Hi, just thought I share this mysterious disapperance of my clutch judder when I drove home from work. I have had my IS200 for over a year now and I often suffer from this annoying clutch judder from 1st gear to 2nd gear and from 2nd to 3rd gear, from then onwards is fine. I know that many of you also have this problem. For over a year now I also drove with the traction control on just to be on the safe side. But today, for some strange reason, I thought I will try driving with the T/C off to see if the car will pull of faster from the light. Well, to my surprise, the clutch judder completely disapperered, even from 1st gear to 2nd gear. I drove for a least 5 miles, with at least 8 stoppages at the lights and still no clutch judder. So, I thought what happens if I put T/C back on, which I did, and to my surprise the clutch judder did not come back. I had about 4 stops at the lights and yet when I pulled away, there was no clutch judder. However, after a 2 miles or so, I was home, so could not test it further.

So I will let u know what when I drive it again and just hope that it wasn't just a 'one-off'.


Any thoughts on this anyone?

I've thought a few times the car drives better with the traction control off but wondered if I was imagining it.

I tend to be able to avoid the clutch judder most of the time by using a bit more power when pulling away.

The thing that annoys me the most is the crunchy gearchange going into second, that ruins what would otherwise be a brilliant gearbox. I think it seems to get better with some motorway driving, as if the oil gets round the gearbox a bit more.

Every time I've had the gearbox oil changed the second gear crunch goes away, but comes back after a couple of weeks. I reckon it's to do with the oil not getting round properly.