lemon-fresh

As others have said, aside from the CSC issues this transmission handles abuse quite well. It is tricky to learn at first (smooth first to second, clutch feel). Also, first gear really isn't that short compared to similar cars, I think it only stands out due to the potential difficulty making a smooth first to second shift.

I never really had much difficulty with the transmission. I still think some people come to this car talking about how they have owned mt's all their lives etc, but have not been DDing a mt recently prior to stepping into the Z. All my previous cars have been honda mt DD's (talk about easy shifting transmissions) and I welcomed the very slight learning curve of the Z.

I have also driven a couple very high whp STI's in my time with racing grade clutches... Now those were tricky clutches to get used to, but once again it was very rewarding when you figured them out.

Give it some more time, stop blaming the car so much and try and figure out if you need to change your shifting habits a bit. If that doesn't work, change the fluids, if that doesn't work go buy a mustang or something.