15 hours ago, bigjohn said:

 

The six speed box on my tsi Superb is smooth and precise to/from any gear cold or hot although I've only owned from 14k miles (now over 70k miles) not from new.

 

 

I've driven using really good Ford manual gearboxes (Ford Cortinas, Escort MKI & MKI & Mondeo) but I've also driven some horrible ones. The one in my Escort MKIII was very notchy in the lower gears and as for the self destructing 5 speed box in a Sierra (circa 80k miles).

 

The manual gearbox in a modern Ford Ka is actually the same one as a Fiat Panda and is prone to issues.

 

 

 

 

The last version of Ford Ka(k) is a Fiat Panda/500 in all but a slight restyle.  

 

Had a few company Sierras with 5 speed and covered 100+ miles in them without any problems whatsoever, lovely slick gearboxes. Same with mk3 escorts Orions. Had a number, good boxes without issues. At the time the transverse competition apart from Vauxhall were mostly poor to almost unusable. Had a Renault 18 that you couldn’t get into gear half the time. Same with a Yugo my parents bought, that was just total **** like the Skodas and Ladas of the time. 

17 hours ago, Sliceman said:

Well gonna mention it when it goes to dealers. 5 days old and the stop start system has well, er, stopped. Googled it and apparently possible software issue but surprised considering its so bloody new. I do hope i have not got myself a Friday afternoon lemon !

They do suffer electrical gremlins. My seat memory only stores if you do it very slowly and press the buttons for at least a second. And the one shot windows are very intermittent. Reported to dealer at first service. Got the reply,  works sometimes so not really a problem!    

9 hours ago, teescom09 said:

The last version of Ford Ka(k) is a Fiat Panda/500 in all but a slight restyle.  

 

Had a few company Sierras with 5 speed and covered 100+ miles in them without any problems whatsoever, lovely slick gearboxes. Same with mk3 escorts Orions. Had a number, good boxes without issues. At the time the transverse competition apart from Vauxhall were mostly poor to almost unusable. Had a Renault 18 that you couldn’t get into gear half the time. Same with a Yugo my parents bought, that was just total **** like the Skodas and Ladas of the time. 

 

I had two mk3 escort pass me down company cars both 1.3. One was an A reg (84?) and the other a C reg(86?). The earlier one was not great - very notchy gearbox, noisy , very thirsty (lucky to get 30mpg on a run) and the rust was something else (front of bonnet kind of vanished just in a few years). The later one was much better much more refined and more economical and fairly comfortable (the seats were very different) . 

 

The Sierra comment was re a work colleagues although his was an very early model. The previous 4 speed in the Cortina was OK as most of the time cars were in top gear which was really the input shaft directly coupled to the output. The 5 speed always used the layshaft 100% of the time and bearings etc were not up to the job - to start with!

The later ones were much much better especially when Ford learnt from the Cosworth. Many components were changed on ALL models of the Sierra including the gearbox, conrods, pistons, camshaft and lubrication, oil pump etc...

 

Saying that the worst of the worst was a company 1.3 Maestro  - truly awful.  Later got a new 1.3 F reg Astra (89?) and loved that one - Was amazingly nippy, quiet, economical and can't remember any issues with the gearbox (Time dulls memory though!).

 

My favourite company car was a Saab 9000cs - Comfortable refined flying machine with truly amazing seats and suspension with slick manual gearbox. True mile muncher.

 

Since 92 I've funded my own.

 

One lesson learnt for me was don't get an early model of any car - later versions much better. One reason I bought a Superb II near the end of it's model life - best version, bugs ironed out and much cheaper!

 

 

Edited 28 March, 20197 yr by bigjohn

11 hours ago, bigjohn said:

 

I had two mk3 escort pass me down company cars both 1.3. One was an A reg (84?) and the other a C reg(86?). The earlier one was not great - very notchy gearbox, noisy , very thirsty (lucky to get 30mpg on a run) and the rust was something else (front of bonnet kind of vanished just in a few years). The later one was much better much more refined and more economical and fairly comfortable (the seats were very different) . 

 

The Sierra comment was re a work colleagues although his was an very early model. The previous 4 speed in the Cortina was OK as most of the time cars were in top gear which was really the input shaft directly coupled to the output. The 5 speed always used the layshaft 100% of the time and bearings etc were not up to the job - to start with!

The later ones were much much better especially when Ford learnt from the Cosworth. Many components were changed on ALL models of the Sierra including the gearbox, conrods, pistons, camshaft and lubrication, oil pump etc...

 

Saying that the worst of the worst was a company 1.3 Maestro  - truly awful.  Later got a new 1.3 F reg Astra (89?) and loved that one - Was amazingly nippy, quiet, economical and can't remember any issues with the gearbox (Time dulls memory though!).

 

My favourite company car was a Saab 9000cs - Comfortable refined flying machine with truly amazing seats and suspension with slick manual gearbox. True mile muncher.

 

Since 92 I've funded my own.

 

One lesson learnt for me was don't get an early model of any car - later versions much better. One reason I bought a Superb II near the end of it's model life - best version, bugs ironed out and much cheaper!

 

 

Had a 2.0 Montego and it was an excellent car with probably one of the best/strongest of the time “O” series engines, gearbox good and did 100k in that without any significant problems, first car I did anywhere near that mileage.  Fords were arguably the best around like for like, sales don’t lie. I repaired and serviced many Cortina’s, Capri’s and Sierras along with many  others, lot of cams which was an easy job, the pinto engine never changed, weak cams (mainly lubrication problem)  from day 1 to end of line, otherwise bomb proof, the reason Cosworth used them. Never ever had a problem with the gearboxes, and they were second to none to use.    I know there was an issue with the very first 5speeds but that was rapidly sorted and wasn’t that common, I never came across one.  

 

You have put it into perspective. What was the competition like? Put simply, generally not as good.  Skoda you bought if you were just wanting a new car as cheap as possible and hid away out of embarrassment regretting it trying to work out how to explain your purchase and more importantly how to get rid of it. A 20 year Renault 10 but not as good as the Renault and it was ****.  Gearboxes...  Fords were/are widely acknowledged as untouchable. The rest including vag bmw etc just weren’t nearly as good. Japs and Vauxhall were close. My Focus ST box is superior to my vRS box today, smoother lighter and  more precise. The vRS/Octy has a typical german box. Ok, just not as slick compared to the best, gearbox refinement just never quite seems a german quality.  

 

Just wanted to add my 2017 1.5TSI has had a lovely gearbox from brand new so perhaps mention it to the dealer.