Notchy first gear... with 500 miles... Is this normal?

I have a 2009 2x4 2.7L Tacoma with 500 miles on it. I've driven all but about ten of them myself. I'm a smooth shifter most of the time. I realize that all of this is subjective, but I've never driven a Tacoma before.

It is sometimes difficult to get into first gear. It's not every shift, and it usually responds to the usual tricks of putting the gear selector into second then first, double-clutching, and shifting while the car is rolling, etc. I have had cars that felt the same way (especially when cold), but they all had 100k miles on them. Now, there's no grinding, and I don't ever need to jam it into first, it's just that fairly regularly, it feels like it just doesn't want to go in unless I fiddle with it. That's funny to say out loud.

The behavior is the same when the car is fully warmed up. All the other gears are fine. It either has worn syncros, or I'm being paranoid about truck transmissions.

Did I drive the car off the lot that every idiot sat in, fiddled with the shifter, and jockeyed around the dealership for six months waiting for a buyer or should I expect that, while notchy, the shifting won't degrade any faster than the other gears?

 

I don't think it's anything to worry about. Pretty much have to be stopped to get mine in 1st. I bought it with 3600 miles, 27,000 currently.

Mike

 

Brand new 09 standard. Same thing...some days / stops better than others. First gear is really low.

 

Yours is perfectly normal. I bought my 2009 reg cab 2.7L 5-speed brand new - and it's always been like that. Won't go into first easily unless you're completely stopped - OR - unless you double-clutch it. You don't have to go to 2nd first though... just put it in neutral, let the clutch out, give the engine a rev (to approximately what the RPM's will be in 1st gear), push the clutch in - and the shifter should go into 1st pretty easily.

 

Bingo. Same with 6spd.