Report: Imperfect fuel-saving tech contributed to Ford's fall in quality

Hmmm is this the old "I want 40 mpg out of a 4 cylinder car BUT still want the same smoothness and power I used to get with my 5 litre V8, but I now forget that it only got 15 mpg" conundrum?

 

There have been some issues with the tranny. Some have a grinding issue, others have leaked. Ours has been flawless.

Most of the complaints I would equate to being similar to the Prius braking "problems". The transmission is an automatic shifting manual, as such at slow speed it has that studdery feel that a manual has when you are in that mid-rpm band but too slow to upshift. People that have never driven a stick see this as an issue...it isn't, its just the way things work.

I love the box. The twin clutch means that you never lose torque and the upshifts and downshifts are fast. The computer even blips the throttle on downshifts to match revs.

 

The famous 40 mpg of these cars is on the highway. How much gear shifting is happening ?

 

Do they give you any sort of flappy-paddle gearbox override or a stick with a +/- to control gear changes yourself?

I find the easiest way to tell if a double clutch system is any good at all is to try and fake it out. Accelerate hard and downshift or upshift while it is doing that. Also try to go N->N+1->N-2 and see if it shutters with the triple gear downchange. Try adding a N after the N-2 and see if it can pick back up again.

 

No, it is completely hands off automatic.

There are, however, two ways to tweak the shift patterns.
1) Use L, it is not low gear but more like the "sport" mode of other automatics. It will hold out shifting to near redline and will downshift upto 2 gears but will not exceed redline.

2) Use hill assist, its a B-mode sort of in that it will select a lower gear for max. engine braking, I like using it on uphills as it is not as harsh as L but will not shift midpoint on a hill and leave you with no torque.

It's a good box, I enjoy it but it is not a regular auto. Really the dealers need to explain that just like they should explain the transition between regen and friction and how a bump could make that transition feel like accelerating.

 

The auto is good for 2 more mpg in town too and 1 more on the hwy. The SFE, which is all autos includes a grille blocker and undercarraige covers (ala Prius) plus LRR tires for the extra MPG on the Fiesta. On the Focus they get the active grille shutters and probably under body panels as well.

 

bnc, which model are you driving?

 

Why don't they use a CVT like what's in the Prius?

 

Because that would require 2 other sources of motive power to create gearing, something they just don't have.

They could do a standard belt driven CVT on a cone, but there is a practical limit for how much power can be had out of one of those. So perhaps they need too much power to make it not feel like a turd on the road so they can't use it... Or perhaps ford just doesn't have this tech. Honda and Nissan are the only big ones I know of that used it for mass production.

 

The type of CVT in Prius is a PLANETARY, which is used to combine a gas engine and two electric motors.

That wouldn't work in a traditional vehicle, since all it has is a gas engine. The other type is CONE & BELT, which could be used. But acceptance of that in previous vehicles has been a mix.
.

 

We have a Fiesta SE in addition to our 2010 Prius III. :rockon:

 

you sound pretty happy with it. i saw a new focus today, much better looking than the old one.

 

Yes the new gen. is quite nice, I actually like the sedan in the focus too.

 

Nissan uses its CVT at least up to high 200's in the current altima and maxima, though in its infiniti line it still uses geared transmissions. I don't know how much of that is for feel vs power, but I have heard of power limitations on CVT as well.

 

And Ford maybe looking at eventual use in trucks. Nissan is the only manufacturer with a CVT in a 'truck', but I don't think many consider it for a towing or even work vehicle.