Originally Posted by brewski
I have the 6 speed manual and learned to drive standard on it. I also find it difficult at times to put the car into 1st gear. I was thinking of having the manual trans fluid changed and have a quality synthetic put in? good idea??
Brewski, try putting it into 2nd. gear first, then slide it up into 1st. gear.
I never had a problem down shifting into 1st. gear, but (up shifting) 1st. to 2nd. gear was always "notchy". As time went on it seemed to get a little smoother, or maybe I just started getting use to it. It did always seem to shift better after it warmed up though.
At 30k miles I had the trans fluid changed. The 6spd. comes from the factory filled with ATF4, but they install Synthetic motor oil when they refill it.
I'm not completely convinced it improved the smoothness when shifting.
The next time I have the fluid changed, I may request some fresh ATF4 to be put back in.