Gear-Changing Advice – Coming soon to a Ford near you

Ford Transit Connect SportVanOne of the easiest ways to improve fuel consumption and reduce wear and tear on your vehicle’s drivetrain is by timing gear changes correctly.

Ford are obviously aware of this and are now taking active steps to help drivers change gear better.

From 2009, all Ford Econetic model cars (Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo) will have a gear change indicator on their instrument consoles. The same indicator will also be fitted to Transit and Transit Connect vans.

The indicator consists of a light that illuminates when it’s time to change up to the next gear. The idea is that many drivers over-rev needlessly and without realising it, causing wear and wasting lots of fuel.

By timing up-changes correctly, significant cost savings can be achieved.

According to Ford, the system “continuously monitors data from the vehicle including engine speed, road speed, gear selected and throttle position to calculate optimum gear changes.”

In other words, it’s not just some dumb light that flashes automatically when engine revs reach a certain level. Sounds good to me – I will certainly look forward to trying one in practice and seeing how well it works.

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