I recently picked up a 2011 WRX and although I am not new to a manual transmission, this particular car is making me feel like a novice.

I had a mishap while backing into a parking spot, somehow I let off of the clutch a little too soon and the car jolted violently. That's happened twice so far, the second of which wasn't nearly as severe as the first. I'm certain that my foot was still on the clutch in both cases, but I'm guessing my timing was off.

Now it might be my imagination, but I feel like traveling in reverse requires a little more effort than before, as if I need to give just a little more gas. I rev to about 1.5K rpm before I get some real momentum. The only instance where I don't need as much oomph is in a straight line on a perfectly level surface.

Could this be my imagination, or is this something I should look into?

 

its common on the 5 sp. If you cant get in reverse. Put it in 1st, roll forward an inch, then go back to reverse. It will then line up. amount of throttle should have nothing to do with it.
-J

 

by the way.. introduce yourself... thats your first post and nobody knows who you are. You are more likely to get a response if we know a bit about you.
-J

 

Thanks for the response, my name is Joshua by the way.

Although I didn't mention having trouble getting my car into gear...

 

Yeah. I was in the same boat as you. My first stick was my new 2010 2.5i. I went to an empty parkinglot and practiced from a stop to first for about half an hour. Thats the hardest part. Once you find where the clutch grabs and get used to it, it is the best! It does take a little movement to put it in reverse. Sometimes I press down on the shifter and just rock my body back and forth in my car and it goes in gear. Welcome to the forums.

 

I'm sorry guys, I understand now, this poor communication is entirely my fault. I've edited my post which now says "traveling" in reverse versus going in reverse.

Also thanks for the welcome.