Have just bought a 1999 xs 1.8 petrol and the car drives fine but in lower gears the gear stick twitches back and fourth a little as you engage engine, had a problem with my last V40 gear linkage and replaced bushes [£20] which remedied the problem, do you think this is something similar?

hi do you find it hard to engage the gears if so it could well be the bushes on the linkage at the gear box end i had same fault could not get reverse and struggled to get 5th changed bushes that sorted it but i did the clutch on mine as that was shot also hope this helps

No problem with gear change, just gear stick moves around as clutch engages in lower gears.

hi foxhole, was it easy to replace the bushes? and where abouts are they?, i dont have a haynes manual,

There are three, upper and lower end of gear lever [one below bodywork under vehicle] and one at the front actually operating the gear shift.The one at the front I found to have worn, if I were to change again I would start with the front as this seem the only one to wear.There are two nylon white bushes [look like white washers] and these sit on the end of a metal internal barrel which has a bolt passing thru the lot.To replace remove nut and bolt and swop over, you can re use the bolt provided its not rusty.The one at the top of the gear stick can be accessed by popping out the leatherette loose cover and then unbolt gear stick mounting taking note of how it's assembled.Helps if you have a camera handy to take a pic as you dismantle.
The metal barrel wear may not be very easy to spot but wear of less than 1mm prevented my car shifting to reverse.