Focus PowerShift Transmission

[FabFocus]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum so please forgive me if I am doubling up on any previous posts.

But, I'm looking to buy a new Ford Focus (Trend). The catch is it must be automatic so that my wife can drive it.

Have test-driven both the petrol and diesel and I must say I was very impressed (I've never owned nor driven a Ford before).

But I am more than slightly concerned about the apparent transmission issues with the PowerShift. So, 2 questions I guess:

1. Are these issues still present? I've been reading some real horror stories elsewhere but most seem to relate to 2011 models (and those released in the US).

2. Is there a difference between the PowerShift in the Diesel vs the Petrol? Ie I vaguely recall reading that the diesel transmission is a "wet clucth" set-up as opposed to a "dry clutch" set-up in the petrol? Does that even make sense?

Any advice (preferably as unbiased and honest as possible) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys,
Fab

[Imolator]

Yes there is a difference the wet clutch costs more to service as it requires an expensive oil change at 40,000km. Having said that I wouldn't be surprised if the wet clutch lasts longer, though the dry clutch is supposed to be more efficient.

I have a Powershift manual sports myself, early days yet but other than D mode being mainly programmed for fuel efficiency I Have
no complaints.

I couldn't really justify the extra expense for the diesel / powershift combo.

My 2 cents anyway.

[Imolator]

My bad, oil change due at 4 years or 60,000km, although in Uk and USA they recommend 3 years 45,000km.

[marg99]

Car makers sometimes play games with service schedules to make the service costs look more competitive.Can be a compromise with long life of the unit

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by marg99

Car makers sometimes play games with service schedules to make the service costs look more competitive.Can be a compromise with long life of the unit

My LV Diesel handbook does not even have a service interval for the powershift, only that my auto box is 'sealed for life under normal conditions'... Which I assume is for the 4sp. Funny thing is in the fluids spec page it does mention the 6sp auto.

You would think Ford would have ammended the book or offered customers a new book with the correct info...

I will hit 60k in 2 months.... 45k in the states? You would think they can get the intervals a little more uniform?

They are a costly box to service, essentially adding around $4oo to the service and doubling the cost over a manual but once every 60k is fine with me for what it is.

[pertuan]

I suspect it would be 45k miles in the US.

[FabFocus]

Thanks for the responses so far. They have alerted me to some additional costs re servicing which is very useful information. Having said that, I don't mind paying for this as long as everything is working fine.

I guess what I am more interested in is any insights into the original questions essentially regarding reliability as well as confirming whether the clutch in the petrol is different to the clutch in the diesel?

I am starting to sense that the clutches are different. I am also starting to sense that the well documented "issues" appear to be more of an issue in the petrol versions?

Based on comments in FocusFanatics forum, the guys in the US seem to have had far more probs than us here in Australia...

Originally Posted by FabFocus;

But I am more than slightly concerned about the apparent transmission issues with the PowerShift. So, 2 questions I guess:

1. Are these issues still present? I've been reading some real horror stories elsewhere but most seem to relate to 2011 models (and those released in the US).

2. Is there a difference between the PowerShift in the Diesel vs the Petrol? Ie I vaguely recall reading that the diesel transmission is a "wet clucth" set-up as opposed to a "dry clutch" set-up in the petrol? Does that even make sense?

Any advice (preferably as unbiased and honest as possible) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys,
Fab

[wombat66]

I was told that the petrol model had the dry clutch and the diesel had the wet clutch. We have a wet clutch Diesel Focus and a dry clutch petrol Fiesta with NO Issues at all.

[FabFocus]

Spoke to a Ford mechanic who says that the auto in the diesel has a wet clutch.

Anybody else have any good/bad experiences or advice for someone looking to buy a new Focus (in automatic diesel)?

[Golfer]

Had our diesel powershift for 12 months. Done 15,000km. No problems at all. Did have the software upgraded and it made a great gearbox even better. The changes in both normal and sport mode are very smooth. The sport mode is great on hilly and windy roads with quite agressive up and down shifting. The powershift is much, much better than conventional automatics.

[Fitzy]

Deisel Powershift 5 mths, 12,000 klms, no issues at all.

[harveyr]

Diesel powershit 14 months, 29,000 kms, no problems at all.

[kenchow]

I have a 1.6 with powershift now just past 10000km. I can say for the first 5000km the powershift seems not responsive enough when press hard on the accelerator so I have to shift to Sport mode (manual) occasionally. But recently it is improve and it seems the powershift has adapt my driving habit and feel more quicker to shift down a gear.
I have question is there anybody with a powershift model can tell me whether you can switch the gear by pressing the +,- button when in D mode (auto)? I remember this function doesn't work when in D mode and only in S mode before. But recently I found I am able to switch it in D mode and it will hold on the particular gear for about 10 seconds where the gear position will be displayed on the dashboard. After about 10 seconds, the gear position indication will disappear and the powershift will return to auto. Two obvious changes I found.
1. The kick down is more responsive than before even in D mode.
2. I can temporary change the gear manually and not necessary shift it to S mode. It is convenient to overtake or uphill.

Thanks if anyone can tell me is it normal in powershift?

[dannyhilton]

Originally Posted by kenchow

I have question is there anybody with a powershift model can tell me whether you can switch the gear by pressing the +,- button when in D mode (auto)? I remember this function doesn't work when in D mode and only in S mode before. But recently I found I am able to switch it in D mode and it will hold on the particular gear for about 10 seconds where the gear position will be displayed on the dashboard. After about 10 seconds, the gear position indication will disappear and the powershift will return to auto. Two obvious changes I found.
1. The kick down is more responsive than before even in D mode.
2. I can temporary change the gear manually and not necessary shift it to S mode. It is convenient to overtake or uphill.

Thanks if anyone can tell me is it normal in powershift?

I've always been able to do that with my Titanium. So in DRIVE, I can change the gears up and down whenever I feel like, and it will usually return to DRIVE once I stop playing with the gears.

After moving from DRIVE to SPORT, the transmission seems more responsive to throttle movements and continues to change gears automatically, and from recollection, is reluctant to go into sixth gear (in DRIVE anything above 60 km/h will put you in sixth). However once you press the + / - button, you're in control of the gears. Even to near redline, it seems to give control to you in full, bar when you slow down and stop, then it'll change down.

At least that's how I figure mine works. In typical User Manual fashion, they're not massivly clear on the transmission front. I guess most just use DRIVE, personally, I use SPORT more often than not. Hope this helps matey.

[FabFocus]

So I have now driven a Diesel Titanium and a Petrol Focus.

I'm happy to report that both were a great drive but the diesel was definitely a stand-out. I scared myself several times!

As far as the transmission issues go:

1. In the diesel I noticed that it was sometimes slow to engage (and I can imagine in certain situations this may be dangerous). A few times while accelerating out of a round-about or a corner (after rolling into it) there was a delayed engagement.

2. In the petrol, I noticed a mild shudder as if the clutch was slipping. Mainly on take-off and also if starting at the bottom of a hill.

3. In both of them, they rolled backwards down hills when stopped to the side of the road (although I since learnt that there is a Hill Start assist type gadget to help this). It seemed to work well on the Diesel when I tred it.

I have spoken to a number of sales people who seem oblivious to the issues (but on further enquiry suggest that it is just a temporary thing that disappears in time - I dislike sales people).

I have also spoken to 2 mechanics who don't think the transmissions have problems as such but they are very different to your standard automatic.

My dilemma:

When I do a Google search, it seems that there are obvious and concerning transmission issues.

On test driving, these issues don't seem too bad and if they correct after driving for a while make them acceptable.

The feedback on this forum suggests that the issue is not as wide-spread as I might think and that the diesel's fare a little better.

I can't help feeling that if I buy one and something goes wrong that I have taken a punt (knowing that I should have known better)....

What to do!!??!!??

[wombat66]

We worried about it too. We took the plunge and bought the diesel Focus. It was so good we went back and got the petrol Fiesta a few months later. We've NEVER looked back. The Focus is the best car we have ever driven. And we have driven a lot in 30 years. If you read the forums you will see that the owners of the Focus diesels all seem to love them.

[Golfer]

Buy a diesel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nolz]

As far as the diesel motor and powershift combo is concerned I'm happy 90% of the time. The 10 percent where it's not so great is as someone mentioned above. If rolling through a corner/turn/give way sign and you require to then accelerate a little swiftly, it can be slow to pick up a gear. Putting my foot down to prompt it to kick back will leave you with a chirp and hauling ****! Not what you always want to do.
I've learned to drive and work around this issue so it's not such a biggie anymore however when I first bought the car it was of concern.

The one issue which is still bothering me is this...when stopped on a down hill slope, I let go of the brake and start rolling. Car then doesn't engage into gear smoothly, it shudders and shakes and doesn't really go into gear until you give it a bit of gas. If you I leave it to continue to just roll down the hill (from a stand still) it will just continue to shudder. This is still annoying me to this day as I am stuck in peak hr traffic a lot and have to travel through some pretty hilly suburbs.

[C0ncrete]

The trasmission annoys me to hell!

Wife is not happy at all after about 5 months.

I just contacted Ford regarding the software upgrade to the transmission.

Does anyone have any more info on this?

[gassed250]

Im not a fan of the powershift

What gets me is the amount of noise they make when shifting gears and then theres the low speed -20km shudder

[C0ncrete]

The shudder is extremely annoying. I dont remember it during the test drive!

[fordoe]

I have the Diesel Focus for 6 months now and no issues so far. The hesitation that some people mention when going out of the roundabout or turning into a corner is caused by the turbo lag. You just have to time it right and adjust your driving style.

[Muttley098]

I have the 2.0 petrol version and I regularly get lag out of certain roundabouts. There's a tight one with an uphill exit near home that I drive regularly and to avoid the delay and use of more throttle which leads to sudden takeoff when it does engage I drop into sport and 2nd gear on entry which actually gives a faster smoother exit. I guess there are going to be road layouts and driving scenarios that are hard to program the system for. Other niggles include some jerkiness in slow uphill crawling (solution is to use sport and drive it like a manual), and the slow upchange from 2nd to 3rd in sport mode unless I'm nailing it. It might feel different to some people, although when my wife drove it for the first time and I didn't prompt her about the "special" gearbox she didn't even notice anything different about the way it drove. From my experience 99% of the time the Powershift works great, the other 1% might need a bit of technique to work around, and I rate it way higher than a traditional slush box. As a bonus I'm getting 25% improvement in economy over my old Focus LS 4-spd auto in the same traffic conditions with much more responsive performance.

[Samurai_Chris]

I have the petrol Sport, and the thing that I have noticed was that the 6 speed powership gearbox actually feels like it changes like a manual (hence the pulling start). I just sat and listened to it, and the sound of the motor just sounded very manual like when changing? I like it..

Just got to get used to the lack of power that I am used to. Or maybe because I am used to the power coming from behind me, and not in front of me....

[Imolator]

Totally agree withe the last couple of posts, the powershift has a few quirks but is the only auto I enjoy driving.

But I don't think it's a good box match for someone who just wants to stomp on the go pedal and let a slush box do the rest.

There are defineately times where manually controlling the box is the best option, this is not something most auto drivers ever want to do.

And this is why the box receives so many complaints IMHO.

[old_mate]

Originally Posted by Samurai_Chris

I have the petrol Sport, and the thing that I have noticed was that the 6 speed powership gearbox actually feels like it changes like a manual (hence the pulling start). I just sat and listened to it, and the sound of the motor just sounded very manual like when changing? I like it..

Just got to get used to the lack of power that I am used to. Or maybe because I am used to the power coming from behind me, and not in front of me....

The trans is more of an automated manual rather than a traditional auto, hence the feeling your get.

[Franco Cozzo]

Don't worry, all auto gearboxes suck the fat one.

I've driven CVT, DSG and traditional slush box in all types of vehicles through work and my own cars, all of them suck compared to a gear lever and a clutch pedal.

Always in the wrong gear, slow to engage, not responding quickly enough, going up hill going up/down/up/down/up/down/up/down etc.

[Samurai_Chris]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Don't worry, all auto gearboxes suck the fat one.

I've driven CVT, DSG and traditional slush box in all types of vehicles through work and my own cars, all of them suck compared to a gear lever and a clutch pedal.

Always in the wrong gear, slow to engage, not responding quickly enough, going up hill going up/down/up/down/up/down/up/down etc.

You rock!

[In Focus]

Heh heh, 20th century dinosaurs.

Actually, I think all human-input driving will be gone in 20 or so years, auto gearboxes and all.

[Franco Cozzo]

Its going to head that way unfortunately.

The worst one has to be CVT, sit there at 3000 RPM going

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

picking up speed.