My freshly broken-in zx3 (1050 miles) does a couple of things that are a little irritating. First of all, the shifter is a little stiff and doesn't get into gear as easily as my 4 cyl. contour (both manual transmission). It's getting better, but it doesn't feel as smooth as it should. Second, the engine shakes and that makes the whole car shake too. I tried using better gas but it still shakes. Everything else is fine and it's still the best dang car I've ever driven. Just wondering if anyone can help me out. thanks.<br>brian

make sure that the shifting cable is correctly installed...when I got my car, I was unable to shift from 1st to 2nd and was obliged to go directly to 3rd...the clutch didn't like too much the treatment...my dealer found that the factory screwed up and didn't install correctly the cable. Anyway, the shifting process with this car is a pain, and you get a better result when you operate your car as it doesn't have a synchronised gear box, meaning that when you up-shift from 1st to 2nd, while you have the foot on the clutch pedal, just add more gas before shifting and releasing the clutch..giving more rev in the procedure I found makes the thing smoother...I do the same when I down-shift from 3rd to 2nd while braking...For this one, you have to get use to use your right foot on the brake pedal and the gas pedal at the same time...in summary it seems that the passage of the 2nd is the weak point of this gear box (not to mention that cold weather does not help too).