Subaru Forester
 

I have one...its great but has anyone done any sort of proper overland trip in one? Mines a manual but does not have a L/H ratio box which could cause issues I suppose.

i guess you can do an overland journey in any vehicle. The plymouth dakar guys do it in pug 205's and ice cream vans

You've got slightly better ground clearance and 4wd so you should be able to handle rough roads and maybe even sand

Big question i guess is what journey do you want to do ?