What was the goal?
The goal of this modification was to improve the feel of changing gears. As you can probably tell, a city car from 2005 was not designed to have a boy racer smashing through the gears like prime Senna. The stock gear change has long travel between the gears and kind of makes you wonder how far you have to move the gear stick before you are actually in gear. It doesn’t provide much tactile feedback to the driver so it is not the most confidence inspiring when you are having a spirited drive.
The gear change is one of the things that connects the driver to the car. It can completely change the feel of the driving experience, hence my desire to improve the feel. This car is not my daily driver, so when I drive it I am doing so for a reason - to have fun!
Installing the part
I chose to go for the R-Spec quick shifter/short shifter which you can find here: Ford Fiesta MK6 ST Zetec + Petrol Models Quick Shift / Short Shifter
You may be looking at the part and thinking: “that doesn’t look like it would make a difference” - but I am here to tell you it does! I thought the same thing when I first was looking at short shifters online. Usually you see entire gear sticks with cool metal parts and designs, so when I came across this tiny bit of aluminium I was sceptical.
On top of being sceptical about the part, I was also sceptical about the install because it looked so simple… All that was needed that wasn’t included in the kit was some blue loctite.
The install requires you to go under the front of the car and pop off the cover where the gear linkage cable connects to the gearbox. Then all you have to do is pop off the cable, install the short shifter, and then connect the cable to the short shifter. It is really that simple!
The location was really easy to get to on the car and I managed to do it just by using car ramps, so no jacking up the car needed. I did struggle a little bit getting the retaining clips on at first, but a few gentle taps with the screwdriver managed to get everything seated properly and secured.
Here is the full install tutorial that I used: Ford Fiesta MK6 (XR4/ST150) Short Shifter Install
Does it make a difference?
Yes - this is by far my favourite mod to this car that I have done so far. It has made such a difference. The gear changes feel more responsive and give great tactile feedback when the gear is selected properly. For comparison, my mum drives a 2016 VW Polo 1.2L TSI BlueMotion; I always thought that the gearbox and shifting in that car was great - but now when I get out of the Fiesta and get into that, it feels like I am stirring a bowl of soup!
For the money (I paid £35 for this part) it is the best bang for your buck mod you can do to one of these cars (that I know of).