[Snowman9000]

I recently bought a new 2013 Focus SFE (fuel economy edition), with the base motor and an electronically clutched and shifted "manual" gearbox. I'll do a review of the car in another thread after my next gas purchase.

The trans on this edition does not have any manual shifting option. You put it in D, and drive. But it is a clutch and gearbox, no slush-box. Can we treat it as if I'm shifting a manual trans, and discuss the best rate of acceleration?

Here's how it shifts. If I accelerate conservatively, it will upshift at ~2100 rpm. That is the lowest shift RPM it will do. This puts it into 6th at about 41-42 MPH. But like an AT, if I accelerate more quickly, the shift RPMs go up. So my choices are somewhere along a sloped line if you were to plot it on a graph. i.e. I cannot accelerate quickly yet have it upshift at 2100 rpm. Well, I can sort of fool it on the 5-6 shift by momentarily letting off at 42 MPH, but that is not as effective or practical in the intermediate shifts.

So, what do you think?