Hi all
just a quick poll as to how you find the manual gear change on the 6 speed box with the diesel 150 engine. I really struggle to get a smooth gear change and was wondering if this was me or is it a "Feature"..

Ours is rather notchy. It's certainly not a box to race through. Shame because the 150 6 speed Bravo is a joy to drive.

Funny - I was just thinking exactly that today. I swapped from the Fiat to the Kia and immediately noticed it was very little effort to change gear in comparison to the Fiat.

It's not unbearable, it just feels a bit stiff and clunky to me. I'm still getting used to the car, but a couple of times I've almost stopped while changing from 1st to 2nd, after taking a second or two to pull it down.

yeah, i thought the gear changes were very weird when i bought the car in october, i even thought that the gearbox was shot,
i couldn't feel where the gears were, even grinded once or twice becouse the gear wasn't completly engaged
after reading some threads on vectra forum i found that apparently GM boxes are like this
now, 8 months on, i'm used to this

Looks like the box has similar cable control to the GT I had, not the same though. Are the gear change cables lubricated? The GT never had a problem, and my Croma is auto, so does not compare.

I found the my previous Croma notchy for a 6 speed box, then again my 156 6 speed box is notch...Not again its a GM F40 gearbox, wonder why?

Will agree, quite tight/notchy, but you get so used to it that it is a non issue. One thing for sure you won't mis-select a gear due to narrow gates and sloppy linkages.

Nick /////

Would anything ease it slightly? E.g. grease in the bits under the leather bit inside the car (gaitor?) or squirting oil into the top of the cables (if accessible?). Will have a look at mine tomorrow.

I don't think so. It is I think just a characteristic of the gearbox and linkage design. Mine has been notchy from brand new and has remained so.