If temps are consistently below 7°C (45°F) in the winter, then winter tires would be a good idea to have since they react better in cold weather regardless if there is snow. It seems average winter temps in NC are higher than that so like you said, you wouldn't typically have a need for them.
In that case, being that neither have an advantage with regards to ESC and ABS, AND that you are most familiar driving the Kia, I'd go with the Kia. It gets a 74.7 rating at informedforlife.org and I input the data I could for the 2001 from NHTSA and did some guesstimates with IIHS data (since that Subie wasn't tested by IIHS) and any logical guesstimates come out with a higher risk rating than the Kia. Not vastly higher, but higher. Now, if you're going to on side roads and off the beaten path where you have the potential to be stuck in snow (which I am guessing not since you were talking about ice and not snow) then I'd want the Subie so I could have the AWD to get me out of places.