I've had my 03 z for about 9 months and I have noticed that shifting into 3rdgear always seems more difficult than any of the other gears. During daily driving at lower rpms 2500-3500 It seems to go into gear ok, a little notchy, but I have gotten used to that. Anytime I drive in the higher rpms like 5-6k and shift from 2nd to 3rd I cannot engage the clutch up high like all the other gears I have to put it near the floor and force it into 3rd. Sometimes it engages fairly smoothly othertimes it grinds and I have to take it out of 3rd. Could this be a sign of a bad transmission or could it be something else? I'm asking this because i have abaout 3k left on my 60k warranty and don't want to get stuck with a huge repair bill down the road.

 

then take it and have the dealership take a look at it. I think most of the earlier model owners have complianed about notchy gear shifting. I kinda have the same problem on the 3rd also, but not as extreme as yours. Maybe your previous owner were more lazy on depressing the clutch all the way down when he shifts?