Hi all. Well the new Falcon has been on sale since Wednesday, which means we've finally been able to get the opinions of those 'experts' in journalism.

GoAuto.com.au have 3 roadtests online and I thought I'd link to each. Forgive me if nobody's interested, but there's a good chance that what's underneath these cars will be coming to a Mustang near you. Same goes for the 350hp (plus more in some models) V8 engine that will be under the hood next year.

Base model with 245 hp inline 6

Luxury model (Fairmont Ghia) with 300hp V8

Sports model with 323hp turbo inline 6

The 350 hp XR8 won't be on sale until next year. Until then the Turbo XR6 will do nicely, I think!

 

Those are the cars Ford needs to sell here instead of that FWD Passat lookalike called the 500. Those Falcons look great, sound awsome, and would be a massive jump over it's Competition (a turbo FWD Impala!?)

On a different note, one quote in the second article really stands out:

"The Barra 220, incidentally, is the basis from which the 5.4-litre Boss 260kW engine has been developed for the XR8. An even higher performance version, thought to be around 300kW, will go into the soon-to-be-revealed Ford Performance Vehicles range, including a reborn GT."

I noticed the 5.4 is called the "Boss". Yet another article that hints at the next special edition Mustang's powerplant.

 

Yeah, the actual name of the the 260kW engine is BOSS 260. So it's rather blatant. The most significant issue for future Mustangs, though, is that Falcon and Mustang are RWD orphans in a FWD company. Ford Australia has spent a fair whack of money developing the new IRS for Falcon, and the vibe I'm getting from the media, and an engineer friend of mine within Ford Oz, is that the next Mustang's underbody components will be heavily influenced by what they're doing down here.

In other significant news, the fuel tank now sits ahead of the rear axle in the Falcon. Could be in preparation for exports???

 

i am a holden fan ... all the way, but i tip my hat to the new falcon, its got the goods to give holden the "wake-up" call it so desperatly deserves.

Long live the mighty Falcon GT , and i cant wait to see the next GTHO !!!

 

Did they redo the floor pan as well, or did they fill up the place where the mufflers were? Is it still dual exhaust till the tailpipes?

 

That yellow Falcon looks just like a Holden!! I guess if Ford cant out sell Holden, they might as well copy them.

 

i was about to post that! I've only seen a couple pics of the holden, but they look almost alike to me.. We need a pic of them side by side..

 

Before 1998 and Ford's release of the AU model Falcon, the two competitors from Holden and Ford were always very close in terms of looks. It was even difficult to tell them apart from a distance. The AU changed that when Ford struck out on a radical design path. For once the Falcon actually looked smaller than it was, while the Holden Commodore wore its size with pride.

Of course AU was a disaster, because the thing looked really bad. Although I will miss the oversize headlights. On certain models they actually looked pretty neat.

There's no doubt that Ford has made a conscious decision to pull Falcon's styling more in line with that of its nearest competitor, but they are easy to distinguish when you see them in the flesh. For one thing, the Falcon looks much larger than Commodore (especially in terms of length) than it actually is. Commodore looks nice, but there's something understated and stylish about the new Falcon.

There should be some side-by-side pics soon, when the local press do their comparison testing. I'll post them up then. Although Ude-lose may have some...

 

The wheelbase has been lengthened, I know that much, to make the changes, but I don't know the full nature of the under-floor makeover. I'll get back to you on Monday after I've talked to one of the engineers.

 

I used to be a blatant Holden fan, but now I'm just an interested and keen driver. The brand with the best car for the money will get my cash, not the brand I feel most loyal to. Which is just as well, because otherwise I'd be thinking about buying a VY Commodore next year.

The thing that most disappoints me about VY isn't the carryover mechanicals. Everyone knew, and Holden were perfectly candid about it, that major mechanical overhauls were at least 2 years away. The new engine and Sigma derived chasis (plus MUCH needed new auto transmission) will help address the new shift to Falcon.

The thing that most annoys about VY is the truly awful interior. Holden seem to be trading on this rather sad 'boy racer' thing. Sure, Holden V8s are popular with 17-21 year olds, but the fact is that most of them can't afford anything post-VS series. That's why there's so many VL Commodores on the road. When you're handing over 50K+ you expect some level of sophistication to go with your power. Where Ford deliver a beautifully integrated and subtle interior right across the board, Holden goes for lurid colours and cheap gimmicks. Might impress pimply, baseball cap wearing 18 year olds, but they're not the ones buying the (new) cars.

Ford deserve to win this round, and I hope they do. They've delivered a sophisticated, powerful and stylish vehicle. And if I have the money next year, I'll be very proud to park an XR6 turbo in my garage.

 

if you ask me, my original vt looks purer than both vx and vy,

vy is even uglier.

here is my vt -

 

Here's what my engineering insider says on the relocation of the fuel tank:

"Anyway to move the fuel tank required a complete redesign of the floor from the B pillar backwards. Retooling the exhaust is no biggy - we stick with oval mufflers because they are cheap, and a bent pipe is a bent pipe. Strictly speaking the exhaust didn't need to be changed as it is on the other side of the car, but once you go all IRS then there's more room available for it vertically so we shifted everything around a bit. The real reason for the complete floor redesign was for rear impact crash testing, we're now up with world best practice.The reasons for doing that are political, not practical, but it is no bad thing."

 

Sound's like the floorpan design could be used on something comming this way (rear impact crash testing). That's a lot of effort for a so called carry over car.

Thanks Lightspeed!

 

No worries. I'm glad to help.

Someone posted details of the new GT over at Stangnet recently (click here) and the reaction wasn't that positive, interestingly. There were cries of 'rice', which surprised me a great deal.

These cars are as far away from rice as you can possibly get, in my opinion!

Anyways, how regularly do you get to Australia? And do you get to Melbourne or Sydney (or some place else) when you're here? I might be able to set you up some guided tours...

 

July was the 1st time I got back there since 2000. From about 93-98 I was going there about twice a year. Usually I go to Sydney, &/or Melborne but this last trip I also made it to the Gold Coast with some friends for a couple of days. Met a bloke from Holden some years ago while I lived in Honolulu, & been keeping in touch with em ever since. Want to go back there in January, but doesn't look like I'll get the time off.