Hello everyone, newbie here!

I bought a Focus estate a few months back, which is equipped with an auto box that you can also change manually (a la steptronic - not sure what the Ford name is for it?!).

The car was a finance repossesion, so did not come with a manual. In every other auto box car I've driven there has been a snow mode, or some method of forcing the box to start in a higher gear than first. However, as much as I search I can't find a way of making this one do it. As soon as you come to anywhere near a standstill, even in 'manual' mode, it selects first. Obviously this is not a problem for the moment, but come winter, how do I do this should I ever need to?

Cheers

Pip

Hi Pip

i have a mondeo auto & if you put it in "steptronic" you can select second gear to pull away (try shifting up while stationary)

tom

Hello everyone, newbie here!

I bought a Focus estate a few months back, which is equipped with an auto box that you can also change manually (a la steptronic - not sure what the Ford name is for it?!).

The car was a finance repossesion, so did not come with a manual. In every other auto box car I've driven there has been a snow mode, or some method of forcing the box to start in a higher gear than first. However, as much as I search I can't find a way of making this one do it. As soon as you come to anywhere near a standstill, even in 'manual' mode, it selects first. Obviously this is not a problem for the moment, but come winter, how do I do this should I ever need to?

Cheers

Pip

Hi,

I guess it's a 7-speed CVT gearbox. It's true that it does not feature a snow mode but when you manually select the gear to 2, it allows you to have a smooth start n icy/snowy roads.

Hi,

I guess it's a 7-speed CVT gearbox. It's true that it does not feature a snow mode but when you manually select the gear to 2, it allows you to have a smooth start n icy/snowy roads.

Thanks for the replies guys!

I wish it was a 7 speed - sadly only 4.

Interesting about the Mondeo being able to start in 2nd if selected at a stand - I've tried that in the focus and it just reverts to 1st. I'll give it another go though. Could it be the traction control detects no slipping therefore it is selecting 1st at the moment as it 'knows' it's got good grip?!

Cheers

Pip