Ford Focus Powershift transmission - any good?

[JR Hartley]

I’d be grateful for advice/opinions from anyone who has experience of owning or driving a Ford Focus/Fiesta with a Powershift transmission.

I’m tasked with sourcing an automatic Ford Focus for my elderly father after he’s finally decided to part company with his ailing Rover 75. He’s decided to buy a car with an automatic transmission and has set his mind on a Ford Focus.

I’ve read various articles on-line about these transmissions being problematic, either in a mechanical reliability sense or in terms of basic smoothness. I haven’t been in or driven a car with anything other than a torque converter automatic gearbox (most things by ZF are pretty flawless IMHO) so I’m not sure how much weight to attach to the opinion pieces I’ve seen.

Bear in mind that the car will only be pootling along - we’re not talking about split-second shift changes being of paramount importance here! However, I’d like to know how well owners get on with Powershift-equipped cars on a daily basis.

All advice and opinion is welcome!

Many thanks!

[JR Hartley]

Very many thanks for the advice and the accompanying debate. However, after all that, my father changed his mind and went and chose a Focus with a manual transmission!

Another clutch/gearbox for him to torture...