Welcome aboard Cincy Slim, we need as many Buckeye's as we can get.

I can't say anything about the clutch, I haven't noticed anything wrong with the way mine works, and I really don't remember reading anything bad about it either. But I think most of the negative comments were made about the '04 cars shifter being notchy.
I know my '04 has always been "less smooth" to shift than my Honda's or Miata, but it's never really been that bad either.
It wasn't until I drove a good friends 05 LTD roadster, and I did notice a difference. His shifted significantly smoother than my '04. But not enough so for me to take a chance on taking my car back to a dealer where they could "really" SCREW things up.