Ford Fiesta Powershift - rolling back on an incline?

iolanthe07

AdrianC wrote: »

Try easing off the throttle gently while it changes - just like you would in a manual...

This is the technique you have to use with those ghastly jerky electro/mechanical semi-automatics so beloved of European car makers and fitted to the likes of the VW Up! and Fiat 500/Panda. They really spoil otherwise excellent cars.

batman2000

The thing is... if I'd realised I'd have to drive it like a manual, then I wouldn't have bought it. It's a family car, my husband did the test drive. No hills involved in the test drive. We did some research before we bought it but obviously we weren't thorough enough, and now (too late) I realise I need to change my driving style more than I'm comfortable with. I will get used to it, but as someone who learned in a full automatic and has driven full automatics for the past 16 years, it's taking some getting used to.

I'm kicking myself for not test driving it myself (I didn't, for reasons I won't go into). And annoyed that the difference between powershift and full auto wasn't spelled out by the dealership, particularly regarding the hill starts. I find it worrying that there are people out there who are completely unused to manuals now being sold powershifts without any kind of practical instruction on how to drive them properly, myself included....

AdrianC

batman2000 wrote: »

The thing is... if I'd realised I'd have to drive it like a manual, then I wouldn't have bought it.

Except you don't have to "drive it like a manual" - it's an automatic. You don't change gear yourself. It does it for you...

All the change that's required from you is to pay a tiny bit of attention to when it's going that, and just help to smooth that change - you don't even need to do that, it'll just give you a smoother journey. In return, you get a much more fuel-efficient vehicle.

batman2000

AdrianC wrote: »

Except you don't have to "drive it like a manual" - it's an automatic. You don't change gear yourself. It does it for you...

All the change that's required from you is to pay a tiny bit of attention to when it's going that, and just help to smooth that change - you don't even need to do that, it'll just give you a smoother journey. In return, you get a much more fuel-efficient vehicle.

I appreciate your help, and know where you're coming from, but I'm trying to impress upon you what a big step-change it is going from a full auto to a powershift. I've done over 100 miles in it now, and still feel nervous. I'm getting better - it's much smoother on the flat. But the hills/inclines are still a worry. I don't completely trust the 'hill start assist', which only seems to engage when the brake is fully depressed. So crawling in traffic up a hill is the biggest issue now. Practice makes perfect as they say, and I'll be brushing up my hill starts using the handbrake, but I just wish we'd known all this before buying it.

Maybe I'll come back in a few months time and be completely in love with the car! At the moment, I'm just annoyed with it :-/.

AdrianC

"Over 100 miles"? OK...

Rain_Shadow

AdrianC wrote: »

"Over 100 miles"? OK...

:rotfl: My thoughts too.


OP, you need to actually drive it for a bit. You've hardly taken it to the shops yet.

batman2000

Wow! I suddenly feel judged! Yes, I'm a low mileage driver (at the moment) but that doesn't make me a slow learner ;-).

AdrianC

batman2000 wrote: »

Wow! I suddenly feel judged! Yes, I'm a low mileage driver (at the moment) but that doesn't make me a slow learner ;-).

"Judged"? No. But you're complaining that it's hard to adapt to a car that you've barely even taken round the block twice...

Using it so infrequently and sparingly will make the adaptation on your part harder, not easier.

batman2000

Oh my, how many times do I have to say it? It has never taken me so long to adapt to any previous car. The changes I'm having to adapt to feel more significant than I've come across before. Do you drive an automatic? Do you have any understanding of what I'm talking about, or are you just baiting me? I can't tell.

Anyway, what seems 'infrequently and sparingly' to you involves multiple trips daily for me, on different kinds of roads, up and down hills .

AdrianC

I think you're misinterpreting what I'm saying...

Yes, you will need to adapt your driving style to get the best out of the different technology underpinning your new car. And, yes, it will take you some time and proper miles, especially if you are a driver who finds it hard to adapt, due to limited previous experience in differing vehicles. It seems you have a very narrow comfort zone, if only a relatively small diversion from that has caused you this level of discombobulation...

Your "multiple trips daily" must be very, very short for you to be covering around 50 miles per week - again, that speaks volumes about your comfort zone and experience levels. This is not a dig or baiting or judgement, just a totally neutral observation of a simple fact.

And that, in itself, renders your question moot - because I clearly have a much wider comfort zone than you. I've had several automatics in the past, although none currently, and drive a wide range of vehicles regularly, ranging in age across decades, LHD and RHD, very different types of vehicle and driving style. I'm perfectly happy jumping into almost anything with varying numbers of wheels, or tracks...

But what you are going to need to face up to is that, if you go back to a "traditional" (hydraulic-planetary-torque-converter) automatic now, you will find it just as hard to adapt next time you change cars, if not harder. The technology you are used to is simply no longer widely available in the type of car you drive, and it's only going to become more so. The world has moved on.