Looking to wring as much fuel economy as possible out of its upcoming new small cars--we’re talking the Fiesta and Focus here--Ford will equipment them with a new six-speed, dry-plate, dual-clutch transmission, called PowerShift.
The dual-clutch unit acts like an automatic transmission, handling the shifting duties for the driver, yet has the internals of a manual transmission.
This means that Ford’s new transmission is lighter--30 pounds less than the four-speed automatic in the current Focus, Ford says--and doesn’t require a torque converter or hydraulic pump.
The dual clutch’s shift changes are quick, with virtually no power lag between the gears. Also, there’s a manual mode for drivers who want the thrill of commanding gear changes on their own, without the need to work a clutch pedal.
The transmission will also shift into neutral when the car is decelerating to boost fuel economy, and it will have hill-holding technology to prevent that little backward roll that manual transmission drivers get used to.
Ford worked with Getrag to develop the transmission.
TRUE, but, that would cause "another" price increase
Unless by selling more units in the USA the economy of scale kicks in, dropping the price by a few hundred per unit to compensate. The gearbox is in the top 5 annoyances, and if they smooth it out and keep high MPGs and make it cheap and do all the umpteen other things we demanding customers demand, there will be more demand.
The gearbox is in the top 5 annoyances, and if they smooth it out
For me, the gearbox is actually one of the top 5 fun and unique things about this car, and if smart "smoothed it out" by making it feel more like a traditional automatic, I think the beloved Fortwo would lose quite a bit of its character.
As it stands now, I think the Version 2.0 (2009-spec) program is just about a perfect match for the 3-cylinder Mitsu.
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