On our annual winter pilgrimage to the Orkney Islands we have to negotiate the Berriedale Braes on the A9 trunk road. It's a steep downhill followed immediately with a steep uphill. It's serious enough a hazard to include emergency escape sand traps for heavy good vehicles with failing brakes.
It was immediately after negotiating the 'Braes that we noticed a repeating chirping noise that increases in frequency as road speed increased. The chirping continued for a few miles after the 'Braes and then went away.
The noise came back again a week later, again after going through the 'Braes. Again going away after a few miles.
Since the car was due a service I decided to bring it up with the workshop when it was in the Garage. It was when I was talking to the foreman that I realised that the front brake pads and discs are the originals. That means that they have served an incredible 81000 miles!
Is this long brake life characteristic of I-shift? I know that the gearbox is good at downshifting during extended braking. So perhaps its attentiveness to road speed and car incline/decline means that its consistent downshifts help take load off of the braking system?
I just wanted to say what an informative, well thought out and accurate account of what driving an shift is about.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that before buying, an extensive test drive should be carried out over a range of driving conditions both on the open road and in traffic.
I have come from driving a manual 200 BHP Diesel engined car to give some context.
I picked up my 2009 car in yesterday's snow and was amazed how fit for purpose it was. The fact that it changed up so early was a positive boon to negotiating very slippery and steep inclines without drama.
I can understand why drivers of automatics struggle with the ishift as it behaves more like a manual and the shifting feels similar. Mine doesn't do the sea-saw changing experienced by some and even reversing up a steep snow covered slope was without fuss.
It is quite slow to accelerate in automatic mode and the change up between first and second is quite long (you can physically count the time when the engine is cold), but in manual mode the changing is much quicker, the engine is free revving and with the legendary Honda VTEC system is a reasonable if quite loud performer.
I had driven a 2009 Fiesta 1.4 before settling on the ishift as I found the fiesta had very poor performance, an unrefined engine and was quite vulgar in its overly complicated dash with buttons and switches all over the place.
My car has only covered 11,000 miles and looks and drives like new but I am glad I made the change as it does exactly what I need it to do; mainly short journeys of 5 - 10 miles in relative comfort. My kids are not convinced by its looks, so don't expect any street cred :-) lol.
The ishift is not for everyone, but coming from a much higher powered manual car I have not found it to be a huge problem to adapt my driving style to suit its foibles.
If coming from a proper automatic, adapting to it will certainly take some time.
Thanks for your comment and welcome to Ishift.
DeleteYou've obviously thought through your purchase and read up on the car from various sources and then taken a test drive to confirm whether it suits your personal driving style.
From this research, you'll know the weaknesses (too early up shift exiting roundabouts, excessive downshifting to too low a gear on hard braking, power losing up-shift on gentle acceleration leaving 30 mph zones, 1st and 2nd gear ratios lower than desirable, late downshifting on hills, cold engine high revving gear changes) and the strengths (always seeking out the highest gear possible ensuring the best MPG).
Ishift is an Ok system with a certain operational sweet spot. I used to think that it adapted to you as you drove it but it doesn't. However unlike reports to the contrary it is very predictable in its reaction to driving events: I've learnt to accept if I do anything outside of its model of driver behaviour it'll make a mistake. I therefore have learnt to step in quickly with a corrective change up or down manual intervention.
My advice to new ishift drivers is that under any overtaking , drive manually and return to automatic afterward. The kickdown mechanism is too subject to error to make for predictable overtaking.
Also using the paddles, a quick double operation ether up or down will result in a single change but up or down two gears. Ie 6 -> 4, 3 -> 5. I find this gives me the sure acceleration I need to pass and a quick return to the higher cruising gears.
Enjoy your time with the I shift but do remember you'll need to help it out at times. Smooth but gentle acceleration and braking gives the ultimately rewarding Ishift experience, however other drivers will not appreciate this. Therefore, sadly, you'll have to take to manually shifting in traffic but when things are less frantic about you then Ishift is a real pleasure and rewards with good MPG and, as I have recently discovered, good mechanical longevity.
Dunk
Thanks for your well informed and very practical advice on how ishift should be driven as this definitely enabled me to lower my expectations of the system before I drove it and make a much more reasoned judgement on whether it would be suitable for me.
DeleteAs an aside, my wife believes that I drive the Jazz much better than the former beast I had because I have to make much greater allowance for its relative lack of power and look much further ahead to anticipate what is likely to happen atvjunctiobs and roundabouts . Before, I would rely on the power of my car to get me out of trouble as many drivers appear to do these days.
As for holding up traffic, my former car had cruise control which I would always set at 30 in the appropriate limit and would always have someone sat right up the back of me. I won't be changing this aspect of my driving for the Jazz just because someone else is impatient. However, I will definitely use manual changes in traffic as you suggest as I don't want to impede traffic movement on higher speed roads.
Thank you once again for your informed and practical advice on driving ishift as without doubt it is the most balanced and accurate reflection on both its positive and negative points.
Thanks again for the compliments.
DeleteSince you find advice helpful here are another two tips:
Unlike many torque convertor based automatics, the Ishift can be left in gear when stopped at traffic lights, hills, etc, without the usual forward creep mechanism fighting against the brakes. To do this simply apply the handbrake when stopped and optionally release the foot brake. Doing this tells Ishift to engage the clutch and therefore disconnecting engine from gearbox. The added benefit is you simply disengage the handbrake to move off without need, if you've moved the selector to neutral, of selecting a gear and then having to touch the foot brake to confirm initial selection of a driving gear. From a driving perspective this approach stops confusing or irritating the cars following you by the lighting up of the brake lights just when they're expecting you to move off.
Second tip given the icy weather. When in automatic mode, Ishift likes to provide engine braking to assist slowing down. It does this, when engine speed allows, by changing down whenever the controller senses increasing road speed but decreasing throttle pressure, or when the yaw/pitch senor detects a reasonable downward slope. This is fantastic until the road surface is icy. To prevent an unexpected down change from spoiling good traction, I always switch to manual and choose the highest gears possible on downward icy slopes. This approach allows speed control using all four wheels and the foot brake alone and gives a more driver focused control of road speed.
Sticking with winter, you'll already be aware of the ability to move off in second rather than first by manually switching to second before moving off. For those not in the know, in this scenario Ishift will slip the clutch for you allowing you to move off more gently even when the engine is high revving at cold start. You do have to remember to shift up manually, or switch to automatic mode after you've got going. It is a useful feature though.
Safe driving to you! Dunk.