i recently purchased a 2004 tsx manual transmission with 76,000 miles on it 4 months ago, and now its at 81,000. this was my first stick shift car, but i've had it, and driven it long enough that i know how to properly drive a standard. one thing that i find odd is never get consistant shifts. this is a combination of 2 factors:

one- occasionally when shifting gears, i get kind of a bounce with the gear shift. there are some days i'll drive the car and shifting feels great- that's what i like about the tsx compared to driving other stick shifts. but like today and the last few days, it feels like it's not in place. say i were shifting from 1st to 2nd, i would pull down with ease, and i feel the knob kind of move forward? bounce? when i shift. if im very firm and pull down the shifter but keep it left, i get a smooth shift. this has been off and on so im not sure what the deal is. this has nothing to do with inproper driving- i don't drive the car one way on one day, and then different the next.

second- when it comes to learning to driving a standard, i feel there are 2 major steps to driving like a normal person. one is getting into 1st gear & giving the car enough gas so you don't stall, eventually getting to coordinate the gas/clutch with ease that you can start the car and move right away without thinking about it. the second is smooth shifting- more important going into 2nd and 3rd. smooth transmission between clutch and gas will give you a smooth shift rather a jerk when instantly taking your foot off the clutch and slamming on the gas. i can do that and i can get smooth shifts. however there are days when my shifts aren't consistant. i'll be as easy as possible when taking my foot off the clutch and onto the gas but i'll get a jerk. its not terrible, but i'll do the same shift another time and it'll be as smooth as possible.

being new to the car and manual transmission, i'd just like to hear some feedback. thanks.

 

With all the manual transmission cars I've driven (too many to count due to various jobs that put me in a position to do so), I've found that temperature makes a big difference in the transmission feel. When the transmission is cold, everything is notchier. You can feel the fact that it's bunch of moving metal parts sliding around each other. Once things warm up, which takes a lot longer than the engine, the tolerances tighten up and everything feels smoother (if it's a decent transmission like in the TSX).

I think what you're describing is the synchro rings slipping. You've got some miles on that car so some wear is to be expected. GM makes a manual transmission oil called Synchromesh that has additives that help the synchro rings work better. A lot of people here have found that it makes the already buttery smooth transmission into a melted buttery smooth transmission. Chances are good you could stand to flush the transmission anyway so you might as well plan on doing this. It's a fairly straight forward task if you want to tackle it yourself.

Regarding the second part of your post: practice, practice, practice. You think you're doing the exact same thing but your not. You just don't know how to detect the tiny differences in what you're doing yet. Driving a stick shift is a skill. Driving one well is an art. It takes lots of training the fine motor control nerves in your legs to get really good at it. There is no short cut to this. It takes thousands upon thousands of repetitions before you get all the muscles working concert. Eventually your body will just learn how to do what you want it to without requiring you to consciously think about the mechanics of doing it. It will simply happen automatically. Just keep at it.