If it is a manual trans, different fluid may help. A realitively inexpensive fluid that has greatly improved shift quality over the factory fill on the pre-2000 Contiques is the Chrysler spec ATF+3 or ATF+4. Try it and see. If it makes a significant difference then you can decide if you want to put some more expensive stuff in there. The most common answer as to which manual trans fluid is best is the very expensive Ford Honey ($20.00 a quart). The flavor of the day seems to be Royal Purple. Do a search in the Transaxle Forum and you will find more info than you may really want to know.
If it is still hard to shift into 2nd after installing ATF+3, you may have either a clutch dragging or a 2nd gear synchro problem.
