A used Tacoma or 4Runner would be an excellent choice IMO. We have an 08 4Runner Sport and L-O-V-E it. Decent on gas we avg about 10-11L per 100k on the highway and around 12.5l/100k around town. This is with A/T tires the ileage was about 1L-1.5/100 better with all seasons. We taken it fishig into some pretty hairy places/lakes where the only other vehicles were lifted jeeps etc. No problems in 4x4 esp with the locking rear diff engaged. It drives beautifully, you can definitley feel the difference between the 4Runner and say a Nissan Xterra or Pathfinder. We test drove pretty much everything in this category.
If you are going offroad I'd get something based on a TRUCK frame with a solid rear axle instead of a car based frame like the Rav4, Santefe, etc.
We found you really have to look around for a good used 4Runner as the "good ones" get snapped up fast. We were on autotrader etc every day and finally found oen that was just traded in the day before. It was exactly what we were looking for one owner, no accidents all service records, etc. Seems like most of the ones that have been on a dealer's lot for months have some "issues" such as a US model and ex-fleet vehicle with no service history, or some other "red flag." Even with a 1/2 day of haggling we still paid a fair bit for it, but the thing is bullet proff, drives like a cadilac on the highway, and is a tank off road.