Regarding managing hills, we drove the 2011 Forester through the western mountains (Montana, Idaho, & Oregon), and at times we wondered if it was going to make it up the mountains. My spouse commented that all of the Ford Explorers were zooming past us, seemingly without issue. We're very disappointed in the performance of the Subaru's ability to ascend mountains as well as regular hills we encounter in the midwest. While we weren't towing anything through the mountains, we do have a light-weight trailer that's supposedly within the Subaru's towing capacity. Subaru has served as a disappointment in this regard, as well. Towing capacity isn't even close to what it's supposedly rated to handle.