Subaru not having it is a good thing and a bad thing. Obviously the TC-SST is a very complicated and advanced transmission which will attract some people but it also lacks the visceral feeling of a third pedal which will naturally put off other people. If it can't hold a lot of power or launch well, it could find itself disliked by tuners as well.

 

According to this video released friday, the SST will never upshift in manual mode even when hitting redline:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6835570432368672639&hl=en

 

Dude there is nothing positive about Subaru not having a dual clutch transmission. If you want a pedal you can get a stripper EVO X GSR but judging by the success that VW/Audi has had with the dsg transmission consumers obviously obviously want it and I know a few people that will only buy twin clutch transmissions sports cars.

 

Actually there are quite a few positive aspects of Subaru not having a twin clutch system. For one, there are some buyers who will not buy a TC car. The Ralliart is not even an option for these people. You can say these people are few and far between but even on Evom there have been some members who have expressed their disappointment in Mitsubishi and there decision to buy a WRX because of this. EVO magazine has an MR for long term tests and one thing they make note of is their boredom in the transmission; it was fun for a while but now it just feels old. Despite what people may argue, a paddle will never replace the visceral feeling of a third pedal and an actual shifter. You might as well argue that a fleshlight is just as good as a real vagina. The TC also adds cost which could become a serious factor for some buyers who are comparing the Ralliart to cars like the WRX that are more powerful yet cheaper. While I'm sure dealers will declare the TC superior to everything that has come before it, they're going to have a hard time rationalizing the markup to comparison shoppers. There's also servicing issues and durability issues, by the way Mitsubishi is talking (ie. saying that the Ralliart is a hopped up lancer not a detuned evo), they do not want people to track it or drive it hard, they want it to be a daily driver. Compare this with Subaru who are marketing the WRX using videos showing drivers going out onto a track and bagging the crap out of the car. They even set up a fake rally stage for journalists to drive on just to show how good the car is. If I had no knowledge of the backgrounds of each company (namely that they both were/are heavy into motorsports), I would jump to the conclusion that for someone wanting a performer, the WRX was a better buy. The TC transmission is nice, but it could be a double-edged sword for Mitsubishi and they are taking a hell of a gamble not offering a traditional manual.

 

Considering that 75% of all cars in the US sell with an automatic transmission I would say the gamble is not having an auto. Really if you are that performance oriented you should be looking at spending a few thousand more for the EVO and not the Ralliart. Funny nobody is complaining that the GTR transmission is boring them or the Audi R8, etc. Again if Subaru had this you would be all over it but since they don't you don't like.

Oh and since you are probably a regular at NASIOC you would know that the Subaru 5 speed has been and will always be glass so it limits power to WRX just as the TC-SST does to the Ralliart.

 

^but people i with an audi R8 or GTR is most likely not going to be there DD, where as RA, wrx, sti, evo are DD-able

 

Ever been stuck in slow moving traffic on your commute? Autos make better daily drivers. Unless your point was that only supercars get the dual clutch tranny which makes the Ralliart look even better for having it.

 

Here's the problem, the market that the Ralliart and the WRX are intended to address are not like 75% of the average population. As an obvious example, Car and Driver polled WRX/STI drivers and something like 95% of the cars are manual. That's astonishingly high. People do not buy a WRX or a Ralliart for comfort, they buy it because they want performance and they're willing to make some sacrifices (price, fuel economy, driveability, etc) to get it. The GTR is a completely different car, nobody is going to get bored of 400+ HP and last time I checked, the R8 came in a normal stick as well (Top Gear clearly shows Clarkson rowing through the gears). Those are supercars, not a jazzed up economy car. The transmissions of some of those cars are probably worth more than the entire Ralliart. This has nothing to do with brand loyalty (which isn't applicable anyways since I had a Mitsubishi previously and the only reason I bought a Subaru is because at the time they were the only manufacturer offering something I wanted).
Here's the big difference between the WRX 5-speed and the TC-SST, the 5-speed is easy to upgrade and can be babied. How are you going to baby a transmission that you have no control over? If you're worried about breaking the transmission (something that isn't as common as people think and generally comes with serious abuse), you can avoid launches and slip the clutch more to reduce the shock load on the gears. You can't do that on the Ralliart and any slipping only presents another problem. If you do break gears, you can either A. put the STI 6-speed in (possibly an option for the Ralliart if the transmission is different from the MR but I suspect it would require some ECU tuning/swapping as well) or B. replace the gears with PPGs, MFactorys, STI RA, LGT, etc. which range anywhere from 2000$ to 10000$ depending on exactly what you want.

 

Autos are only better daily drivers if you want to sit back and do jack all. Personally I have no problem having to lift my left foot slightly every once in a while to creep forward.

 

To be entirely fair, the WRX was only available with the automatic on Limited models, and it was only a 4-speed unit. If the "regular" WRX had been available with the 5-speed LGT automatic, this might be a different story, but I'm sure they'd still be selling mostly MT cars.

 

True but it's still quite telling that the vast majority of the cars were manuals indicating that people weren't looking for the fast but self-driving vehicle.

 

Where are the OPs'?
They haven't updated in awhile.
Any news, vids, pics anything on the progress?

 

i know this thread has become speculation central,
actually, i heard that mitsu will release the realliart with flourescent pink rims

 

Okay Pink rims? Lets get back to the tech. Has robi taken the sst apart yet? Is there things we can do to strengthen the tranny? IE Better clutch packs, or maybe stonger gears? What about raising the hydraulic pressure to produce faster stronger shifts? Does any one know the power split? Is it 50/50 or 40/60? I also wanted a pic. for the underneath the vehicle, and one of the engine bay with all the pretty plastics removed. In one of the Pic.s I noticed they were still using the stock air box and MAF sensor. Was there a performance gain to staying that way or would it be better to sheet metal fabricate one to make it a true CAI?

 

Watch the video posted with the executive. He states the SST is more durable than the manual. Does not appear to need strengthened. The shifts are already very fast. Comparable to Ferrari.