Subaru WRX Forum banner

hard to shift from 2nd to 1st

7K views 17 replies 15 participants last post by  WRXforME 
#1 ·
my 05 wrx is the first car with a manual trans ive owned. i noticed that its hard to shift from 2nd to 1st. i have to wait until im going 10mph or lower. is this how all manual trans' are? is that how it is with the wrx's? or do i have a problem?
 
#3 ·
Well yes and no. It is harder to put the WRX into first gear above 10 MPH for most. I can and did it 3 times earlier today just to make sure I wasnt imagining things, but anyways I was at about 25MPH and had it in first. Now I didnt let the clutch out, but the shifter slid right into gear no fuss after rev matching. But it not uncommon to not be able to get your car into 1st at anything less than 10MPH.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mosc
#4 ·
Going into 1st is especially hard on the WRX 5-speed. Mattering on how you do it, it can be hard to shift into first even from a slight roll. My advise is to not force it. Just use second, it's got enough torque. That or stop and go into first correctly. It would be nice to downshift into 1st at 20mph instead of almost lugging 2nd, it's true but the tranny just isn't built that way.

Now the STi's tranny... (sorry)
 
#9 ·
Personally the wrx tranny already scares me from all the crap i've heard so i never down shift into first unless i'm obviously at a dead stop or barely rolling like turning around in the driveway rolling, tranny's are too expensive to do anything forcefully, well at least to expensive for me lol.
 
#10 ·
Do you think it's because of the AWD system you can't do it until going slow? I know it's not the same car but I've goten my car into first at like 30mph and my brother has goten his old Altima into 1st at like 40mph... Maybe just because they are different car, so they work differently. :)
 
#13 ·
Subeast did you not read my post? I can and have several times put mine into first at 20-30PH. I usually dont release the clutch over 20MPH in first but it can be done. And I do ageee the 5spd does suck.
 
#14 ·
Some can and some cant. Are cars are all built with different tolerences. samo gear boxes are built tighter than others. If you went to a dealer and say drove a blue wrx, it may be able to slip into first at 10-12 mph. Then you go and drive a black one and you have to be damn near stopped to be able to slip it into 1st. I blame Subaru. They nailed the 6 speed, but killed the 5 speed!Cry!
 
#16 ·
The gears in the tranny were worse in the earlier years (02-03).From 04 on they increase the width and made some other slight changes.Some people have had good results by switching out the OEM tranny fluid with straight synthetic or a "cocktail" of mixed fluids.I use Royal Puple Maxgear 75w90 and it did seem to improve downshifting in lower gears,especially first.Sometimes upgrading the shifter bushings help as well.
 
#17 ·
My current car has this same characteristic (I do not think it is an issue). I think it was purposely made this way. The whole design of first gear is to get going from a stop...and if you don't know how to downshift decently it is the hardest gear to downshift to. If you ever try to row through the gears I bet that you hit the 4-5 gearchange the smoothest and then 3-4 and then 2-3 and then 1-2. This is just the nature of the beast in my opinion, it is there to stop you from damaging the transmission (if you are going to shift into first you can blip the throttle with the clutch in all the way and it should slide into 1st easily). What I just mentioned is rev matching. So when the it does slide in easily it is roughly the right point for the next gear to take over...if you blip the throttle and see the RPM's at which it slides into first easily then you should be able to test this in a parking lot or so by going a constant speed and shifting between 1st and 2nd. Don't take my word for it there are several good guides on here that describe this in a lot more detail and have done their due dilligence in documenting every last detail. IM me if you want and I can try and explain it more matter-of-factly in real time.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top