Ford improves FG safety & fuel economy
April 2, 2009 by Matt Brogan
Ford Australia has today announced a number of significant fuel economy and CO2 emissions improvements across its FG Falcon and SY Territory series vehicle range.
Revisions to the safety of Australia’s only dedicated LPG vehicle, the E-Gas Falcon, have also improved with the vehicle now scoring a five-star ANCAP rating.
From April 2009 production, a Falcon XT sedan – when fitted with the optional ZF six-speed automatic transmission – will have a fuel consumption rating of just 9.9 litres per 100km.
Accompanying the reduction in fuel economy is a reduction in CO2 tailpipe emissions – down to 236 g/km.
Key contributors to the improved fuel efficiency on I6 petrol (4.0-litre six cylinder) Falcon sedan models include a new, latest generation catalytic converter, a new engine calibration for improved cold start performance and a further optimised transmission calibration.
“Over the past five years, our engineering team has developed fuel efficiency improvements of almost 14 per cent on this powertrain, helping to reduce a key operating cost for our customers, while also reducing the vehicle’s impact on the environment by way of CO2 emissions,” Mr Burela said. “However, these fuel efficiency improvements have not come at the expense of performance – in fact both power and torque have also steadily improved over the same time frame, delivering on a key customer want of more performance and better fuel economy.
“Since the new Falcon was introduced last year, we have continued our process of ongoing engineering development and refinement of the award-winning FG Falcon range. This development has delivered genuine fuel economy improvements on volume-selling six-cylinder sedans fitted with the six-speed automatic transmission.
“The Falcon XT with a six-speed auto now equals the fuel efficiency of the top selling medium-size four cylinder auto model currently sold in Australia. Customers can now choose a true family size vehicle that delivers fuel efficiency equal with a four cylinder model, while also providing all the traditional benefits of a large car package, such as performance, refinement, interior space, passenger comfort, five-star safety, luggage capacity and towing capability.”
These improvements have been engineered without any degradation in the vehicle’s performance.
E-Gas powered FG Falcon sedans and utes plus BF MkIII wagon models have also managed an upshift in safety thanks to the introduction of Dynamic Stability Control (DSC – also known as ESP) across the range.
A unique DSC calibration has been developed for E-Gas vehicles, combining brake intervention, throttle control and spark retard, to improve active safety levels on E-Gas vehicles.
The introduction of DSC on E-Gas-powered models now means the entire FG Falcon sedan range will be equipped with the latest in chassis control systems, ensuring every model in the range comes with a five-star safety rating from ANCAP.
Ford also announced that it intends to increase the availability of its E-Gas technology to include the Falcon XR6 sedan from the third quarter of this year.
“The dedicated LPG E-Gas engine will be available as an option on the Falcon XR6 sedan, which will give customers greater choice by combining the lower fuel costs of LPG-powered vehicles with the distinctive visual appeal of the Falcon XR brand,” Mr Burela said.
The Falcon XR6 sedan with E-Gas will include DSC as standard equipment, as per all other E-Gas sedan models in the FG Falcon range from May 2009 production onwards.
Fuel economy improvements have also been achieved on Ford’s SY Territory with the introduction of the new look SY Territory MkII range, which will begin production during April.
Thanks to revisions including a new, latest generation catalytic converter, a revised powertrain calibration, improved aerodynamic performance from the new front end design and reduced kerb weights, significant reductions in fuel consumption have been achieved, particularly on five-seat RWD models.
A reduction of almost five per cent, or 0.6 litres per 100km, has been achieved on Territory TX and TS RWD models (five-seater), while the rest of the RWD range, including all seven-seat variants, have improved by 1.6 per cent or 0.2 litres per 100km.
The Territory also gains additional equipment and features across the range with TX models gaining side airbags, cruise control, body colour cladd pack and 17-inch alloy wheels as standard.
Territory TS will now include body colour cladd pack, reverse parking camera, front fog lamps, leather-wrapped steering wheel, handbrake and gearshift, and a third row seat as standard.
Ghia models also gain a third row seat as standard equipment, along with an Alpine rear DVD system, side steps, rear privacy glass and 18-inch alloy wheels, while the Ghia Turbo picks up the same list of additions and a new alloy wheel design.
Print it: 
Sick Of Bogans says: read it you bogans.this is choice magazine not commodore (wheels magazine).
What and you think that Choice Magazine is somehow more independent than Motor or Wheels Magazine?… at least Wheels and Motor do standardised testing where the results can be compared overtime to other [previous model] cars.
Whereas Choice tend to simply assess the car according to how good it looks in the carpark.
Tomas says: Falcadore, if they are so good, why doesn’t the rest of the world want them?!
There are alot of other cars around the world with buildquality etc thats just as good [bad] as the Falcon or Commodore but we don’t get them here in Australia …. so what’s your point?
Fact is if you care to visit a number of international web sites [similar to Car Advice] you wil see that the Commoodre has received rave reviews and that there are a number of Car enthuusiasts who have commented on how much they like it and wish that it was available in their country.
They love the design the performance/handling not to mention the value for money.
Aussie sixes?oldest engine block on earth?push rod engines?oudated drivetrain?years after years of lemons?dumping ground for unwanted rubbish from U.S.A?holden also make it better… now dumping ground for korean too.
SOB, dont you know the corolla and camry are the biggest fleet sellers? Guess that makes the m the crappiest cars then according to your logic.
At least (from what i see every day) the so called bogan ford and holden drivers know the road rules, unlike the toyota drivers who seem to have absolutely no idea what they’re doing and dont look in the rearview mirror to see all the accidents they cause.
sick of bogans whats with calling petrol heads law breaker’s most hoons that drive illeage and unrouadworth car drive the likes of suped up Skylines or WRX’s or VL turbos with nissan powered engineor stock as a rock VN or VS commodores.
there own thing that is a must when i buy a car i like to enjoy the drive to were i wanna go and that a problem with toyota these days there the most boring car on the market.
the old man call’s them the vanilla of the car world.
Yeah SOB, and this “ancient” engine has more torque and fuel economy equal to the modern, “Technically advanced” toyota engine. Makes toyota look like the crap it is!
SOB – has it ever crossed your minf that the reason shte so called petrol-heads mighn’t be petrol heads but just regular motorists.. and the reason they are tailfating you is that you are travelling at a speed below the speed limit – because you are unaware of what the speed limit is etc.. therefore; becoming an obstruction to the traffic flow… which is just as dangerous as travelling over the speed limit.
Drivers that are inattentive; lack confidence; are timid uncertain; or easily intimidated etc are just as dangerous as drivers who are aggressive or over confident.. they can and do cause just as many accidents
Back in the 30-60s the police/highway patrol [on motorbikes] used to pull up along side motorists who were causing such an obstruction and actually instruct them to speed up.
over 400,000 toyota camrys built and sold in U.S.A every year.that is only one model for one country.the smart people knew what they are buying.
Its not the make of car that makes a driver become a hoon and do burnouts etc it sthte mentality of the driver himself.
I mena you wait a Hoon will get caught aan dhave his car taken off him for doing Burnouts in his VL Commodore.. he will then find a Skyline of a Celica etc and continue to do nurnouts.
Hoons don’t partiuclarly care if their car gets seized or written off – proven by the fact that they would put their car through the torture of doing a burnout..
Not to mention that most of the cars you see on the news on a story regarding hoons wouldn’t be worth any more than $10k
Hoons don’t care what make/type of car they’re in so long as they get their fix.
Wheelnut, Falcadore, money talks and b*llsh*t Walks!!
There might be quite a few people around the world that might write up a rave article about cars they have a curious interest in!! And every village has it’s idiot!! But when it comes down to actually putting down money for that car, that’s a different story!!!
Even though apparently “Holden means a great deal to Australia”, and yet they offer the G8 for a much better price in the U.S customer, then the Aussie taxpayer who kept the company alive. And yet those G8’s still don’t sell!! Nobody wants them!! And this leads holden into making a multi million dollar loss, just because they can’t make a truly world class car, that people outside of boganville would be interested in!! Same goes for the falcon!! Don’t you think Ford Australia would have released it elsewhere if there was a market for it?!!
Tomas – There are alot of other cars around the world with build quality etc thats just as good [bad] as the Falcon or Commodore that we would love to be able to be Available in Australia but we don’t get them…. so what’s your point?
BTW didn’t you read that the G8 had one of its best months ever in the US Or did you simply choose to ignore that article and the figures because it had nothing to do with Toyota?
Its sales increased last month even though the overall sales for Large RWD perfomance cars in the USA decreased. People aren’t buying them; people don’t want them…? Yeah right whatever you reckon!
D1ngo and his mate why bother answering them ,they are only after an argument !
Tomas, you asked a question and i answered it and because you cant handle the FACTS you drag out your usual BS comments that make no sense.
What i told you is real. Maybe if you got your head out of the toyota brochure and expanded on your reading material you might actually learn something.
SOB, whats US camry sales got to do with this article?
The reason you bring that up is because you’ve got nothing!
Go away and SOB somewhere else son. Let the adults talk. you are out of your depth.
Yeah BM, i thought it was suspicious they both appeared about the same time. Was thinking the same as you.
Tomas79
Depends what head office says..
why i mentioned about camry in U.S.A is teach you camry is world car your crap dinosaurs are not. want some more news you bogans don’t want to hear…here you are…oh what a small world.article from drive.Holden’s Commodore is one of 29 cars to get the lowest rating in a world-first study into the visibility afforded drivers by today’s new cars.The first-of-its-kind blind spot study tested 138 cars using lasers and computers to assess the visibility they afforded drivers.
None achieved the maximum five-star rating and 80 per cent scored just one or two stars, indicating poor frontal visibility.
The reduced visibility is a result of the pillars on either side of the windscreen being made thicker to improve occupant protection and achieve favourable crash ratings.
“It is quite possible that someone could quite easily turn into the path of an oncoming car in a roundabout, a pedestrian or a motorcyclist [due to poor vehicle design],” Robert McDonald, the NRMA Insurance head of research, said.
The motoring group picked popular vehicles in segments of the market from city cars to four-wheel-drives and commercial vehicles. The best-selling Holden Commodore was among 29 cars – including two other Holdens – that scored just one star in the car blind spot rating. Australia’s best-selling cars: How they rate
Holden Commodore 1/5
Mazda3 3/5
Toyota HiLux 2/5
Toyota Corolla 3/5
Ford Falcon 2/5
dinosaur days are well and truly overed and numbered.less petrol heads=safer road.
the quickest the government introduce the law that the cars need to be inspected before issuing new rego,the better for community.
SOB if the goverment introduces this lwaw the only car on the road will be the likes of xr’s and ss’s becouse there more likely to look after athe car than an old fart more than anyone that drives a toyota.
sick of bogans,you wouldnt happen to be of asian or indian decent would you?
hey SOB what kind of car do you drive might i ask
Again SOB, what does that have to do with the topic at hand?
I’ll tell you. Absolutely nothing.
When the “game changing” Aurion is shown up by a “dinosaur” all the toyophiles trudge out these irrelavant surveys. Always clutching at straws when feeling threatened and insecure. Must be awful to feel like that all the time.
When we rid the world of hat wearing, ignorant, oblivious toyota drivers then the roads will be safer.
no…they will not…..they came out from factory as lemons.
you can name all that carps models at the end they are truly lemons.even can’t be compare with the cars made in korea…let alone the TOYOTA the world’s largest and respected car company.
government should introduce lemon law as well.
SOB, Those laws you talk about already exist you moron!
Gotta get mine done next week.
Sick of bogans etc, obvoiusly doesn’t care about Australia, or it’s motoring heritage, he should go back to his country and stick his D!ck into the nearest toyota exhaust pipe!
Wheelnut, just because they sold 4 g8s that month, instead of the ussual 3, doesn’t mean that all off a sudden the yanks want the G8!! It’s been out for ages, the stock yards are full!! People just aren’t interested!!
Falcodore, sorry you lack the comprehension skills to understand!! But time to smell the coffee, and face the facts!!
when bogans can’t face the truth,they start swearing.oh what a small world.THE FACT IS YOU WILL NEVER WIN IF YOU IGNORE THE REALITY.
BY SWEARING YOU JUST SHOWN YOUR LOWEST STANDARD .NOTHING GONNA CHANGE BY SWEARING AT ME….TOYOTA WILL BE STILL NUMBER ONE IN AUSTRALIA AND IN THE WORLD..YES..2 DINOSAURS WILL BE FINISHED SOONER OR LATER.
yes..holden loves Australia so much they even selling 10 years old rebaged daewoo to innocent aussies as a hodlen.
and these 2 dinosaurs sacked more workers than toyota even in the boom time.
well..if you can\’t make money even in the boom time what hope you got now?pack it up?asks for handout?its too late.smarter (private buyer) aussies voted with their hard earned money and monthly sale results reflect that.
why you losing money?because the people not buying your products…right?you can’t sell your products here and no one else on earth want your products..what will you do?
So true sick of bogans!!!
“why you losing money?because the people not buying your products…” It’s very good of you to point out why car companies lose money. But why didn’t you tell us Toyota are also losing money and asking for government handouts?
Congratulations, now you and Thomas have zero credibility.
ahh sick of bogans(you are indian aren’t you )where’s your precious TRD cough cough now.
toyota has no racing heritage,no interesting products,no excitement and no spirit, just washing machines on wheels driven by people who have no interest in cars or the ability to observe whats going on around them.
toyota racing developments,what a joke
Millatime,
Who wouldn’t want some free money? Especially if your competition is getting unfair government handouts?!!
I hope you are smart enough to realize the difference between “want” and “need”!!!
Blitzkrieg, you sound like typical racist bogan!!
the ramblings of tomas and SOB are quite amusing.
I dont remember who said what but after scanning through the last few postings i cant help but ask if toyota is the pot or the kettle….
I saw the boot stuck into holden for bringing 10year old designs here from korea and flogging them as new holdens. I want to know how that is any different to what toyota did in bringing 10 year old Avalons here and flogging them as new cars???
Also whats with the blind spot ratings????
of course the smaller corolla and mazda 3 are gonna have better visibility. smaller cars almost always doo.
how about this…….
Falcon safety 5 stars
Commodore safety 5 stars
Aurion safety 4 stars
Andrew M, you stole my thunder dude!- about the old US market Avalon designs dumped in OZ, and the ANCAP safety ratings… :)
Not bad for dinosaurs huh?
PS: I’d consider any car that runs on the oil produced partly by dead dinosaurs from millions of years ago to be dinosaurs anyhow (99% of cars, that includes BMW,M Benz and Toyota- before you say it, Prius (petrol/electric) is a tiny market compared to big, gas guzzling V8 SUV’s that Toyota market here and in the states etc).
So if Falcons/commodores or performance cars or RWD cars etc are for bogans or petrol heads, then what are Ferrari’s,Lambo’s, BMW M’s, M Benz AMG’s,Porsches or indeed TRD’s for?
- leisurely drives to the shopping centre???
Remember Toyota’s suck in line? “we race, we learn. you win?”
Oh, and then the constant “Game has changed” suck in line too.
“Most fuel efficient large aussie 6″ ha ha ha ha ha
well firstly the only aussie 6 is the falcons I6, and 2ndly, the aurion is no more efficient according to the ADR ratings, and further more, real world testing has shown it to be easily less efficient then the Falcons “Big aussie 6″
So since toyota are currently under investigation from the ATO, I would expect the office of fair trading to be not far behind
Ford Falcons are more fuel efficent than Aurion,Toyota owners are more thermally efficent than Ford owners(Ford Owners Are Cooler),because of all the cardigans there wearing.
calling australians who drive falcons and commodores “bogans” is equaly racist.
if someone is going to use a derogotory term such as bogan they must expect people to reply.
Andrew M,
Just like twidle dum no.2 (wheelnut), you seem to have developed a rather nasty aurion/camry fetish, the way you keep on going on about them!!
It would be hard for Holden and ford australia to be investigated by the ATO, since they would have to make some money first!!! :-)!
Andrew M, it is a such a simple minded (bogan) thing to do to be impacted by advertisement slogans isn’t it?!!
Blitzkrieg, indians are a race, boganism is a lifestyle!!
So calling somebody a bogan, is not being racist, you idiot!!
By the way, Only bogans get offended by being called bogans!!
Aaahh… It just wouldn’t be a Car Advice thread if Tomas79 or Dan didn’t make his appearance with his usual comments which are off topic based solely on his narrow-minded ignorant arrogant distorted point of view; have nothing positive to add to the discussion and are full of personal insults.
Nice to see you didn’t let us down Tomas79
The realist,
So how much profit did Toyota, Ford and holden Oz make over the last 10 years??
How much did you pay for your M5?
You drove rental vehicles, right…
That explains a lot.
Tomas,
isnt it ironic that you feel i have developed a nasty aurion/camry fetish whilst at the same time you display a nasty ford/holden fetish……..
All i did was counteract your usual pointless speil
I was just pointing out that you shouldnt be throwing stones as you live in a glass house too
You are right that bogans arent a race, but eitherway what you issued was a form of discrimination just like racism is also a form of discrimination.
Only bogans get offended by being called bogans???
bogans are typiclly laid back with a massive shee will be right attitude. Hardly the type top be offended by name calling.
This is the 295th post on LPG FG Falcons, that\’s mightily impressive!
Great. Now learn to sell them. Poach Holden Marketing people. The way they sell these inferior commodores is embarrasing for ford, or at least should be.