Scooby guys I'm thinking of converting
 

An auto FXT to manual since it's nice and I can get it for 1/3 the average asking price of a manual FXT.

I simply get bored driving auto all the time and have been told the auto isn't as good to tow with. I have a 15' boat (1200lbs-ish on trailer) to tow through hilly cottage country. I need room for more people than my truck offers though the truck is excellent for this particular towing job.

Is there an unnatural amount of work involved on Subarus to do this? Is it pedals, slave, trans, axles?

I'm looking at selling an 07 50k km B3000 (Ranger edge equivalent) for a 170k km 04 FXT with leather, sunroof, fully loaded, towing pkg??, auto:loser: etc.

Anything to look out for on these? I know some of you guys have one of these.

I've a manual. Love it. Not sure whats all involved for auto swap tho.

From what I've read it looks like you replace the entire drive train :facepalm:. Any experience with subaru autos, I have a general hatred of them but I really want a turbo wagon and don't want to pay 15-20k for a 5-10 year old car.

The one I'm talking about is asking 6500, I haven't seen it in person yet.

I have an '07 WRB FXT Sport 5spd that I picked up in February and I like it a lot so far. The guys on the Forester forum seem to have good luck with the strength of the auto trannys. Although it might be boring to drive you should be fine towing 1200 pounds.

I absolutely despise turbo auto subarus. Driven a few wrx's and wanted to kill myself. Others don't mind. Its really a personal preferance.

I have an auto fxt and it's totally different than the other auto subaru's I've driven.

It's pretty cool and would be fun to drive if I didn't have it loaded down with 200 pounds of tools in the rear ftl :(

Sounds like the auto FXT is best left for the wife if I proceed. Otherwise I was looking into mazda6 wagons which can be found in 5sp and are cheaper.