The big story with the 2014 Subaru Forester is that you get a lot of car for the money. Just $24,320 buys a spacious crossover with plenty of cargo room, all-wheel drive, heated front seats, Bluetooth, and a backup camera. Getting that level of equipment on rival all-wheel-drive crossovers would cost considerably more. While the Forester is hardly a sexy or exciting vehicle, it represents very good value.

As our feelings for the 2013 Subaru BRZ warmed up, we apparently heated the car enough to cause some condensation. That's right; trapped condensation once again forced us to have the taillight replaced. At least this time we didn't have to wait several months for the part, and it's still covered under the warranty. We hope that the third time's the charm for this taillight problem.

It's fairly common that our feelings toward the sports cars in our Four Seasons fleet mirror the temperature outside. When the weather is warm, the logbooks fill with praise. When the snow starts flying, most sporty cars get an icy reception. Our Subaru BRZ has been an exception, however, as it's managed to defrost some of the cold comments we printed earlier this winter. Let's delve into what made us change our tune.

The Subaru WRX is back (at least in concept car form), and it's more aggressive than ever.

While there are lots of midsize sedans, if you’re looking for one with all-wheel drive, your choices shrink dramatically. In fact, outside of the luxury brands, there are only two: the Ford Fusion and the Subaru Legacy. Ford offers all-wheel drive on the premium-spec Fusion, the Titanium, which is equipped with the top engine, Ford’s 2.0-liter EcoBoost turbo four. At Subaru, all-wheel drive is standard on the Legacy, as it is on every Subaru save the BRZ. Thus, you can get an all-wheel-drive Legacy with either the base 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine or the optional 3.6-liter six.

The 2013 Subaru Legacy has a revised engine with a smidge more power than the 2012 version, and a new continuously variable transmission designed to be more responsive and more efficient. The engine sometimes vocalizes the asthmatic wheezing that is typical of four-cylinder engines strained by CVTs, but overall it's a smooth powertrain that provides more than adequate acceleration. I still love the way this car drives: the Legacy is pleasant and inoffensive, yet it offers just a touch better steering and suspension balance than in typical midsize sedans, making it feel like a special choice in its class.

To be honest, this isn't what I had planned for the Subaru BRZ's January update. I'm parked on I-90 in a whiteout blizzard wondering how well the snow tires will work in the rapidly accumulating snow -- if I ever get moving again.

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Six years is the standard life span for a new car design, but the current Subaru Forester, which went on sale in early 2008, is being ushered off stage one year early. This is despite the fact that the departing Forester has sold much better than its gawky, wagonlike predecessors and even in its last year accounted for nearly a quarter of the brand's volume. The new Forester, wisely, does little to threaten that success, instead largely building on the previous car's strengths, the better to face the fleet of big-name competitors in this ever-more-popular segment.

Last month we weren't feeling much love for the Subaru BRZ. There were complaints about virtually every aspect of the car, a fairly common problem in the middle months of a Four Seasons test. This month, as the season's first snow fell in Ann Arbor, some of us were ready to rekindle the old flame.

After living with a 2013 Subaru BRZ Premium for five months, we've noticed a few problems with the car. The day after our last monthly update, we had to order a replacement right taillight because ours filled with condensation. A simple fix, right? Sure, if you can find the part, which is currently back-ordered until January. A minor problem, but our new car no longer looks so new.

The Subaru Forester was among the leading wave of compact crossovers in the late 1990s, but it was hardly the definition of the segment. As the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V wrote the rules that would be followed by every major mainstream automaker for the coming decades, the Forester marched to its own wagon-like beat. Riding on the Impreza platform, the original Forester resembled a car more than an SUV.

The 2013 Subaru BRZ's late fall introduction last year meant it narrowly missed being a part of our 2012 Automobile of the Year testing, yet we knew a car of this pedigree warranted a year-long examination even before we'd had a chance to hand it any awards. When it came time for our 2013 AOY testing, we'd already spent four months with our long-term car and the BRZ was a staff favorite heading into the weeklong event. While it's unusual to use a Four Seasons car for AOY evaluation, it's not easy finding an idle BRZ or Scion FR-S and so our Subaru made the trip to South Haven, Michigan, for a week in early October.

With all the hype surrounding the BRZ, you'd almost be forgiven for thinking Subaru has never offered a car that appealed to enthusiasts before. While Subaru cars may be most closely associated with Whole Foods and dog parks to the average person, the brand is widely known for its rally heritage and WRX STI model among driving enthusiasts. Sandon Voelker, our videographer and WRX STI owner, borrowed our BRZ for a weekend to see how the rear-wheel drive sports car felt in comparison to his all-wheel drive turbocharged hatchback.

It used to be that when you thought of Subaru, you thought of the Legacy. In fact, as recently as five years ago it was the best-selling nameplate in the Subaru lineup. Then Subaru decided that the Legacy and the Outback needed to be distinct models, with the result that the Outback wagon now outsells the Legacy sedan by more than a two to one margin, which isn't hard to believe, because the Outback, with its wagon body style and more rugged demeanor, is a more versatile vehicle than the Legacy sedan.

Let's begin with a confession: we never put the BRZ back on its stock tires after the SCCA ProSolo event. We had some track time scheduled a few days after ProSolo and it seemed like a waste to swap back to the OEM tires until after that afternoon. Then people started raving about the level of grip the Star Specs offered and nobody was willing to be the one who swapped back to less-aggressive rubber. By the time you read this, we'll be back on the stock tires. Promise.

The 2013 Subaru BRZ is an excellent introduction to rear-wheel drive performance cars. Affordable, responsive, and easy to drive quickly, the BRZ will certainly find buyers who want to race their cars, but don't have the stomach to hit a road course until the monthly payments stop. What's a wannabe racer with a limited budget to do? Allow us to introduce you to Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo racing.

Lovers of the Subaru WRX will hope the brand's latest, and remotely kindred, crossover is as raucous as the red-tailed tropicbird and as pertinacious as the Hawaiian petrel. We mention these species, the former of which is indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands while the latter is endemic, after going to Oahu's north shore to test the 2013 XV Crosstrek. We not only learned how limber the compact crossover is but also got sidetracked on the birds.

There was no doubt that a Subaru BRZ would join our Four Seasons fleet. Few cars have been as hotly anticipated as the fruit of the Subaru/Toyota joint venture that produced the BRZ and the Scion FR-S. Light weight, crisp handling, affordability, and rear-wheel drive are the endearing characteristics of these twins.