LV Series Focus XR5 Gearbox seems Slow

[Skid Marx]

Just bought a new LV series XR5 which is my first ever Ford and I'm mighty impressed. And I took some convincing too because I've always had a bias against Fords (I was badly brought up!).

Anyway, the last manual car I had was rather a while ago - it was ancient three-on-the-tree Kingswood and it took nearly 3 seconds to change from 1st to 2nd no matter what you did. Having grown sick to death of autos since then, I was determined to get a manual this time (with XR5 that's all you get) and just pick the gear yourself to suit the traffic conditions ahead.

My only disappointment is that shifting from 1st to 2nd always seems 'stiff' or slow, while the other changes are much quicker. I'm in the habit of quickly lifting off the clutch between up changes to help bring the speeds closer together, but 1st to 2nd just seems awfully slow. I often go from 1st to 3rd anyway now except when it's uphill.

Does anyone else here feel the same about this? The car is only 3 weeks old and has only done 600ks so maybe it just needs to be wear in - but I thought synchros were never better than when new. I'm in Perth, and we've had a few fairly cool mornings which I know makes the oil thicker and causes drag in the box, but this still happens after half an hour or so.