Is the SPT/CVT reliable, and how much tuning can it handle?

Among owners who actually daily the SPT/CVT, the overall tone is much more positive than the internet stereotype suggests. A lot of comments describe it as far better than older Subaru CVTs and a genuinely good daily-driver option. Where the caution starts is tuning. Once people ask about intake/tune/SPT setups, the consensus becomes conservative very fast: owners repeatedly say the transmission is less tolerant of big torque than the manual, and that “safe” SPT tunes are usually designed around holding torque back. In other words, the community answer is: stock or mild-use reliability is generally viewed as good, but tuning strategy on the SPT should be torque-limited and conservative.