Oddly 99 has TWO EJ25s. Outback legacy got the dreaded DOHC EJ25D. Forester got the far more forgiving first year SOHC EJ25
Yes for Subarus (and many other modern vehicles) manuals are more expensive and problematic to own for a number of reasons. Clutch maintenance alone is time and $ sucker. Those 90s 4EATs were so robust they could out run MTs all day long. Clutch replacement, Throw out bearings, cracked forks, warn snouts, less forgiving torque bind, synchros wearing, and the hydraulic clutch slave cylinders abs hoses frequently are problematic and need replaced and they’re annoying to bleed. And you can’t go FWD or install a diff lock switch like you can to lock the AWD like an auto. Lose lose lose lose lose. waste of my time.
The 4EATs aren’t crisp when they age, that’s normal but they’ll run forever and are the !@!!&@ energizer bunny of subaru transmissions and a win for practical utilitarian low down time low cost Subaru owners.