[clyde]

If they do something, it will be a new shortblock.

I would recommend she get rid of it before the transmission goes unless she's ready and willing to drop $4k on a new one at any moment. It has the same CVT that my wife's Outback had and they almost all shit the bed between 100-150k with a pretty nominal failure except it's a ton of labor to fix it...if you had parts, which no one does. Remans aren't really available, they're not readily rebuildable (hence, few remans), and they're very hard to find at salvage (and if you do, they're not cheap and probably grenades as well). New is the only choice and they're $$$ considering the cars the value of the cars they go in.

With a new engine and if she really likes it, buying a new transmission isn't that big of a deal versus buying a new car, but if she's hedging at all, she should get rid of it before it costs extra to do so. If my wife's Outback wasn't twice wrecked we probably would have put a new transmission in. She loved the car and would be happy still driving it, but we just couldn't justify the expense for that specific car.