Loss of power going uphill
I have a 2012 Outback 2.5i with oodles of miles. Recently, she's begun dragging her butt uphill in a painful, take-it-out-back-and-shoot-it kind of way. In full auto (no paddles) at 55 with the cruise on, she will go from around 2k RPM to 5k + and higher if I don't kill the cruise (dropping gears as she tries to figure out how to keep going). However, once I kill the cruise, the speed begins dropping and I have to fight to keep her going forward. If I'm using the paddles, I can (mostly) stay ahead of the problem, though the engine revs (around 3 - 3.5K) sound like I'm doing very bad things. As a side note, on level ground, regardless of speed, she shifts clean and smooth. Hoping someone can shed some light on this without using the words "new transmission." Many thanks