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On small engined cars at least, reverse has always been the lowest gear in the transmission. This is because you don't want to drive quickly in reverse.
These cars suffer from three faults that make learning to drive a manual version tricky: the clutch bite point (friction zone) is too high up in the pedal travel, the clutch pedal height is too high off the floor (half an inch or more higher than the brake pedal which is just weird) and the tip in or initial throttle travel is unnecessarily rapid.
The first two issues can be corrected by adjusting the pedal height and bite point about one half inch closer to the floor of the car.
The throttle travel issue cannot be fixed unless Subaru releases a software update for the electronic throttle which isn't going to happen.
North Americans like aggressive throttle tip in. It makes a car feel more powerful than it really is. Almost all American built cars suffer from this fault. Many imports also do in order to satisfy this market demand. It's weird but that's just the way it is.
Most experienced manual transmission drivers stall this car repeatedly until they get used to these faults. I had my dealership adjust the clutch pedal and it is better. However, it is still absurdly easy to stall this car, even for an expert.
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