I just bought a 2004 crossfire with 37K miles. Five days after I bought it, I sent it back to fix the damned air pump and still havn't gotten it back after almost 2 weeks. Anyway from my limited time driving it, I did notice it was difficult to put it into reverse. At first I thought it was just becasue of the retarded reverse lockout system of pulling up on the stick while pulling back which made it difficult. But now I see its not just me and is a problem. The 1 - 2 shift is also difficult although I notice no grinding noise at all. As for putting it into 1st gear initially, its just as difficult as any other car. 1st gear is always a tad difficult to get into when coming out of reverse in most stick shifts.

Although this could be a good thing. If my clutch fails prematurely I can point to this TSB and say it was a manufaturing problem and get a new clutch for free. As a wearable item they are not always covered.