Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Smith
I thought the early Ford 10 speeds were criticised for constantly shifting up and down or were they clunky/jerky in slow and stop start traffic like all "DSG-type boxes"?
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The earliest 10-speed's delivered in Australia were on PX MK II Ranger's with the Bi-Turbo. From what I could tell at the time, you would get the occasional poorly timed shift, which would cause the odd clunky up shift.
The earlier gear skipping calibration also caused some weird up shifts, especially the 1st to 3rd and 3rd to 5th under light throttle driving. Future updates smoothed that out.
On the latest Ranger's, the 10-speed now shift sequentially, even on light throttle acceleration. While this means it shifts more often, each change is smoother. To me, this feels more natural.
On 10-speed Mustang's, Ford engineered a pronounced gearshift thump in Sport+ and Track modes, so firm that it will chirp the rears on upshift. If you are used to syrupy smooth torque converter autos, that firmness would be quite disconcerting.
What I find most annoying about the 10-speed, and it seems to be common to all 10-speeds from an Explorer to an F-150 to a Ranger to a Mustang, is that manual inputs have too much delay and that it will automatically upshift at redline. That delay combined with the auto upshift can sometimes cause an accidental double upshift. On a Ranger or Explorer, that is not going to be an issue for most, on a Mustang it's unacceptable.