Terrible Shifting Transmissions

What's the worst shifting manual trans you've ever driven?

I have a second gen Xterra that shifts worse than a SM465 (early 70's GM truck 4 speed) to the point I was thinking the pilot bearing was going bad until I did some research and found out these things apparently just shift like E36 M3.

It's had me thinking about the terrible shifting transmissions I've driven in the past, and it really is only second to the Pantera we used to service when I was still working in automotive repair. You pretty much had time for a full breath between gears.

Worst shifter I've ever used was a gen2 Spec Racer Ford that I rented for a track day once. I think it's a transmission out of late-80s Escort -- not sure. I'd guess most of the problem was actually the linkage, it was really really vague. I gave up on trying to get it to downshift into 2nd, it just didn't work, so all of the slow corners I was trying to pull out of them in 3rd.

Saturn Ion (non-Redline) or Chevy Equinox/Saturn Vue. You could miss Second with those transmission. Third gear involved stirring the shifter around like you were mixing up oatmeal until you found a slot. Sometimes it was Third, sometimes it was Fifth

LOL, 88 Escort was #3 on my list.

In reply to NickD:

First manual car I ever drove was an Ion. I can confirm it did indeed suck.

My six speed Suzuki SX4 isn't very good in this department, especially shifting involving second gear. Seems like a common issue with this trans. Red Line lubricants helped somewhat.

I don't know if it is the worst, but it was probably the worst in juxtaposition: A 95 Jeep, and the 3 prior cars that I'd driven (all that day) were a Miata, an E30, and a Honda Civic.

sm465 With a jillion miles and old fluid.

2001-2003 Hyundai Elantra 5-spd. Felt like a stick stuck into a ball of rubber bands. Wait... that would have been an upgrade.

1993 NV1500. Wasn't necessarily bad, but those throws were 4' long. one drive downtown indy and I could have rowed across the English Channel.

I've got to add the Doug Nash 4+3 to the list. That transmission turned me off to Corvettes for a long time.

3 on a tree in my 76 f150. The floor shifter conversion was worth every penny.

I think the worst I've driven was my friend's old 2000 Nissan Xterra. It had a super long shifter handle, and it was like stirring a pudding-filled bag of marbles. Sometimes, you find a gear, sometimes you don't. To top it all off, it had a parking brake lifted from a box truck. He loved it because he drove box trucks for his day job!

What's more impressive is watching my friend do heel/toe maneuvers in that rig. It was a thing of beauty.

L-29 Cord.

Push shifter in, let clutch out.

Depress clutch, pull shifter out halfway, turn, clutch out, gas, clutch in, pull shifter out all the way, grind, clutch out.

Even proper double-clutching won't keep that thing from grinding a little on downshifts.

Starting from a standing stop is very herky-jerky unless you get it just right.

There's a couple of cars that I really like, but can't get past the horrid shift linkage feel:

Porsche 914

Alfa GTV-V6

In both cases the shifter had nearly no feel at all---- like a drummer's stick in a bowl of jello. Am I in first? Third? Reverse? Who knows.

As far as modern-ish cars are concerned, I was amazed at how notchy and gritty the Sentra SE-R V-Spec felt. Perhaps we had a bad example here at GRM HQ---- but it sucked badly.

Air cooled VWs. Maybe because most of the ones I drove lived rough lives, but damn those things are vague.

My parents had a mid 70's Peugeot diesel 504 wagon. You could never tell which gear you were in and could move the shifter around like it was in neutral while it was in gear and driving. I had learned to drive a standard in a 60's VW Bug, compared to the Peugeot that thing shifted like silk.

The M5R2 in the Super Coupes are pretty clunky. They get even worse with a short throw shifter. And since you can't buy parts for the stock shifter anymore, short throw is your only choice.

Ariel Atom. Completely impossible to tell what gear you were in. I'm not exaggerating, it was impossible to tell before you let out the clutch and found out what the new engine speed was going to be. I eventually gave up and just left it in a gear to avoid an expensive money shift in someone else's car. And this is from a guy with an old Land Rover and an 80's Vanagon.

Actually, the Land Rover has a very feelsome shift. But no synchros, and doing a double-clutch downshift into 1st in low range is very much an acquired skill.

Formula Vee, hands down. Horrid, horrid shifter. I also remember my A2 Jetta GLI shifter not being great either.

Most any truck with a manual. and I'll also second the Alfa GTV-6. I rebuilt mine and it turned it into OK, but that went away pretty quickly as it collected miles. Still, it wasn't enough to dislike the car. The rest of it made up for the shifter.

Whatever manual was in the early 90s fwd Subaru legacy.

Maybe it was just Matt's, his is the only one I drove, but just move the shifter and hope. Maybe you're in gear, maybe it's the right one, most likely your in neutral or about to money sift.

Any Volkswagen built before the turn of the century. Beetles were vague, buses were like stirring thick soup, Rabbits were impossible to downshift to first while moving.

A friend had a rear engined Renault of some sort, (R8?) and if you made the mistake of leaving it in first or third overnight in the cold, it wouldn't come out of gear because of flex in the noodle between the shifter and the trans. Had to sit warming it up with foot on clutch until some engine heat leaked into the trans.

Try one of the first vehicles I ever drove. 50's era White dump truck with 10 forward speeds and two reverse. It had two long handles and no syncro's to make all that work. Changing gears in under 10 seconds was nearly impossible.

Trans in the BRZ. It crunches 2nd and 3rd every time, hot or cold, unless you're giving it all the revs.

The three speed column shift in my wagon is terrible. That's part of what makes it fun, but I have no illusions that it's anything but horrid. At least if you hit a gear it's probably the right one, not many options.

Austin Mini "Pudding Stick" : There is no feel. There is no definite H pattern. You kind of aim the stick towards the gear you want a pray.

T56: I've driven 3 cars with the venerable T56. Why do so many people love these things? It's super stiff, there's no room between gears so you have no idea what gear you're in, hard to get into reverse, and not nearly as bulletproof as everybody makes them out to be. TR3650>T56 all day.

Mercedes 717.410: My lemons teammate's 190D 2.2 has a weird transmission. It feels like it has a short shift kit only in the side to side play where it's tough to tell if you're in 1, 2, or 3 but the front to back play is huge. It got much better with a linkage rebuild but it's still very vague and rubbery.

Six speed Celicas and such, with about a millimeter betwwen gates. First? Third? Fifth? Who knows. Jam it in and watch the tach.