Where are the 5-speeds????

[Sonic_HedgeHog]

Originally Posted by John W

I purchased an SE with sport package and 5mt about two weeks ago. I don't know why anyone would go with the (notorious) automatic. The 5-speed is an absolute pleasure to row through the gears. I've owned 23 other vehicles (all manual) -- and this car has one of the nicest-to-shift manuals I've owned.

Steeda STS and MS3 RMM makes it even better

[suss6052]

Originally Posted by John W

I purchased an SE with sport package and 5mt about two weeks ago. I don't know why anyone would go with the (notorious) automatic. The 5-speed is an absolute pleasure to row through the gears. I've owned 23 other vehicles (all manual) -- and this car has one of the nicest-to-shift manuals I've owned.

I don't know, maybe the fact that most of the complaints are coming from people who have no conception of what a DCT is and why its superior technology to that of the torque converter backed planetary gearset automatic. This plus the fact that it is a true 6 speed manual with automated clutch control means that its more efficient at freeway speeds than the 5MT kind of makes it a no brainer really.

Now if there was an equivilent 6MT available with similar gearing and it was available on the SEL or Ti trim I might have ordered this instead, but the 5MT as good as it may be to drive. I've driven at least one before making the hard decision to go with the higher level trim for the nicer interior materials and the very specific color combination that would not have been available with the manual in the U.S. anyway.

Besides the DCT is not inherently bad, just different from the automatics your parents grew up with.

Sorry, I'm just tired of reading all the vitrolent hatred for the technology. I've driven a manual for the last three years and the DCT behaves much the same minus having to actually use the clutch pedal.

I love the feeling of being hurtled forward as the car executes a perfect redline shift at 6500 rpm through each of the forward gears.

[RonMaiden]

I've driven 3 DCTs over the last month and none of them behave like my 5 speed does.

It's an ok automatic but it still seems to hang up in a gear when you want it to downshift and it still gear hunts a little when on some inclines or under lighter throttle. It's still an automatic and doesn't replicate the 5 speed.
The DCT in the Ford does still have some bugs to be worked out since you shouldn't see all the complaints about it and you can't blame the operators when this is such a widespread hot topic.

I do find it funny that the car rags usually test the 5 speeds and also recommend them over the DCT so there is more to the problems than just operators needing to learn the DCT.

[TiStick]

Originally Posted by RonMaiden

I do find it funny that the car rags usually test the 5 speeds and also recommend them over the DCT so there is more to the problems than just operators needing to learn the DCT.

^^^^This^^^^

Main reason I got the 5MT, since there was no price difference in the Ti.

[BaconZombie]

I just prefer a manual in a smaller, 4-cylinder car. I think it makes it much more fun to drive. I've had 4-cylinders that were automatics, and they were boring. Plus, an upgraded exhaust sounds far better with a manual behind it than an auto-tragic...I mean matic.

[RonMaiden]

I like to wind it neaer redline more than what makes my wife comfortable;this engine loves to be revved high and this is where the manual is a bit better on agressive tight roads. You don't see an auto in the ST and it's commendable that Ford bit the bullet with a few lost sales and kept the ST a tad simpler plus the bad press and issues you see about the DCT in the media and on the net I think Ford knew it was risky to put one in the ST and avoided it all together.

[2kwik4u]

Is it possible to order a Ti packaged Focus with the 5mt trans? I want to say that wasn't possible on Fords website when I tried a few weeks ago before plunking down the cashola on mine.

*edit* Nevermind, Just checked Ford.com, and it appears the 5mt is available on the Ti. Just not very prevalent it seems.

[TiStick]

Originally Posted by 2kwik4u

Is it possible to order a Ti packaged Focus with the 5mt trans? I want to say that wasn't possible on Fords website when I tried a few weeks ago before plunking down the cashola on mine.

*edit* Nevermind, Just checked Ford.com, and it appears the 5mt is available on the Ti. Just not very prevalent it seems.

Read somewhere that Ford expects 3% manual Ti's. I got's mine!

[suss6052]

If Ford hadn't been stupid and made the manual available on all trims, or made Frosted Glass available with a dark interior I might have gotten a manual, but it was the color + rear disk brakes et al that really narrowed my choices in a hatch down to the DCT in the U.S. despite building the same car for Canada as an SEL with a 5MT.

Sometimes I miss rowing gears, and my next car in probably 5-10 years might be something more like the ST.



My old car was my first stick shift and as a mechanically inclined person and a Mech Engineering student at the time I loved it to death. Its still running, albeit in need of brakes probably, but I gave it to my father since I got the new car.

Its good that there is a choice, but its bad when they won't allow you to choose from every possible option or permutation.

When I said it feels like a manual is only on the initial take off though as it feeds in the power and applies the clutches. If this was your father's slush box I would not have even considered it and had to configure a less desirable color.

I was torn between getting one with everything I could want and more or just the most basic one I could almost pay for completely in cash and drive away with it. The trouble is there is so little margin on the S that on A/Z plan nothing comes off of the price, and at least in the example of the Fiesta its very small and X is actually more than the sticker price.

If I had to do it again I might have waited for the ST, but the rest of the 13 line up is a bust as they bundled everything into one super package.

[jimmyolsen]

I have a SE with a five-speed it had to come from a dealer 50 miles away but I got it.