I own a 2009 Forester. The VW beetle equivalent, it has virtually no options at all. Manual transmission. The clutch bearing went out at 114k miles. Its a pretty serious repair. They suggest the transmission has to come out, which would mean pulling the front suspension to remove the drive shafts, remove the exhaust (not gonna happen on a Michigan vehicle unless its with a sawzall) and then remove the transmission itself. I elected to do the job the other way around by removing the engine, still a bear of a job. Of course the last nut that goes on the stud adjacent to the inner CV joints stripped and I had to cut off the stud with an angle grinder. Massive rip off getting new fasteners from the dealer, like $7 per fastener... Best part is that the new clutch bearing is just as junk as the old one, no seals on it whatsoever, stamped races instead of machined ones. Never seen anything so bad in my life. No doubt it will be finished in another 100k miles... Otherwise it has been a pretty reliable vehicle. Mine is the first production year of the newer model, it has rear suspension issues that means it wanders badly in a crosswind, makes it very tiring to drive long distances (I had a weekly 5 hour 1 way commute to Dayton OH, so I did that a lot). There is supposedly a fix for that, but no doubt pretty expensive. The Audi A6 I had prior, bought as a 3 year old car was a much better car in every possible way. This will be my last.
We're not in New England for most of the winter now. I've looked at the Bronco Sport but wifey is telling me it's a chick car. Not sure.
