Sport 20 gear box not shifting well

[bobbob]

My 1999 4 cylinder, 2000cc, Tiptronic mazda sp20 is starting to annoy me in the limited shifting it can do.
Normally in auto mode it shifts perfectly but when I move the lever to manual shift mode it wont shift as well as it used to. i.e Shifting from 1st to second normally happens on a single gear stick bump but going from 2nd to third normally requires a few attempts and making sure there is NO load at all on the box (foot off excellerator, no power on at all)

Is there a reason why it doesn't shift under my instructions (but will shift in auto mode even if I just stick my foot to the floor straight up a hill)? Are these crappy little gear boxes trying to mimic a real sports car or do I need some maintenance?

thanks

[bobbob]

MMM, lots of reads, but no writes.
Why don't I re-phrase my post and make it a few simple questions.

For you of you who own a mazda with a auto/manual tiptronic gear box what kind of maintenance do you perform on it, and how do you know when to perform it?
Do you get perfect shifting or sporadic?
What may be some of the causes of the latter?

Thanks