I own a 2004 3i, manual. Ever since I got the car I've had problems getting it into reverse, at first I thought that it was the cold weather that we have up here in ohio in the winter. But for the past few weeks this summer we have had some seriously hot days and still the car refuses to go in reverse. Now I find that some times I'll turn the car on, clutch depressed and try to go into reverse from there but it wont. But if I sometimes turn the car on put it into neural and then depress the cluth again it will go in fine, but not every time. I've taken it in and the dealership said there was no problem, but then again knowing this dealership I paid money for my car to sit on the shop floor and not ever get looked at. Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?

 

I can't venture a guess as to what's wrong, but you certainly shouldn't need to double clutch to get into reverse from a stop.

 

Try adjusting the clutch. It happend to one of our cars (not mazda). Just look for a sign "FREE clutch adjustment" and ask them to do it for you. It'll only take a few minutes. Good Luck

 

Chea, i have that same freiken problem. it feels as though the stick wont go into reverse right? I sit there sometimes jsut trying to get it into gear. I found that if you really push down on the clutch a couple times it helps. liekt he above respondees said, try gettin your clutch adjusted.

 

I believe there was a service bulletin on this.

 

I have an 06 and does the same thing, it's just how it is man. Personally I don't find it a pain to take the extra 2 seconds to double clutch to get into reverse, but i'm not sure how you would fix it. Try that clutch adjustment thing i guess.

 

Thanks guys, yah there is shop close to me that will do it for 20 bucks, I might just go and have it done. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

If you turn the engine off shifting into reverse should be easy. That's how I was shifting on our car before we got the cluch adjusted.
Fifthgear07 - how many miles you got? Maybe it's time to replace the clutch?

 

I have around 19,000 miles on it, I should have no trans problems then again, who knows, I have to take it in for an oil change soon, I am going to ask the dealer to look at it again. See if they actually find anything this time.

 

I have an 04 3i automatic & had my transmission REPLACED around 25,000 miles.

 

haven't yet had this problem with my 06 3 however my 02 jetta was a pain in the *** to get into reverse. I find that if I rolled the car slightly forward in 1st gear it would slide into reverse normally after that. I guess sometimes the syncro rings simply aren't lined up correctly...who knows.