When I bought my 95 legacy in 2002, the gearshift wouldn't return to
> the center position. Every other car I've ever owned will return to a
> point exactly in the center of the shift pattern--between third and
> fourth. Mine will sit there if you put it there, or if you just pull
> it out of second it will stay between first and second. I got used to
> it and it doesn't bother me.
>
> However, at 190k miles the transmission was having problems staying in
> fourth, and the syncros were slow on second and fifth. So I had a shop
> replace the transmission with one out of a crashed car with 120k miles
> on it to the tune of 2100 bucks. When I got it back I expected the
> gear shift to be normal since I believe that this is an internally
> gated transmission. It wasn't though. It behaved the same way. Now I
> am at 233k Miles and I am starting to notice some reluctant shifts and
> suspect that perhaps they just serviced the transmission, but didn't
> actually replace it. So how many other people have a 'broken' shifter?
> What are the odds that the other transmission out of a car with 120k
> miles on it was also broken in the same way?
>
> Thank you for your input.
>
> Have a good one,
> Bill
Perhaps it is just the way those transmissions are. Having never driven a manual-transmission Legacy, I can't comment. But it may just be a characteristic of the transmission.
Dan D '99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's) Central NJ USA