I have an 04 1.4 and i have to say that the gearbox is difficult especially selecting 1st gear when slowing down, mine will very rarely go into 1st until the car is crawling or stopped, its also a bit hard into 2nd on the down change sometimes, and all of the above but worse when its cold out, tell me what your new box is like it would be interesting to know if its just mine or whether they are all a little temperamental i think i just need to grease up the bushes at the linkage,
Hi Nathan,
my old box was like that going down into first, but that, I am sure, is just the ratio; engine speed and ground speed the car is traveling at. The fiesta is so light unloaded it almost pulls away in 2nd. Thats great because I don't even over rev to get enough speed up to change straight to 3rd (from 1st) and from 3rd straight into 5th. Yes I do drive around town at 30mph in 5th.
After driving mk1 fiestas, Escorts/+estates, Mondeo estate (Big Red Bus) and the P100 truck it really is refreshing to be driving a nice light responsive easy to see over my shoulder car. Knipping back n forth to work in it is a joy and because its not all boyed up I'm pretty much sticking to the limmit + want to look after it ++ always trying to keep my turned over leaf turned over, if you know what I mean

Let you know what my new 2nd hand box is like but Dad drives his as I have described and say's it drives my mum mad. Ploding around town at 30 in 5th is a bit nuts maybe

Appy travels

, Rich.