I bought a 2007 Forester base model with Automatic brand new. At 6,000 miles the radiator lost all of its coolant and had to go into the shop. Diagnosis: bad cap. Then, at 30,000 miles, leaking head gasket(s). Machined and replaced under warranty.
My friend with a 2003 has had a lot of leaking of coolant, they never seem to be able to fix it.
It's an OK car, but I like my wife's Honda CRV a lot better.
Oh, throttle response (it's an auto) is weird, you stomp on it, it takes about a second to respond.
Power is pretty bad at altitude, I was driving up a really steep dirt road at 11,000 feet once and it barely made it, full-throttle in low gear at about 5 mph.
It's not a great off-road car, no low gearing, low ground clearance. Good snow handling on the flats, though, as long as it's not too deep.