New BRZ owner here
 

Hello everyone, bought a left over 2018 Pearl White BRZ M6 on January 4th and have put 4k miles on it so far.

So far I love It. It's fun and getting 31.4mpg is so awesome when you're coming from 15-17mpg. Only complaint is like a lot of people say is the power.

I have driven nothing but GM all my life and I use to have an '05 GTO M6 a few years ago so the power is my only complaint with the car so far.

I've read where a lot of new users had issues shifting into 2nd smoothly. No problems there but sometimes shifting into 5th can be a little bit of a pain. I tend to ride the clutch a little going into 5th. Anyone else have problems with this in the beginning?

yes, but as you keep racking up miles, you will notice the shifting is getting smoother. Whether that's up to you getting more accustomed to the car, or the transmission breaking in - who knows. But it does get better. Don't get too comfortable though - I grind once in a blue moon when I'm not fully focused on the shift at WOT

Welcome to the #masterrace life.

Change the transmission fluid with something other than stock ( Redline or Motul) and give it a month. Change it again. Wait a couple more months and see how it feels. This is probably a break in / fluid problem, my transmission was crunchy until I switched to Motul, it's been perfect since. Even got rid of my 4th gear high RPM shift grind.

The stock Toyota GL-3 gearbox oil is notorious for making it hard to get into gear but mostly 1st on a slow roll or downshift into 2nd gear. Never had a problem with 4th 5th 6th but you should slow down your shifts for these gears as they are single cone synchros (for me it's easy to grind 5th to 4th if too fast). The first three gears on the other hand are triple cone.

I'm using Eneos Gear Oil GL-5 75W90 (same as the JDM Subaru stock oil) and no problems with the first 3 gears in just about any situation.

But like all stick shifts I've managed to grind all 6 gears at least once each with this car over the last 5 years lol!

What do you mean by a pain? More effort?

Just give it time. It will get better. You do not need to change anything.

Not anymore effort. The clutch grabs differently just about every time so it's been hard to learn to find the sweet spot of the clutch for that gear.

6th to 5th downshift or 4th to 5th upshift?

4th to 5th.

Interesting...

Well a lot of good suggestions here. Keep the stock oil and once you've finished breaking in the car, switch to another oil and see if it improves.

I've only kept the stock clutch disc and pressure plate for the first 10,000km as I found it too softly sprung to the point of annoying (especially when driving fast).

I switched to a slightly stiffer sprung setup since (STI made by Exedy clutch disc and cover with STI short shifter) and it engages much more quickly and positively.

https://www.sti.jp/parts/subarubrz_zc/engine/

Thanks will do. I've got 4400 miles on it now.

Oh and only one other complaint. Damn engine sounds like a sewing machine once at operating temperature. I know this is normal just a little annoying.

I find that you have to shift pretty quickly from 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th depending on how high your RPMs are. You have to pretty much dump the clutch when going from 4th to 5th.

Yes I'm feeling the same about this.