I have a friend that is experiencing issues getting his car consistently in to reverse. Al forward gears seem fine but I have yet to drive it myself.

With little information is there any common issues with this for the year range and any known solutions?

I will post more info as I get it.

 

I had an 01 that did the same thing, fifth went shortly after, drove it like that for a few months, never ficed it, got rid of the car

 

I would start by checking out the shift linkage to make sure its not binding... maybe try new trans fluid to try to lubricate things. It is true however that a worn out transmission will usually start in 1st or reverse then progressively lose the consecutive gears.

 

Is this car manual or automatic?

If manual, put it in 2nd gear first, then into reverse; does it slide in smoothly when going into 2nd before reverse?

 

It seems M/T as forward gears fine(means, 1,3,5 is ok.)It is problem at shifter end bushing problem. It is very common for 2001,2 and early 03 vehicles.
If you remove air chamber (big black plastic above M/T: you can remove it by removing 3 10mm head bolts), you will see 2 shifter end bushings right above M/T. Ask your friend to shift and watch it. 2nd,4th and reverse, you will see the bushing is binding. To fix,
You need to remove cotter pin on each bushings(be careful, the pin is most often broken and you need to drill it). Removed plastic washer and bushings.
lubed with multi purpose grease (of course you need to clean bushing and rod), Put them back with cotter pin. Now you fixed a problem..

 

Its also common for the 01-02 trannys to fail starting with reverse so obviously try the above mentioned first, but I wouldnt count on it, I had to replace shift bushings and the linkage on my 01 and the tranny still took a **** not long after