Were the 2002 WRX manual transmissions weak or did I have an overly abusive co-worker? He broke 3 of them.
I don't know about 2002, but I drove my 2003 WRX for about 230K miles, and had the original clutch in it when I sold the car. I suspect that your co-worker was doing "clutch drops" from 4000-5000 RPM. Not good.
As to Subarus in general...
We're a Subie family. Our first was a 1999 Outback, now with about 200K miles on it. We kept it as a "backup" car about 5 years ago, and that was a good decision. It runs just fine.
I got a 2003 WRX wagon, and drove it until I had about 230K miles on it, at which time it was sold to a college student. I still miss my turbo!
My wife got a gently used 2007 Outback, and drove it until it was totaled late last year by another driver turning into her path.
My WRX was replaced by a 2013 Forester.
My wife's 2007 Outback was replaced recently by a 2010 Forester.
All our Subies do well in the snow, but I will say that the stock tires tend to SUCK. My WRX came with Bridgestone RE92's, and they were crap even on wet pavement. My Forester has Bridgestone tires on it, and they are marginal (to be polite) on snow. I ran Kumho or Hankook all season tires on my WRX (and had a set of Dunlop winter tires on spare rims). I'll wait till my current tires get more wear on them, and will replace them with better tires.
In terms of Subaru quality, they seem to make good cars EXCEPT for the engine head gaskets. The 1999 Outback had a head gasket failure at about 5 years & 90,000 miles, costing us ~$2500 in repairs. My 2003 WRX had a leaking head gasket when I sold it. It had been questionable (leaking oil onto the exhaust manifold) for the last 100K miles of use. My wife's 2007 Outback head gasket failed at about 90K miles, WARPING one of the heads so much that it couldn't be milled flat. Of course, after $3500 in engine work, the car was totaled a few months later.
I wrote a letter to Tom Doll, President/COO of Subaru, grumbling about spending $$$$$$ on head gasket failures.
Never got a response
Love...feel the Subaru "love"....apparently, Subaru is getting a bit big for its britches and doesn't feel the need to respond to a multi-vehicle customer of 15+ years.
Subaru has changed the engine & head gasket designs multiple times...maybe they'll eventually get it right. We still like our Subies, despite having to save $$$ for the inevitable head gasket failures.
