At 90000 miles I noticed the Forester would occasionally slip out of gear a bit when accelerating on the highway. A feeling of slight loss of power, no acceleration. I thought it was a misfiring/plug issue and ignored it. A few months later it become more significant - car wouldn't go into reverse. Then it started slipping in first and second gears.

Had the transmission rebuilt ($2100 for auto trans) which really hurt a lot - but saved a nother few years of car payments, and still had a good car for winter New England driving, and getting kids stuff to and from school. At the time, the transmission guy said that they work on A LOT of 99 Foresters - he thought it was a poorly engineered transmission.

Then the head gasket went out in 2007. Another $1500. (see my other complaint) But since the transmission went out, we've put another 110,000 miles on the car. We've drawn the line at any further major repairs on the Forester, but we've just hit 200,000 miles and gotten a lot of use out of it.

I wouldn't buy another Forester though. Replaced a couple of sets of rear wheel bearings along the way.