Yeah, just the fron t and rear diffs on the OBW.
Keep in mind also, there are a lot of tuner types, true hobby racers
and street racing idiots - of all ages, modifying Soobs. There are a
ton of different shfter kits, upgraded shifter bushings, fluids, dog-
tooth gears, clutch/flywheel set-ups etc. After I experimented with
That is one thing I don't miss much. No offence, but I somehow doubt I
could best
the car maker in this department and, realistically, few people could
do
much of an improvement to the drivetrain.
my seat position for/aft to solve clutch use weirdness, (I DO seem to
Hmm, subaru seating position was flawless as far as I remember.
A4 seat itself is better without weird seat cradle cutting into the
thighs
but seating position is kinda odd, I'm still adjusting. (the whole
5'10" of me)
stall the car a coupla times a year)I never had any trouble shifting
my car as stock. I don't race, but have done 1 autox and 2 HDPEs,
never missed a shift up OR down. Sometimes I have trouble going into
reverse and a trip into the second gear slot helps with that. But
Despite the refinement of the gearbox of A4 I have the same problem
with reverse ->
sometimes I have to shift into a forward gear a few times before the
rear would engage.
I wonder if rears have synchros at all or I just screwed it by
switching to reverse once
while the car did not completely stop moving forward (subaru did not
mind
such an abuse though, as far as I remember, and I was worse at
shifting
back then, naturally)
I've had that in every 5 speed I've owned. I do much of my own
maintenance and light repair work so, I put the 'saved' money into
OEM or better parts/fluids.
I do not believe subies are as sensitive to the fluids as VWs.
VW engines are notoriously picky motor oil wise. I've never heard of a
picky
subaru engine. As for the parts I have blind trust in tirerack even
though
I never bought anything other than tires from them. Brake pads wise
they have a nifty rating system for various components of performance.
If you are deciding between a soob and another car, an issue unrelated
to transmissions is the Secondary Air Valves. While not unique to
Subaru, many people are reporting early failure of these valves (worse
in wet/humid parts of the country). If the other car you're
considering still has a front Catalytic converter - that might be a
point in its favor.
Subie is on hold now -> I have to find out how to avoid local morons
from testing brake performance
one axle at a time.
They use a contraption similar, for example, to the single axle dyno
featured at the end
of this video
except they spin the wheels slower to test the brakes: still, I assume
that's plenty to
create the windup in the differential and create torque bind.
To quote the technician "but but but we never heard a complaint in 7
years that we've been doing this"
Looks like lower tech luddite resistant setup on A4 works better for
me. The downside is that
given the recent [lack of] performance in dirt I won't be able to save
money by buying mid grade winter tires
I keep FT-86 somewhere in the back of my mind though, once it changes
the status from vaporware into the real things
and reviews pour in I might give subaru another try. Especially when/
if assymmetrical rwd biased awd layout filters
down into the other lines and understeer is eschewed for good.
