2008 Ford BF Falcon Wagon MkIII

By Alborz Fallah | February 17th, 2008

While the internet is alive with news of the new FG Falcon, Ford has quietly released details of the new BF Falcon Wagon MkIII which will go on sale in May – the same time as the all-new FG Falcon sedan and Ute.

The big news for the Mk III wagon is the addition of Dynamic Stability Control as standard equipment on the petrol model.

“The current Falcon wagon remains an ideal tool of trade vehicle for a broad spectrum of fleet and private buyers alike, who appreciate its large load area and excellent payload capacity,” Ford Australia Vice President Marketing and Sales, Mark Winslow said.

“The introduction of Dynamic Stability Control, in particular, will see the Falcon wagon continue to fill an important niche in the business sector, coupled with competitive running costs, sharp pricing and the ability to carry large loads.” he said.

The new 2008 BF Falcon Wagon MkIII will only be available in XT specification level with the choice of two engines, Ford’s generic 4.0-litre in-line six-cylinder petrol engine or the optional E-Gas dedicated LPG engine.

The Blue oval will only offer the updated wagon with an aging four-speed automatic transmission.

Additional features include a new ‘Satin Alloy’ accents on the front grille surround, MkIII badging, new Warm Charcoal carpet in lieu of Medium Stone plus a new key fob with integrated flip ignition key.

The car also comes with Goodyear Eagle Excellence tyres, also used on the all-new FG Falcon range. Alloy wheels will be available as an option on the BF Falcon XT Wagon MkIII.

No images of the MkIII are currently available.

Andyboiii

oh awesome. wagon. great. yeh yeh!
Oz.

No “Orion” wagon yet, but at least an update.

I don’t think I need to type the word “ORION” anymore.
http://. Naughtyius Maximus

Crikey…no pic? Does anyone know where can sight pic of one off net??? Good move with Stability Control but no 5sp auto?
golfschwein

Oh oh. The wagon’s the child that’s going to be hidden away from the visitors.

Anyone who’s aghast at how Holden spent a billion bucks on its VE/WM program need be aghast no longer.

It’s absolutely going to be left behind in desirability and technology.

Mark Winslow’s quote is the best possible spin that could be put on this. I’m tired of the argument put up for the cart suspension. Seriously, there came a time when makers stopped using wooden-spoke wheels, and this set-up should go the same way.

But it tows well, apparently. Does a territory or Merc M-class or Beemer X5 tow badly with modern suspension?
Andrew M

so whens the sale release for the wagon? i cant wait ha ha ha ha

seriously though its prob a better financial move.

i think i read 99.9% of the wagons are fleet acquired anyway.
ford has the territory for the family buyers. and why wouldnt you buy the territory over the falcon wagon.
the territory is pretty much the same price and look at what you get……..
and the better styling.

why would ford spend a packet on designing some fancy suspension package for a bunch of fleet buyers who will take it anyway
Watto_Cobra

I wonder if they’re using the wagon and e-gas models to use up supplies of the 4-speed, then switch to 5-speed later on?

No surprises on the wagon, still a good work hack. Territory upgrade makes more sense than spending more to compete with Sportwagon which is now almost a different market.
golfschwein

Yup, let the Falcon wagon die, if its maker thinks so little of it.It’s dragging down the gene pool.

Fleets, individuals and families alike will choose better between the Territory and Sportwagon, if they’re all that’s available.
Watto_Cobra

Here are reasons from a gent known as Elements, on the Ford Australia Forum, why no new wagon, which I agree with.
—————————————————
There’s a few reasons why there is no all-new Wagon

1) They expected it to die with Territory (sales wise), hence wasn’t in original plans – ie. was expected to die.
2) Engineering resources (or lack thereof) meant that only Sedan and Ute were done concurrently. Wagon would normally follow in ~18 months – ala Holden Commodore SportWagon
3) Any time after mid year = need for V6
4) Having an all-new one in 2010 is a bit silly, when Huntsman is due not long after. May as well wait for the all-new one then…….

So not until the next all-newer will she be updated. By then, who knows….
—————————————————
Spot on I think.
Oz.

This is a song from the launch of the XK Falcon in 1960:

Here’s the job you’ll agree for the whole family…

The Falcon station wagon

It’s got style lots of room
It’ll chase away the gloom…

The Falcon station wagon

Take it out to the country
Or down by the sea
For holidays you have acomidation for free

It’s desiged for our roads
It’ll carry big loads…

The Falcon station wagon.
golfschwein

Watto, that all sounds feasible and sensible. Is Huntsman the code-name for post-FG Falcon? I’m with you, bring the wagon on then, so long as it’s competitive in specification and concept, like the Territory was in 2004.

Oz, your glasses are overpoweringly rose-tinted. That was 1960. It’s now 2008, and Ford are delivering us a slightly upgraded BF wagon that’s pure 1998 AU from the A-pillars back, bodily speaking, and persists with leaf springs and a 4 speed tranny.

It’s simply not competitive. In fact, it’s embarassing. Ford should have used the secateurs rather than allow the poor girl to wither on the vine. They’ll sell half a dozen to private buyers who’ve never heard of independent rear suspension, or who buy the line from their Ford dealer that it’s a great tow car, assuming that’s of any importance. Even fleet buyers must surely get to a point soon where they realise that their employees will resent being given one of these things because of their ancient hardware and, if that happens, their poor residuals are going to prove costly against the more modern and desirable Sportwagon and Territory at trade-in time.

If the said employee gets to choose a car, as is increasingly the case, possibly none of the above will get a look-in. Over to Liberty, RAV4 and Kluger, sadly.
http://elfin Craig lowndes.

Maybe you should get your eyes checked sad case,your biased opinions are sad,fords answer to the ve ss wagon will come later.
golfschwein

Sorry Craig, didn’t mean to offend. My comments were mostly just my opinion, which we’re all entitled to, with a little bit of fact thrown in. Please advise which of my statements were actually wrong, and I’ll recant.
golfschwein

Craig, please try not to get personal with me. I put up what I consider to be a fair, non-ranting statement and you suggest “get your eyes checked sad case”.

I don’t get personal, generally speaking. The exception was when I fired a well-deserved salvo to Football Meatpies Kangaroos and Holden Cars a couple of nights ago. Maybe you could check it out, worth a laugh.
Brian

To quote a comment I read a long time ago now, “brand specific buyers are a bit like your dog, terribly loyal but not too bright”. That often goes for some of the comments you read in relation to Ford and Holden.

I used to be an ardent Ford man until they bought out the AU and mates of mine asked me what I thought and I said ” they have killed it, thats not a Falcon”. Since then Commodore has hammered Falcon in sales in NZ and OZ, even when they bought out the BA, Falcon has never caught up with Commodore and again taken a real hammering in this last year.

My money is on the Commodore as rest assured Holden is not asleep and I would be surprised if Falcon gets even close with this new model, its still the old chassis and engines and while it looks like a Falcon should, guys like me are well and truly entrenched in the Holden camp now as the Commodore has just gotten better and better and seem to bring out new stuff way ahead of Ford. Sorry Ford.
Realcars

Hopefully Ford can focus on quality.

This is the main area that lets both Ford and Holden down.

Hopefully the 4 speed has been sorted and will last longer than the normal 150klms before a major overhaul. Crucial for Fords reputation if these are going to be mainly fleet where many will clock this mileage. These probs also reflect badly in the used car market which affects resale and can provide another reason not to buy.

The Ford 4 speed durability issue has been bleeding since the EB unfortunately. Same with the blowing head gaskets at 120klms up until the EL to my knowledge.

Holden had an issue with Commodore diffs getting and eventually failing VR onwards at approx 140klms for several successive models.

This is why Toyota and the rest are taking Ford/Holden market share. Ford and Holden let these mechanical problems bleed until it is common knowledge over years!

I suspect Holden have finally realised that the issue is important to future brand loyalty and hence the number of recalls on the VE.
Andrew M

Golf,
mate i think you had a fair say there………

we are only talking baout the wagon here not the new sedan range.

ford already sell 99.9% to fleets anyhow. i think ford have the private wagon buying sector covered by the territory at the moment.

why would ford invest a hell of a lot of money into a wagon that has many fleet contracts sewn up regardless of leaf springs or not?
do you think the head of fleet at telstra cares whether its employees are driving around with a leaf rear as opposed to a coil rear? NO
all he cares is that he can still grab them at a good fleet price to satisfy his budget.
the developmental costs would have been recovered several times over on their wagon platform by now so ford are probably making dollars on it while the sun is shining.

it would take a long time to recover development costs on such a heavy fleet seller so while they are probably well in the black with it its prop wise to keep running with it
golfschwein

Oh well, if caring isn’t important, let ‘em buy it, I suppose. Most of us on here care about something though, Andrew M, otherwise we wouldn’t post these comments.
BK

Holden commodore VE is only a 4 star in world class safety. So what the hell did they spend there billion dollars on. There engines are gutless and trannys dont work properly. New FG is allready rated a 5 star in world class safety. Nowonder Ford is the best aussie made car in the world.
No Name

Leaf springs …..also available on the (dare I say it) Hilux.
Nah too basic for todays switched on punter. Ford are missing out here, but what you really need to the sophisticated Mondeo wagon which I don;t believe you lot have yet…won’t be long I guess, then the private buyer will be happy.
Watto_Cobra

Kiwi’s get the Mondeo wagon. My bro-in-law had a BA XT wagon before he got his BF XR6. I had a drive once and the leaf spring rear didn’t stand out as good or bad to me.
http://elfin Craig lowndes.

The new fg just kills the ve,euro interior,and it looks good real good the new xr8 290kw is a gt engine and that just kills it for the ss 270kw.
Andrew M

Golf,
yes im sure we all do care to some degree but those who are dissapointed because they were really hanging out for the new wagon, put their hand up…………

i care more that they didnt upgrade the LPG system as of yet than the no show wagon upgrade.
anyway perhaps in 2010 the new wagon might arrive in the same way it took a couple of years for the VE wagon to follow………
golfschwein

A fair enough summary, Andrew M.
Pony 65 K

I personally wouldn’t buy a Territory. For one my wife couldn’t drive it as she’s a tiny gal, secondly why should I have to buy a Territory if I want a Falcon Wagon? I have no idea how well the last SS Wagon sold, but why let the General have a free reign in a market? I have a family and need a wagon. I also want a V8, an FG XR8 Wagon would be perfect. The only vehicle that would be available to suit my needs at a reasonalble non-euro price will be the SS Sportwagon. I really have no other option, I thought Ford would have some forward thinking, I’m positive I’m not the only person in Australia that would buy one.
Phillip

I think this is disappointing. If Ford want a tool of trade vehicle, they should bring back the panel van and then reintroduce the (huge) Mondeo wagon. Otherwise, they should redesign the Falcon into a wagon body shape and utilise every resource possible to make it look smaller than it is.

PS: Pony 65k, unfortunately your market is very small. Ford tried more upmarket Falcon wagons but they didn’t sell.
Pony 65 K

Philip. From Redbook, there was an EF XR6 Wagon back in 1995 only. There has been Futura wagons etc, but I’ve never seen a commercial released XR8. I have seen a BA that someone put an XR nose on, lowered it, exhaust etc. and it looked totally awesome.

It will be interesting to see how the VE Sportswagon sells when released. I know it’s SWB while the Falcon is LWB and not selling LWB cars anymore. Seems to be that the family that wants a practical “hot” car isn’t being catered for by Ford. I know they can’t cater for everyone, i’s just disappointing to me personally.
ajay

Keep a look out for FG wagon.Code name “wombat”..dont laugh..its real..
AC COBRA

Wombats are handy little critters…….

PURPOSE: digging out Toyotas out of the ground where sadly have been stuck since the stone age…
Oz.

Isn’t the Falcon to come out after 2010 going to be called “Huntsmen”? I know it will be the one with the V6 and the V8 should hopefully be the “Hurricane”. And Ford should also have a special 50th anniversary edition too.
BFONE

I love my BF wagon leaf rear or not, it’s not that big a deal really and does not have the excess weight of the Terri which I refuse to drive. I only paid $12k for mine with 57k on the clock ex council, just chuck some nice wheels on and do the extractors.
Dennis

The Falcon Wagon is dead!!! June 2010 the last wagon will be made.
Dhru

All this talk about ancient leaf springs is crap! People pay half a million bucks for a good GTHO Phase 3, and don’t complain about the leaf spring rear end! I have had six Falcon Wagons over the last 30 years (& six other utes/sedans) all of wich have had leaf springs… all of which gave me no trouble what so ever. Most people would not know the difference when driving them. My Falcon wagon is rated to carry 700kilo.. not a poxy 400kilo like Holden’s sportwagon (& Utes).. it’s long wheelbase and leaf springs make it an ideal tow car.. others are ok.. FW are better. The IRS bushes fail very quickly on dirt roads making the cars quite scary to drive and expensive to repair… leaf springs cost bugger all to rebush, IF you ever have to do them. Just because it is an old idea, doent mean it has to be replaced. Coil springs die a lot faster under constant weight.. don’t spread the load along the chasis.. and won’t support as much weight.
The only real advantage coils have over leafs is for car designers… for styling reasons they can reduce rear overhang as they don’t have to allow for the length of the spring. Yes.. IRS cars handle better.. but they are heavier and cost more to keep on the road. Tyres don’t scrub out on leaf spring rear ends. Bring back the Falcon Wagon… leaf springs and all! It was the only true wagon left!