Sub $6k car in Vancouver? Makes/models? (rentals, vehicles, German)

[Issus]

My wife and I are moving to Vancouver in a few months from Australia. I'm looking to buy something outright for under $6k, preferably under $5k. A lot of the US makes and models are unknown to us.. that being said, I've never been a fan of the build quality of a lot of US vehicles (GM/Chev/Ford we get here for example.) The GM rentals we've had in Canada have been rather awful too, and those are new.

It looks like I'm going to be looking at early 2000's cars with 130,000-230,000km on the clock. European/Japanese cars tend to have higher km for the price than the US/korean cars... however I'm looking at VW (Golf Wagon, Passat, Jetta) and Subaru (Outback or Liberty). I'd prefer something in a wagon form factor, but I can deal with a sedan. I'm not much of a car person, I'm primarily looking for reliability and something that won't be a money pit - any suggestions to other makes and models I could consider?

[AlfredB1979]

Not really. As with any used vehicle, you pretty much are stuck test driving and getting a professional to inspect.

I certainly would not be the house on a German car at that budget doing the job.

Track record of a particular make just about goes out the door and you are really at the mercy of previous owners at this point.