SirFozzalot

Info taken from Autoexpress.









Its the bargain Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo, which is likely to put a smile back on faces Down Under. In its home market, this car costs $43,995 - that's about £14,500.

Ford brought the model driven here over to this country to prove that it's not only arch-rival Vauxhall which can make Aussie muscle cars. Even if you include our test vehicle's leather trim, automatic gearbox and electric seats, you'd still have change from £20,000.

With a turbocharged straight-six engine belting out 323bhp, the Falcon has plenty of muscle to flex, too - and it doesn't do so subtly. Our car was finished in pearlescent metallic purple, while its flared wheelarches, 18-inch alloy wheels and rear spoiler do little to hide the performance potential.

The XR6 tag also hints at the new-comer's sporting prowess by recalling Fiesta XR2s, Escort XR3s and Sierra XR4s of old. In Australia, the Falcon is the equivalent of a Mondeo in the UK. However, it's nearly a foot longer than a Vauxhall Omega - and difficult not to notice in this colour scheme.

Fire up the engine and you're in no doubt that there's a serious piece of iron throbbing away under the bonnet. Even at idle, the unit sounds incredible. When you engage sports mode on the gearbox and floor the throttle, it's like poking a sleeping lion with a stick. At first, the car grumbles, then, as the turbocharger kicks in, it becomes fierce, growls angrily and leaps forward with the kind of eagerness that will leave lesser sports saloons cowering in fear.

Although not the most agile or dynamic of cars, the Ford has a thrilling rawness that Europe's manufacturers are often all too keen to engineer out. It may be wild, but the Falcon isn't hard to tame. The excellent steering has a direct feel, while the rear-drive chassis is twitchy without being unnerving.

Don't expect refinement, though. The archaic four-speed automatic gearbox takes an age to swap between ratios, even when used in manual mode, and has a tendency to clunk when reverse is engaged. Ride quality is firm and, at speed, there's lots of noise in the cab-in - although as most of it is from the sports exhaust, enthusiastic drivers are unlikely to complain. The Falcon lacks the build strength of European Fords, so while the dashboard is attractive and well finished, some plastics on the door trims and switches are poor.

Nevertheless, the XR6 Turbo is an exciting car. What's more, it's built for right-hand-drive markets, so is easy to live with in the UK. While Ford says there are no plans for official Falcon sales here, it should be simple enough to get one, either by bringing it to Britain yourself or using a private importer. The newcomer might not be an out-right winner, but for once the Aussies have scored a pretty good try!


Could this be a return of the XR's to the UK???


[Edited by SirFozzalot - 12/15/2003 9:45:08 AM]

zilch

Assume they felt left out after GM decided to launch a limited number of Monaro's here , including the HSV.. Mate as monaro comes standard with a 5.7 litre V8, one awesome car.. and looks far better than the falcon

Cheers

Jim

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Nice Why don't we get cars like that here

dosenöffner

Only limited here in England. Seemed like every second car was a Monaro when I was at home.

There is also the Tickford Falcon XR8. They have been around a while.

The XR6 (old one without the turbo) was a quicker car though. Standard Police issue in NZ along with a couple Scoobs and EVO and a few LTD's.

That looks like a 3 scroll turbo. Wouldn't fancy replacing one of those.

lightning

Falcon straight 6 is an ancient design of a motor that is unique to Australian manufactured Fords. It has been updated over the years but I am amazed that Ford still use it. The V8 like the Holden V8s (5.0 and 5.7) is a much better. It is interesting to see that they have released a turbo. No doubt this compares nicely to the supercharged V6 available in the Holden.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Nothing stopping you importing them to this country yourself like Classic WRX's and STi's

Retail of a brand new Monaro over there is £24K (that's retail - no doubt It'll come cheaper when you haggle). As opposed to the £28K starting point over here

SPEN555

Where are the flared wheelarches? Can't see any on the pics above.

Damian.

Cupramax

If your talking about the aluminium looking part on the right of the engine, I think you'll find thats the inlet manifold.... turbo and heatsheild are hiding down on the left

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

LOL yep that's the inlet manifold.
Turbo is under the hoses on the left

(and I'll make a note too myself not to listen to teccy advice from dosenöffner )

clarence

The Australian motoring press found the 'Barra' Falcon to be better than the VY Commodore.
That straight 6 is very old indeed, but it has updated to a degree that it now has DOHC 24v with variable valve timing. Probably the only thing left from the existing design is the engine block.
This turbo XR6T is a competitor against those SS Commodores with V8, or even the entry level HSV Commodores. They also have a XR8 with a new 'Windsor' 5.4 V8. That engine is a completely new design built in Canada.

ew4n

i saw a vehicle transporter with 6 of those babies on the back.. after going through dartford tunnel only a month ago...how wierd!

smb1

me thinks it's pretty ugly really!! no replies about how beautiful the bugeye is thank you!!