[Iceracer]

As I said earlier, I seldom got to full throttle from a stop.
About half throttle leaves me leaving most other traffic.
Maybe they all are slow.
It seems like the MAF can't handle the rush of air at low rpm and full throttle.
Reminds me of the old days when we put a bigger carburetor on and it would bog a low rpm.

 

[plc268]

I recently had some issues with throttle response as well. I'm fairly aggressive with the throttle most times, and for the first 7k miles or so, the PS transmission knew my driving habits pretty well. If I needed quick throttle, it used it, if I was driving slowly in a parking lot, it behaved properly.

After 7k though, it's been wonky. In parking lots (and I notice this the most after a fill up), a little throttle press, and the computer thinks I want to gun it, so the car lurches forward. Annoying, but it adjusts itself after that.

Also, recently, I had to pull out on a 60 mph posted road with traffic. Needless to say, I needed to put the foot down. Normally I put it in L, but that slipped my mind. But anyway, as I basically floored it, the car felt like it stalled. I had to completely back off the throttle and slowly accelerate.

I like the idea of the PS transmission, but I mean, if I floor it, why would the computer think the appropriate response is to not give me all of the engine's performance?

My next car will definitely be a manual, just need someone to teach me to drive one first (I've only ever driven automatics, sadly).

 

[Iceracer]

As discussed earlier in this thread. Flooring the pedal from idle is not the best way to get moving.
Rolling on the throttle gives the best response.
I have driven manual transmission cars for most of my driving life.
I now have the PS transmission.
I find I have no problem starting in traffic or merging into a busy highway.

Most of my cars in the past have been Escorts, so I am used to driving low powered cars.
Comparing the Fiesta to BMW's and other high powered cars is sort on an oxymoron or something.

 

[BlackBetty302]

Heel and Toe helps too

 

[Johnny Turbo]

I have not driven the PS Fiesta, but the throttle response on the manual cars is really good. I have zero issues with response. Might be the thing that lives between the motor and the axles.

I agree, the throttle response on the 5sp manual is actually not bad at all.

 

[bajrangibha04]

I'm tired of flooring the pedal and waiting a full second to get any sort of invigorating response, haha. free fire for pc jiofi.local.html

 

[1411Fiestasdn]

I think for the ps you need to give the computer a "heads up" as it senses throttle tip in. Then when you press accelerator further, the transmission is "ready", ie. The clutch has engaged and pressure released and computer jas selected proper gear.... I drove a ps once and it was dangerously bad when I didn't know it had a dct. Once.i realized that, i adjusted and was livable imo.
Without tipping in throttle causes the clutches to slip much more and that also is a big part of delay. With conventional automatic, once the engine revs pressure builds in the torque converter which immediately begins to create forward propulsion of vehicle

 

[sundaynightcoffee]

This was really resurected, but something I have been curious about is one of these PEDALMAX DRIVE BY WIRE THROTTLE ENHANCEMENT DEVICE - PLUG AND PLAY - PX1415ST

It tricks the electronics for the throttle to act more like a cable driven setup. Bit of a high price point, but the throttle response would probably be totally worth it, especially for those trying to actually track

 

[BlackBetty302]

This was really resurected, but something I have been curious about is one of these PEDALMAX DRIVE BY WIRE THROTTLE ENHANCEMENT DEVICE - PLUG AND PLAY - PX1415ST

It tricks the electronics for the throttle to act more like a cable driven setup. Bit of a high price point, but the throttle response would probably be totally worth it, especially for those trying to actually track

They finally made a pedalmax for these?! Sweet! Time to save up some cash. Has anybody here used one? Do they actually work?

 

[sundaynightcoffee]

They finally made a pedalmax for these?! Sweet! Time to save up some cash. Has anybody here used one? Do they actually work?

I've heard these work really well for throttle response as used on a class built mustang. They work for performance, but if itll make a huge difference for the little fiestas 🤷‍♂️

 

[Whoo711]

Powershift shifting

Put the unit in "L" and it will run to red line in each shift and down shift upon breaking. You can not get more aggressive driving and acceleration than this. I own both a powershift and a manual too. Want more umph add an intake and a "Borla" exhaust. Gives more bottom end grunt.

What's the fastest speed the car can go on "L", anyhow? 'Cause I read about it in the 2013 Fiesta Owners Manual and various other websites and YT videos about it, and... they claim that you can't really get very "high speeds" on it I've never used or had to use something like L before, so I really have no idea its actual limits.

Like, does the gearshift allow you to, somehow, 'shift back' into D right away after you get up to 30 or 40 or whatever? j/w

Not to mention that I wouldn't wanna risk damaging the engine, transmission or a similar part by getting used to it and then "using it too much"

 

[Whoo711]

agree 100% with going with partial throttle on take off. Gently roll into the throttle instead of just mashing it to the floor.


I have also heard from a lot of VW owners that the throttle lag is really bad, but I have not driven one to comment on it. I had a number of people drive my EU Fiesta, and they were all impressed with the throttle response with the fly-by-wire.

I must be doing something wrong...

I tried doing exactly that on the way home from work- assuming I understand properly what you mean by "roll into the throttle"- but... practically no luck. Starting to think something's wrong with the transmission for real. Like, I've 'switched-up' my usual driving habits- which weren't terribly "aggressive" to begin with, to be honest- numerous times to "adjust" to my Fiesta's laggy/sluggish acceleration on lower speeds, to no avail! >.< Wasn't it supposed to already "learn" from the previous owner and, thusly, NOT have all of this damn acceleration lag/delay?? Shouldn't it be fairly-smooth already when accelerating?

Or, since obtaining the car in October of this year- had close to 16k miles- will my Fiesta's TCM (or a similar part) have to "relearn" to adjust to my driving style over 1,000 miles or so?
sigh

This car is a pain in the f*cking ass, if you ask me. Like, I was iffy about DCT, but then I looked it up, and it sounded fairly-easy to drive, so I thought, "What the hell..." and went with it. But... this may seriously be the first car I shell-out some extra money, in the coming years, to upgrade a little bit, at least in the area of transmission, just to get it to minimally-decent acceleration pattern(s). This car has given me so much headache! May just take it to a local Ford dealer and see if anything is wrong with it... Funny enough, on the Carfax, at 2 different times (within 2 or 3 years), the previous owner had "transmission checked", apparently, but.. nothing was done, apparently (assuming the Carfax is transparent, at least) to fix any issues or potential issues? tf

Funny enough, when I looked up DCTs on Google, there were a bunch of links/videos advising you to "not do these 5 or 6 things" with them, and I was like, "I ALREADY don't do any of those things regardless! Guess this won't be too hard to adjust to after all ." Boy, was I wrong, apparently!
Like... one of the tips has to do with 'launching the car'. I had no f'ing idea what "launching" even is until shortly after reading said article, let alone that "a lot", apparently, of regular motorists on the road "do it often", or something? Or maybe "a lot of manual-trans drivers" do?? Launching never occurred to me, esp. since I don't want to add extra pressure on the engine or trans. than necessary, for starters. And previous cars' automatic transmissions were more than fine for my purposes anyhow...

I think, several years from now after this Fiesta is all paid off, and I have driven a good amount of miles on it, for one, I'm never buying a car with DCT again. At least, not unless I have verification from reviews and the like that the car's DCT is well-built. Ford really "sh*t the bed", from what I can tell/hear, on 2013 (and older) Fiesta's transmission. What a shame... I keep asking myself, while driving, "Why would anyone build a car like this?? This is nuts!"

 

[carbomb]

They finally made a pedalmax for these?! Sweet! Time to save up some cash. Has anybody here used one? Do they actually work?

I just received and installed a JMS Pedalmax, model PX141ST, and installed it on my 2012 Fiesta SE 5-spd. Umm...it works! Entirely different throttle response!

It has a little dial and you can click it OFF or on and go from 10 to 100. I don't know the specific values of whatever it's doing, but it changes things around in a noticeable way. At 100 the throttle is a damn mouse click, lol. If you touch it at all it goes straight to WOT, lol. Entirely undriveable, but amusing. I believe if you don't plugin the knob it defaults to somewhere around 60, which is kinda great. I'm actually finding my personal sweet spot around 35-50 for DD use.

It works well enough that the Fiesta is telling me my MPG has dropped from 29.9 to 21.2 in an hour since installing, lol. It's fun.

Fun fact: The PX141ST is NOT advertised as supporting my 2012 Fiesta SE. On the JMS website it only says 2014 and above, but the connector for Fiestas of those years above the throttle pedal is the same as my 2012 so I decided to give it a shot, and SUCCESS! No adverse effects other than more fun from a more responsive throttle. Cruise Control and everything else works as expected. No error codes and no pending codes either from what my scanner can see.

I previously tried an SCT Burst Throttle Booster model #49000 which comes up on sctflash.com as working for my car and other Fiestas. Well the plug is the wrong type, it's a Ford Mustang accelerator position sensor type, which is smaller, more square. Don't buy that one, buy the JMS one, same price. I called SCT about this and they were very helpful, but ended up saying my 2012 isn't supported after all. I still believe they're using the wrong 6-pin connector for any non-ST Fiesta, but what do I know.

This alone has convinced me to keep the Fiesta a little longer. I bought my Fiesta as a DD in Oct. 2021 while I was taking apart my 1999 Miata and supercharging it. Other cars I've owned include a 1999 Civic Si, a handful of Nissan 240's and a few Fox and SN95 Mustangs. This device has brought the Fiesta's throttle more inline with any of these other, more 'fun' cars. I don't know what Ford was thinking when they programmed the Fiesta's throttle curve on these non-ST models here in the states, but the throttle response stock is MISERABLE. So lethargic and just slow. Actually, we know, stock they're designed for non-enthusiast level civility and good mpg's.

The JMS Pedalmax box works as advertised. Pricey, but it works!

 

[sundaynightcoffee]

I just received and installed a JMS Pedalmax, model PX141ST, and installed it on my 2012 Fiesta SE 5-spd. Umm...it works! Entirely different throttle response!

It has a little dial and you can click it OFF or on and go from 10 to 100. I don't know the specific values of whatever it's doing, but it changes things around in a noticeable way. At 100 the throttle is a damn mouse click, lol. If you touch it at all it goes straight to WOT, lol. Entirely undriveable, but amusing. I believe if you don't plugin the knob it defaults to somewhere around 60, which is kinda great. I'm actually finding my personal sweet spot around 35-50 for DD use.

It works well enough that the Fiesta is telling me my MPG has dropped from 29.9 to 21.2 in an hour since installing, lol. It's fun.

Fun fact: The PX141ST is NOT advertised as supporting my 2012 Fiesta SE. On the JMS website it only says 2014 and above, but the connector for Fiestas of those years above the throttle pedal is the same as my 2012 so I decided to give it a shot, and SUCCESS! No adverse effects other than more fun from a more responsive throttle. Cruise Control and everything else works as expected. No error codes and no pending codes either from what my scanner can see.

I previously tried an SCT Burst Throttle Booster model #49000 which comes up on sctflash.com as working for my car and other Fiestas. Well the plug is the wrong type, it's a Ford Mustang accelerator position sensor type, which is smaller, more square. Don't buy that one, buy the JMS one, same price. I called SCT about this and they were very helpful, but ended up saying my 2012 isn't supported after all. I still believe they're using the wrong 6-pin connector for any non-ST Fiesta, but what do I know.

This alone has convinced me to keep the Fiesta a little longer. I bought my Fiesta as a DD in Oct. 2021 while I was taking apart my 1999 Miata and supercharging it. Other cars I've owned include a 1999 Civic Si, a handful of Nissan 240's and a few Fox and SN95 Mustangs. This device has brought the Fiesta's throttle more inline with any of these other, more 'fun' cars. I don't know what Ford was thinking when they programmed the Fiesta's throttle curve on these non-ST models here in the states, but the throttle response stock is MISERABLE. So lethargic and just slow. Actually, we know, stock they're designed for non-enthusiast level civility and good mpg's.

The JMS Pedalmax box works as advertised. Pricey, but it works!

You seriously rock for this write up! I think its so great that it's impressed you with having other toys like you mentioned. For it to make that much difference in overall feel... well damn, guess I need one now 😏

 

[carbomb]

You seriously rock for this write up! I think its so great that it's impressed you with having other toys like you mentioned. For it to make that much difference in overall feel... well damn, guess I need one now 😏

I'm glad it can help. I can tell I'm late to the party with my Fiesta ownership so I figure anything I can do to bump the forum a bit can't hurt.

I'm going to take it over to a friend's later tonight and get his impression of it. We're both new to 'new' cars with e-throttles. I also want to make sure I'm not just experiencing some confirmation bias to make the $300 spent feel okay, lol.

EDIT: friend's verdict was that it's remarkably not snake oil (we both assumed it would be and I was sure I would return it to Amazon) and makes a very fun difference.