new driver Ford Fiesta ecoboost 1.0 100bhp

[newdriverwatchout]

Hi,

I just passed my driving test yesterday and today my parents got me a 2013 Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost 100ps.

I don't know much about cars....today Iike an idiot i tried turning on the car and stalled it 4 times in a row because I failed to realise that it was in 3rd gear and thought there was something wrong with the car. Did I do any serious damage to the car?

Also anyone who owns this car what rpm should it idle at? mines idles at 1 RPM.

anyone who drivers this car can you give me tips on how to drive this and how and when to switch gears? what RPM is the limit should i NOT go over? like how quickly should i switch from 1st to 2nd? how long should i stay in 2nd for? should i not stay in 3rd for too long? when to switch to 5th gear?

 

[dezwez]

Hi Welcome
well done and no you car is fine

[Bobr]

If in doubt as to when to change up, observe the little arrow that appears in the screen.   Incidentally, it's not 1 rpm it's 1 x 1000 and that's about right.

[Luke4efc]

If you managed to actually set off in third you would be slipping the clutch too much, and could cause excessive wear.

Is checking the car is not in gear before you turn it over not the first thing to check? 😄😄

Fortunately for you, a Fiesta is one of the easiest cars to learn to dive in, super light clutch and really smooth gearbox.

I suppose you have to remember revs kill engines. The more revs, the faster the engine will wear. The most important thing is to let the car warm up before you start ragging it about. When I want to stop at 40mph, I go to 3000rpm in third and go straight to fith. About 2500 rpm is about right. The shift indicator at 2000 rpm just doesn't get enough acceleration for me (unless I plan to cruize at that speed, then I will put on in 5th for anything above 30mph).

[Tiexen]

1 hour ago, Luke4efc said:

5th for anything above 30mph).

My 100ps wont run in 5th under 50 - 3rd at 30 4th at 40 and 5th at 50 and above, and mine wont start without the clutch being depressed.

[Bobr]

7 minutes ago, Tiexen said:

My 100ps wont run in 5th under 50 - 3rd at 30 4th at 40 and 5th at 50 and above, and mine wont start without the clutch being depressed.

I can drive mine at 30 mph in 5th.   Depends on your skill as a driver.   I've been learning for over 60 years. 

[iantt]

im in 5th often at 30mph in my focus too.

[Jonro2009]

My 100ps wont run in 5th under 50 - 3rd at 30 4th at 40 and 5th at 50 and above, and mine wont start without the clutch being depressed.

No way the 1.0 ecoboost will sit happily in 5th unless you are doing above 40-45. It just doesn't feel right, feels like it is struggling not to stall lol. Ours idles at about 900rpm (just below the 1) when it is warm and about 1100rpm cold. It's a punchy little engine and the gear change indicator on the dash is pretty good but don't rely on it. You will learn how the car sounds when it wants to be in a different gear. As a rule I generally say if you are just wanting to make steady progress then change up at about 3000rpm, if you are pushing on then wait until 5000k, but only when you are really wanting to overtake etc, and as Luke says always wait until the engine is warm, especially as it has a turbo.


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[Jonro2009]

I can drive mine at 30 mph in 5th.   Depends on your skill as a driver.   I've been learning for over 60 years. 

You can easily drive it in 5th @ 30 but it doesn't feel smooth, the engine just doesn't seem to like it.


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[Jonro2009]

im in 5th often at 30mph in my focus too.

My mondeo will sit at 30 in 5th a lot smoother than the wife's fez


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[winemart2]

1 hour ago, Tiexen said:

My 100ps wont run in 5th under 50 - 3rd at 30 4th at 40 and 5th at 50 and above, and mine wont start without the clutch being depressed.

Mine's a 125(3) but yep, I can just about use 4th at 30 but only to cruise in traffic, no good for acceleration.

Clutch depressed yes, which is crazy, it should be the brake. Imagine getting stuck on a level crossing, you'd be bu**ered.

You couldn't wind it across using the battery. It's only 2017 though

 

[Tiexen]

So as you see we all drive differently

From Ben Collins (the 1st Stig)

“It’s smoothness and looking ahead,

“If you look ahead, you’re less likely to crash. If you drive smoothly you use less fuel and they are more likely to lower your insurance premium.”

 

[lwatson99]

The best way to know to switch gears is just to open your ears and listen. Once the engine sounds right or you as a driver can feel it, then change up. 

Starting your car with the clutch depressed I would have thought you’d have been taught during your test tbh. 

The fiesta is a fantastic first car, it was my first as well.

listen to the engine and learn how to feel the gears etc and that’s the best way of doing it IMO

[Bobr]

The engine is on full torque at 1400 rpm so you should be able to change up quite happily at 1500 revs.

[HappyJam]

Jump in head first and drive your car. You'll soon become custom to when to change gear. Even as a new driver within a couple days driving it I can guarantee you won't even look at the rev counter anymore, you'll just know when to change (From the sound of the engine and the feel of the car).

Don't worry about the whole 3rd gear thing. When I got my first car my brother used to drive it sometimes and he would always leave it in gear (I tend not to). I'd always forgot, go to start the engine and of course it would stall. Never had any issues with my vehicle, although I imagine it's something to avoid if you can!

As I said, just jump in your car and drive, you won't have any issues. Congrats, enjoy and happy driving :)

[HappyJam]

11 hours ago, Jonro2009 said:

 

No way the 1.0 ecoboost will sit happily in 5th unless you are doing above 40-45. It just doesn't feel right, feels like it is struggling not to stall lol. Ours idles at about 900rpm (just below the 1) when it is warm and about 1100rpm cold. It's a punchy little engine and the gear change indicator on the dash is pretty good but don't rely on it. You will learn how the car sounds when it wants to be in a different gear. As a rule I generally say if you are just wanting to make steady progress then change up at about 3000rpm, if you are pushing on then wait until 5000k, but only when you are really wanting to overtake etc, and as Luke says always wait until the engine is warm, especially as it has a turbo.


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Completely agree with that...my 1.0 ecoboost will sit at 35 in 5th happily. If I drop down to 30, it will still run of course but I know what you mean, it doesn't feel nice in the slightest. I always inevitably shift down! 

[lwatson99]

16 hours ago, newdriverwatchout said:

 

Also anyone who owns this car what rpm should it idle at? mines idles at 1 RPM.

 

 

what RPM is the limit should i NOT go over? like how quickly should i switch from 1st to 2nd? how long should i stay in 2nd for? should i not stay in 3rd for too long? when to switch to 5th gear?

 

Idling will range from 900 -1100 depending on cold/warm, what you have running and other factors.

 

Dont make a habit of going over 3,500/4000 rpm just to keep the engine in good shape. 

Never go above 5000 IMO unless it’s an emergency. 

Same with redline, don’t go there. At the end of the day, if you need to rag it for something important/get out of a bad situation, then do as an engine etc can be repaired/replaced, just don’t make a habit out of it. 

Dont go above 15 in 1st, you can get up to 30 in 2nd without too much worry, after that it’s all just what you think works best

[newdriverwatchout]

Hi guys thanks for all you advice.

This car in stationary can move off with just the clutch, which i'm not used to this as I was practicing in my mum's old car which needed some gas otherwise it will stall.

When using this car is it damaging just to use the clutch to move off and give it some gas when you bring the clutch right up OR should I give some gas just before the clutch rising up fully?

Also how do you use the gas pedal? silly question i know ... but i've never pushed the gas pedal past half way...is there a moment where you need to "floor it right the bottom" or is that damaging to the car?

[Blatto]

Well you can move off at tickover revs by slipping the clutch but it's going to wear out the clutch faster. Just give it enough revs to pull away cleanly (will depend on if you are on a level road or a slope or how quickly you need to get moving) as to how many revs that will be. On the flat I usually have it at about 1500 rpm .

I would have thought you would have been taught the correct clutch control in your driving lessons? The ecoboost engine is not that different in characteristics to other petrol engines, just with the torque being quite high at low revs you can change up at lower revs than many other small petrol engined cars.

It's unlikey you will have damaged anything in stalling a few times. I know a few driving instructors who use ecoboost fiestas, they must get stalled by learner drivers dozens of times a day and none of them have had any problems.

You can floor the throttle if you need to, it won't cause any damage just the more often you have the engine/drivetrain at higher revs/load the more quickly it will wear.

Then again many years ago I had a MK 1 Golf GTi 1800 and I used to floor that every chance I got. It was serviced regularly, and went on to do over 250,000 miles without any issues. I can't say how reliable the ecoboost engine is in comparison though but you can use full throttle if you need it.

As to the discussion on how slow you can go in 5th, 30 mph is fine in my ST-Line but it does have lower gear ratios than the 100 or 125bhp versions so I'm not sure about those. I did test drive a 125bhp version before I went for the ST-Line and I seem to remember 35mph being fine.

 

 

[Jonro2009]

In relation to flooring it and damaging the engine I can tell you I have the 1.5 ecoboost in my mondeo and there is an entry slip I drive on everyday to work where I need to floor it in 2/3rd to join a DC at a decent speed. It's done my engine no harm and I believe it's a good thing to 'stretch its legs'. Flooring it is one thing, flooring it to the red line is another.

I taught my wife, then gf to drive and I used to get her to move away without touching the gas pedal just to allow her to understand more about stalling etc and once she got the principle her clutch control was much better. As @Blatto says I'd always give it a few revs when bringing your clutch up. As someone else said earlier in the thread, we all drive differently and within a few days you will be thinking about the car 4 ahead of you and the cyclists 200yds up the road, not what your feet are doing.

My dads not a particularly wise man (sshh, don't tell him) but he said this to me the day I passed my test, and it is bang on..... "for the last X months/weeks you have been learning to pass a test, from today you learn how to drive"

Enjoy the car, drive it as much as you can and stay safe.


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[winemart2]

16 hours ago, Bobr said:

The engine is on full torque at 1400 rpm so you should be able to change up quite happily at 1500 revs.

C'mon Bob, the turbo is only about to kick in (get some bottle) at 1500.

Ahhhhh, that's how you get decent fuel economy, never let the turbo spool up?

 

[newdriverwatchout]

yeah guys i passed 2 years ago and was taught by my mom had only a few hours driving in her car and managed to pass but havent drived at all since 2 years, that's why i dont know what im doing.

today i was at the supermarket outside car park and it had these disgusting speed bumps that are basically kerbs on the road. i was in 2nd gear and maybe doing 13mph and went over it and i felt the rock up and down...dont know if i damaged anything but...how would you go over these kind of speed bumps? they probably need to be done at 2-5mph.

so say im approaching the speed bump in 2nd gear at 15mph should i brake first, clutch down so i dont i stall, brake more before selecting 1st gear , brake with the clutch down still to get to a slow speed (2-5mph) then creep/clutch control over the bump? or brake, clutch down, into neutral and slow down more and just go over bump???

 

[Jonro2009]

They sound lethal! I'd drop your mum at the entrance and circle round for a while, stay out the car park haha.
Going over kerb like structures need to be done slowly. To get an idea of speed why not sit and watch others do it while your mum shops? That will at least give you a visual. Don't forget when you have your clutch down there is no gear engaged and that means no engine braking, which is minimal at these speeds anyway but worth bearing in mind. Don't go over it in neutral and then select gear after the bump, you want to have all your braking and gear changing done before you get to the obstacle so you can have both hands on the wheel etc etc. In that situation I would probably slow to first gear then creep over it using the clutch if I needed to. If it was a true kerb with right angles I would always avoid it but if I had to I would be almost stopped before I even touched it with the front tyres. Don't forget about the rear wheels, you see a lot of people creep over with their fronts and then just pull away as normal with the back end bouncing about.
If you think you went over too fast and think you may have damaged something then just do a quick visual of the alloys/steels for dents, the tyres for any sidewall bulges and that when you are driving there is no shake through the wheel at speed or excessive pull to one side.

It sounds like your getting yourself into an unnecessary stressful position. You are right to feel nervous if you haven't driven for a couple of years, cockiness behind a wheel is never good. Why not book a refresher with an instructor? Probably cost about £25 for 1-2 hrs but I think it might help,you realise you are maybe overthinking things. I'm not too good with words, there was no offence intended, asking questions shows you are cautious and responsible.


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[Luke4efc]

14 hours ago, newdriverwatchout said:

it had these disgusting speed bumps that are basically kerbs on the road.

Lol that's what it's like to drive a lowered car. I take it you're American too?