New owner of a 2020 gray ES 5 speed. Couldn’t be happier

[MetroMPG]

Welcome to the forum, HappyMirage!

Glad to hear you're enjoying the car.

Don't forget to make a garage page: Garage empty: add car

[mpaton]

It’s been fantastic, thank you. Reverse grinds always when trying to engage however, unless I select a forward gear first, which is a bit odd. I’ll be swapping the oil for some redline synthetic to see if that fixes it.

As someone else said, reverse gear is unsynchronized. Having a synchronizer, or "Synchromesh" on a gear is an extra cost item for the manufacturer. It's been pretty much standard equipment on cars since the 1960s though. It's a little clutch built into each gear selector that acts to make the 2 parts that will lock with each other, get to the same speed before they engage.

In the 50's (and I'm not talking US market here, as most people drove automatics by then) it would be common to have no synchro on 1st gear on a
3 speed, and sometimes not on 2nd either on a 4 speed. The skilled driver knew the tricks to not grind the gears when stopped, and how to avoid grinding when moving. That knowledge isn't usually passed on these days.

So, it's not your oil that is letting it grind, so changing it isn't going to help with that.

If the waiting 3 to 4 seconds doesn't do it (and the clutch would need to be on the floor for this to work) then use the method of putting it into a forward gear before going into reverse. 2nd would not be the best gear to use, because 2nd gear synchro gets the most use and is usually the first one to wear out. Use first or 5th or 4th. That will matter if you plan to get to 200000 miles.

Changing the gear oil for something better or more slippery will do absolutely nothing for the grinding when selecting reverse, use the method above for that. However a gear oil that is more slippery may well stop the synchromesh on the forward hears from working, and lead to grinding when you change between the forward gears.

[Mark]

Wait...power windows in front and roll down in the back? Never heard of that! Interesting.

Our 2016 Ford Focus cars (driver's education) are the same. I personally think it's backwards. I would rather hand crank the windows I can reach & have power windows for those you can't reach.

[MirageRally]

Our 2016 Ford Focus cars (driver's education) are the same. I personally think it's backwards. I would rather hand crank the windows I can reach & have power windows for those you can't reach.

Or call it a day and have all crank windows so you don't have to replace actuators

My old saturn had all crank...Loved it! And still miss it I'm an old soul.

[Mark]

Or call it a day and have all crank windows so you don't have to replace actuators

My old saturn had all crank...Loved it! And still miss it: ( I'm an old soul.

I prefer crank windows, but most base level cars have power windows/locks these days.

[MirageRally]

I prefer crank windows, but most base level cars have power windows/locks these days.

True, would be nice to do a crank conversion kit...but ldk

[gone.a]

I bought the car to replace a 2010 Yaris that was getting a bit long in the tooth I got for cheap a few years ago. I’d been eyeing replacement options, and it really came down to the Mirage at the end of the day for me.

I didn’t like the Chevy Spark because I’d seen some reliability issues, and most other truly small cars are disappearing. And in particular the no-frills approach the Mirage takes (while having an impressive amount of features on a base model appealed to me.

I’ve mostly owned 90s beaters, 4 cylinder, all manuals. I’m not a fan of modern interiors. I actually like hard plastic interiors honestly. They just hold up better and look nicer over time. I also value comfort and fuel economy most when looking for a car, on top of reliability. The Yaris had an awkward seating position for me at 6’1 160lbs. I have no issues taking long drives, and I’ve had the car for a few weeks and 1100 miles.

I do find the shifter to not feel as precise as my Yaris, and reverse grinds for me every single time I try to engage from neutral, so I’ve had to shift to a forward gear before selecting it. But I plan to replace the stock oil with some redline recommended here.

I’m very happy with the car, and it has only exceeded my expectations. I do plan on doing the rear Beetle spring swap after getting the alignment checked.

Wonder if your car is low on gear oil? Normally the pause before going into reverse works because it gives the gears time to stop rotating and the fluid helps slow them down. It sounds like your gears are not slowing down fast enough.

Quite frequently for me, reverse will meet tooth to tooth and wont go in. In that case I just go back to neutral, lift the clutch, and repeat but that sounds like a different issue.

Let us know how it goes with the new fluid - which shouldn't change things much if at all, unless its replacing a low fluid condition...I would think.

[Cobrajet]

I changed my gear oil at 60k per the service recommendations, and used Redline MTL. Shifting was improved A LOT.

[Mark]

I changed my gear oil at 60k per the service recommendations, and used Redline MTL. Shifting was improved A LOT.

My 2017 Mirage maintenance schedule lists -

Schedule 1 - change manual transmission fluid every 30,000 miles.

Schedule 2 - check manual transmission fluid level every 30,000 miles.


I find these recommendations to be a bit odd, because schedule 2 never mentions changing the manual transmission fluid.

I changed my manual transmission fluid (to Redline MTL) @ 30,000 miles. Around that time, someone on the forum suspected his manual transmission wasn't filled properly from the factory. Thus, I just decided to make sure mine was done right sooner rather than later. I probably could have checked the level with a small bent wire or something, but I decided to do the schedule 1 recommendation instead. Schedule 2 lends one to believe it never needs to be changed.

Changing the manual transmission fluid is easy. I purchased a gallon of Redline MTL (only 2 quarts are needed), $2.49 plastic funnel with a flexible hose attached (from Autozone), and a 24mm socket ($3 from Walmart online). The 24mm socket takes care of the fill plug & drain plug. After draining the original fluid, you refill until the oil starts dripping out of the refill hole. No filters to worry about.

I don't find the maintenance schedule to be cut & dry clear on some of these items. Since my original fluid looked quite good @ 30,000 miles, I am going to do 50,000 mile interval changes from now on. Since Steve's 300,000+ mile Mirage came up with transmission issues first, I am not going to neglect servicing the manual transmission at times. I'm also not going to fret over it all either.

I can't say changing manual transmission fluid made a difference @ 30,000 miles, but I never really sensed an issue before the change of fluid. I am a bit old school, too. Changing out factory fluids a bit early is not a bad practice in my mind.