Yeah the gates seem to loosen up as you get more milage on them...3rd to 4th I can flick over with the tips of my fingers..it is a really smooth shift....2nd gear, on the other hand, is still a tough one and has been giving me some trouble lately...mainly in a heal and toe...where I live I come down a hill in 4th at around 45-50...then at the bottom of the hill it starts to level off and my turn is right there...so as im breaking I take it down to around 30 then I heal and toe it into 2nd so I can accelerate up the small hill after my turn...the problem is lately it has missed the gear (maybe its me, but it seems to be the rough gate for 2nd) so i was stuck in neutral, but no real big deal (except for when I ground the gear once the other day )

 

Mine has definitely become smoother over time. The day I took it off the lot, I started driving it and was like SH@&! is this what I have to deal with every day?!
Over time, it's gotten to the point where I barely flick it from gear to gear. Definitely there are days where it's a pain getting it into first from a stop or into reverse. Overall it's become smoother and easier with age- 5500 mi on the ticker currently.

 

I'll take tight gates as preferred. I drove a Mazda 626 the other day (it had a LOT of miles) and, I swear, you could touch both seats with the shifter while it was in gear.
Made me think of the pants that the young-ins are wearing these days.

 

So, one needs to consider hp when determining the right rpm for a given cruising speed, rather than just considering torque, right?

 

That sounds like the Triumph TR3 a friend had in high school. In 3rd, there was as much side-to-side travel as there was in neutral. It was quite shocking after driving an Alfa Romeo -- which had the smoothest shifting I've ever driven.