Buying a 05+ GT, manual or auto?

Hi Guys,

 

I currently have a '02 Legacy GT Limited Sedan, I love the car but am looking to upgrade to a turbo Legacy.

 

My car now is a 5 speed, and I have really liked it. I like autos but like the extra power that a manual seems to pull out of a car. This is just my feeling on it, when I had my manual truck compared to my now auto with the same engine there is a big difference to me. I drove a '05 GT today with an auto and of course was impressed with the power it had when you gave it some throttle, my main question is whether the autostick really compares to a manual or not?

 

What do you guys recommend? I'm not a speed demon but don't want to be kicking myself later for not buying a stick.

get the mt!!! i have one, not the best clutch in the world but does 0-60 bout 1 sec qwker than the 5eat i love it, i got bored very quickly with auto's when i got to the US. Its great fun and i recomend it enormasly.

 

sorry about my spelling its late dark and im just bout ready to fall to sleep:)

Get an 5EAT

I sold my auto for a manual. It was worth it.

Don't let these MT guys fool you - the AT holds its own against them.

Don't let these MT guys fool you - the AT holds its own against them.

 

 

yeah. they are just jealous of our 3500rpm 100mph cruising.

 

more sanely 80mph at 2800rpm.

if you dont wanna break a nail get auto!

Been driving auto a few years now. I will never go back to manual. Rush hour commutes are far more comfortable as well

Since your driving a manual now and like it then go the MT route. Add aftermarket front and rear hardened bushings and short throw shifter and it makes it a very fun car to drive. The 05 MT also has a different powertrain setup that the auto with 50/50 split of power and there is no turbo lag to speak of.

yeah. they are just jealous of our 3500rpm 100mph cruising.

 

more sanely 80mph at 2800rpm.

 

Wow, is it really that good? That's one thing I don't like about my manual is I'm pushing 3000rpmish just to hit 70mph.

 

I think it will probably come down to what I find, and what it has. Used turbo subies are hard to come by up here. I have found a '05 GT with only 10,000 for $15,500, sounds like an excellent deal to me, what do you guys think?

Since your driving a manual now and like it then go the MT route. Add aftermarket front and rear hardened bushings and short throw shifter and it makes it a very fun car to drive. The 05 MT also has a different powertrain setup that the auto with 50/50 split of power and there is no turbo lag to speak of.

my auto has no turbo lag.

I sold my auto for a manual. It was worth it.

your auto wasn't even close to that of the 5EAT. you can't compare the two.

Wow, is it really that good? That's one thing I don't like about my manual is I'm pushing 3000rpmish just to hit 70mph.

 

I think it will probably come down to what I find, and what it has. Used turbo subies are hard to come by up here. I have found a '05 GT with only 10,000 for $15,500, sounds like an excellent deal to me, what do you guys think?

Here's more or less what you will find with used Turbo Subies: MT usually means the previous owner/s romped on their car a lot. AT usually means someone not needing to race from light to light bought it and will be less likely beat to hell. This is NOT ALWAYS TRUE, but if you can find a privately owned vehicle, try and find out who drove the car mostly. If it was some old granny, that's the one you probably want. Otherwise, no matter if it's an auto or a MT, if some speed freak bought it and drove it like he stole it every day, chances are it's been modded and then demodded for sale. What we find here is when people demod their car, it's just thrown back together, not necessarily correctly or properly and almost everyone I know who's purchased a used car "thrown back together" is always getting work done to it, turbo goes, or engine goes, or tranny, etc. So be careful and do lots of research on the car before you buy it. just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's a good deal.

Since your driving a manual now and like it then go the MT route. Add aftermarket front and rear hardened bushings and short throw shifter and it makes it a very fun car to drive. The 05 MT also has a different powertrain setup that the auto with 50/50 split of power and there is no turbo lag to speak of.

 

actually our 5eat awd is more sport orientated. we start out at f/r ratio of 45/55%.

Wow, is it really that good? That's one thing I don't like about my manual is I'm pushing 3000rpmish just to hit 70mph.

 

I think it will probably come down to what I find, and what it has. Used turbo subies are hard to come by up here. I have found a '05 GT with only 10,000 for $15,500, sounds like an excellent deal to me, what do you guys think?

 

good is an opinion...i digress...the auto simply has different ratios than the manual. the manual was built for acceleration but the auto has a nice mix of acceleration and cruising.

Here's more or less what you will find with used Turbo Subies: MT usually means the previous owner/s romped on their car a lot. AT usually means someone not needing to race from light to light bought it and will be less likely beat to hell. This is NOT ALWAYS TRUE, but if you can find a privately owned vehicle, try and find out who drove the car mostly. If it was some old granny, that's the one you probably want. Otherwise, no matter if it's an auto or a MT, if some speed freak bought it and drove it like he stole it every day, chances are it's been modded and then demodded for sale. What we find here is when people demod their car, it's just thrown back together, not necessarily correctly or properly and almost everyone I know who's purchased a used car "thrown back together" is always getting work done to it, turbo goes, or engine goes, or tranny, etc. So be careful and do lots of research on the car before you buy it. just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's a good deal.

 

+1 as a general rule of thumb I would agree with AK.

actually our 5eat awd is more sport orientated. we start out at f/r ratio of 45/55%.

 

Just pointing out the differences between the MT and AT, never said it was better or worse.

just FYI, my 05 LGT 5EAT Lmtd has been beat on a regular basis. I have raced it 2 full seasons and one event stock. I am teased that there is nothing left on the car that hasn't been modified in some way or form. It has been built well though, by SOA trained techs, all maintenance, etc done by one tech in particular. I am selling the car to him for trade in value this summer after I pick up my new 08 STI. I will miss my 5EAT because I've grown accustomed to how it drives and I feel like I know how to drive my car well. Now I will be going to a completely different car (somewhere b/w my LGT and 07 STI) but still different. It drives differently than the LGT. I love my LGT, but I need room for space and items for my business. The reason the car gets sold as is (modified and all) is because a) I've beat this car to hell and the tranny is going to fail at some time sooner or later.. hopefully later b) the guy buying it has built this car from the ground up and will be building the next for me too c) He's a good friend. If I were to take this car back to stock and sell it, I'd sell it for about $16-17K ($22K for mine here according to the Sales Manager), well under blue book. I'd just want to get rid of it since I did beat it and there could be potential tranny failure.

good is an opinion...i digress...the auto simply has different ratios than the manual. the manual was built for acceleration but the auto has a nice mix of acceleration and cruising.

 

Since I do alot of highway cruising it is good for my usage. Like I said above I'm not a speed demon, but I like to be put back in my seat when i need to. Or above all, not let some ricer show me up.

 

Here's more or less what you will find with used Turbo Subies: MT usually means the previous owner/s romped on their car a lot. AT usually means someone not needing to race from light to light bought it and will be less likely beat to hell. This is NOT ALWAYS TRUE, but if you can find a privately owned vehicle, try and find out who drove the car mostly. If it was some old granny, that's the one you probably want. Otherwise, no matter if it's an auto or a MT, if some speed freak bought it and drove it like he stole it every day, chances are it's been modded and then demodded for sale. What we find here is when people demod their car, it's just thrown back together, not necessarily correctly or properly and almost everyone I know who's purchased a used car "thrown back together" is always getting work done to it, turbo goes, or engine goes, or tranny, etc. So be careful and do lots of research on the car before you buy it. just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's a good deal.

 

I know the basics of buying a car, cheaper isn't always better, its a simple concept. I do alot of research before deciding on a car, and will definitely check this one out thoroughly before considering buying it.

Wow, is it really that good? That's one thing I don't like about my manual is I'm pushing 3000rpmish just to hit 70mph.

 

I think it will probably come down to what I find, and what it has. Used turbo subies are hard to come by up here. I have found a '05 GT with only 10,000 for $15,500, sounds like an excellent deal to me, what do you guys think?

 

Would this be the red one in spokane? ino that there is a silver lgt sedan for sale, either just inside the montana border on the 90 or the 200 or just inside idaho on the 90 coz i drove past it on my way to "coeur d'lene" to drop off my penske truck.

Would this be the red one in spokane? ino that there is a silver lgt sedan for sale, either just inside the montana border on the 90 or the 200 or just inside idaho on the 90 coz i drove past it on my way to "coeur d'lene" to drop off my penske truck.

 

Yup, thats it. I really hope its turns out to be a good one. I called on it and for some reason they aren't ready to sell it for another month or something like that, so the lady has my number. So where exactly is this silver one? I drive to Montana almost weekly on a run to Kalispel, do you know anything about it?

Drive both and you'll see the difference

if you are a true driver & enthusiast - it's simple, get MT

I work in kalispell lol. and live in bigfork. erm sorry i dont know anything about it, i just saw it as we where driving by. It was on the north side on either the 200 135. It was sitting right out front of this little dealership. As you are in kalispell often you probably know where the walmart is right? well next door to that (going east) there is another used car dealer i saw one in there too! sorry i dont know the details on that one either. We have just got here and are just settling in. A trip round to all the dealers wont be too far away though lol.

Yeah, I just need to take my time and look for a good one. Where did you move to Big Fork from?