I'm not too impressed, they're finally catching up to the competition. Nothing I see here looks to be changing up anything. People will still buy them in huge numbers regardless.
I realized my dad was getting old when he said he liked a brand new Corolla over a brand new Fiesta.
Interesting enough the CVT with "gears" is not a new application at all. The Asian market Honda Fit has had an available CVT that could simulate 7 gears and even had paddle shifters. It's an interesting solution for a perceived problem. It doesn't change the fact that the CVT saps more power than an automatic though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xist
My dad bought his first automatic because the Focus SFE got better mileage in that configuration.
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Hah, how did that work out for him.
I didn't get much time in a Focus while testdriving but based on reported numbers the real world MPG is within 1mpg for Powershift and the 5spd. Also they're unreliable as hell, I'd give them another 2-3 years before they finally fix all the problems with it.
Given that the new Mazda3 is getting the same reported mileage with a torque converter based automatic, I'd say Ford's attempt was an embarrassing failure. They're backtracking on the programming big time by trying to make it act more like a traditional automatic instead of a poorly driven manual. Also there is a huge difference in the Fiesta Powershift programming and the Focus version.