NRC

There's been a few cases on here where members complaining about delayed gear changes etc, would just say these boxes are a completely different operating design to conventional auto boxes, these are really a glorified manual box controlled electrically so you may need to adjust your driving style as I had a similar problem with our trucks which use a similar system. Although I know there little quirks now I still don't like them and for that reason I have a MK3 Titanium 163ps 6 speed manual box. If the dealer is saying it's behaving how it's suppose to get them to take you out and let them show you how to drive it, please don't be offended by that, I'm not saying your a bad driver you may just need to adapt to the new driving style.

I have just returned from the Local Main Ford Dealership in my area after they tried and tested my new (6 weeks and 3500 miles) Ford Galaxy 163ps. The car was with the Garage due to its inability to accelerate satisfactorily when approaching roundabouts, junctions and overtaking. The car pauses for thought for 2 seconds when the accelerator is pressed and then powers forward. This is very disconcerting and does not instill confidence in the cars ability to actually go. It is very stressful to drive a vehicle not knowing if it is going to go quick enough to get out of a junction or roundabout before another vehicle comes. When attempting to park after driving forward and stopping, there is at least a two second delay before any drive is engaged. After you select reverse gear and if you were performing a 3 point turn, there is also a 2 second gap before forward is engaged. If you chose to press the accelerator before the 2 seconds were up you would just rev the engine and the car would not move in the required direction. When going up a hill in forward gear if you were to stop and try to restart it takes the hill start assist 2 seconds to engage and if you haven't driven off within 2 seconds the hill start assist releases and the vehicle rolls back down the hill. The opposite also happens if you are trying to reverse up an incline, for example to avoid parking too close to your neighbor or a wall. The Vehicle does not hold itself on a hill and it takes 2 seconds before it engages gear so even if you accelerate in reverse it still rolls forward. Selecting sport mode or manually shifting into a lower gear does NOT improve the acceleration as it still takes 2 seconds before the engine springs into life. When going from the flat to a steep incline where a lower gear is required the vehicle sits there revving but not moving as it is in the wrong gear (2 Seconds), then it changes to 1st gear and is overpowered going up the hill. The Ford Dealership have advised me that the car is performing as it was designed and there is nothing wrong with it. There are no software updates available and the five hours they had the car with them today has made no difference to its performance. I wonder who designed this car with a 2 second delay before gears and power are engaged? Why would Ford install an automatic gearbox into a car that rolls the opposite way to the selected gear direction on a hill? Why on earth would ford design and then produce a car as useless as this one? Did Ford really design the car this way or did they just get it wrong at the expense of us the Customer?