ford's new powershift gearbox, i have not seen any reviews of the new focus using the powershift gearbox and wondered if anyone out there has had a test drive using this configuration. what was your opinion of this setup.
i have test driven the vag dsg setup in a leon tdi, which i was impressed with and was wondering if the ford system matched up.
thanks
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I'm eager to hear about this too. One of these with a 1.6 diesel unit could be pretty fine.
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oilburner
according to the ford website, the powershift is only available on the 2.0 diesel
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Yeah for now, but once they've sold a few and ramped production up (and ironed the bugs out!), I suspect we'll see it being offered across Ford and Volvos with all kinds of engines and models.
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Seen no reviews/first drives in the magazines - it wasn't available for HJ's road test of Focus III.
Problems?
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Bound to be. I wouldn't have thought a new design on the cutting edge would be problem free, at least not for a while. Be good to see it once they've sorted it though.
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found info on web regarding ford bronco concept 2004, which has the powershift gearbox.
you would think that if they (ford) and getrag (poershift manufacture) would have done thousands of developement miles and that it would be sorted. according to info it is mated to the 2.0 td diesel and nitrous oxide power boost
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Strange - VAG, Mitsubishi, BMW, Nissan, Bugatti are using it
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Ah, but there is development miles and real miles with real drivers on real roads!
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i got in touch with my local ford dealer, who after looking on the ford network, told me that there are only 3 powershift focus's in the country. 1 in Stockton, 1 in Oldham, he did not say where the 3rd one is. he is going to try and get hold of the 1 in Oldham so i can have a test drive. He also stated that 50 are due to be built with delivery for the back end of June.
hopefully i can soon have a test drive and will report back on my findings.
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There's a test now on 4car.
(I note that the handbrake is still on the passengers side.)
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Looks like one of my lesser-efforts in metalwork class!
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Not the prettiest of gearlever design and it will gather lots of carp. I prefer a leather gaiter which can be wiped over quickly.
Seems to drive as well as the VAG option, but I disagree about the paddles. When in manual mode I use them all the time and wouldn't have a car like this without them. Because the changes are so quick I find using the stick quite difficult.
Ford should at least offer them as an option.
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...and no "sports" mode, which is useful on occasions on the DSG box
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I don't care about 'sports' mode or a carp looking lever. I am a company car user and car about my BIK. If they fit this to a V70/S80 within the next 6 months,I col be seriously interested....
They have it in the V50 so it should just be a matter of time.
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Sports mode is actually very useful on the DSG and not so you can perform racing starts.
On downhill sections of 30mph limit slipping it into 'S' locks it down from 4th to 3rd and 30 can be maintained without touching any pedals, in 4th the car runs away so it saves on brake pads!
Similarly in queing traffic jams using S allows creep on tickover in 1st. Keeping it in 'D' results in a change to 2nd as soon as the car is moving and once again the torque means the car runs away so you have to use the brakes.
Another issue with paddles is it means you can go to manual mode without touching the gearstick, also on occasion very useful.
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There's now also a review on msn/cars
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I would want paddles on this gearbox. I had a C4 1.6 HDI EGS for a year and when in manual mode always used the paddles - the change was slightly quicker but a lot nicer than using the gearlever.
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