UPDATE : The car is sold at a compelling price point of Rs. 9,13,900 (ex-showroom), making it an amazingly value-for-money product and a supremely affordable lifestyle upgrade.
Democratisation of technology is a topic very close to every heart that beats around the blue oval. Simply put, in line with its brand promise of ‘Go Further’, Ford has focused its efforts on bringing technology available in higher segments of vehicles to the masses. And how they go about achieving this – by equipping their latest ONE Ford products like the all-new Fiesta with the latest in auto technology, be it with respect to connected systems or powertrains – is what makes their products such great purchase propositions. The Fiesta Powershift AT, which Ford launched in March this year, is yet another example of Ford’s success with democratizing of technology.
The Fiesta Powershift AT, as the name suggests, is an automatic transmission version of the award winning Fiesta. However where it truly differs from its competitors is in the transmission technology that the car packs in – a dual clutch transmission.
A dual clutch transmission has two clutch systems. In the case of the Fiesta , clutch 1 takes care of 1st , 3rd and 5th gear while the second clutch takes care of 2nd , 4th and 6th gears. Also, two different final drives are employed in the same transmission. Lastly, with more gears (6 in this case), there can be a proper and better spread of the 81PS of peak power and 140Nm of maximum torque between the ratios. This means that you have less chances of being in the low band of the engine at any given time.
Additionally, there are first in class features like Hill Start Assist where the system retains pressure on the brake pedal for 2.5 seconds after you have removed your foot off the pedal. This ensures that when moving off from a standstill on an incline the car does not roll back in the time it takes for you to move your foot from the brake to the accelerator.
The system also has a convenient Creep function, which allows the vehicle speed to be controlled via the brake pedal when crawling through stop-and-go traffic or in crowded parking lots. Additionally, the Powershift transmission also features the Ford Grade Hill Assist technology wherein the transmission system engages lower gears when climbing down a hill to reduce brake usage.
The result of all this is an impressive drive experience, which is a hallmark of Ford products. The Powershift is also an intelligent gearbox that changes gears seamlessly in accordance with the inputs that it gets from the driver via the accelerator. For instance, if you use the accelerator gently then the system shifts up to higher gears in the interest of improved fuel economy. Indeed, thanks to using 6 gears, the Fiesta Powershift boasts a best in class fuel efficiency figure of 16.97kmpl as per ARAI test data, which is better than a few other cars featuring manual transmissions. While such low fuel consumption means you will be smiling on a day to day basis with the money to spare there is the additional benefit of the Powershift transmission being a completely maintenance free unit for life. The completely sealed unit requires absolutely no maintenance for 10 years or 2,40,000km!
The Powershift is available in two trims – a base variant called Style and a top-of-the-line variant called Titanium – with the 1.5-litre TiVCT petrol engine. The engine in question has a peak power output of 81PS and 140Nm of maximum torque.