Honestly, if you are buying new then the best bet you have is going to be the Toyota Corolla again. It is simple and essentially trouble free. However, I will say the new Corolla has a CVT automatic transmission and not everyone loves how it works, so you should test drive it first. A used Corolla with the older 5 speed automatic would be a sure thing and probably even a better bet for long term reliabilty.
Subarus are solid cars, and do last a long time which is why they have their commercials stating over 97% are on the road after 10 years. The only thing about Subaru's is they use the boxer engine design which gives the cars better handling (like Porsche which uses the engine design) but also creates two issues. One is that the main engine seal goes after 8 to 10 years as you approach 200,000 miles. That will cost a few thousand to fix at that point. Also, about 10% burn oil so you have to watch the oil level for the life of the car.
My parents have owned two Forresters and now two Outbacks. One Forrester had the regular engine and it lasted close to 200,000 miles when its main engine seal went and they sold the car. The other was a turbo model and it had problems at 120,000 and they sold that one as well. The turbo burned oil the other one burned a little but did not burn enough to need to add it between oil changes. Those were 2007 and 2008 models. They now have a 2015 and 2016 Outback and neither has burned oil yet but they are still too new to know (most mileage is about 25,000 miles so far, on the 2015).
I own one Subaru, a 2013 Legacy that at 40,000 started burning oil (H6 cylinder engine). Now approaching 90,000 it burns less but still burns it as it used to burn a quart every 4000 miles (changed the synthetic oil at 5000 regularly) and now burns about 1/4 a quart after 4000 miles. Is is a pain to check? Not really, just check the dipstick and if it is low, add oil (I keep some in the garage). Otherwise zero problems.
Subarus do need more maintenance than Toyotas. I know for example the suspension wears out faster and suspect I will have to replace parts of it around 120,000 which I have not had to do on my Saabs, Hondas, or GM cars. I regard Subarus as solid cars however.
This site is pretty good but they don't really monitor maintenance anymore as that was dropped last year. Consumer Reports is probably the best out there as they do their surveys regularly. Looking at its data (I am a member) from 2010 on every Corolla rates above average in reliability in every catagory. Brakes in 2013 is slightly below average and average in 2012, but that is to be expected and they are the only things mentioned as below average in all 17 catagories and the overall catagory in addition. So for reliablity and nothing else, the Corolla is still king. But, no manual is avaialble anymore. For that you will have to go with the slightly less reliable Subaru.
You see different comments on the Subaru for the very reason of the oil consumption. Some face it (about 10% according to Consumer Reports) and some do not, so people are all over the place about the cars. For the 90% who don't have a problem, they really don't have any issues at all. For the 10% who do have the oil burning issues, they do complain about it. I don't complain about it but expected it so when it happened I just accept it. Adding oil is cheap. Replacing a transmission or engine is expensive - Subaru's don't have to do that but you do have the main engine seal go before 200,000 that is expensive - but people fix that as well for a few thousand dollars. So you see a lot on the road for a long time. Probably why you see so many different opinions on Subaru.
Best of luck.
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