Subaru Outback owners have reported 37 problems related to vehicle shudder (under the power train category). The most recently reported issues are listed below. Also please check out the statistics and reliability analysis of Subaru Outback based on all problems reported for the Outback.
Car shudders and stalls continually when starting in 1st gear, more frequently when cold. Have stalled in middle of interection multiple times. This is a manual transmission. I have driven manuals for 20 years have had never had this problem with other vehilcles. This has been happening since I purchased car 6 months ago.
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all problems of the 2002 Subaru Outback
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The manual transmission on this vehicle skips or shudders in 1st gear making it difficult to pull forward or into traffic at slow speeds without stalling the car. The only option is to rev the engine higher than normally to insure clutch engagement which then cause the clutch to burn. Sometimes even this doesn't work. It happens more often when the car is cold. Dealer said it could not be duplicated so it must be our driving, however I have been driving manuals for 20 years and this has never been a problem. This is a scary car to pull out into heavy or fast moving traffic.