2001 Legacy wagon clutch shudder

We have a 2001 Legacy wagon that has had a problem with what Subaru calls 'cold clutch judder'... except it doesn't only happen when it's cold. The problem has persisted since the car was new and when I asked our local dealer, they told me that it is characteristic of the vehicle (underpowered and AWD). Now the clutch is slipping in 3rd, 4th and 5th gears... a result of trying to compensate for the original problem by slightly increasing engine revs and engaging the clutch more slowly to avoid the (sometimes) violent shuddering when starting out. This problem is rather disconcerting (and potentially dangerous) when trying to pull out into traffic. I have strongly maintained that, under normal driving conditions, a clutch should not fail in 50,000 miles!

I have written to SoA and they are trying to convince me that there is no problem with the clutches in these vehicles... although there was a TSB issued in May 2003 related to the problem.

Has anyone else had this problem and, if so, can it be eliminated? Does anyone know if Subaru has come up with a fix? I am really getting p.o.'ed at the runaround I am getting from the dealer and from SoA!

I own an '05 legacy wagon and experience the same problem. :banghead: Although it is most noticable during warm up on cold mornings, it does happen at other times also. I have not asked the dealer about it yet, but i Have my 7,500 mile check up in a couple of weeks, and plan to ask about it, I'll let you know what they tell me.