I have checked out the Forester, Sportage and Outback, as well as the CX-5. Of those, the CX-5 gets my vote. The dealer in Bend, OR, had a manual Tiguan, but it had not been prepped yet, so I couldn't drive it, but I have since ruled it out due to reliability issues reported by owners.
One vehicle that no one has mentioned yet in this discussion is the new Acura RDX. Yeah, I know it's in a higher price bracket, but I still wanted to check one out. I drove the first generation, and found it to be a bit too high strung with terrible gas mileage, although people on the RDX forum seem to love it. When I read that the new one was ditching the turbo in favor of a V6, and was going to be about the same size as the CRV, I thought it warranted a look.
So, I checked out the new one yesterday, and was impressed with the overall package. The dealer had one in stock for test driving purposes, and it was the top of the line with AWD and tech package and every other option that they could jack up the price with. It is very nice on the inside with a great, but very expensive, tech package. It's got a 273 hp engine hooked to a 6 spd auto with paddle shifters. It's about 500 lbs heavier than the Cx-5. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to drive it, and at $40,000, it's going to have to be really exceptional for me to want to spend that much, but we have owned 2 Acuras and they have been absolutely bulletproof as far as reliability, and low maintenance costs. I am going to try to test drive one next week and I will post my impressions.