[FlyTags]

Hi folks! Just picked up a brand-new '06 Mustang V6 (w/ Pony Package) at the beginning of this week. Needless to say, I love it. Probably the nicest car I've ever owned.

My only question is regarding the gearbox. I can't bring myself to own a car with an automatic transmission (I just never feel like I'm in total control of the car, you know?), so my Mustang is manual. I've noticed that shifting is a bit rough. Especially shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. I feel like I'm raking the stick through gravel. It doesn't *sound* bad, as if anything were grinding. Just the usual "click" of it going into gear. It just feels like I have to put some muscle into it. Same goes for 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, and 4th to 5th... But, to a much lesser degree.

I owned a Honda Civic before this (big upgrade, I know) and the shifting was incredibly smooth. I could pound through the gears on that thing with no problem. But, with the Mustang it takes me a second or two to bring it into 2nd gear. This causes a noticable delay in my accelleration time, as I shift, and let the clutch out.

Since the car is new, I've been taking it easy, just tooling around in local traffic, and getting a feel for it. I'll accelerate normally with other traffic, but as soon as I go for 2nd gear, the delay causes all the other traffic to go rolling by. While shifting in my Honda caused no significant "pause."

Reverse is another issue all together. Just getting it into gear is a chore. According to the car manual, proper shifting into reverse calls for pausing the stick in neutral for 3 seconds, after coming from the left side (i.e. 1st or 2nd gear) of the gearbox. I've tried this. The stick gets about halfway in, but won't budge the rest of the way. My foot off the brake, my foot on the brake, parking brake engaged, parking brake not engaged, etc. It doesn't matter. Usually takes me 1 to 5 tries to really get it in. Meanwhile, my reverse lights are flashing on and off on the back of my car as I keep trying to get it into gear. I'm sure my neighbors are thoroughly amused watching me back out of my driveway.

If I have a head start on a gradient and my car is rolling backwards ever so slightly (or forwards)... boom. The gear engages with ease. So, I guess it's just a matter of getting the gear aligned. But, how the heck does that happen when I'm sitting at a dead stop on a flat surface?

Anyway... Sorry for the length of this post. I guess I sorta rambled on a bit. What I'm meaning to ask is... Is this typical of the V6 gearbox? Is anyone else experiencing this? Or is it just a matter of breaking in a new gearbox? If it's normal, does anyone have any tips or tricks to make my shifting job a bit easier?

Pardon my lack of technical car knowledge above. As Donald Sutherland says in the movie Kelly's Heroes:

"Hey man, I just drive 'em. I don't know what makes 'em work."

Thanks ahead of time!

-FlyTags

[88_stanga]

the v6 and v8s are equipped with the Tremec transmission. its an excellent tranny that can take a beating. they are not for whimpy drivers. this is common with all of the tremec trannys to have a notchy shift. i personally love it. just take a little getting used to thats all. you will be bangin gears in no time

[Torch_Vert]

Shifting will probably get a bit smoother as the car breaks in too.

Great quote from Oddball :thumbsup

[kabukiUkie]

in order to get into reverse try this: start from neutral, go through 5th, and THEN into reverse. It works perfect everytime and i believe thats what it says in the manual (some kind of prevention method from people accidently getting into reverse, which explains why you would have difficulty getting into it)

[FlyTags]

Thanks for the info! I'll just play around with it a bit more until I get it down. Sounds like a combination of practice and breaking it in. Easy enough. Gives me an excuse to go for random late night drives for the hell of it. Not that I needed one before...

Neutral, 5th, then reverse. I'll give that a shot. As long as my car stops looking like a disco everytime I back out of my driveway, I'm all for it.

And yes, hehe... Oddball is probably one of my favorite movie characters of all-time - "Don't hit me with those negative waves so early in the morning."

Thanks again 88, Torch, and kabuki. The suggestions and info are much appreciated!

-FlyTags