My Xfire is a 2004 limited 6-speed. I have noticed that when I shift to second gear I cannot make the shift smoothly without getting the revs way up and feathering the clutch in. This of course puts undo wear on my clutch so I feel it's unacceptable. It feels to me as if the engine actually stutters or chokes before catching up. It only has 4400 miles on it. Anyone experience anything like this?

My dealer/mechanic says he thinks it's just a characteristic of the car, I laughed and said you've got to be kidding me because I have a car 10 years old and half the cost that can manage to shift without stumbling. Sadly, that pretty much ended his cooperation.

 

Unfortunately your dealer/mechanic are 100% right on target with their answer to you on this subject. MB has never been known for building smooth manual transmissions. It is a known issue and if you do a search on this forum you will find the subject has been brought up many times. Not only have many owners voiced the same concern, just about every review on the Crossfire makes mention that the six speed is very notchy. A short throw shifter and a long travel clutch do not make for smooth shifts either. One basically has to relearn shifting the car as you have mentioned about feathering it.

Good luck.

 

I had similar complaints about my 6 speed when I first got it, but after putting on 10,000km (about 6,000 miles) it is smoothing out and getting easier to shift. Not sure if this is me learning better, or if I've been grinding the hard edge off the gears (ha ha) but I just noticed a real change (for the better) after about 9,000km.

I still have to do some double-clutching in the mornings until everything gets warmed up, but after a good 10 mins its just like buttah!