Its smoother for me than my first gen, which has an extremely high engagement point for some reason. Its not as light as my first gens one though, which made it a little less taxing in traffic.

Each car might be a tiny bit different, not sure.

 

My 2nd Gen BRZ has a very high clutch engagement where I can almost let the clutch out all of the way before it starts to engage. Really need to check this one if these days to see if the adjustment is right.

 

An old, worn clutch with weak pressure plate fingers will shift smooth as glass. The weak spring pressure makes it move much more slowly and be less "bitey". Give it 75k, it will feel the same. Lol

 

The 2nd gen is over assisted, it lacks any feel, changing to a weaker clutch spring sorts that. I find the travel is shorter than the first gen though, I still have my 1st gen so drive back to back quite regularly.

 

After waiting, literally, for. months so that I could get a manual transmission, I have to say I am not overly thrilled with the driving experience for most of the reasons listed above. The clutch engagement point on mine is great, but it such a damn chore to make a smooth shift! From what I understand the issue is most likely the factory "helper" spring tension. I am very tempted to replace that spring with one of the aftermarket alternatives to see if it will help. What's weird to me is why this spring is necessary to keep the throwout bearing from wearing out. I have owned literally dozens of manual transmission cars over the years that did not have one of these springs and those cars didn't have that issue. So what gives, Subaru/Toyota? Side note: I have found that the shoes I wear really make a difference in how smoothly I can drive my car. Thick soled tennis shoes are not so great. Flip flops are useless. Thinner soled tennis shoes or proper driving shoes definitely help.

 

I have to say I am not overly thrilled with the driving experience for most of the reasons listed above. The clutch engagement point on mine is great, but it such a damn chore to make a smooth shift!

3 things to fix this:

1) Pedal commander (or similar throttle lag killer). The throttle lag is partly what makes smooth shifting a chore.

2) MTec spring

3) Pedal travel adjust since many like the clutch bite point to be closer to the bottom of the travel. There are two ways to do this. The first is to lower the pedal further to the floor. This method will require changing the clutch position sensor if you lower the clutch past a certain point. The second way is easier and does not require sensor adjust: get some furniture felt pads and stack em up on top of the clutch stopper screw until the full travel is just beyond the bite point.

This way the predictability will be much greater from all components working together.

 

The helper spring makes the pedal easier to push on the way down, but on the last inch or so on the way back up it forces the pedal all the way up, which is what you want. Over time, the clutch (brake) fluid gets worn, the pressure plate gets weaker and the system by itself without the spring may not release fully. That causes drag on the TOB which will burn it out very quickly. That small amount of upward pressure from the spring prevents that. These cars already dont have a great TOB design to begin with. Plenty of people have been too cheap to spend 20 bucks on a spring and remove it entirely just to burn out a TOB prematurely.

 

That information helps! Thanks! I wouldn't simply remove the spring without replacing it with an aftermarket version for that very reason. I think it's strange that Subaru/Toyota hasn't replaced their not so great spring with a better designed one that would make shifting smoother and, perhaps, easier as well.

 

I'm wondering if there's anyone on here that loves the clutch and shifter besides me...

Lol

 

Never had a problem with the shifter. Love that for sure. I did the mtec spring. Between that and just breaking in the clutch I have zero complaints there either.

 

I feel like my first gen with roughly 70k miles and my GR86 with now only 6k miles is effectively the same.

 

I would say that while you can’t really “feel” much in the clutch (it never has that “chewy” feeling when it engages), once you know where the friction zone is the 2nd gen twins are really easy to drive. If you’re having trouble, I would suggest doing the really slow deliberate “get rolling with only the clutch” drill to really get the friction zone down in your muscle memory.

clutch in these cars overall in a C+\B- maybe when it’s broken in. Shifter itself is a B+. Pretty damn good but not the absolute tippy top.