My '02 Manual Subaru Forester with 128K miles feels like it’s slipping or stuttering when I accelerate. We took it to one mechanic that thought it was the transmission and quoted me $1800 for a used replacement transmission and $2700 for a new one. There were some various other problems that made the total come out to 3-4K. The Kelly blue book trade-in value is about $4000. A mechanic friend thought that it could be the clutch plate without seeing the car. Do these seem reasonable? Should I repair the car? Or would it be better at this point to trade it in and get a new car? We’ve had it fixed about 4 times in the 4 years that we have owned it already!
Before you “repair the car” you better find out what is really wrong with it…Have a car-savvy person drive the car…
The odds of this being the transmission are pretty slim unless it’s low on gear oil. Check that first. (although one hopes that someone would have done this already)
Maybe this problem is not transmission or clutch related and is an engine performance problem; low fuel pressure, engine miss, etc.
Get AutoZone or someone to scan the car for codes. They will do this for you free.
At this point there’s not enough info available to make much of a guess as to what is going on.
Slipping could mean a faulty clutch.
Stuttering may tend towards an engine performance fault.