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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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Ford Focus 2,0 TDCi Si Powershift 5 door

Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday June 17th 2009

Almost like magic

OMG what a mouthful, but for the unitiated, TDCi means turbocharged, diesel commonrail injection, Si refers to trim level, 5 door means it’s a hatchback and Powershift is Ford’s tradename for a pretty sexy twin-clutch semi-auto transmission it developed in equal partnership with Getrag.

Before you think twin-clutch is something new, cast your mind back to sequential manual gearboxes (SMG) used on certain Audi rally cars and Porsche racers since 1985 and more recently in various VW and Seat products.

It actually began in 1939 when Adolphe Kégresse, inventor of the military half-track vehicle, devised a semi-auto transmission for use in Citroëns of the time. Unfortunately, a lack of funding forced him to abandon the idea.

Just to rub it in some more, the clutches in question are wetplate units owing their technology to ancient motorbikes. Sorry, folk, but “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Basically, the system uses concentric input shafts with first, third and fifth gears on one and second, fourth and sixth on the other. The computer guesses which gear you are going to want next and preselects it. Spring force, together with a relaxation in hydraulic pressure, pushes the wet plates apart to disengage the clutch and resumption of hydraulics pushes them together again to engage. You can also shift manually if you really want to.

What this means to thee and me is that gear changes happen in milliseconds, with no interruption of power flow and the system uses about ten percent less fuel than a conventional automatic ‘box.

Ford claims a combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 5,8 l/100 km, but in real life motoring over 325 km of mixed city, freeway and just plain fun driving, this scribe averaged 7,5 l/100 km according to the car’s onboard computer. Definitely not shabby at all – wish my 1300 cc econobox could match it under the same conditions.

The fun element is courtesy of the deliciously torquey 2,0 litre diesel and the almost intuitive gearbox. With foot firmly planted, upshifts are smooth but still felt, almost like doing it manually, but much more quickly than most of us could hope to.

Downshifts, preceded by a touch of brake or relaxation of throttle, happen the split second you get back on the pedal – no kickdown fanfare or jerkiness. Ford calls it Reverse Switching.  I call it “almost like magic.”

The Focus already has a good reputation for solid and competent handling with excellent steering feel and feedback, so I won’t bore you with repetition.

The only thing I would like to add to this car is Recaro chairs from the Focus ST, because the family saloon-oriented kit that’s fitted, lets the side down a bit. While I’m busy customising in my mind, I’d delete the hard silver plastic on the dash. On the other hand, we need to remember that some people like that kind of thing, so “mustn’t force one’s own preferences, must one?”

The car itself is billed as a mid-sized saloon or hatchback depending on the version you choose. It’s fitted with the usual safety kit including six airbags, indicators that flash to warn following traffic if you exceed a certain G-force while braking, ABS, EBD and ESP, plus single zone air conditioning and remote central locking.

It also has a six-speaker stereo system that accepts your iPod, albeit with simultaneous use of the standard USB connector and an inexpensive aftermarket minijack cable.

Boot space is decent at 510 dm3, as is rear seat legroom. Fit and finish is up to expected standards for this price while noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) levels have been improved.

I could definitely live with one.

The numbers:
Price: R269 750
Engine: Four cylinder 1 998 cc DOHC 16V turbocharged diesel
Power: 100 kW at 4 000 rpm
Torque: 320 Nm at 2 000 rpm (340 Nm on overboost)
Max speed: 200 km/h (claimed)
Zero to 100 km/h:  9,6 seconds (claimed)
Fuel consumption, combined cycle: 5,8 l/100 km (claimed)
Tank: 55 litres
Warranty: 4 years/120 000 km
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km

What We Do
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

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