2882 messages,
Last post on Jan 19, 2013 at 12:59 PM
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Ford Focus Forum.
What is this discussion about?
Ford Focus, Hatchback
#1 of 2882 carlady
by mzn
Nov 06, 2000 (1:02 am)
We keep talking and talking and talking about the
Ford Focus! Please, join the conversation. First,
take a look at guyindasky's post in the previous
Focus topic and help this former lurker make a
decision. Thanks!
carlady/host
Nov 06, 2000 (1:15 am)
What's going on with the Focus Club??
#3 of 2882 ZX3 Five Speed
by rwgreenberg
Nov 06, 2000 (2:16 pm)
Hi. I'm really starting to enjoy the new car. I'm wondering...would some of you who drive the 5 speeds give me an idea of how high you will let the revs get before shifting when your looking for high exceleration? I'm assuming that under normal driving conditions about 2800 rpm would be the place to upshift. Does this make sense to most of you? Thanks
Nov 06, 2000 (3:08 pm)
2800 RPM? Hello, you should have gotten an automatic! The Zetec is not designed for Honda-like high RPMs, but shifting at 2800 is silly. Peak torque is developed between 4500-5000 RPM, so revving the engine to 4000 or so before shifting to the next higher gear will give you some decent performance.
Nov 06, 2000 (5:02 pm)
Silver Bullet, I understand that it would be silly to shift at approx. 2800 if one wanted speed, but doesn't shifting at this rpm give one maximum gas mileage? If you look in the Focus manual 2800 represents more or less the rpms that match the suggested upshift speeds in each gear.
#6 of 2882 Ghost Post
by zgrrrl
Nov 06, 2000 (5:04 pm)
During the experimentation with the other "look" of this forum, I made a post asking some questions about Trans VS Automatic - That post is now gone - is it because I said I didn't like the new look - and you don't want to make mention of it?
Oh Wellllll....
Speaking of RPM's...I was on a 2 lane road coming home from work Friday - tried to drop from 5th to 4th so I could pass the very slow moving car ahead of me and -
I hit 2nd gear instead. I feel sick thinking about watching the tach hit 7000 rpms for that brief second.
I know I wasn't doing my car any favors - but how bad ....
#7 of 2882 RPMs and fuel economy
by silver_bullet
Nov 06, 2000 (7:03 pm)
If you shift based on the upshift indicator, you might conceivably obtain the best gas mileage - but you'll likely get run over by all the angry drivers bottled up behind you
Several years ago, BMW conducted a study that proved maximum fuel economy resulted from accelerating briskly up to the point of maximum torque, then upshifting, getting into high gear as soon as possible. Real world road conditions rarely allow you to drive in the most fuel efficient manner - sometimes you have to "go with the flow".
Zgrrrl - Ouch. Hopefully the rev limiter kicked in and prevented valve damage, but an overrev from a missed downshift often results in valves contacting pistons. Is your car running normally? Sound okay, and idle smoothly? If yes, you were lucky.
Nov 06, 2000 (7:38 pm)
it seems to be okay - but it didn't sound a little different today when idling (it happened Friday) Nothing bad, just a wee tiny tad bit more "noisy" altho I hesitate to use the word noisey. It just sounded different. I thought it was the cold weather.
What should I be looking/listening for?
#9 of 2882 Embarrassment ...
by greycap
Nov 06, 2000 (10:46 pm)
... has been conquered by impatience. I'll admit it: I have tried and failed to change my clock back from daylight savings time.
According to the manual, I just press and hold the "CLK" button until a message appears indicating time set mode (I forget the exact wording), then press "SEEK" while continuing to press "CLK". These simple instructions haven't worked for me; here's what actually happens:
Scenario 1: Radio/CD Off
I press and hold CLK. And hold. And hold for 30 + seconds. The display doesn't change. I press SEEK anyway. Nothing happens.
Scenario 2: CD On
I press and hold CLK. No mode message appears, but the hour starts to flash. While continuing to hold CLK, I press SEEK. The CD skips a track, but the hour stops flashing and nothing else changes.
Can anyone tell from the above what I'm doing wrong?
Nov 06, 2000 (11:04 pm)
1. Turn on the RADIO
2. Press CLOCK and hold
3. Turn volume knob to change time