Burning Oil 2011 Subaru Forester- dealer trying to say it's normal?

2011 Forester seems to be burning about a quart of oil every few weeks. I have an appointment for the dealer to look at it but right off the bat, the service guy tried to manage my expectations by quoting page 11-9 in the manual that since it uses 0w20, it is "acceptable" (by who?) to burn 1 quart every 1, 200 miles. At $8/quart that is ridiculous on a new car (it requires full synthetic). I also think it is burning even more than that. Every time I turn around, the dip stick appears to be dry which could also hurt the motor. This seems like a serious design flaw- I don't care what they list in the manual. It is a boxer 4 cylinder (not a turbo). It is driven gently. Would it be okay to use a heavier oil or given the tolerances and engine design, could this hurt the motor? I assume a thicker oil would not burn as much. I also read that since it is a boxer motor and the pistons are on the side, on start up, it burns extra oil and it needs thinner oil so it can circulate more quickly since no oil stays in the heads- it drips down when the car is off unlike a traditional motor where much of the oil stays in the top. The lower center of gravity the boxer engine provides helps with handling but I guess there is a trade off e.g., rough starts and oil consumption.