So I am looking for a second/third car for my daughter to drive to the local college. We looked at a 2005 outback xt. Five speed with a turbo, 160 k miles. I felt like it rode nice, had some zip but the shift feel was "notchy". In the stable right now at home: 1999 miata, 1991 mustang, 2003 f 150, 2003 f 150, fiesta st and 2006 mustang gt. They all have standard transmissions and none feel as notchy as the subaru. Is this normal, I have never owned or driven one.
It also needs the ac condenser replaced and possibly the gas tank. He is asking 3300 bucks. The body was in really good shape, especially for a Maine car.
Let me know? My family thanks you!
I owned a low-mileage 3-year old 5-speed Outback for less than a year. Probably the least satisfying manual transmission ever. Vague, notchy shifter and a clutch that annoyingly "juddered" when taking off. Although to be fair, it probably wasn't the car's worst characteristic. The engine sucked too-not enough power for the vehicle and lousy gas mileage. I guess a turbo would fix one of those, but probably not the other. Oh, and head gaskets. LOL. Took a loss and sold that junk.
Had a 2018 Crosstrek, transmission was really notchy.
I don't mind the shifter feel... a little notchy, but good LORD the clutch was awful. Short travel, next to zero effort, really hard to get it right. 2012 Crosstrek.
99 outback, shifts fine IMHO. Have had several of this vintage, bushings in the linkage and trans mounts can make them mushy but that is not your problem. Mine has a case of 5th gear popout probably due to PO towing a uhaul trailer cross country. Have a spare trans but not doing the work until it gets worse. So for the past 4 months I have been shifting without the clutch almost all the time. I like the trans a lot more without using the left pedal. Just zing it up to 3000 and be smooth. Downshifts are a little tougher but this trans is a lot more durable than I have been told. Again, IMHO and a 20 year old model.
That price seems high, given the work it needs. If you want a 99 outback with a spare motor and trans I will sell it for half that number.
02 wrx here. It’s not the best but I’ve driven far worse (240z with non-existent shift bushing). I’m planning on redoing bushing and adding a short shifter as that’s supposed to make a world of difference.
We have a 2011 Outback and a 2005 Imprezza 2.5 RS and I would the say that compared to a Miata they are lost definitely notchy. The Imprezza is much easier to get right than the Outback. The Outback has to be done in "clutch and click,click and clutch and click, click. If you deviate from this timing it exacerbates the issue.
Note I don't consider it much of an issue but the box is never ever going to be as satisfying as a Miata.
04 WRX - Cartboy shifter, exedy "stage 1" clutch.
Fine - nothing to write home about. Was able to select the gears, clutch modulation was average.
I can't stand Subaru's clutches or shifters. What you are describing sounds normal to me.
I drove an 04 forester for a while and never thought the shifter was particularly notchy. I did quite like the shifts for a DD.
Normal. The Impreza guys even come up with fluid cocktails of several different oils to try to improve it.
My BRZ is the same. Super notchy and none too cooperative when cold.
I had two WRX's: a 2002 and a 2009. Both of them had terrible feeling stock shifters.
On the 2002, I installed a Kartboy shifter, new shifter shaft bushings, Turn In Concepts shifter linkage bushings, and replaced the fluid with the appropriate Redline fluid after trying a few others (including Mobil 1 and "Uncle Scotty's Cocktail" which is BAD BAD BAD). It was as perfect as a Subaru transmission could be, and damn good overall. Clutch was stock, but it was ok with decent feel.
The 2009 was another story. I did all of the same mods, but due to some changes in the linkage and shifter design from the earlier cars, the Kartboy shifter always rattled. They corrected the design later, but my car was long gone by then. Transmission felt ok otherwise, except for throwout bearing problems and squeaky forks that wouldn't quiet down, which drove me insane.
The trunion goes bad on many shifters and the bushings wear out. A refresh may help.
Still, even at its best, Subaru shifter feel is something like:
I forgot that I also put Redline in mine which helped but it's still not great. You just have to be deliberate with them. It's nowhere nears as notchy as my 68 F100 4 speed was.
Hey Guys, thanks for your input, it's hard when you don't know the brand. I had the car checked out and there were too many warning signs for the price. My mechanic didn't like the turbo on it and some other possibilities. So on for the hunt. We test drove another Subaru today and during the drive, the airbag light came on!
Am I being sent signs not to buy one? I have another story where one tried to kill our fiesta st!!
In reply to thedoc :
My dad replaced our 2007 Outback with an '05 Outback XT for a bit, and I did a bunch of work on it. The transmissions are definitely notchy. Having had the linkage apart, it's clear that it will never shift like a Miata. That said, I'd take a Subaru transmission over most manuals I've driven (a fairly wide variety, I worked at a car auction place for a few months), but I'm biased because I grew up with them.
Nah, there are other reasons I'd caution you from buying an Outback XT: There is a thimble sized oil filter on the banjo bolt that supplies the turbo with oil, and due to the small surface area it can get clogged (especially if it doesn't receive oil changes more often than usual). Clogged filter kills the turbo, which promptly sends metal shrapnel into the engine, commonly killing the rod bearings shortly thereafter. There is also a cat in the up-pipe to the turbo that can get brittle and send bits of metal into the turbine (this is commonly deleted). And the rear suspension on all '05-'09 generation Outbacks is sensitive to worn shocks and bushings in a way that can feel kind of unstable (the term is "ghost walking" and some owners reported it to the NHTSA, though I think it's mostly a component wear / maintenance issue).
Here's a link regarding reliability mods (the legacy 2.5GT has the same engine and is on the same chassis, lots of info on the LGT forums). This one's about the turbo failures. I've had this stuff bookmarked since we had the XT... Very fun car, probably the most inexpensive way to get an OE AWD turbo wagon, and it has more ground clearance than most SUVs to boot.
In reply to MrRobogoat :
Thanks for the info. I was spooked about the car when I read about problems and maintainence of the turbo. This may have been the car my daughter was going to take away to college. She is pretty meticulous, but it is easy to get busy and forget an oil change.
We really did like the car, it drove like a dream, and had nice pickup. The sunroof was really nice.
I'm off to craigslist...
