A few Likes and Gripes that I have with my Sonic.

"LJ909" (lj909) 04/07/2015 at 12:58 • Filed to: None

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So Ive had my Sonic for over a month now (almost two I think) and theres been a few annoyances that have gotten to me so far. I like the car, dont get me wrong, but theres just some things that piss me off and some things that I love:

See that slot? Its a credit card holder. I found this a weird feature at first but for some reason I find it handy and Im always using it, especially in the drive thru. For some reason theres two more card holders in each sun visor.

The ONLY lock/unlock button is on the dash. I find this annoying when I reach to unlock the doors on the door out of habit. (BMW’s have this annoying feature as well.)

The 6 speed auto, while impressive for a car of this class is jerky and hunts for gears, especially on gradients.

The basically 90 degree angle C pillars are a horrible blind spot, which leads to why the car has blind spot mirrors, but those suck because the blind spot mirror is a pretty small circle, to me.

Its so easy to park its crazy. Comes in handy when racing other people in the mall parking lots (I call it suburban autocross).

Lastly, this. Im barley getting over 28 mpg. And when I say barley...well you see that .1. It sucks. In a car with a small 138 hp 4 thats only 2 thousand something pounds, I should be getting better than this. Maybe its a combination of the 6 speed auto and me not having the turbo, but still. Shouldnt have to have that to get at least 30 mpg.

Dont get me wrong, I love my car. But these are just a few things that I like and dislike that I thought Id share with everyone.

Imirrelephant > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 13:07

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suburban autocross

I lol'd!

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 13:07

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For #6, if it's brand new, be patient. It will improve, it just takes a while to break in.

#3 would be better than a Fiesta, FYI. The Fiesta's auto is an utter shitheap.

LJ909 > Imirrelephant 04/07/2015 at 13:10

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It really is. You haven't seen driving until you've seen a mom with her 3 kids whip an Infiniti QX56 into a parking space like its a Mini.

Rico > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 13:10

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The "some reason" is for like parking ticket receipts/cards.

LJ909 > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 04/07/2015 at 13:12

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My dad said the same thing. We will see. Hopefully it improves. Does the Fiesta have a 6 speed auto too?

NoneOfYourBiz > Rico 04/07/2015 at 13:18

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This.

2001-2006 Hyundai Elantras had/have these too.

NoneOfYourBiz > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 13:22

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City versus highway driving will make a huge difference, as will changing your driving habits. Nephew has this car and has clocked 40+mpg highway. The 6-speed is a dual-clutch, is it not? Way more efficient than a conventional "slushbox"... no torque converter losses.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 13:28

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Yeah... it does. Or at least it has a device, purported to have 6 forward speeds, which is sometimes capable of transferring some of the engines efforts to the wheels.

Once you drop below a certain speed, if you don't stop it is very hesitant and jerky when you set off. I guess it's predicting a stop sign, but it gets veryveryoldveryveryquickly in traffic.

Horrible driveline shunt. Even worse than my 4L60e. It is at least predictable. The Fiesta isn't.

Want to exploit a gap in traffic? Cross your fingers and hope the tranny doesn't go nuts. It is likely to kick into neutral, and then snap back in (to the wrong gear) hard enough to remove what is left of the gears.

Also this...

The wheels are pointing straight. As far as I know nothing serious had happened to it; no potholes, curbs, etc.

Jayhawk Jake > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 13:29

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I still get confused by the lock button. It's weird, but it works.

I honestly forget about the blind spot mirror. It's not that it's small, it's that it's not distinct.

I wish I had the card slot

I get 29ish MPG in mine

The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 13:29

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Shoulda waited for the 2nd gen Sonic. I hear it will feature a spin dash and obnoxious sidekick.

Steve in Manhattan > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 13:36

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Try this [PDF].

DasWauto > Rico 04/07/2015 at 13:54

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I've got one in my Golf as well, I use it for gas station rewards cards.

bryan40oop > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 04/07/2015 at 13:54

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"The Fiesta's auto is an utter shitheap."

wrong. It's a DCT, it will never shift like a traditional automatic trans. The sooner americans realize this the better. There is nothing wrong with them, they're just different. Ever wonder why the european market doesn't complain about the ford DPS6? Because they've lived with small engine DCT cars for awhile now, from many different manufacturers. They understand the difference.

LJ909 > NoneOfYourBiz 04/07/2015 at 13:56

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That's the thing, I do a lot of high way driving, having driven over a thousand miles in the last like 2-3 weeks. Maybe its my driving habits. I guess Ill be holding up traffic trying to get that 35-40.

LJ909 > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 04/07/2015 at 13:57

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You make me glad I avoided buying it. I didnt even test drive the Fiesta because it seemed way to small on the inside.

LJ909 > Jayhawk Jake 04/07/2015 at 13:58

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The mirror sucks at night. I just look over my shoulder like I was taught to do. You dont have the card slot?

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > bryan40oop 04/07/2015 at 14:00

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I realize exactly what it is. And it is an utter shitheap.

VW's DCT is good. Ford's sucks. No matter which way you defend it, the fact of the matter is this:

I don't give a rat's ass what the method used in the auto to get the power to the ground is, but when all I ask is that it does it, predictably, correctly and smoothly. See my next comment, and don't give me a line about how these things are normal in a DCT. They aren't.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 14:03

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It is small, but so is the Sonic. The Fiesta does feel a lot more utilitarian, and it's noisier inside as far as I could tell. But if you would get a manual... If I wasn't a Chevy guy I'd have one. The handling (and not even on the ST) is absolutely amazing, and bad changes are your fault :)

LJ909 > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 04/07/2015 at 14:05

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Ive actually been thinking about trading in my Sonic for a Fiesta ST or Focus ST later later this year or early next year.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 14:09

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I wouldn't have the Focus ST personally, but that's just personal bias with no experience talking.

Fiest ST w/ manual (don't think it comes otherwise, anyway)? Yes plz.

and 100 more > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 04/07/2015 at 14:13

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You win the internet.

and 100 more > bryan40oop 04/07/2015 at 14:15

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No, Ford has been having some transmission issues. My buddy had a newer Focus that was great, but started acting strange... turns out the transmissions are starting to go really wonky.

He traded it in for a Chrysler 200. We'll see if he has better luck with that.

NoneOfYourBiz > LJ909 04/07/2015 at 16:14

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*nods*

Keep repeating this: "if you've had to use the brake, it means you used too much gas 60 seconds ago." Think a mile ahead. Look at traffic lights way, way off in the distance and try to time it so you don't have to brake but instead get to them while they're green.

I'm not trying to be preachy but you mentioned efficiency and I'm shooting for same with my driving habits. Oh, and as others have commented, you may have some break-in time yet. Follow manufacturer guidelines for that. (they may want you to avoid certain speed ranges)

Different ballgame with hybrids because of regenerative braking.

NoneOfYourBiz > DasWauto 04/07/2015 at 16:15

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Ha! Hadn't thought of that but it's the perfect size to fit several of them. Good idea.

bryan40oop > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 04/07/2015 at 22:40

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Ok, here we go I suppose

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015…

" Ford's version of the DCT, called Powershift, has been available on the Fiesta, and Focus for a little while now, and has encountered a few snags. Drivers found that the shifting is not as smooth as they expected. Additionally, there was some slowness in the selection of the next gear, especially when trying to accelerate at lower speeds. These issues aren't just present on Ford's DCT. Some drivers call VW's dual clutch solution jerky too, especially in slow speeds. "

Moving on

The Getrag Powershift transmissions for FWD applications 6dct250 - 6dtc450 are used in Fords, Volvos, Renaults, and a chinese manufacturer I cannot recall atm.

So if ford has a shit DCT then so do they? Don't really see many complaining about them do you?

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/07/22/is-…

Even early E90 m3 7 speed DCT's had issues.

Yes VW has a better trans, I will not argue that. But they all have similar "faults" when compared to hydraulic automatics.

The good news? They're getting better. The Getrag units used by Ford were already outdated before they were installed in the 2012 model focus, fiesta, etc. And this was the first mass DCT transmission released in a high volume selling car. It just polarized the differences and ingnorance (i mean ignorance in a non defensive way, lack of knowledge, not stupid.) of the american people

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > bryan40oop 04/08/2015 at 08:55

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The good news? They're getting better. The Getrag units used by Ford were already outdated before they were installed in the 2012 model focus, fiesta, etc.

I can't argue with them geting better. The one in the Fusion (I'm assuming it's a different version of the same transmission) is very nice. And I can believe the second part.

And about the different manufacturers using the same tranny—they are all electronically controlled. Ford, Volvo etc can change parameters within it to suit them, and while mechanical limitations will cause them to have the same basic abnormalities, the way it is tuned can make or break the experience. If you look at my other conversation from my comment, you will see a list of things I could think of at the time. You have explained the lack of low-speed smoothness, but the other points remain (driveline shunt was at any speed). Bear in mind that I am not exagerating. It was kind of a leap in faith to go for a gap. And I did drive it enough that I should have become familiar enough to deal with it.

That said, I will make several concessions:

- Being in a Fiesta, it was probably tuned for economy, which probably didn't suit my driving style.

- I'm not sure the year exactly, but I think it was one of the earlier ones.

- It could well have been a (kind of) lemon. See the picture of the steering wheel in my other comment, achieved without provocation.

bryan40oop > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 04/08/2015 at 13:23

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fusions do not have a dct. They have the 6F series trans that gm also uses oddly enough

bryan40oop > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 04/08/2015 at 13:23

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fusions do not have a dct. They have the 6F series trans that gm also uses oddly enough

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > bryan40oop 04/08/2015 at 13:40

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Thanks.

NoneOfYourBiz > LJ909 05/12/2015 at 07:15

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I suspect this is a cost saving feature, however, there are some upshots:

Kids/stupid passengers can’t unlock their own doors without you knowing. (seriously, I’ve had passengers nearly take my door off in traffic)

Simplifies electrical troubleshooting down the road, reducing maintenance costs. (from a company known for high cost of ownership due to post-purchase problems, this isn’t a bad way to go)

I’m not averse to this one; one less thing to go wrong.