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Ok I would like to know who else is experiencing this:

My 02 LX is standard and when I bought the car it shifted smooth as silk. After have the car for about 3 months it seemed like almost overnight the car changed. The once smooth clutch was alot touchier and harder to drive smoothly. The transmission that was so smooth has become very notchy and tough to shift. The worst is 1st to 2nd where it almost clunks and grinds going in. The problem is even worse as the temperature drops. In the winter I refused to downshift into second for fear of a "CRUNCH" I have brought it to the dealer many times and they claim there is nothing wrong with the transmission. My neighbor has the identical car as mine bought from the same place 2 weeks earlier and his is totally different. His is exactly as mine was when I bought it. I have even had friends try both and they agree the difference between cars is night and day. The car is 9 months old and only has 12,500 km on it.

Now I admit that I do drive my car a little harder than the average person, but I am fully aware of how to shift and use a clutch. I dont get the rpms over 1500, I have NEVER powershifted and I dont do anything out of the ordinary. If I want to rev it to 5000 as opposed to 2000 like some this shouldnt matter because Im not exceeding the redline of the car and there isnt anything anywhere in the manual that tells you not to drive it hard.

I have found in other posts that there are some TSBS out there for the 01 civic but the dealer claims that the 02 tranny is different and it doesnt apply. The alldata shows a possible problem on the 02 but I havnt been able to get a copy of their TSB for it.

So who else is experiencing this and has anyone gotten honda to admit the problem let alone fix it?

 
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No way you should be shifting at 2000. Even the manual tells you to shift at 3K. Shifting that low will bog the hell out of the engine. Most of us will go between 3 and 4K, otherwise there's just no power.
And how can you say you drive harder than the average person, then claim to shift at such low RPM? Hell, my dad drives harder than that.

Try taking it somewhere else. I went through the crappy shifting phase with my car. Some of it has to do with the cables... get them cleaned and re-lubed. That helped. Have the linkages tightened,etc.
Unless this has something to do with the synchro TSB, but I haven't seen anyone post on here that they had an 02 tranny fixed because of it.

Try these 3 things...
1. Try shifting higher. You may not have the tranny shafts rotating fast enough. Run it to 4K... the engine doesn't care, it probably appreciates it.
2. Drive through it... mine just went away... no rough shifting in the last 8 months.
3. Take it in and bitch some more

 
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Actually, he said he shifted at 1500 ... which is even worse. But that shouldn't affect the crappy shift feel he's getting now.

 
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When I say Im below 1500, I mean it when I am taking off from a dead stop. I shift around 2-3000 but I find the higher the rpm (4000 or so) the shifting is actually notchier and harder, almost as if the synchros arent able to catch up.

Hey boilermaker I like the idea of getting the cables lubed to make the shifts smoother but I doubt it will cause the grinding to go away. Also the thought of "driving through it" doesnt make sense to me. Its a brand new car and I didnt pay the $$ so that I had problems, I bought new so that it would be problem free.

 
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I"m having a problem with mine from 2nd to 3rd , but it only does it when I shift from about 5k up. anymore advice. I've still got waranty remaining.