Useful threads here tell me that the odor I smell from both mine and my wife's 2001 Foresters is the result of a leaky CV joint boot over the exhaust.
Let's see, the outer CV joint is at the wheel end of the axle...right? So it would be the inner one that is over the exhaust pipe -- I haven't looked yet. In one thread somebody said the CV boot is a pain to replace.
How much of a pain? I'm a reasonably competent home-handyman type who's replaced shock absorbers, etc. But I don't like jobs that require special tools or techniques or anything that's not spelled out fully in Chilton's or equivalent. If it can be done with the car on jackstands, I'd be willing to spend up to, say, three hours on the job.