In my '09 R3 third gear is not smooth. It feels like I'm hitting something when I shift into third. It gets better once it is REALLY warmed up. It's not difficult to get into the gear, but I feel like I'm banging into something on the left side. Every other gear works fine. It's worrisome in that I feel like I'm going to break something in there.

 

yep, exactly the same
something on the left when put it in 3rd

 

id say mines the same, 09 r3, when fully warmed up its smooth, cold 2nd and 3rd are tough to get into and require double clutching. i also had to get used to the shifter gate as it was a bit diffrent from what i was used to.

 

When it's cold I've just started pausing between 2nd & 3rd. Seems to help.

Quirky - it adds to the charm. Oh well, if I had wanted boring I would have gotten an Accord.

 

I've had the same sort of trouble. It gets better as the car warms up, and it isn't so bad if I don't try to shift too quickly.

 

Charles Hill:

Since you opened the door, what are the 3-4 things you should do to the RX-8 (S2 in particular) even if you are not interested in modding the car??? We knoew the clutch pedal is one, what are the others???

 

When my car warms up its hard to get into all the gears even reverse.. Requires extra force and sometimes it dont even move grrrrr.. it doesn't happen all the time but like every other day. (I use it daily) The clutch is new, cylinder and everything since July 09'. So you guys think Its tranny fluid??

 

Shifter Linkage?

 

it's the oil....

 

Because you're Granny shiftin’, not double clutchin’ like you should.