Subaru Does Not Give Up on a Manual Transmission
If you want to be fully in charge of your car’s performance, you will certainly need a manual stick shifter, but if you live in the USA or Canada, you will have to put a great deal of effort to find a manual model on the market. There are only 8 models manufactured for performance-craving customers that come only with a stick-shifter. Subaru provides 2 models from this list, namely, the 2019 Subaru WRX STI and the limited edition STI S209. The BRZ tS model was another manual-only car, but only five hundred cars rolled off the production line last year.
2019 Subaru WRX STI
Apart from two Subaru manuals, other
stick-shifted models are provided by Honda, Ford, and Hyundai. So if you plan
to buy a new manual performance car, you are seriously restricted in possible
options.
It is interesting to point out that manuals for
WRX and STI models differ in certain respects. The WRX gear shifting unit has a
wider ratio spread and carbon synchro units on the first two gears. Subaru
provided sharper shifter feel for the 2018MY 6-speed unit, with a new synchro
design and friction decrease, together with smoother clutch operation.
The WRX model can also be equipped with the Lineartronic
transmission controlled by means of paddle shifters. Most of Subaru admirers were
not very enthusiastic about the CVT-equipped performance car, thus this option
was excluded for the STI model.
The new WRX
STI model comes only with a strengthened 6-speed manual gearbox. This
close-ratio unit can operate with higher power and torque than its WRX’s analog.
Subaru doesn’t offer an automatic variant for the STI model.
Learn more about STI S209
Subaru plans
to supply one of its powerful models named WRX STI to the U.S. market later
this year. Up to now, this model was sold in Japan. Subaru will provide a very
limited number of cars for the US market, approximately 200 cars.
BRZ tS
All manual BRZ tS cars (Subaru produced only 500 of them last year) have already been sold out. The 6-speed manual solution installed in this model allows the driver to keep the RPM rate and the power band at optimal levels. This short throw shifter is also notable for increased handling ability. Subaru also offer an automatic version of the standard BRZ model. If you consider buying of the last manual performance-oriented cars in the US market, you should certainly pay attention to variants offered by Subaru. The new WRX STI or STI S209 will not disappoint fans of speed and stick shifters.
