the wrx is great, i wouldnt want any other car. just a couple of hints. (from experience) u cant dump hte clutch. i found this out the hard way. i dumped it numerous times and then one time bam bam, blown transmission. its now in subaru, fighting about my extended warranty.i got lucky they seem like they're pay for all cost, or at least parts so. but anyway, the tranny isnt the best. you just got a treat it like a supermodel. at times u can be rough, but not rough enough to have the cops called? bad comparison but u know what i mean? besides this i wouldnt have any other car, except for an sti.

 

The WRX "tranny" is more than ready to meet the demands of a 230 HP engine and AWD. It can be ruined by abuse, though.

The stock WRX isn't a dragster. If you want a car for the traffic light burn-outs, get a 'stang. Don't dump the clutch, especially at high RPM. The car wasn't made for NASCAR, either. Don't shift up or down without using the clutch. This isn't to say that you absolutely can't do these things on a WRX, but you're hugely increasing the likelihood of mechanical failure if you do. Race cars get rebuilt between drags or races. You can do a lot of rebuilding too, if that's what you want.

The percentage of american drivers that actually know how to use a manual transmission is at an all time low. I suspect that a lot of WRX drivers are learning how to use a stick on this rather light and sophisticated AWD sports car. That's fine, but if your're learning, be patient and take the time to get good with it. It takes a few months of shifting before it really becomes an intuitive process. Mechanical manual transmissions used to be popular on all economy cars, not just the sports cars. They offered a relatively low-risk way to learn how to shift.

It sounds to me like you will do just great with WRX, though. Go for it.