Transit with Durashift

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Fri 24 Mar 2006 21:03
Transit with Durashift - Spospe
I own a Motorcaravan based on the Ford Transit and am thinking of changing it for a newer model equipped with the Ford Durashift automatic transmission.

What I would like to know about is other peoples impressions of driving such a vehicle, for example, is the gear change smooth, how reliable has it been, any problems noticed when driving and especially how does it perform on really steep hill starts?

Any actual driving experiences would be most welcome.
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Fri 16 Jun 2006 17:39
Transit with Durashift - John15
I own a Ford transit with Durashift. I would not recommend it to anyone. It has not been unreliable, but I find that it can get me into a lot of trouble on the road. The shift mechanism is so slow that I have had problems when attempting to pull out into a busy road. Just when you need a quick response, the gearbox will decide that it is not ready to pull off and needs to change gear. This happens as you are half way across the junction with traffic approaching. Normally you pull out safely, the durashift makes it very dangerous. You must be aware that the vehicle will not be in the right gear in any emergency, so you must anticipate the emergency and switch to manual and select the correct gear well before the event. I have had many occassions where I thought I was going to be invloved in an accident that could only be blamed on me, because I have not taken over andselected the correct gear early enough. It is a very dangerous system!!!!! If I could afford to, I would replace the van now.
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Fri 16 Jun 2006 19:57
Transit with Durashift - Bill Payer
I had an early TDCi Mondeo with Durashift for a weeks trial, and it was pretty well as described. However I understand the software has been improved and they're somewhat better now?
Sorry if you've been through all this, but have you had the gearbox software updated.
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