I have an '03 Toyota Camry 4-cyl. (a made in Japan model) with 5-speed manual tranny. Has about 30K (most of it highway).
Recently it has been more and more likely to be reluctant to shift into reverse. Having driving manuals for 30+ years, I know most of the tricks -- shift into first, move forward a bit and try again, shift into fifth and don't move and then shift into reverse, etc.
But, on two recent occassions, I had the need to back-up quickly -- the most recent being an "older" driver who for some reason decided to back into my car as we were both sitting waiting for the stoplight to change. Had I been able to get into reverse quickly, I would have avoided the crash (which caused no damage, but still...).
Anyway, I don't understand the mechanics of this problem, which I had have in all my manual tranny cars to a greater or lesser extent. Can someone explain it. Is there a -- CHEAP -- way to help make this less of an issue?