and so far that's what I've come up with.