CzarDestructo Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 So I bought my Legacy 16 months ago brand new, still love it. I only have two regrets with the purchase. It's not a wagon (they stopped making them in 08) but I can live with that. My other gripe is the transmission. It's ******* terrible. Besides the obvious fact that it's a cumbersome 4 speed that limits every aspect of fun regarding the car it's also just poorly made. It's shifting is awkward and jerky, it violently bangs gears on more occasions than I'd like to admit and the worst aspect is that it's characteristics are changing for the worst. Over time the tranny seems to be banging gears and feeling worst with every passing month. I don't drive my car hard and only have a habit of punching the gas to the floor on occasion when I'm POed, but beyond that I'm never rough on my car. I'm just worried that my tranny is going to break as soon as the warranty is up (I'm currently at 23k miles). My question for the tranny gurus is how difficult would it be to swap my 08 2.5i Limited to a 5 speed manual? Essentially it should be a clean swap from any other GT or NA Legacy correct? How about the car computer, it is interfaced closely with the tranny? Is this a good idea or should I just deal with it and look for a new Legacy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Nick, I would strongly recommend looking for a legacy with the transmission you want. The transmission along with the rear differential would need to be changed and the costs would almost certainly be greater than any loss you would take on trading in your car. (I'm pretty sure the "guaranteed trade-in" event is still going on at local Suby dealers) Of course it all depends on how much the car is worth, and how much you owe on it now... I would guess that you could easily spend $4,000 to $5,000+ on the transmission swap, for which price you could probably get a 2.5i Special Edition 5MT. If you are going to attempt the transmission/diff swap, I would highly recommend test driving the 5MT and 6MT (spec.b specific as it has different ratios from the STi). The 5MT is not without it's "quirks"... Oh, and Happy New Year! The Crimson Dynamo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CzarDestructo Posted January 2, 2009 Author Share Posted January 2, 2009 Heh thanks for the quick response. Yea I never thought about the matching of the gear ratios since it's a 4WD. That's definitely more than I'd like to touch upon. Since I probably still owe more than what the car is worth I guess I'll stick with this battle wagon until it's paid off and hope for the best. It's depressing when my beaten to hell 96 VW was way more fun to drive than this brand new car. "I would guess that you could easily spend $4,000 to $5,000+ on the transmission swap, for which price you could probably get a 2.5i Special Edition 5MT" The problem is when I was buying this car brand new in 07 they stopped offering the Limited in stick. Only the lower end models and GT offered manual which pissed me off because I didn't want the turbo but I also didn't want a bare bones Legacy with cloth seats. I should have just bought a year old manual Limited. Worst still was I had to pay a PREMIUM for this god awful tranny. I know the automatic tranny when buying the car brand new costs an extra $1200. I wonder if selling the old tranny and differential will help recoup the labor if I can find a used tranny and rear end? May the New Year bring you plenty of snow to play in up in your snowbelt Legacy haven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 You would need to put in a clutch, get a manual break pedal (they are smaller to account for space taken by the clutch). You would need to cut a hole for the shifter. You would also either need to get an ECU from a manual car, or maybe with an access port you could flash the ECU to work. I also thought that all the auto cars made after 2006ish had a 5EAT... But I guess not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 You should definitely at least crunch the numbers to see how much you would be losing on the trade-in. With an actual number in mind, you can rationalize if the extra expense is worth the added enjoyment of driving stick, and get a new car with whatever options you wish you had. The special edition, which doesn't have leather or woodgrain, is a great bargain ($21.1k MSRP) with the 385W Harmon Kardon sound system, moon roof, and power driver seat. It comes standard with the 5MT... I wouldn't rule out the cloth: it will hold you in the seat better and won't have the temperature extremes of the leather. Plus, the leather in our cars isn't particularly great anyways... The woodgrain is meh, but if you like it you could probably add it later (much easier than transmission swap!). The Crimson Dynamo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CzarDestructo Posted January 2, 2009 Author Share Posted January 2, 2009 I don't think I could ever downgrade. I LOVE the VDC in the snow, it makes a world of difference. The digital climate control, heated mirrors, wiper blades and seats make winter driving so much easier. But yea the quality of the leather and fake woodgrain is below average. Realistically though if I could have gotten the manual tranny this Limited would have only cost $2-3 more than the Special. I need to refinance my car loan anyway, I'm going to have to explore the financial angles of trading this car in. I should have done this 2 months earlier as my aunt just got rid of a loaded Tribeca when her lease expired, I think the buy out price was under $10K. Oh regret... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow05gtRI Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I've looked into it for my LGT 5EAT as well. was seeing anything in the range of $3k to $7k+ depending on which tranny you decide to drop in there. do-able, but gotta decide if it's really worth it. for me: probably not unless i fall into a very large sum of money. either dropping in a MT or just getting a full IPT rebuild at some point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wormsertau Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Did you try putting in a high end Automatic Transmission fluid? You can search the threads for some recommendations (redline, Amsoil). I've heard some of them can do wonders toimprove the behavior of an automatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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