Thanks! I'll try it today. This morning I bleeped up to about 2500 RPM and caught it on the way down ~2000 and it slipped in with a rubbery nudge. I'll give a higher rev a try to see if it goes in a little smoother.

Damn non-synchro reverse gear.

Thanks again.

 

just chiming in so you don't feel alone. I have an 05, and most of the time I had to coax it to get into reverse as well. Just a blip of the throttle before I clutch in and it goes right in. I spent so much time fussing with it, I just do the blip routine every time and never have troubles now.

 

I don't have any real problems getting into reverse in my '02 WRX. Only on the rarest of occasions (less than once a month) do I need to first put it into any forward gear, then reverse immediately to allow it to slip right in. I never blip the throttle or rev the engine at all.

By the way, the term double clutching is misused here. I had to use the true double clutch technique to nurse my old car home when the clutch cable snapped on my GLHS Omni. That meant driving the car without having any use of the clutch whatsoever! When I came to a stop, I had to kill the engine then put the car in 1st and turn the starter with the engine in gear. A very not-so-nice thing to have to do to a car's starter motor but the GLHS had a curb weight of 2540 pounds so it didn't seem to hurt the life of the starter.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

Actually, the term "double clutching" is not misused here. Perhaps you might have misinterpreted the information in the link you've provided. Double clutching, by definition, includes depressing the clutch twice (thus the word "double"). The article stated that if you rev the engine accurately, you can shift into that particular gear WITHOUT using the clutch, but because this process, in the context of very fast driving, is done so fast most of us won't always be accurate and can risk chewing up the transmission. So, we double clutch, literally, the way it's been done for several decades in high-performance cars.

When you nursed your old car home with the snapped cable, you revved (gear engaged or not) until the RPM matched the wheel shaft, thus allowing the shifting of the gears without the use of the clutch. You had to do this because, short of a tow-truck, you had no choice. This, however, is not how most of us drive, nor would this generally be the reason we'd double clutch.

As far as double clutching to put our cars into reverse, we do this because appearantly on many WRXs this is the only way we can get things rolling in order to put the shift lever into reverse. Perhaps this is because the WRX has no reverse-gear synchros?

Anyhow, you should read your link again. Let me know if you still think I'm wrong.

Take care!

 

I found the same thing has happened with my rex. Since double-clutching, the reverse slips in obediently. I'm no longer in a bad mood driving away from home!

Thanks for all the input!

 

Well, I read it again but I still don't understand what good this procedure does for a car sitting at a standstill. Reverse doesn't need to be synchonized if the car isn't moving, although the reverse gear in the 5MT doesn't mesh as smoothly as other cars. I don't have to step in the clutch twice nor rev the engine to engage reverse.

I'm thinking that maybe the issue on some 5MT-equipped cars is that the clutch is not fully disengaging or either the flywheel is not true or the clutch disc surface has irregularities. If the cars are still under warranty I'd let the service department take a look and maybe sit in another WRX or STi with the engine running and see how reverse engages.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

I hear you, and I agree that having to double clutch to engage reverse is abnormal. For some reason, though, it works every single time. Also, wouldn't you agree it's odd that several other members share the same experience? Anyway, I'll take your advice and have the service department look at it while it's under warranty (I'll probably have them throw in a short-shifter, too, if you guys think it's worth the cost).

You're still wrong about the double clutching, though. Ha!

Seriously, does anyone have feed back on Subaru's short-shifter option?

Thanks.

 

I don't doubt that it's happening - I just haven't heard of it happening to the members's cars local to me. Maybe it's certain model years or something.
i-Club review section on short shifters.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

for short shifter the best value is Kartboy with bushings. STI is twice as much

 

its not a problem. i drive a civic and we all know that the manual transmission is slightly better in hondas than in subarus. well, almost 90% of the time, i can never get it into reverse on the civic on my 1st, 2nd or even 3rd try. i know how to drive stick and sometimes i think that i dont have the clutch depressed all the way down, but thats not the problem. its just stubborn. engaging it a little does do the trick, but i just wobble through every gear and then it will stick into reverse. it does get annoying, but thats what you gotta do.

 

I had the same problem on my 02 WRX (pretty typical) , plus one of the synchros went and it would shutter badly downshifting into first. I have read of many WRXs having synchro problems though I think that has been addressed with the newer models. Just traded for an 05 LGT. Transmission shifts are much smoother BUT, I still have some problem getting into reverse from a cold start.

 

I brought my car in to deal with the reverse non-shifting...service advisor said it happened a couple times out of the many times he tried to engage reverse, and that this is normal. I talked to the Master Technician at the same dealership, and he said that not only is the 5MT in the WRX weak, but often people bring them in for synchro gear problems and the reverse problem. But unfortunately, the reverse problem is either common or is inherent in all of these WRX transmissions.
Sad but true, this is a weak transmission and a hinderance to the car's reliability.

 

I must have gotten a 'good' one. knock on wood

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

My 2 cents... 02 WRX wagon.

I sometimes have trouble as well getting into reverse... I double clutch, but have never had to rev the engine... idle is fine. Goes like this... car started... depress clutch... try to get into reverse... if it doesn't want to go... release clutch... depress clutch... shift into reverse... done.

-Walter

 

For me, if I think about it, the reverse issue gets a little easier as the car ages.

When my car was new, I had a big annoyance with going into reverse, because even when doing the "clutch out in neutral, shift to reverse" thing, it often took me more then a few tries to get it in.

But as most cars are, mine is a daily driver and I haven't paid much attention to those quirks and as of now it seems to have gotten easier. Now, only sometimes I am not able to get it into reverse on the first try, but most times it goes right in with a big "clack".

I now have 28k miles on my 04, but don't worry about it, you'll get used to it

Just NEVER try to get it into reverse while moving, you'll break something.