Had my 125 ecoboost for ~5 months now. Normal town driving (following 30 sticklers), without the tacho I'd be shafted. Never had to watch the tacho with my orsa. The turbo is therefore the prob. I still want to change up far too early (<1500). Do you guys watch the tacho or have you cracked it? I need a 2.5 gear with these pootlers.

Just overtake them :)

Doing 30? I'm usually in 3rd by that time... If your changing gear minus 1500 then the turbo isn't really spooling tbf.

I know Ford say it's a constant turbo but I've found it lags until 1500+

(Disclaimer! The above might wreck your mpg.. Think I may have one of the lowest readings on the forum :P )

Just change up later, about 2500 or so... I did watch it but I'm so used to it now I just know when. I use 4th when I'm cruising at 30, I'll happily cruise along at about 1200 if I don't accelerate (but that took a few thousand miles to happen). Ford's gear change indicator is at 2000 and personally I'd say that's too early too!

I don't really look at revs. I just feel and hear when to change, though one day while on phone to wife at around 70-75 mph . I got destracted and wondered why my revs were around 3500 to realise I was in 3rd and not 5th. Oops.

Yeah I don't really look anymore (unless I gun it and purposely wait til the last minute). Other gears I can just feel it now

Are you sure you're going between 2nd and 3rd? At 30mph, 3rd gear is about 2000rpm.

The gear ratios are difficult to find but it seems they are 5.2, 9.7, 15.5, 21.3, 27.2 mph/1000rpm. So 4th is 1500rpm.

10 years ago most cars didn't show the revs!

10 years ago most cars didn't show the revs!

Doesn't mean it was a good thing, there's a reason all cars now do ;)

The only reason is aesthetics. You really shouldn't be looking at the revs for changing gear. You would probably fail your test if they noticed you doing it.

The only reason is aesthetics. You really shouldn't be looking at the revs for changing gear. You would probably fail your test if they noticed you doing it.

Only if you were like sitting staring at the rev counter, they teach you to drive based on it to begin with so they don't expect you to ignore it. Glancing at it is fine, that's like saying they'd fail you for looking at the speedo :P

Are you sure you're going between 2nd and 3rd? At 30mph, 3rd gear is about 2000rpm.

The gear ratios are difficult to find but it seems they are 5.2, 9.7, 15.5, 21.3, 27.2 mph/1000rpm. So 4th is 1500rpm.

125bhp Ecoboost gear ratios.

3.58/1.92/1.20/.87/.68/3.61

You find that 30mph is about 1800ish RPM

125bhp Ecoboost gear ratios.

3.58/1.92/1.20/.87/.68/3.61

You find that 30mph is about 1800ish RPM

Good, those confirm the ratios I have found. So in 3rd, 1800rpm at the engine is 410rpm at the wheels. Tyre rolling circumference is 1775mm, so 728370mm/min or 27mph. The speedo would likely be indicating 30mph.

so my theory that the car is happiest in 1st @ 10mph. 2nd @ 20mph. 3rd @ 30mph. 4th @ 40mph. 5th @ 50mph is correct for the 1.0 EcoBoost excluding the 140PS version ;)

so my theory that the car is happiest in 1st @ 10mph. 2nd @ 20mph. 3rd @ 30mph. 4th @ 40mph. 5th @ 50mph is correct for the 1.0 EcoBoost excluding the 140PS version ;)

It's little to do with the car being happy; the engine is an inanimate, emotionless lump that works between 1500-6000rpm. It's a matter of where the driver finds their own comfortable compromise between noise, consumption and response.

Part of the issue is that a turbo direct injection engine does not follow classic engine behaviour, having three modes (simplistically speaking) - stratified, stochiometric and boost. Also in a modern engine, the driver no longer demands power from the engine with a throttle but requests power from the engine management with a potentiometer. The engine is "happiest" with whatever the EM has been programmed to do for the circumstances.