Fiesta can’t decide if it wants 3rd or 4th gear when travelling at 30mph

[CT mk8titanium]

Hi. 

I’ve had my Fiesta Titanium 2018 plate (100ps Ecoboost 6 speed manual ) for just over 6 months now. I love it in every way apart from one annoying thing.

When travelling at 30mph in 3rd gear it’s revving at about 2100rpm and is telling me to shift up into 4th gear. But as soon as I do the car drops below 1400rpm and struggles to keep pace and immediately wants me to shift down to 3rd gear so I change it back down. This happens when driving on flat roads with no incline or multiple passengers/added weight. 

I was wondering whether anyone with the same engine has experienced the same thing? My main concern is whether I’m not getting the best fuel economy and over revving the engine

[BlueMike2021]

l very quickly learnt to ignore the shift-up light in mine, as I often find it a bit optimistic; I just drive what feels and sounds right.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Hi Chris,

Lots of questions on this ever since these indicators were first introduced. I think it's fair to say most of us just ignore them and drive according to our own judgement and experience.

Fwiw I normally use 3rd when driving at 30, 4th at 40. The car's perfectly happy and it helps keep within speed limits. The red line on the tachometer is 6,500 rpm so you're in no danger of over-revving at 2,100. I find the ecoboost is generally happiest at 2,000 rpm or more anyway.

 

[Jus1973]

This will probably because the engine tuning has been done the same Europe wide, and everywhere else uses 50km/h which is 31 miles an hour, and daft as it sounds, that 1 mile an hour makes all the difference. I noticed exactly the same issue on my Focus, so now drive at 29 in a 30 zone, in 3rd.  

[Blatto]

Yes as Eric says about 2000 rpm and above in the ecoboost the engine seems happier.

In my ST-Line 140 I use 4th gear at 30mph if the road is flat, but then again that's an indicated 32mph in my car.

Almost all speedos are set to over read the true speed by a good %. If your GPS shows your speed that's a far more accurate reading (assuming you have a good GPS signal.

At 75mph indicated on my speedo I'm doing about a true 70mph.

But using 3rd gear for 30mph is not going to make any noticeable difference to the fuel economy and it wouldn't be over revving if you were doing 50mph in 3rd gear, just a bit unnecessary (and that would be wasteful on fuel).

I think 3rd gear in my car would take me to about 85mph if I were to take it to the red line. Not something I would need to do, but not unsafe if you are only doing it for a short duration.

 

 

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

6 minutes ago, Blatto said:

I think 3rd gear in my car would take me to about 85mph if I were to take it to the red line. Not something I would need to do, but not unsafe if you are only doing it for a short duration.

 

Yes, that's right. The 140 has slightly lower overall gearing than the other versions which theoretically would do about 10 mph more. I find 3rd a very useful overtaking gear but it takes you past 60 remarkably quickly so you need to be alert for camera vans which are prolific round here!😀

[Blatto]

15 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I find 3rd a very useful overtaking gear but it takes you past 60 remarkably quickly so you need to be alert for camera vans which are prolific round here!😀

Of course when I said 3rd would take me to 85mph I was talking about my many trips to the unrestricted parts of the German Autobahn 🤭

[BlueMike2021]

16 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I find 3rd a very useful overtaking gear but it takes you past 60 remarkably quickly so you need to be alert for camera vans which are prolific round here!😀

My little 100PS isn't much different- it just wants to go! I really have to watch my speeds at times, it's such a nippy little thing.

[CT mk8titanium]

Thanks everyone for your advice 👍🏻. I guess I’m still pretty used to my old VW Up! Which would be happy in 5th gear at 30pm and 1500rpm. I’m loving how much nippier this car is though 😄

[MCF]

A family member just got rid of a 1.0 100ps 6 speed Fiesta to go back to a  1.1  5 speed as he did not like the ecoboost around town where the car spent most of it's time. He really enjoys the new 75 ps 5 speed as it is more suited to the driving he does now.  Anybody else prefer the 1.1 Fiesta even with the 75ps.     

[Eric Bloodaxe]

12 hours ago, MCF said:

  Anybody else prefer the 1.1 Fiesta even with the 75ps.     

Never driven one (we did have an 82ps 1.25 at one time) but I can see the logic - shorter gearing, less of 'em, no turbo lag.

For purely town work I preferred my Mrs's 60ps 5 speed SEAT Mii to my 140 ecoboost.

[MCF]

For someone who had been driving for 50 years being used to hitting 4th gear at 30 mph he found the 6 speed eco to feel laboured and sound noisy and rough even though the indicator pointed use 4th gear. Anyway,he is back driving with a smile again. Sometimes,less really is more.  Just a bit of a shame they have slightly detuned it now from 85ps to 75ps. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

2 hours ago, MCF said:

For someone who had been driving for 50 years being used to hitting 4th gear at 30 mph he found the 6 speed eco to feel laboured and sound noisy and rough even though the indicator pointed use 4th gear.

I found many years ago that the indicators are best ignored. 3rd gear would do nicely at 30 with the ecoboost.

Even when I learned to drive, back in the days of 4 speeds, my instructor taught me to use 3rd in a 30 limit, for better control. I've never seen a reason to disagree with him!

[MCF]

The old 4 speeds,eh. I know someone who always reminds me of columm gear change and bench seats.

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

There were plenty of those around when I started, and 3 speed boxes, but I started on the modern 4 speed stuff! (Albeit with "crash" firsts so I was taught double-clutching by my instructor - which has come in handy over the years).

[steveg19]

Having bought a 1.0 ecoboost 95ps recently,  I find 5th and 6th gears totally unnecessary if your driving around town only. I guess on motorways and long B roads they do become useful for dropping the revs and saving  fuel. I must say I'm still enjoying my little fiesta thou.

[BlueMike2021]

I find myself not using 6th much; unless I'm on a very flat motorway, the car is happier and much more responsive in 5th.

Meanwhile I have tried all ways of getting it to change out of 1st smoothly, and have concluded that it just can't!

[tomo2001]

Put some black electrical tape over the gear indicator. Job done 😁

[MCF]

It seems many owners would be happiest if the Ecoboost had a sweet spot of a selectable drive mode of URBAN where the gearing is shorter like the 1.1 has for short drives around town and NORMAL for the current characteristics of the Ecoboost engine. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

11 minutes ago, MCF said:

It seems many owners would be happiest if the Ecoboost had a sweet spot of a selectable drive mode of URBAN where the gearing is shorter like the 1.1 has for short drives around town and NORMAL for the current characteristics of the Ecoboost engine. 

Such a facility exists - it's called using a lower gear and ignoring the shift light!😀

[MCF]

If an urban mode existed it would surely allow the higher gear to be used while keeping the engine from labouring thus being more fuel efficient. As ever, it all comes down to personal preference, I suppose.

[TomsFocus]

Gearing can't be altered electronically, ratios are physically fixed.

I've had a few cars that didn't like 30mph though, either wasting fuel and creating excess noise in 3rd or labouring in 4th.  I can only assume the gearboxes are designed for European speed limits in Km rather than UK ones.

[MCF]

I get the gearing is mechanical and no button will alter it. It was more of a wish list thought. Guess we would all like something extra on our next car that in reality we know won't happen. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

This topic comes up in various forms quite often.

The basic issue seems to be that many modern cars are ludicrously overgeared in pursuit of lower mpg and emissions, and we have "nannying" lights egging drivers on to change up early, so the engine labours unless on a downgrade or dead level road.

There then seems to be some fear of over-revving it you ignore the light which is pretty hard nowadays given that virtually all cars have a tachometer sat in front of you with the red zone clearly marked plus an electronic limiter.

Add to that the various modes which (unless you have adjustable suspension settings) do very little that cannot be achieved by careful driving but just complicate matters further.

20 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Gearing can't be altered electronically, ratios are physically fixed.

Unless it's an e-CVT for instance but we'd better not go there - though something like a Yaris or Jazz could be a better choice for predominantly urban drivers, rather than an overgeared manual.😀

[TomsFocus]

2 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Unless it's an e-CVT for instance but we'd better not go there - though something like a Yaris or Jazz could be a better choice for predominantly urban drivers, rather than an overgeared manual.😀

Automatic is definitely better for urban drivers...  And EV better still!  None of this low oil pressure idling and cold engine parts flopping around at just 800rpm dumping a tonne of raw petrol into the oil and never burning off all the moisture that built up over the past few nights without any use... 

But yes, better not go there!