So, I searched and saw that people have had a hard time engaging reverse (the transmission doesn't like quickly going from 1st to reverse even with clutch in all the way) this seems normal to most people and I can deal with that. Sometimes, however, (and not all the time) I am going from 2nd gear to 1st gear (clutch is depressed all the way) and the gears grind (not really grinding cause I stop once I feel it vibrating out). I owned a 323ci (driving stick for 3 years, so I'm not necessarily a newbie at it) before and never had that sort of issue before while downshifting, so I wondered if anyone else experiences that (I'll be coming to a stop trying to downshft from 2nd to 1st and sometimes I'm afraid to do so for fear of grinding gears). It is going in for it's 1000 mile oil change on Saturday, but I thought I'd ask what your thoughts on this are. Thanks a lot! This is a pretty awesome forum!

 

jap car vs. german... get used to it my civic did it, my roomates WRX does it, and the tC does it... Hell my dad's miata does it.

 

When going from 2nd to 1st try double clutching to get a smooth shift. I recommend that only for going from 2nd to 1st, as it's probably the only time you'll need to. Some vehicles with manual transmissions have a mechanism that's designed to prevent the transmission from being shifted into first gear past a certain speed. It seems to work (incrementally) well, completely interrupting the stroke and can make the downshift into 1st require far more pressure then normal unless you double clutch. However, I'm not sure if the tC has this. I'll let you know as soon as I try it out myself if no-one else does before I get the chance to. Oh, you could try to rev-match w/ the heel-and-toe technique, if you don't do so normally. That might work instead of double clutching.

 

thanks for the input, cq107 and Thrawn! it's not such a big deal, as otherwise, I love driving the car. I am horrible at heel and toe, although I do try my best to rev-match when possible.

 

My 5-spd RS1 is always ____y about the gaers too. Reverse seems to thump into gear far too often, done it since day one and I have 14K miles now.

1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd are very nochy on the xAs and xBs as well.

 

why do you want to shift it from second to first? most cars don't let you shift to first when the car is moving at a certain speed. my old jetta couldn't do it and many other cars that i have driven

 

I was thinking the same thing

 

I know if I'm going between 5-10mph I like to shift into 1st rather than 2nd from nuetral. Generally you can't get it into first just by depressing the clutch and having at it. I blip the throttle. Put in first on the way up, re-engage the clutch on the way back down. Works well for me.

 

You can keep it in 2nd gear when rolling to a stop to about 5 mph or so. Then just push the clutch in and shift to neutral. There's really no reason to downshift to 1st gear, especially since the tC is geared so low.

 

yep agreed no downshift into first, pointless. save the transmissions.

 

your tranny is stil new, there fore the syncrones arent worn down yet or shoud isa broken in...


giv it some time and you'll be able to downshift into 1st in no time.

i wasnt able to downshift in to 1st (unless at a complete stop) until around 9k miles.

now i take mtn roads and switch backs and blah blah and can downshift into 1st smoothly.