My third transmission just went on my 02 wrx. It has 30,400 miles on it and this problem is absolutely out of hand. It seems that a lot of people are having the same problems as me with the transmission. The first overhaul it was the first gear, my second overhaul was third and fourth gear, now it's my 2nd, 4th, and 5th gear.

I'm tired of arguing with Subaru about a problem that they won't admit. Does anyone know of any class-action lawsuits that I could get in on and/or is anyone interrested in joining me in starting a class-action lawsuit against Subaru?

 

I am interested in this as well. I had my first transmission go out on my '06 at 10,000 miles and I think my second is about to go out at 17,000 miles.

 

Wow! How are you guys driving these things?

 

This has been tried already, not going to happen.
There are plenty of high-mileage WRX's around with their original transmissions and no problems, including many that have been auto-x'd and dragged. Mine has 80K on the original trans and clutch, and I know of others that have 100K+.

 

Whats going on? Poor Manual driving habits??? Why are all these trannies failing..?? Funny thing about your situation Cwest is that your 2nd gear wasnt a problem until recently, haha, thats usually the first gear to go on these cars...

Are you guys power shifting? Driving it "the way it was meant to be driven"? Or completely depressing clutch, properly shift, and easing off the clutch?? I'm very curious

 

Seriously!

I'm at 60k on my 02 wagon, no problems so far.

 

3rd transmission overhaul in 30k miles? maybe you have a lemon? that or you need to take it easy with the shifting...

 

You do know that your supposed to push in the clutch..don't you?

 

I had a 02 WRX with 55k when I sold it and still had the original clutch in it, and still felt as concise and responsive as the day I bought it. I have a 04 STi now with 30k and still no problems thus far on the original clutch and tranny. I think maybe you guys should change your driving habits.

 

my first and second gear just went out too and ive heard from a lot of other subie drivers that the tranny is very weak

 

Just swap in a 6-mt,
Or cryo treated gears,
Or RA gears.
Problem solved.

My 2nd gear went out on mine just after the warranty expired on the drive train and I was labeled a "racer" as soon as I mentioned that it was the tranny. I had also had it in to look at the clutch because it was slipping in first on a heavy acceleration AFTER the clutch pedal was completely released w/o slipping on the engagement. They told me they looked at the clutch and there was no problem but about 100 -200 miles later it was worn down almost to the rivits.
The Subaru district/regional service manager called and basically treated me like some stupid punk who didn't know what a clutch pedal was for.

However there are many WRX owners who are making significantly more HP then stock and racing their cars and have had no problems with their trannys. Most people agree that the stock 5mt is weak and very sensitive to shifting/driving technique. Seems like WRX should come with a "how to drive THIS car agressively" manuall

 

I think another reason it gets a bad rep. is that the synchro's are not the best. At my 30k service, they changed the tranny fluid and I noticed I caught the gears a lot more until I modified my driving style. I assumed initially that the gears were on their way out, but 60,000 miles later it is still going well.

I think a lot of people encounter this and get their gears swapped out under warranty when fussy synchros are actually a 'normal' behaviour for the WRX transmission.

 

true, but sad none the less when that is considered "normal", it's just a damn shame that the 6-speed is not an option from subaru for the non-STi's.

i'm at 75k on my 02's original tranny. what kind of mods do those with tranny issues have? i'm still stock, not even a reflash.

 

Yup. There was a lot of cost cutting on the car (crappy paint, agricultural transmission etc). When you drive an Audi S4, you can feel a big difference in quality. Having said that, you can almost buy 2 WRXs for the cost of one S4. I still think that, even with its shortcomings, the WRX is incredible value.

As you say, it would have been nice if the 6 speed had been available as a chargeable option.

With regards to thrashing the transmission, I have autoxed mine and driven the car fairly enthusiastically. However, I have no mods, and I don't drag race or launch hard, so I'm sure that this has helped.

 

it's been said that the 5 speed can handle 300 hp but that's putting in in the red.