So the jury is actually a little further out from a verdict than I thought... I think I need to find a manual transmission rental car for my wife to drive to see if she will be able to get it right before we jump in. She can get frustrated easily and I could see her just saying, "I just wont drive your car". Not whatt I want to happen.

So to recap, it sounds like its unanimous that the 4EAT is relatively robust, but has some lag issues. The lag issues can be circumvented, but ideally you'd do that after your warranty is expired. In stock form with proper technique the tranny is fine for a daily driver, and with mods can be a good platform for straightline stuff.

For the Manual, some have problems, so don't, and arguably a portion of that comes down to the driver. As long as she isn't going to bomb the tranny with a couple ill timed, though correctly selected gear, shifts; I think I'd be okay with the manual. From a commute standpoint, it was said succinctly earlier that it comes down to how much I value of the vehicle control associated with the manual trans in relation to the effort of driving a stick in traffic .

As long as the 5MTs that have had issues have been repaired under warranty, I think I'm all done with this topic. Now if geting the repair work done is a nightmare regardless of if the driver never abused the product, I might have to just look at the auto.

So anyone with transmission work under warranty stories out there?

Thanks,
Chris

 

I've driven both MT & AT WRXs and agreed with most everyone here saying the MT is much better driving experiance. The AT feels like the turbo spools up much later and doesn't give the control you'd really want driving a WRX.

As for tranny problems, I had my clutch and 1st & 2nd gear syncros replaced at about 40k miles, All covered under warrenty. I do drive my car pretty hard sometimes and thats the only problem I've had. As for teaching wife the drive MT. After teaching my girlfriend to drive my car, the MT can withstand good amount of abuse.

 

+1 Manual

your wife will not destroy your tranny or clutch. i learned how to drive on my brand new RSX, and that was 3years ago, im still on 100% stock everything (but tires). Also, this summer i taught my friend AND his MOTHER to drive stick on my car. 0 Problems.

ive heard that the AT + Turbo are a big mistake. its very slow, and has a TON of turbo lag compared to the manual.

Automatic = being a passenger, u steer, and it the gas. a cement block could drive a car (place on gas pedal and go!). Also when u take your foot off the gas instead of getting a lot of engine breaking like in a MT, the car coasts (not safe). Also i cant stand having to wait for the car to downshift. its not safe when your in heavy traffic to see a window of opportunity, mash the gas, then wait 2 second for the car to respond. in those seconds the traffic patterns could change and ur done. plus Automatics get horrible gas mileage compared to MT.

Manual = being one with the car. without you the car goes no where (well it can roll down a hill). you are an intricate part of the car, without you the car cant change gears, it cant even go foward on a flat plane. Having to shift requires you to pay closer attention to your surroundings unlike in an AT where you can easily daydream. Plus its hell of a lot more fun!

Do the right thing, teach your wife to drive stick, she may complain for a week, but after that she will love it for a lifetime!

 

Personally for "ME" I'm on board with the Manual and have heard enough counter arguments and assurances that "non abuse related" tranny issues will be handled under warranty. Now I just have to see if the wife is going to see the descision through. I'm going hunting for something to rent for a weekend to teach her how to drive stick and make sure she doesn't get frustrated and give up.

Thanks for all of the input.

Now it looks like I need to start a thread on 17x7 vs 17x8 on the rims

Chris

 

17x7.5

 

Did you say this was a daily driver for you and your wife? In any case, for 250whp you're looking at a complete exhaust, bigger turbo, injectors, fuel pump, engine management (custom tune? ECUTEK?), and a bigger inter cooler just to be on the safe side. Going from 164whp to 250whp is a big leap and not a cheap one. With all that performance in mind, why would you want an auto? You would just be angry every time you stomped on the gas and had to wait for the lag to subside before you got that rush of power...a stick shift would be instantaneous in comparison. I remember when my car was stock, I raced my buddy in his stock AT sedan. Got him EVERY time off the line. By the way, if you treat your tranny right it should last for a long time. I'm at stage 2 and i've got 100K miles on my car. My tranny is still alive and well. Your wife should have no problems learning to drive he car. As long as she doesn't rev it to 3500 - 4000 rpms it will behaive like any other itty bitty 4 banger...lol. The tranny should have no problems handling all that power,...or lack there of...

 

Just wanted to say thanks for all of the input. My wife and I picked up our 05 WRX wagon with the 5MT last night. I absolutely love the car, and I've only had it up to 3k RPM Obviously I haven't had any fun with it yet, but I'm a believer that a good break in, equates to a happy relationship with your vehicle.

We were too busy with Christmas shopping etc to get the wife behind the wheel in a controled environment, but she was okay with the purchase of the manual, so I'm confident she'll do fine. She can ride my manual transmission quad, so the comprehension of the mechanics are already in place.

I had initially been thinking black for the car, but after seeing how her black Civic has faired in the past 4 years, we opted for silver.

Just a note, after the sale, the sales person and I were chatting about my decision between the 4EAT and the 5MT, and he mentioned that they changed the synchro design for 05, so my concern may have been moot anyhow. I'll get pics up in another thread, but I just wanted to thanks again to everyone's insight into real world experiences with the two trannies.

Thanks,
Chris

 

Great choice! ive never regretted my manual cars (well when i was learning to drive years ago i had some words for the car at stop lights hahaha)

 

I have an 02 silver wagon, and used to hate the turbo lag. I got rid of the problem by gutting the up-pipe. It will not effect smog, and the car will spool around 500 rpm's lower. Add an Accessport, and you can have fun!
The thing about an A/T is that your turbo keeps spooling when you have the peddle down. Also, in my mind the 4eat is really a five speed. Think about it, you have 1s't, 2n'd, 3r'd, drive, and overdrive. That look's like five to me!
And it won't blow first & second if you beat on it. I do a lot of manual down shifting with mine, and run 3r'd a lot on back roads.