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Originally Posted by cody
MT always gets my vote. Put more power to the wheels and more fun to drive.
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I agree, but if you're really going to get 600 hp (I hope you have about $50,000 saved up in addition to what you've already spent) nothing "factory" will handle it. Not even the STI 6MT, unless you're really gentle to the car.
Now, if we're talking a more realistic 300-400 awhp, the 6MT is probably the only OEM transmission you'll be able to use. Perhaps a Legacy 4EAT w/ 4.11's and the correct TC would be a good option, but I'm not totally sure they can take that abuse. Even the 6MT is going to be punishing clutches or risking gears.
Either way, a tranny to handle high power levels is going to cost you at least $5000 installed... and that's assuming a great hookup on labor. STI 6MT + R180 + drive shaft + custom rear axles (so you don't have to do something like an STI rear hub conversion) is probably $5000 to $6000 in parts alone. A rebuilt Legacy 4EAT w/ 4.11's is also probably over $4000 as well.
For about $3000, you can probably do a WRX tranny swap. An '02-'05 WRX tranny is about as drop in as it gets, since it re-uses the SVX's 3.545 rear end, but has a 1.1:1 center diff that makes the rear-end effectively a 3.90. If you're a gentle driver and make sure to slip the clutch (keep the wear on the cheaper clutch rather than risk the gears) you can probably get away with a 5MT on your supercharged motor.
I raced with 200awhp on my WRX w/o any tranny issues for like 40,000 miles. But I made sure to slip the clutch and never "launched" the car. Which is why my clutch started slipping, which prompted my 6MT swap. I was going to use my 5MT for the SVX, but the transmission went missing from the shop I left it at, so I've scrapped plans for a manual swap into my SVX. If the tranny goes out on the car (it's running great, so I figure it's got a while yet) I'll probably just sell the car, or put a Legacy 4EAT in there... automatics can be nice on the daily driver.