As the title said, I'm thinking about buying a 09 RalliArt with 14k mile. I been doing some research on the model to see if there's was any common problems, and one came up which was the SST transmission. One said it was unreliable and hard to maintain- meaning you have to change the transmission oil often( more than the recommended in the manual), was wondering if this was true? Also if you guys know of a common problem or any, please do share it. Thank you

 

The SST is a very reliable and advanced transmission. If you are going for big power, which you aren't because you are just buying a Ralliart, the transmission's strength comes into play. But for torque below 350 lbs-ft, the SST holds up gloriously.

The "maintenance" is not very difficult. It might seem a little pricey but personally I don't think so (and I'm a broke college student LOL). It is reccommended that you change the transmission oil every 30k miles. However, you should do the first change around 15-20k because in those miles the tranny really "breaks-in" and therefore gunks the oil quicker.

You can source the parts (8 liters of Mitsu Diaqueen fluid and 1 OEM SST filter) from multiple places. Price ranges but you can do research and find places that sell for much cheaper (NOT the dealer). Expect to pay roughly $350-400 each time. But considering that is every 30k miles, it's not all that bad. You can change it yourself in your garage, as it isn't much harder than your average oil change. (Fill plug is just underneath the stock airbox and there are three drain plugs underneath the car. The filter goes right behind the inner fender well on the driver's side.). There is a DIY on how to change your own SST oil and filter somewhere on either this forum or evoxforums.com.

What are your plans for the car? Staying stock? Light modding? Daily driver/weekend warrior/track queen? Either way, the car is a blast to drive and even though many people are afraid of the SST, it is an awesome transmission. Hope this helps.

 

Thank for the helpful information man! As to what are my plans for the car, its just going to be a daily driver. Because I'm also a broke college student xD, but maybe some light mods; nothing crazy.

 

Yeah that's how it starts man lol. I'm already almost at full bolt-ons and planning a turbo swap haha. You'll love the car. Very fun and reliable and moddable as could be.

 

Once you start buying u can't stop driving
YOu'll find its only a minority of ppl that have problems with the sst. IF u haven't driven a sst/dsg tranny before, you'll prob find 1st gear could be a little jerky, so first thing to do when u get the car is to flash the GST basemaps as that will solve the jerkiness. ( well 99.9%, 0.01% gremlins in the sst takes over)

 

Yup, it's true... once you start the mod bug takes over. I had a Nismo 350Z before that I sold to buy my Ralliart. I bought a 2012 Ralliart 3 months ago and I said that I was gonna leave it stock... That definitely didn't happen haha

But the SST is pretty cool. I've always had a traditional "H" transmission, but the SST is nice. I like that it rev-matches when you down shift so you don't have to toe-to-heal.

As far as issues go I haven't experienced anything. However, in 2009 the TC-SST was still fairly new. So if they had issues 3 years ago I'm sure they've fixed them now

 

I purchased a 2009 Ralliart pre-owned, it had like 26,000 miles when I bought it. From the time I got the car I knew there was something wrong with the tranny, but didn't know what. So I took it to the dealership 3 times and they said there was nothing wrong with it, but I still thought there was. About 3 weeks ago I took the car to get checked out again and they said it past all tests. Now 1 week later I was driving and all of a sudden the car wouldn't shift past 3rd gear. By this time I was over my 60,000 mile warranty by 400 miles. I called the dealer and they picked the car up snd checked it out, it turns out 4th gear malfunctioned and the car needed another tranny. Since I had taken the car in a week before my warranty was up and complained of tranny problems they went ahead and covered the new tranny under warranty. So basically my tranny went out at 60,400 miles.
Thanks!