Ford Falcon BA XR6 Mark 11 Road Test

[Clivey]

For the guys here who havn't meet Clivey before, his father used to own TWO FordS and sounds like they were both a bit of a lemon as well as plenty of others we've driven - so no car that has anything to do with the Blue Oval can possibly be any good or ever pretend to perform well.

Actually you'll be pleased to know that I don't think all Fords are pants. I'm warming to the Falcon (although it makes no sense in the UK) and we have owned a Ford in the past that was MUCH better than any of the newer ones...a Cortina 1.6L. Better in almost every way than the Sierras and Mondeos that followed. I love '60's Mustangs (except the ones with deformed noses) and the Puma...don't make the mistake of accusing me of being such a simpleton.

[motorsportnerd]

I was mainly comparing our mondeo to our 1999 Vauxhall Vectra GLS, which was rock solid even after 125,000 miles...with only a squeaky driver's seat. The Mondeos were all absolute crap in comparison, and to Cyco: it wasn't just the one Mondeo that was a lemon: Both Mk2s were pieces of crap and so was our old Sierra...I'll explain my views on Fords later...

I'll get to some of your questions in a minute. But quickly, your experiences with the Mondeo are the opposite of mine, and go to show that no two cars are exactly the same. A quick check of sites such as carsurvey.org shows that Mondeo owners range from unhappy to very happy. I've heard of dramas with some and others with have done 100s of thousands of miles with no fuss. Ford's manufacturing techniques may be in question here more than the car itself. As for the rest of the car, unless badly wheel aligned, the Mk2 Mondeos handle just fine - try a Toyota Camry if you don't believe me. Main problem I have with the Mondeo is its gutless.
As for your Vectra - glad you're getting a good run, but I've heard absolute horror stories about them. At one stage in Australia there was a website set up be a disgruntled owner of a Holden Vectra (same car) highlighting how bad his car was. Carsurvey correspondents tend to be an unhappy lot as well. But the Vectra has hoardes of fans, so I'm sure there's plenty of happy customers out there.

[motorsportnerd]

I
Let's see your fuel economy figures. The "gutless" smaller engined cars start to make more sense when you have to pay out fuel costs...it's then you realise you don't actually "need" a huge engine, in the same way you don't "need" expensive clothing if it's going to break the bank.

MSN isn't exactly the law on cars so excuse me if I haven't read their reviews. I am simply just trying to gain information, and from that, yes the performance does seem impressive...but at what cost? I'm sure if that was the best way to make a car, hordes of other manufacturers would be doing the same thing now, as it is, Euro and Japanese manufacturers have built cars that are designed for their respective markets, just as Ford Australia and Holden have done.

1. Fuel consumption figures from my having driven some 2,500 km in Falcon BAs - averaged 10.5L/100km (22.4mpg) combination city/open road. So I agree, not great compared to smaller cars. I've seen figures as low as 9.0L/100km (26mpg) when driven gently.
Interestingly the Mazda6 I drove averaged only 8.0L/100km (29.4mpg), so despite the lower weight and smaller engine isn't much better.
2. I don't claim to be an authority, but I have had the chance to drive a fair few cars and can only report my own impressions. In the case of the Falcon, they seem to match the Aussie motoring journos.

[nota]

1. I'm betting your fuel prices are nowhere near as crushing as ours (ours can quite often be in the range of $2.20 AUS a litre!) Therefore anything with over a 2.0 litre engine isn't considered essential for family motoring. Therefore you can afford to drive cars with bigger engines.

2. Australian cars (Ford and Holden at least) are incredibly cheap to buy...from doing a straighforward currency conversion, you guys get your 4.0 Falcons for the same price we get 2.0 Mondeos.

In general appraisal it seems our petrol prices are approx half those in the UK, our cars are cheaper (as is beer, food etc) while sunshine tans & bikini perving is free

I've been gobsmacked for decades by the absurdly high prices charged in Britain for regular 'lower echelon' cars, eg Ford Vauxhall etc, despite their much greater production numbers (I guess). For example the last time I checked, the much smaller, much slower V6 Mondeo was actually more expensive (relatively) than Falcon XR6 Turbo - why is that?

3. Australia is a massive country, you could drive on a motorway no doubt for '00s of miles, which is when a big engine with an auto box comes into it's own.

Thankfully manual transmission is still the base-choice for Falcon, fyi

I would love for someone to tell me what I'm apparently biased against...personally I love the idea of a RWD 4.0 saloon car for that price but based on everything I've seen anywhere else, for a price like that you have to have a trade off, that's why I assumed handling was going to be one of them. If you said to someone outside of America or Australia "I'll give you a large 4.0 RWD saloon car for under £17k" they'd probably reply "What's the catch?" That's because previously in history we've become accustomed to cars like the Ford Crown Victoria from the USA. Cheap? Yes but a barge? Yes.

AFAIK Crown Vic V8s are much larger externally yet smaller internally with 'primitive' underpinnings and less performance than our completely unrelated local 6cyl Fords

Btw several respected motoring journos have remarked that base XT Falcon has a superior ride/handling compromise over Mercedes 6cyl E-Class (AU$96K)

My bad, I was taking a quick look at the Falcon on the Ford Australia website and got the engine sized mixed up. What sort of fuel economy do they manage?

With 6speed auto, XR6 atmo is Govt-rated at 10.2 km/L (mixed driving)

According to the trip computer a friend's Falcon 5.4 24-valve V8 (3 y/o SOHC with 4speed auto) averages 20-22mpg in gentle city drving. She often tows a double horse float @ approx 15mpg. A factory-LPG 'E Gas' Falcon may return the cost-equivalent of 40mpg, more or less (dependant on local LPG prices)

We expect around 32 mpg (combined) from our family cars, anything else is very expensive to run in the UK. That's why Lexus (according to Whatcar? magazine) wont sell the 3.0 litre version of the new IS200 here, it wont sell because people can't afford to run it. They were better off focussing on the diesel version for this market.

For comparison, lethargic IS200 is oft criticised here for lack of mumbo, buyers prefer IS300 and desire the (unavailable) V8

Let's see your fuel economy figures. The "gutless" smaller engined cars start to make more sense when you have to pay out fuel costs...it's then you realise you don't actually "need" a huge engine, in the same way you don't "need" expensive clothing if it's going to break the bank.

How long is a piece of string? "Need" is relative (in your connotation) so why don't you yourself choose to own a 660cc Smart car, or Reliant Robin? Or a Rolls Cunardly?

As Charged alludes to, our cars need to be versatile and towing is often a big factor in buyer considerations. One size fits all, in other words. How would Falcon 6cyl's rated towing capacity of 2300kg compare to euro sedans including BMW etc?

If you drive pretty much any car over 180km/h you can guarantee you're not going to be particulatly concerned about fuel economy...the reason for the whole fuel thing was made clear above. I was just wondering why the car was limited.

Your criticism of global warming AND top speed within one sentence obliged my response in kind

If only it were as simple as that. Yes the Ford out-grunts the BMW...but how much more fuel is it using in doing so? Would it out-grunt a 4.0 BMW engine? Or even the 3.5 litre diesel? You have to realise there's more to cars than displacement and torque, although it is very nice to have.

Comparisons between engines of similar capacity are indeed an entertaining exercise as far as an psuedo-intellectual wank goes. You have to realise that cars are consumer products and thus, in the real world, a buyer's purchase selection is based on price and constrained by price (ie fair judgement) not some grandiose purism. In other words, value for money and product performance remain the arbiters of most purchases

Compared to BMW 540i, a Fairmont Ghia V8 might in subjective terms offer 110% of the space, 100% of power, the same ZF transmission and perhaps 70% of the features (<my guestimation) yet the Ford is a mere >40%< of the price

It's like me saying "The Falcon's crap because it's 4.0 litre 6 isn't as fast or as powerful as BMW's 3.0 or TVR's 4.0 litre 6"...there's a lot more to consider than just that (the type of car and cost for a start).

Indeed

That a AU$30k Falcon 'fleet special' offers comparable road-handling and is 0.8 seconds quicker during 80-120km/h overtakes than AU$94k BMW 330Ci is not hypothetical - nor is the $60k difference

[SlickHolden]

I admit that I've not really looked at Australian cars in detail because they just arent relevant for me; in the same way that i's not really relevant for you to compare a UK-spec Vauxhall Vectra with a VW Passat when you live in Australia. So yes, I don't know much about the car(s) and that's why I'm questioning them.

I don't "need" to believe in anything...it's not as if there's a case of national or continental pride at stake. I realise that in your country there is a market for that sort of vehicle for a reason:

1. I'm betting your fuel prices are nowhere near as crushing as ours (ours can quite often be in the range of $2.20 AUS a litre!) Therefore anything with over a 2.0 litre engine isn't considered essential for family motoring. Therefore you can afford to drive cars with bigger engines.

2. Australian cars (Ford and Holden at least) are incredibly cheap to buy...from doing a straighforward currency conversion, you guys get your 4.0 Falcons for the same price we get 2.0 Mondeos.

3. Australia is a massive country, you could drive on a motorway no doubt for '00s of miles, which is when a big engine with an auto box comes into it's own.
).

1: See you answered that one yourself, Big 6's in this country are the norm, Fuel prices might be high right now but they are far from to high to drive.

2:.. We have the reputation around the world for making large RWD cars with big engines and quality for a great price.

3:. No really true my sisters little 1.6lt can do around 6L per 100 in the highways, But on a hot day stick the A/C on and it blows out plus performance is tested strained. My brother just drove to Queensland with his family a full car of 5, By the way he owns a 2003 Ford BA Fairmont 4lt auto, Hes fuel economy going up and back was great, He got about 750km to a full tank. Which including plenty of driving around the up there. This was with heat up to 40deg.

We have big six's here thats because we dont only have maybe a large family but we might decide to tow a trailer or caravan etc.
For a example if the Holden and Ford come with 2lt engines, even smaller in size and weight then what would happen when you wanted to tow or take 5 adults in your car? No 5 adults and no towing things like caravans things that are heavy etc. So then you might need a Ute, Then you say to yourself if only they had a nice large car that could do it all without buying 2 cars.. Falcon & Commodore can do it all.

[fpv_gtho]

With those speed limiters...

Maybe its a NZ thing that the XR6 was limited at 180km/h as here only the utes, wagons and Territory are that slow. The sedans with the 2 piece tailshaft are limited at 200km/h for XT and Futura, 210 for Fairmont and Fairmont Ghia, 230km/h for the XR's and performance utes and 250km/h for the FPV sedans.

[SlickHolden]

I would like to find someone other then wheels motor mag etc that can get the space to get the cars up to them speeds.
My brother snuck in a 210kp/h but it was tight and he backed off fast.

[clutch-monkey]

I was mainly comparing our mondeo to our 1999 Vauxhall Vectra GLS, which was rock solid even after 125,000 miles...with only a squeaky driver's seat. The Mondeos were all absolute crap in comparison, and to Cyco: it wasn't just the one Mondeo that was a lemon: Both Mk2s were pieces of crap and so was our old Sierra...I'll explain my views on Fords later...

lol i've only had experience with one mondeo - the model in your picture - and that was after it had been used in a mine for 4 years i won't list all the stuff i had to clean/replace etc to turn it into something driveable

[SlickHolden]

lol i've only had experience with one mondeo - the model in your picture - and that was after it had been used in a mine for 4 years i won't list all the stuff i had to clean/replace etc to turn it into something driveable

Any cats or foreign human objects in there?

[fpv_gtho]

I would like to find someone other then wheels motor mag etc that can get the space to get the cars up to them speeds.
My brother snuck in a 210kp/h but it was tight and he backed off fast.

Ford can limit the torque through first gear to protect the gearboxes, any bet they can do the same for the final gear to inhibit speeding

[clutch-monkey]

Any cats or foreign human objects in there?

i washed a ton of coal dust out of the seats should've seen the air filter...

[SlickHolden]

Ford can limit the torque through first gear to protect the gearboxes, any bet they can do the same for the final gear to inhibit speeding

Yep thats what he said to. And after the serves they also reset many things they are speed buggers.
The bloke i spoke to about it was brutally honest at what Ford has done to limit many things, He said anything that works off the ECU is open for adjusting, Which is good for them they can get extra from it, That was herrod i spoke to.
I made out i was my brother and he had a big list for improvements.
This vortex thing on the throttle body.
Torque converter,
They can even adjust our fav thing, the drive by wire My brother loved that.
Flash tunner which they can program anything including the Auto shifts.
Wasn't cheap but on the performance side it might be worth it.
Faster take offs.
About 15kw @ the wheels more.
And better fuel economy then the factory ECU allows. And toss away the limiter.

[SlickHolden]

i washed a ton of coal dust out of the seats should've seen the air filter...

Like it was buried under coal for 10 years?.
I thought i had it bad with work sites with my car but it didn't go under ground.

[clutch-monkey]

Like it was buried under coal for 10 years?.
I thought i had it bad with work sites with my car but it didn't go under ground.

it seriously looked like coal had been dumped all over it and inside it, the rear windscreen was pitted too

[SlickHolden]

How did you clean that?