Nurburgring, Nuremberg is where they tried the *****, that would be a whole different kind of beating.

 

lmfao

 

And here is my main contention to this whole thread: I don't think that most people give one rat's behind about the visceral sensation of driving a manual transmission. I think that most people were expecting the EVO Splenda Edition when they bought their Ralliarts, and the simple fact of the matter is that it isn't. This is not a car for people who couldn't afford an EVO, and that is EXACTLY what it has become. You can't just bolt on a new turbo, turn up the boost, slap on a new set of rollers, and go. In the EVO, you can certainly perform at a track day and then drive the car home again. This car is going to complain...A LOT. The transmission can't take it, the brakes can't take it, and I suspect that other problems loom on the horizon for those who do decide to push the limits of their Ralliarts.

To be perfectly honest, I am just waiting until the opportunity comes along to dump my Eclipse. There is a 350Z Track Edition in my future...fingers crossed.

 

considering 5 of my friends have wrx's ( 02, 03, 04, 06, 07) and ive been looking to buy a 06 wrx for the longest time. ive been doing plenty of reading. anything over 300HP/TQ is asking for trouble. and the stock auto can hold over 450HP/TQ. and built over 600.

 

I have well over 300 HP and TQ, hell I have around 350 HP and 380-400 ft-lbs of torque and my transmission is fine. That's with daily driving and track use. Unless you drive like an idiot, the WRX transmissions, while weaker than the Evo and STi transmissions, isn't terrible. The only people I personally know who have had transmission issues either abused them or were running over close to if not over 400 WTQ.

 

my goal is close to 400HP with 400Trq @ the wheels, with a new clutches and transmission cooler, if not then I'l be fine with 365/365

 

Its good to see that even on a forum where the car doesn't have a manual option this debate still continues.

I think every car forum has this same thread with the same points on both sides.

 

I was a member of an Eclipse forum for 5 years or thereabouts. This particular debate didn't come up as far as I can recall. No one really argued that the sport-tronic wasn't ghey. We pretty much came to a consensus on that particular point.

 

my friend stripped his first gear on 300HP 370TQ from a 5mph roll.

then on his second trans he stripped third from a similiar type of acceleration.

reguardless. i dont want to have to baby it unlike the sti 6mt or the evo manuals.


but i hope the RA SST is strong because im considering a RA over a used WRX/STi, or evo 8-10 now. since i only have about 23k to spend.

 

That will be quite the challenge, and expensive. I would honestly suggest going in small steps, big power goals are great but once you get to 300+ WHP, you're already faster than a lot of cars on the road today and plenty fast for a daily driver. 400 WHP is a whole new ball game and can be overkill.

 

You don't need to baby it, you just have to drive smart. If you're friend has blown two transmissions at low power levels, maybe it's not the transmissions that are the problem. Anyways, on topic, if you do a bit of reading on this forum, you'll find that the Ralliart SST has it's own issues. Some people have had them replaced even under stock power levels. Whether this is a first generation issue I don't know but it appears to not like anything over around 300 ft-lbs of torque (torque is what kills it). There are aftermarket clutch packs available but I'm somewhat suspicious of how much testing honestly went into them.

 

I wonder if an SST goes and is not been covered by warranty if it'd be cheaper and more efficient in the long run to swap a GSR transmission into an RA.

 

The TC SST is the future. I think Mitsu made a good choice with using the SST, and will be bringing in more models with the SST. Ford, Mazda, Nissan are a few of the others that will be or already have them, then all the super car companies like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche have had them for a while now. F1 race cars use them and so does the Bugatti Veyron. The only option for the Bugatti was a SST due to the power. Yes I understand that ours is a little watered down but i'm cool with that. I'm happy with my decision. All you haters, Get over it! If you don't like the SST, you should have bought an Evo, If that wasn't in your budget then you should have moved on to a Subi.

 

The TC systems are undoubtedly the future of automatics but they're not the future in general. While a lot of companies are beginning to use them, they're still by all means in the larval stages. What happens on exotics is at best, barely relevant since exotics don't need reliability and, as has been said time and time again, the transmissions alone on some of the high end cars you mentioned are more expensive than an Evo, STi, Ralliart, etc. F1 cars are a completely different subject.
Edit: Do you have any links indicating that F1 cars use twin-clutch transmissions? I can only find links indicating that they use multi-plate clutch systems which may mean twin-plates, triple-plates, etc., not twin-clutches.

 

They were talkin about it on Top Gear a few seasons back. The SST is a semi-automatic. It uses a computer to control the clutches for timing and quicker shifting, but is still built like a manual(function wise). It is more a manual than an auto. I would say that SST are the future as their own thing. They are different from the autos and manuals. True they are still very new, but with more auto maker coming out with them, it will become a better upgradeable technology that will rival the manual. I disagree with the reliability comment. There have been several exotics that have used the TC in the Le Mans, where reliability is very important. And I know that your gonna say it's race car, but most performance or new parts are race/ track proven before it is used in the real world.