My wife's 2018 Forester with CVT has one advantage over my daughter's '04 Forester with 5-speed stick. It gets better fuel economy despite being bigger & heavier. One thing I hate about it is is the LOOONNNGGG delay in throttle response. Stomp the pedal and it feels like a good full 3 seconds before the car starts moving like it should. Another thing I don't like is its highly non-linear throttle mapping. The first 1/4 of the pedal gives you 3/4 of the power, making it highly sensitive stop and go, then when you want power and hit it, it doesn't do much more because it was already at 90% power by half throttle. Why would Subaru do that? I can only guess it's to make the engine feel more powerful and torquey than it is.
I like stick shifts, but wifey wanted an automatic, each to his own, she gets what she wants.