I am 24 not 19. Yes, another problem with SOA..."discrimination".

 

don't rush the shifter, and don't move your left foot too fast, and as long as you don't have huge torque (+300 ftlbs) it should last a good long while.

jm2c
ken

(16k tranny trouble free-miles)

 

Noah, You need to look at this situation objectively. I can't tell you how many "transmission concern" threads I've seen that contain assumptions, subjective opinions, unsubstantiated claims, etc. I beleive there are folks out there who have legitimate failures and have been wrongly been turned down by SOA due to "driver abuse" (there are also others who had the repairs done without issue). However, you need to realize that SOA was also justified in some of those instances where they denied the customer's claim. I've caught a couple members on Subaru sites who previously revealed information about mods, abusive driving behavior, etc yet never mentioned these things when they were crying foul over their warranty denial. Until I see convincing evidence that there is an actual flaw in the design/components of the Subaru 5MT, I will keep an open mind.

.......from personal experience, I haven't had any failures for the 23,000 miles I've owned my WRX. I drive spiritedly on most occasions but I do not "abuse" the transmission. Hard launches, clutch dumps, speed shifting, etc will most certainly cause a premature failure at some point. There's no guarantee that you will never have a catastrophic failure with a 5MT, but at least look at the big picture before making your decision to buy.

- Kean

 

I think this is a very good point. I don't abuse my car at all. Never a hard launch @6000, etc. Am I still concerned? Yes. If anything ever happens to my transmission, I'm sure the first thing the dealer tech will suspect is "abuse". It would be an uphill battle from there...

 

My quote needs to be kept within context to understand what I was trying to convey.

 

Hi Noah,
I'm not disputing the fact that some individuals may have legitimate claims regarding their 5MT's (you can see that's true when you read my posts). I personally have no doubt that Subaru could have made the 5MT stronger than it currently is. However, I'm not going to make a general statement that all (or even the majority) of Subaru 5MT's in the WRX are "weak", "glass", "defective", etc. There's simply no proof to support this. I mentioned the research I did on some of those folks for a reason. It was to show that you should take into consideration that not everyone is entirely forthcoming with all of the facts when telling their stories on these forums. Also, you shouldn't rely entirely on these boards to make your final decision. Remember, these boards are a small sampling of the entire Subaru owner community. I've been on these forums long before the NASIOC/I-club split. I run across many posts regarding quick-shifting techniques, launching, drag racing, etc. There's been a lot of replies that make me cringe when I hear how some of these people (notice I didn't say kids ) treat their cars. I purchased my '03 WRX back in Oct '02 after thoroughly researching message boards, consumer magazines/websites, government websites (safety, recalls, etc), auto publications, etc.

If data ever becomes available that can substantiate the claims that some people make about the reliability of the Subaru 5MT, I would be more than happy to join the fight. Until then, I will remain as objective as possible.

Wouldn't that be nice. =)

- Kean

 

i'd rather have an sti 6 speed.

-ken

 

c'mon, man... all nostalgia aside, the muncie is WAAAY outdated. you can do much better!

it's a 4 speed--great for torquey big blocks, not so good for stirring up the revs on a turbo 4.

4th is only 1:1. our stock 4th is even taller than that!

i'd pick a t-56 before an m-22, but that's me. you still have a 1:1 4th gear, but at least you've got two more overdrives after that!

nope, gotta stick to my guns and say the best alternative i've ever seen is the STi 6sp, w/DCCD. solid, AWD, and a trick DCCD to play with!


imo, ymmv, jm2c, etc.

ken

 

DOHC Cammin, you still have the TSB's that showed the reasons for automatic denial??? I could use those.