I bet I can smoke any of you on a tight road course in my lowly RS (Auto).

 

well if your one of those girls that..

loves to talk on the phone.
wheres high heals 4 days out of the week
aplys makeup during your commute
talks alot
spaces out in the fast lane
always hits the brakes on the freeway
dont know why you need to downshift
has a right leg thats out of shape
loves to complain

then you should get a manual...

lol..
edgarmandy,

 

'cuz it sounds like you are not looking for performance, besides RS gets better MPG and cheaper insurance!

 

i'd like to see ur car out at autoxing... you can gauge your time againts 300k cars!

miranda - go get yourself a stick.

 

power on demand!! I used have a 01rs 4eat, then 02rs 5psd, now 98 protege 4eat. I have to say, what bothers me the most is that I can't have power on demand, I HATE it when the stupid automatic switch on me. When I get on 880 or 101 is okay. But when I am on 17, DAMN! Or right before I switch into a faster lane, I need the power when I want it, and AT is not giving it to me. BUT I suppose if you drive the AT long enough, you could time it just right. But you still have less control in gear and rpm because the tranny shifts for you. I would go with a 5spd. Good luck!

 

Bah, where's ciper when you need him. A manual isn't the end all be all to performance. And an auto isn't extremely slow aswell. Least not subaru auto's. It's all about knowing how to drive an auto. You can't just stick it in D and use only your right foot. You have to learn when you select different gears and do some left foot braking. A good auto driver and a good manual driver you cant tell the difference. For whoever said you end up spending more to fix an auto if it dies I don't agree. Clutches wear out more than autos need to be rebuilt. You if you have to replace the clutch every 2-3 years that's what 300 bucks a pop, after 10 years you're looking at somewhere between 900 and 1500. And if you need your auto rebuilt after 10 years thats goingt obe around 1500 aswell. Sure you can say If you drive a manual right you wont have to replace the clutch for 10 years. And if you drive an auto right you wont even have to flush the fluid for 100,000 miles. I think too many people believe an auto is the epitome of slowness and a manual is the only way to drive a performance car. I used to think this. But you really have to sit down and try to learn how to drive an auto. You have to know when it's going to shift, how it's going to respond through a corner, and how to use the brakes to control the car more than just decelleration. I personally am still learning, and am liking it so far. Which do I prefer? I haven't had a subaru manula to actually geet down in and drive like I wanted to so I can't make a descision. I am also not totally biased twords an automatic either. But in no way do I rule out people to buy and drive auto's on performance cars. Don't forget you can launch a turbo auto quicker than a manual auto since the car is always loaded you can build boost while standing still. Like I said, you just gotta know how to drive an auto.

 

I have an auto WRX. I like it. I replaced the Torque Convertor with a High Stall and eventually I will upgrade the valve body which will make the shifts quicker. I'll be as fast speed wise as a manual but my shifts will be a lot quicker. But it costs a lot of money to mod the auto. And to say I can't get the gear I want, who says. Shift it yourself. It's not hard to do and as long as you take care of the tranny, it won't break. How many broken 5spd's have you heard of? How many busted auto's have you heard of? That's what I figured.

 

I think you'll be happy with both. I miss manual sometimes (last 3 cars were MT to include a column shifter ) But im plenty happy with my 4eat with my current mod list (Ecutek to change the shift points, Catless 3" exhaust, Samco hoses among other petty things)

If you bought the 4eat, got some stoptechs and an upgraded TC then you'd be fine in my book. Add on a relash, exhaust etc and there should be no excuse when going on the track etc.

It depends on the area you drive in and what you expect from your car too. 4eats+AWD= Gas hog. i get about 18-19mpg comapred to a MT which gets about 20-21... so it adds up.

Overall, you'll be happy with either. My next fun car will be an M5 or 911 turbo so i'll need to go back to manual.

 

My 2cents: if you can drive a stick, do it. If not, get automatic. That said, my daily commuting car (not subaru) is a stick and i would give anything for it to be an automatic. at the end of a long day the automatic shifting itself is easier on the brain and soul.

 

So hearing that a manual tranny is more fun (in a car that is mostly purchased because it is fun as hell to drive) doesn't make you want to get one?

Are you sure you're buying the right car?

Seriously, though, there are some advantages to the auto. The auto transmission is more sophisticated than its manual counterpart. The auto gives you a more rear ward power bias (60/40 r/f I believe) vs. 50/50 for manual. Other than that, an auto is easier to drive in traffic. And I've yet to hear about someone blowing up the auto transmission on the drag strip (lightly modded I guess) and there are certain things you can do to the transmission to make it more performance oriented than stock.

Given all that, I would, and did purchase a manual transmission. If I'm buying a mini van, a truck or a family sedan, auto is the way to go, but not with this car.

 

EcuTek can change shift points? whoa, i gotta look into that.

as for MT vs AT, if you can drive a stick well and don't have to deal with a long commute of bumper to bumper traffic everyday, get the MT. if you suck at driving stick, or have heavy traffic get the AT. personally, I have an AT and love it. it's modded to with big turbo, fuel, reflash and it's plenty fast from a rolling start. the AT sucks at drag racing without an upgraded torque converter. there are a bunch of positives to owning an AT though. you don't have to worry about breaking gears on a modded car. look at the boost gauge on an AT vs an MT on upshifts, you ought to stay at close to full boost between gears.

 

i have a manual '00 RS and a 4eat WRX (for my girlfriend who refuses to learn to drive stick). sometimes i wish i had the 4eat because i commute from san mateo to santa clara on 101 everyday. when i get stuck in stop and go traffic i hate the manual.

 

the normal Subaru Auto has a 60/40 split Front/Back under normal driving conditions. This will change under extream acceleration to about 20/80 and extream deceleration to 80/20. This is what I was told by a friend of mine that is a Subaru Master tech. There is a lot more going on in the Auto trans subarus than the manual's. The manual is a 50/50 split all the time. That is based on my memory, which is not perfict, but I believe that I have the numbers correct.

 

I heard similar things. Such as 1st gear being 45/55 f/r split and the remaining 3 gears are 80/20 f/r unless slip is detected. I know that 1st gear has more power to the rear because I can actually get the rear end to step out compared to just a 4 wheel slide. The auto trans also comes with the VTC, varible traction control. If one wheel slips, the other 3 get power. Unlike the manual where if one back tire slips, the front gets more power.