Ford Stands High

[Maxx Power]

Buttons, paddles they still do the same thing!

[Turbo6man]

Buttons, paddles they still do the same thing!

Yeah, you're right of course ... buttons, paddles, levers ... they all do the same thing. But some of us have noticed that they do it in a different way.

[NT TURBO]

I bump the stereo buttons on the T's wheel from time to time, that would really suck if I were bumping gears......I like the SSS.

[Tolgz]

hey guys,

ive also read the article in the Wheel mag about the XR6 and the SV6, and from my understanding they like the new 5 speed auto, but I dont no why they dont mention anything about it in a negative way. Because if you look at the speed's done with the SV6, the car loses 20 or so kilometres and drops over 1700rpm's when it shifts into 5th gear. Just wondering why they havent mentioned this in the actual article. Expensive Daewoo trying to cover it up? any thought?

[Turbo6man]

hey guys,

ive also read the article in the Wheel mag about the XR6 and the SV6, and from my understanding they like the new 5 speed auto, but I dont no why they dont mention anything about it in a negative way. Because if you look at the speed's done with the SV6, the car loses 20 or so kilometres and drops over 1700rpm's when it shifts into 5th gear. Just wondering why they havent mentioned this in the actual article. Expensive Daewoo trying to cover it up? any thought?

Well, my thought is what would they be covering up do you think? The fact that it drops 1700rpm in fifth is a pretty irrelevant statement when you don't say at what revs or speed this occurs. When I shift into fifth at 200kph my revs drop by 2300rpm.

And if you mean the top speed is 20kph lower in fifth than fourth, well that is how it should be if fifth is a genuine overdrive. It is done this way, and has been for the past 50 years, so good fuel economy can be achieved at highway cruising speeds. The other four gears are there to give performance.

[FPV GTHO]

not all overdrives drop in speed though, if it drops 20km/h than its like the difference between 5th and 6th I the T-56 Expensive Daewoo use, Expensive Daewoo say that 4th is 1:1, but I think the final drive is something like 2.8:1

[Turbo6man]

not all overdrives drop in speed though, if it drops 20km/h than its like the difference between 5th and 6th I the T-56 Expensive Daewoo use, Expensive Daewoo say that 4th is 1:1, but I think the final drive is something like 2.8:1

If your top speed in overdrive is higher than your top speed in the next lowest gear (usually, but not always 1:1) then the car is geared too low for max economy at highway cruising speeds. There is nothing wrong with the T56 ratios used in the Commode as far as highway use is concerned. To clarify, the final drive in the Commodes is 3.73 with top being 0.5 so an overall final gear ratio of 1.865. The car does 63kph per 1000rpm. By comparison the standard manual T has an overall final gear ratio of 2.48 with the car doing 47kph per 1000rpm.

[plonky]

The SSS system on the Ford does need some significant impreovement though.

The stick can be quite easily broken.....I've seen it happen.

Further, there needs to be a detent between D and N. I have seen drivers who though they were in SSS mode, push the stick forward to down change under full throttle and they have actually shift from D into N. Not a good thing at all.

As a matter of fact, the more I think about it the more gimmicky the SSS shift is. It will not select a gear when you want (the gearbox overrides it and won't select a gear until a certain roadspeed thus not allowing a downsh*t to maintain a speed throught he corner)

The SSS needs to modified so that it is exactly the same type of gate that the Police Pack Falcons had before (From Park the detent would be depressed, full acceleration applied and the stick slammed backwards. It would immediately get the car rolling in 2nd and shift back to first once the car was moving and the stick would be pushed straight back towards Drive and would lockout Neutral)

[YOOT]

If any of you have read the latest wheels mag, you would probably have noticed that the judges choose the BA Xr6 over the 190kw Vz. One of the things the judges didn't like was the 5 Speed auto. For those of you that dont know, they do not have a sports shift like the falcons, its just buttons on the wheel. Some people may like this but personly I think it would be alot funner changing gears with your arm like a manaul rather than just pressing a button. I would be interested in hearing some of your thoughts on this?

Um, they actually loved the car mate. It was as good as the BA but it lost the comparison simply because despite all the major changes and improvements it was miles better than the BA.

THe VZ was faster, used less fuel and handled better than the VY and the PADDLE shift 5 speed was a gem, but the PADDLES where gimmicky and could only be used if activated by pressing a button on the dash.

The BA simply was unchanged and had a smoother ride, better handling and near enought the same performance with less power and more weight. It was a better day-to-day car and performed 9.9/10ths as well as the 250million dollar VZ so it was considered as holding its head high.

If there wasn't a Turbo BA I would be buying an XR6, I would be putting my money on a 190kw 6speed VZ with ESP!

[Turbo6man]

Well you've all got me f!!cked - DOES IT HAVE PADDLES OR BUTTONS? What is it with people who can't read?

Do I have to go buy the damn mag myself and read the article?