I think you will get nothing but good reviews from the people on this board, I don't own one but it sounds like it is a good car.
If you want an unbiased opinion check out www.carpoint.com, www.edmunds.com, and maybe www.carreview.com

 

this is a check i did for myself before i bought my subaru

its all wheel drive
holds its value
very safe
good gas mileage
plenty of space
looks good

now dollar for dollar compare it to your other car choices, what do the other cars have that the subaru doesnt. sensibly, subaru is one of the best choices out there for quality for your dollar. i couldnt find many things that other cars had that subaru didnt, and when i did find those things, AWD destroyed anything they had on it

 

i would get that rs because it's dope. I have mine for more than a year now. it a really fun car to drive. if your going to buy a rs, find one that has an aftermarket turbo on it. That was my mistake of not getting a turbo. Now i want my car to be fast

 

Do NOT repeat NOT buy an RS with a turbo kit on it. People only sell cars with 5k+ in mods for one of 2 reasons- they're either in sudden incredible financial dire straits, or they broke it. Stay away, especially considering how incredibly easy it is to blow an EJ25 with aftermarket turbo. Obviously there are some examples out there which aren't so risky, but unless you have a complete history of the car and it was built and tuned by a place like Vishnu or I-Speed, stay away. Home-builts need not apply.

That being said, an un-modded or lightly-modded RS is an outstanding used car to buy. They are rare though (more WRXs were made in 2002 than 2.5s during the entire run of the GC/GM), so if you are buying off a dealer lot, be prepared to haggle extensively to get a good price.
Check for:
MAF recall done on 1998-1999 model years
Clutch TSB if it has less than 60k miles
Look closely for leaks on both engine and tranny. Some engine oil leakage is expected for higher mileage cars, just the nature of the boxer engine.

Good luck searching!