I've had CVTs in '14, '16,
I've had CVTs in '14, '16, and '18 Outbacks (also 6 other '14 and later Crosstreks and Foresters for my wife) and they have all been great. Most people that complain about them haven't driven them.
The worst "feature" is the ridiculously annoying and power-sapping "fake shift" they added because of all the whining from people that don't realize how CVTs work. My '14 Outback was super-smooth and always had the optimum engine speed during hard acceleration, but the '16 had the fake shifts added and was beyond annoying until I figured out how to avoid them. I've been writing to Subaru ever since to lobby for it to be a software selectable option.
I found in both my '16 and '18 (both 3.6Rs) that if I keep the RPM below 3,000 when accelerating then the fake shifts don't happen and it is much less annoying while still pulling quite well.