Melbourne Motor Show: Ford
February 29, 2008 by rjw
After months of prowling Australian roads under a variety of disguises Ford’s FG Falcon makes its debut at the Melbourne Motor Show.
Ford’s new Australian boss Bill Osborne says the FG range is 90 per cent new, with revisions to the engines, transmission, front suspension, body styling and interior.
Standard safety equipment on all petrol-engined Falcon sedans will include driver and front passenger airbags, front side airbags, driver and front passenger seat belt reminder, electronic stability control, traction control and ABS with brake assist.
Side curtain airbags are standard on premium sedan Falcons and optional on other sedan models.
LPG engined Falcons miss out on stability and traction control because the electronic systems can’t be coordinated with the LPG system.
The 4.0-litre inline six-cylinder engine now makes 195kW, the turbo six has 270kW and the 5.4-litre V8 has 290kW. The gas-engined version, a favourite with fleets and governments remains at 156kW.
A US-designed, French-built five-speed automatic replaces the Australian-made four-speed on all but LPG-engined models. The German ZF 6HP26 six-speed auto remains on high series models.
Fuel consumption for the non-turbo six with the six-speed ZF automatic is 10.1 litres per 100 km, better than a Holden Commodore V6’s figure of 10.9 l/100km. But this was also true of the BF and wasn’t enough to save Falcon from disastrous sales of 34,000 last year. Will a new look do the trick for the Falcon?
New titles are part of the makeover. You’ll look in vain for Fairmont and Fairmont Ghia models on the Ford stand. Those long-running names have been replaced by G6 and G6E.
The Melbourne Motor Show opens to the public at 5pm on February 29 and runs until March 10. If you’ve been to the show and seen the FG for yourself let us know what you think.
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Fred,
I quite agree with the Malibu thing! I saw the malibu on the Chevy website and it looks quite good! But i dont know if it would be better than a vectra or isignia.
The Malibu (or even the Pontiac G6) will stand a chance against the boring Camry and ugly Accord. These products are a reinvention from GM, with great looks and performance at par with the competition. Bringing in one of those here in exchange for the Commodore is a brilliant idea.
^^^^^^^Lets hope they do!!!!!!!
i can honestly say the new falcon – in up market spec – looks great. the nteriors are neater than a commodore and all in all the transition in styling from BA-BF-FG is good…
HOWEVER…
the interior build quality is APPAULING… the interior side panel on the doors can be folded back on itself, shutlines are huge, the plastics between steering wheel pillar and instrument cluster are thin plastic and dual layered so when you touch them the clack on each other (which will be great on a gravel road with a ute)
basically ford have had to cut costs too much on finish quality. looks are great but finish is poor. same as BA/BF – they’ll be better when all the stuck on plastic bits have fallen off….
and the bonnet bulge on the sports models is simply comical… unbelievably ugly and built on the old theory that ford drivers are bogans…
to me, the biggest disappointment is that ford (USA) was bailed out 150 million AUD for development of this car with the proviso that ford work on global market for falcon and produce better environ. efficiency from the engines… now we hear there will be no export and engines will be US made – shipped over and installed here… sorry to the hundred odd ford mechanics who lose their jobs…
not good enough america