[Michael Aos]

Bought this 2005 Outback XT 5MT back in October with around 102K miles. CARFAX says I'm the 4th owner.

Just now hitting 105K.

I can't say I've notice the clutch slipping. Seems "normal" to me.

I tend to baby the clutch though.

When my wife drives the car, I nearly come out my skin. She doesn't drive aggressively or anything. On the contrary -- she seems to ride / slip the clutch constantly in search of nice smooth gear changes. Both accelerating, and working her way through all the gears coming to a stop.

Doesn't match RPM's with gear / road speed. Just lets the clutch do all the work.

Any thoughts on how terrible this really is? Is the clutch robust enough to take it, and I just shouldn't worry about it?

When I bring it up, she always counters that up until just the last 10yrs, all of her previous cars where manuals and she never had a clutch replaced.

 

[tdelker]

When I bring it up, she always counters that up until just the last 10yrs, all of her previous cars where manuals and she never had a clutch replaced.

This is key! Plenty of people THINK they are kind to clutches, but only people that have them last a long time really are.

She's driving it fine.

Tom

 

[ipa]

That depends, has she had one MT car for 10 years and not worn it out? Or had a few and worn them out but replaced with a different car before it got bad. The lack of rev matching would be the part that worries me.

 

[Michael Aos]

Probably 5-ish cars from around 1982 to 2002.

She learned on her day's old 70's Civic.

I know there was a Maverick, a Mustang, and a Cavalier.

She had the Cavalier for around 100K miles.

I mostly agree with the premise that if she neve had any problems, she must be doing it right.

Although on the other hand, I don't think she would know if the clutch was slipping.

 

[tdelker]

The old fashion way - put it in fifth and pop the clutch (but make sure there is nothing in front of you). If the engine stalls, your clutch is good. If you start jumping forward your clutch is going out.