5EAT Opinions?

[Impreza41]

Hi all,

 

I've been debating opening my LGT search to automatics as well, specifically the years that came with paddles (07-09 I think?).

 

I wondered if anyone could tell me how they are to live with, and how they do with track time or autocross?

 

How quick the paddles respond to upshift requests? I hear they rev match downshifts?

 

Does SI Drive factor in at all?

[ktm200]

I have a few questions for you first. What will your plans be for the car? Is it something your going to want to mod and have the itch to go forged internals and a big turbo? Are you going to be trying to launch the car? If that's the case the short version is probably not to open your search to autos.

 

The delay from when you pull the paddle to when it actually shifts is longer than most would like but it's not the end of the world in my opinion. I do like the rev matched downshifts, fun for blasting around windy back roads. The SI drive mostly adjusts what % the throttle body is opened for a given throttle (at your foot) input, so on sport sharp a smaller input results in a larger throttle body opening. SI drive also seems to slightly change the transmission response as well. Mine seems to shift quicker on sport sharp and it's pretty sloppy on "I".

 

How is it to live with? I regret not finding a spec B a lot of times, wish I could have gone all out with a build, but at the end of the day, it's my daily driver that the wife occasionally takes, I sit in traffic with, and sometimes just want a lazy drive home in. I really love this car, auto and all.

 

It's certainly not for everyone, just know ahead of time you'll never be able to throw down loads of power without risking the transmission. I would find one and take it for a spin to see what you think.

 

And take a look in the transmission forums, the "5EAT pride" thread in particular. Will likely get a lot more feedback there.

[Phate]

I've never driven a LGT with the automatic, but I've driven my dad's 3.6R which uses the 5EAT.

 

As autoboxes go, it's not bad. I'd take it in a heartbeat over literally any CVT in existence. Shifts aren't too fast, but it still feels good. Manual mode sucks, honestly don't bother using it for anything other than preselecting the gear you want to come out of a corner with, or holding a gear for some engine braking on a long hill. If it makes sense, it feels less like you're telling it to upshift, and more like you're letting it know that it's okay to upshift. The delay is predictable for sure, but it lacks the "video game" feel of a dual clutch transmission.

 

The center diff actually has a rear-bias, which is pretty awesome and I actually wish a 5 speed manual had it.

 

That said, if you want a manual, you want a manual. When I was shopping, I wanted a manual, and I'm glad I held out for one.

[MilesA]

It's a pretty good transmission, but I'm glad I got the manual. The auto takes away some of the driving feel and seems a bit slower off the line. Manual mode is more of a gimmick. Nice if you have to sit in traffic a lot, I guess.

[98legwag]

I have a 3.0R with the 5eat and SI Drive. I can tell you if you put in S# it will hold the gears slightly longer when accelerating. As others have said, the manual mode and paddle shifters are a gimmick. For a daily driver I like the 5eat.

[grovlet]

After adding a VF52 to mine, and comparing to an S4 DSG - IT SUCKS!!

 

Well - it's not that bad - but as noted it's on the slower to shift side, and I find that the buttons are quicker than the shifter in manual mode (I do have an 05 so no paddles)...

 

It's actually not terrible in general traffic, but mine does seem slow to downshift sometimes...

 

All in all it's your average slushbox - which can also handle ~ 300AWHP before it its supposedly out of it's element.

 

Tranny Cooler is highly recommended from LGT - but newer options lack any real shift kits (05/06? have HEXMODs option available).

 

Personally if I could get the wife to learn to drive a stick I would go manual....

[Impreza41]

I have a few questions for you first. What will your plans be for the car? Is it something your going to want to mod and have the itch to go forged internals and a big turbo? Are you going to be trying to launch the car? If that's the case the short version is probably not to open your search to autos.

 

The delay from when you pull the paddle to when it actually shifts is longer than most would like but it's not the end of the world in my opinion. I do like the rev matched downshifts, fun for blasting around windy back roads. The SI drive mostly adjusts what % the throttle body is opened for a given throttle (at your foot) input, so on sport sharp a smaller input results in a larger throttle body opening. SI drive also seems to slightly change the transmission response as well. Mine seems to shift quicker on sport sharp and it's pretty sloppy on "I".

 

How is it to live with? I regret not finding a spec B a lot of times, wish I could have gone all out with a build, but at the end of the day, it's my daily driver that the wife occasionally takes, I sit in traffic with, and sometimes just want a lazy drive home in. I really love this car, auto and all.

 

It's certainly not for everyone, just know ahead of time you'll never be able to throw down loads of power without risking the transmission. I would find one and take it for a spin to see what you think.

 

And take a look in the transmission forums, the "5EAT pride" thread in particular. Will likely get a lot more feedback there.

 

 

At most I would do stage 2 from Cobb, so turbo-back and a tune. Maybe some suspension mods and a IPT vb mod plus cooler if it's needed. So has anyone driven the 5eat on a track?

 

I'll be DD'ing the car almost entirely

[fishbone]

The biggest drivability detractor for the 5EAT is the high stall torque converter. 3200 rpm in stock form makes for some impressive torque braking hole shots (it will stall higher than that), but kinda sucks when it swallows up revs in all other conditions especially daily driving.

It's not terrible, so best to just test drive one and see for yourself.

[Impreza41]

So in general they are likeable is what I'm hearing, guess I'll have to find one and test drive

[Shamous]

I have not done it yet.... but I have read that XRT tune can change the attitude of our transmission... been following it on a outback forum (I have one a xt).. might be worth looking into.

 

 

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[JmP6889928]

Personally, I find the 5EAT to be an excellent transmission. I never miss a shift, I'm always in boost through the shifts, and it's consistent in traffic. I have a 6MT 2014 Mustang and I drive it a lot too, but in all honesty, the 5EAT LGT is a much more comfortable car to drive, especially if there is a lot of stop and go. I used to track the car and it was strong and smooth lap after lap.

 

The 5EAT is not a slushbox like an old Powerglide. It shifts firmly and crisply (with maintenance, a cooler, and good fluid) and they can easily go 300K without issues.

[fishbone]

5EAT has a lot of JATCO internals (owner by Nissan) and shares many mechanical aspects with the 5EAT in the 350z and G35.

IHI outsourced the parts and built it in-house.

[JmP6889928]

If you happen to look at muscle cars, you'll notice that Dodge makes the Demon and Hellcat in automatic transmission. There's a reason for that. Clutches that can handle that kind of horsepower are difficult to drive and difficult to maintain.

 

Subaru made this 5EAT transmission with the boost and horsepower in mind. It's built to handle reasonable horsepower and is consistent and solid.

[Impreza41]

Personally, I find the 5EAT to be an excellent transmission. I never miss a shift, I'm always in boost through the shifts, and it's consistent in traffic. I have a 6MT 2014 Mustang and I drive it a lot too, but in all honesty, the 5EAT LGT is a much more comfortable car to drive, especially if there is a lot of stop and go. I used to track the car and it was strong and smooth lap after lap.

 

The 5EAT is not a slushbox like an old Powerglide. It shifts firmly and crisply (with maintenance, a cooler, and good fluid) and they can easily go 300K without issues.

 

What kind of maintenance do they entail generally? I heard if you plan on tracking a 5EAT the cooler is a good idea plus changing fluid regularly.

I've been trying to find a video to see what the rev-matching is like and how they do on the track

[Impreza41]

Just another question, has anyone ever found a way to reduce the delay between pulling the paddle to upshift and it actually happening? Or is it not as bad as some say?

[awesterner]

I find the downshifts and rev matching in S# to be great actually. Really quick. But yeah upshift is pretty delayed. As well I actually enjoy the very positive 2nd to 3rd shift. I wish 1st to 2nd was a bit more positive but maybe it's designed that was for a reason. Anyway I previously had a SpecB with the manual, and just picked up a really low KM LGT wagon and I'm really starting to like the auto . I'm looking into XRT to do the programming for quicker shifts, however I'm partial to PDX for the engine tune, so I think XRT is out as they dig into the ECU, not just the TCU. I'm tempted to do the open source stuff but there's years of forum threads in the reverse engineering of the TCU, I'll go mass before I figure it out!

[Impreza41]

Hmm, I was reading the TCU reverse engineering thread and it seems people are working hard on the delay still :/ Maybe by the time i actually find the right car and buy it will be fixed, fingers crossed.

 

It's good to see people like them though, my only experience with subaru automatics has been with the 4eat in my deceased 03 legacy, and it was truly terrible

[ktm200]

As I understand it we still can't program the TCU itself. Most of the tuning people do is on the requested torque tables on the ECU side of things to kind of fool the transmission into shifting thinking it is under a higher load than it really is. The two most important things on the TCU would be increasing line pressure and reducing the paddle delay. Neither of those can be done yet if I recall correctly.

[mtjg]

I have the 06 with the 5eat it's okay. But the shifting is a little slow and long also it's boggy off the start. 5.7 0-60 at 3000 ft around 87 degrees

 

 

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[fishbone]

Hmm, I was reading the TCU reverse engineering thread and it seems people are working hard on the delay still :/ Maybe by the time i actually find the right car and buy it will be fixed, fingers crossed.

 

Nothing will be fixed in months that hasn't since 2005-2009

[jonnyt88]

In S# i have had some scary fast downshifts. Upshifting has a delay, but you have to learn to time it right while accelerating. The actual upshift isn't terribly slow, but nothing to jump up for joy over.

 

Overall I'm content. I want to add the paddles though.

[awesterner]

I live in real hilly terrain and the fast downshifts are great. I love the paddles too;-). For upshifting I've kind of resigned my 'aggressive' driving to 3rd and 4th gear pulls merging and passing. For that I'm totally OK with the nature of the shifts as I'm pretty well just holding either of those gears. For fast upshifting we are left basically to leave it in 'D' and just mat it!

 

As well for those with the 5EAT, a little tune makes a huge difference. I'm using my Accessport from my old SpecB (long sold). Just a Stage 1 until I get some more hardware for PDX....but Stage 1 in the 5EAT is really peppy....FAR better than stock. With the 6 speed, that mild tune was hardly noticeable. Even if it's just your grocery getter, the drivability is so much nicer:-)

[59ctd]

I like the 5EAT. I have an 09 gt with the auto. For a daily driver it is nice and easy to drive. Full on acceleration the upshifts are pretty firm you definitely feel it when it upshifts. I have not used the paddle shifters much - the few times I did the lag is very apparent and so I agree with others the paddles are a bit of a gimmick.

[jonnyt88]

. For that I'm totally OK with the nature of the shifts as I'm pretty well just holding either of those gears.

 

This is about how I use the manual mode also. A quick downshift is nice when you need to merge or get around someone quickly, but the slower upshift has never been a real burden. I use the manual mode to hold it in gear also.

 

Good to know about the Cobb AP Stg1. I was on the fence about it as I didn't know how much affect it would have. Still think I would rather do sway bars first.

 

 

 

I have not used the paddle shifters much - the few times I did the lag is very apparent and so I agree with others the paddles are a bit of a gimmick.

 

Do you use the manual mode via shiftier instead or not at all? It sounds like the paddles aren't as responsive as the shifter "Shifting".... or my internet interpretation of things is off.

[59ctd]

Do you use the manual mode via shiftier instead or not at all? It sounds like the paddles aren't as responsive as the shifter "Shifting".... or my internet interpretation of things is off.

 

I just let it shift on it's own. I've never really tried the manual up/down with the shift lever. I'd expect the same level of responsiveness when using the up/down shifter as well since they are both basically electronic switches for the driver input.