The 2016 Focus I bought for my daughter is our families 2nd DCT car. I thought it would be interesting to provide a comparison of the two cars, and share my positive experiences with the Focus DCT, having driven it enough to get a good idea of its pluses and minuses.
My other DCT car is a 09 Porsche 911 with a DCT transmission (called PDK, or Porsche Doppelkupplung). It is an amazing transmission on an amazing car. To manually shift the car, you move the shift selector to manual mode and use paddles on the steering wheel to change gears. Like the Focus, the right paddle shifts up, the left paddle shifts down. In addition, the car has 3 modes, Normal, Sport, and Sport +. Activating sport or sport + changes the electronic engine mapping so it engages a sharper throttle response. It also stiffens the suspension and slightly lowers the car.
In the Ford, you shift into S mode, then hit the paddle to indicate that you will be manually shifting. S mode also changes the electronic mapping. It doesn't do anything to change the suspension.
Driving either car in manual mode is fun. I haven't driven the focus to redline yet, but it's nice to see that the car doesn't shift itself when it gets close. In the 911 in manual mode, the car will not shift and just bounces off of redline until you shift it by pulling the paddle. Both cars will downshift in manual mode when RPM's get low enough to prevent lugging and stalling. The Porsche shifts are a bit faster than the Ford, but honestly, the difference is not that noticeable to the average driver (maybe a professional race car driver would notice the difference).
In auto mode, both cars drive well. Neither car is as smooth as a true automatic, but that's to be expected. I've seen some complaints (though not many) about shuddering in a PDK equipped 911, so the issue isn't limited to just Ford. Perhaps because people tend to drive Porsche's a little harder? The key is, it seems, drive it like a manual.
One thing I don't like about the Focus is that the gear is not displayed in auto mode. Just because I'm driving it in auto, doesn't mean I wouldn't like to know what gear the car is in.
One dislike about both cars: They should have designed the car to be able to shift to neutral by pulling both paddles in. Many high end cars are able to do this, and it is useful to be able to shift to neutral if needed. I understand that newer Porsche's have this ability.
Reliability: We all know about the Ford, though it seems to me that I have seen much fewer issues in the '15 models, and haven't seen anything with the '16 models- so hopefully it is fixed. With the 911, the PDK has a pretty solid reputation, though there have been some failures. Interestingly, Porsche claims that the PDK is not serviceable, so if you have a PDK issue, you are talking ~$14k for a new replacement transmission. Luckily, it seems like these failures are rare.
In general, I think the Ford Powershift DCT is a really nifty transmission. Sure it has its issues, but it's not all that different from the transmission in the Porsche. When you consider that the Focus has an MSRP of a little over $22k, and my 911 has an MSRP of about $120k, I think Ford has done a pretty good job with their DCT. It's not perfect, but it holds up pretty well to a car that cost almost $100k more.
So get out there and enjoy your DCT equipped Focus. The technology is pretty impressive.
My other DCT car is a 09 Porsche 911 with a DCT transmission (called PDK, or Porsche Doppelkupplung). It is an amazing transmission on an amazing car. To manually shift the car, you move the shift selector to manual mode and use paddles on the steering wheel to change gears. Like the Focus, the right paddle shifts up, the left paddle shifts down. In addition, the car has 3 modes, Normal, Sport, and Sport +. Activating sport or sport + changes the electronic engine mapping so it engages a sharper throttle response. It also stiffens the suspension and slightly lowers the car.
In the Ford, you shift into S mode, then hit the paddle to indicate that you will be manually shifting. S mode also changes the electronic mapping. It doesn't do anything to change the suspension.
Driving either car in manual mode is fun. I haven't driven the focus to redline yet, but it's nice to see that the car doesn't shift itself when it gets close. In the 911 in manual mode, the car will not shift and just bounces off of redline until you shift it by pulling the paddle. Both cars will downshift in manual mode when RPM's get low enough to prevent lugging and stalling. The Porsche shifts are a bit faster than the Ford, but honestly, the difference is not that noticeable to the average driver (maybe a professional race car driver would notice the difference).
In auto mode, both cars drive well. Neither car is as smooth as a true automatic, but that's to be expected. I've seen some complaints (though not many) about shuddering in a PDK equipped 911, so the issue isn't limited to just Ford. Perhaps because people tend to drive Porsche's a little harder? The key is, it seems, drive it like a manual.
One thing I don't like about the Focus is that the gear is not displayed in auto mode. Just because I'm driving it in auto, doesn't mean I wouldn't like to know what gear the car is in.
One dislike about both cars: They should have designed the car to be able to shift to neutral by pulling both paddles in. Many high end cars are able to do this, and it is useful to be able to shift to neutral if needed. I understand that newer Porsche's have this ability.
Reliability: We all know about the Ford, though it seems to me that I have seen much fewer issues in the '15 models, and haven't seen anything with the '16 models- so hopefully it is fixed. With the 911, the PDK has a pretty solid reputation, though there have been some failures. Interestingly, Porsche claims that the PDK is not serviceable, so if you have a PDK issue, you are talking ~$14k for a new replacement transmission. Luckily, it seems like these failures are rare.
In general, I think the Ford Powershift DCT is a really nifty transmission. Sure it has its issues, but it's not all that different from the transmission in the Porsche. When you consider that the Focus has an MSRP of a little over $22k, and my 911 has an MSRP of about $120k, I think Ford has done a pretty good job with their DCT. It's not perfect, but it holds up pretty well to a car that cost almost $100k more.
So get out there and enjoy your DCT equipped Focus. The technology is pretty impressive.
