I have a similar story. I had a Subaru Legacy that died going up a hill. Mechanic said they would have to remove the engine for the repair. Clutch had been slipping so I had it done at the same time to save labour. $3000 later I was driving again.

Following that, the clutch felt like crap. Good when the car was cold but when warm it had a hard time disengaging and the pedal felt awful.

I took it back, they told me the master cylinder went. Another $500 in parts and labour. It was still shitty so I brought it back again and they replaced the slave cylinder. Still sucked, so I traded it in for a 2001 Jetta TDI.

Years later, I get an email from a Subaru forum I had joined to ask about the clutch issue. Someone finally answered my post to say that there was a bad hose that Subaru had recalled that expanded when it was warm and caused pressure to drop. My car had it replaced at some point, but the new clutch kit had the old hose.

Cost of the hose: $11. What I spent trying to have it fixed: $700+

Still the worst car I ever owned. Gutless, bad on gas, and a total lemon.