When my car is cold, putting it in second gear feels odd, when it's warm there is no problem. This morning I skipped 2nd until the car got warm, then no issues. Whats going on here?

 

I have a shifter also for the last 5 years. It always feels a bit stiff when it is cold out until it warms up. The colder it is the stiffer it is until it warms. It never gets unmanagable though. So I'd say you really have no problem.

 

These cars will always have a notchy 1-2 shift. What I find best to do is row through gears 1-2 a few times while my car is warming up, shifting into second while driving becomes a lot easier.

 

If you run the rpms up to 3000-3500.......super smooth!

 

I second that! do it every time.

 

I would not rev up to 3500 when cold. The actual solution is synthetic trans fluid, Ive used it in many manual trans vehicles and it improves shifting to where it feels like a different vehicle, very smooth and easy to shift. Last time I used Royal Purple syn trans lube.
Also learn how to double clutch, that solves all kinds of grinding problems in any situation.

 

Many of us have changed to full syn tranny fluid, the issue is still there, it is inherent to the design. I run Mobile1 and while it helped, it did not solve the issue.

There is no 'grinding' but it is a notchy shift, and it has been reported across all the platforms that use this tranny...

 

Why double declutch when you have a synchronized gear box? I had a manual NC and although there were the usual 1 to 2 troubles I never found them to difficult to master. Changes at the correct engine speed made it much easier, forcing it was where the hard changes occurred. I found the problem got easier as the car wore in more. I never drove it when the weather was cold, but I imagine it would be much harder then.
Not the easiest of boxes that's for sure, improvements are long overdue on the design.