yeah they wouldnt even compare to something like a land cruiser. but compared to most "suv's" out there like pathfinders for example, they will do better, ive never seen an xt offroad, but ive seen forresters and they do very well.
and yes they can destroy plenty of cars labled sports car, maybe not evo's s2000's and stuff, but if you compare it to a mustang, rsx, wrx, srt-4, it will be right up there with them.
ive never been much of a fan of subaru's the first subaru i ever drove was a wrx and i was so excited cause i was expecting some super fast rally/race car cause thats what everyone makes them out to be, and it actually felt slow, it was ok when you were almost redlining and the turbo was spooled, but even then it wasnt anything special at all, you have no power at all then for the small amount of time the turbo is spooled, its somewhat fast. and the handling and overall feel of the car just wasnt that great.
same thing happened when i drove the sti, it was not even close to what i expected, it was pretty damn fast, but still the steering and feel of car was nothing special. honestly if all i wanted was a fun sports car id take a miata over an sti any day.
the best subaru ive driven was probably the legacy gt, it feels like it wants to oversteer rather than understeer, and overall its a very well built car. the suspension could be a little stiffer stock, but i was the most impressed by the legacy.
like i have no idea how anyone could buy an sti over an evo, the evo is such an amazing car, it really feels like mitsubishi based this car off their rally cars, while subaru modified their 2.5 rs's there is quite a big difference, the evo just outperforms the sti in so many ways.