2008 Ford Falcon (Orion) Rumours
May 20, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
The rumor mill usually gets rolling soon after R&D pictures get released and sure enough it has with the new Orion. Talk on the Australian Ford Forums tell of some interesting details for the new Orion, although all should be taken as a secondary source in nature and not yet concrete until Ford’s official press release.
Rumors hint that Ford is working hard to get the new Falcon into showrooms by the end of this year, provided there are no further delays. The same Garret GT35/40r turbos will remain, which may mean Ford haven’t changed too much of the engine specifications.
Other credible sources hint that for the first time there will be more turbo models than just the Falcon XR6-T and FPV Typhoon/Tornado, and most intriguing, a turbo LPG variant will also be available.
In the way of transmissions the ZF6 will now be available on all models with new and welcomed ZF suspension and diff for the the new Falcon. A water cooler for the ZF is said to be being developed at the moment for the Orion in Melbourne.
Will Ford extend their Turbo line up? Given the immense popularity of the Falcon XR6-T Sedan and Ute, it would make perfect sense for the blue oval to push the 4.0-litre turbo onto other variants.
- by Sam Goan
Print it: 
Sounds Good!!! having more Turbos in the Line up! and it would be great to have a LPG Turbo , Performance car in LPG thats cool!!! i think they will keep same engines but up the Power of course!!!!
I think some people will be disappointed…. comments have been made by people that the XR6T for example will have 270kw, a 20kw+ increase seems unlikely to me, but who knows.
i dont think the Standard Falcons will get to much upgrade in Power as such, i think the XR6-turbo Will be more like 250-255 Kw thats it, the XR8 should have 275-280Kw i think the big upgrade in power will happen with the Standard 6 and XR6 – and the big power boost will happen in the FPV Cars i would think, not the Normal Fords as such. it will be more Quality and Smooth ride in the Standard falcon
the front end kind of looks like the new mondeo ford are panning to release if u go on to http://www.ford.com.au you can see a photos on the homepage. Ive also heard that ford are going to stop building the fairlane and LTD models. Now thet have nothing to compete against the statesman! well cant wait until it is released!
The standard falcon no doubt will get up grades in areas where its needed. The proformance cars should no doubt get more power. The Territory hopefully will have a diesel engine now or coming. They should try and make all vehicles that little bit lighter, and export more over seas.
i think an LPG turbo is a ridiculously stupid idea. the point of turbocharging a car is to get more power, yet using LPG as opposed to petrol (i have a car with both petrol and LPG for the last 4 years) means you get LESS power for the same amount of fuel. it’s not a small difference either. you can definately recognise a lack of aceleration particularly when you compare LPG to 98RON fuel, which is generally recommended for performance cars. turbocharging an LPG sounds as good as rebadging a daewoo.
other than that it would be great to see ford come up with a wholistically stronger large car than the VE commodore and push holden to atleast update some of the parts that they are still using from the 80s.
look out for a turbo fairmont ghia and xls ute, no v8’s in any thing except xr8,5 speed auto in entry level falcon and territory’s, 6 speeds in other models.
Anth I can see what your saying, but I think they are just trying to make a really cheap to run ‘performance’ car with better performance than stock… not as good as a turboed car on regular fuel. Im sure it will appeal to some.
yea i second that Paul….
theyre realeasing both petrol and lpg turbo variants so its the consumers choice what they want. lpg turbo will probably be marketed as being between performance and economical family car, grunt when you want, economical when u need it.
keeping the same garret gt35 turbo’s will mean more lagtastic fun though. i still think they should make a twin turbo’d halo car for the FPV range, and would benefit from a system like nissan attesa-ets AWD. just wish they had the budget!
i love to know where you got that info from.
I have all the codes (engine and transmission,options)and there is only 1 turbo engine listed.
im merely restating what has been said in accordance to “rumours” circulating around ford circles and groups, many of whom are employed by ford and i see as reasonably credible sources.
nothing is final and concrete until I or anyone hears it from fords official release of details sometime this year
i can honestly say with the info i have,there is no LPG turbo, dont hold your breath for one.
Fordinforsaid…
Can i ask if you think that Direct injection would be a likely fitment on the Barra inline 6cyl? and is the 5 speed bas auto a development of the current B/W unit?
Anth,
whats wrong with LPG turbo. can i ask which vehicle it is you have on duel fuel. i can tell you there is a huge difference between duel fuel and dedicated LPG. duel fuel can even run rough and uneconomically when on petrol too.
I believe you can not tune a vehicle to optimum when using 2 different fuels.
What i have also been told is that you dont have to lower the compression of a gas motor before you turbo charge it either. also any gas turbo motor would now have direct injection unlike the systems now which are fed through the inlet manifold.
my guess is turbo gas would have comparible power out put to petrol but they might keep the petrol with 10-15 kw over it just to keep peoples peace of mind.
hey Fordinfo,
whats your take on how soon a hydrogen turbo will be out? I know for a fact they are developing that inline with uni and the government.
I think that green turbo cars is heading in the right direction. helps with the image and leaves no doubt over the power issue, and we know people wont buy green till the power is at least equivalent
A dedicated LPG-turbo variant has got more performance potential than a petrol equivolent. LPG has an Octane rating of 110 RON. Think back to the mid 90’s when Ford made the Raptor concept car, it was a dedicated LPG vehicle and the reason was because of the higher octane reading.
Anyway I would be very surprised if there is no turbo Fairmont Ghia, and im sure the 3-valve V8s are staying but may only be available in ute and Fairmonts, they are a very luxurious engine, plenty of torque and wont rip your head off.
Whoops, on my previous post I should of mentioned the Predator was dedicated LPG not the Raptor.
adam, i have heard that they have designed a direct injection LPG system, but are having problems with a copy right issue or trade mark (something like that).I dont know where they are sourcing the 5 speed from.
andrew, hydrogen engines are a long way off in my opinion
glen, the CODE sheets i have say no v8 except XR8 and the fairmont ghia you will be able to get in a turbo.
I WILL BUY A TURBO FORD LPG OPTION IF RELEASED, CHEAP POWER , LPG IS HIGHER OCTANE THAN REGULAR UNLEADED GO FORD BRING IT ON,ALSO YOU WILL BE SAVING THE ENVIROMENT, AS LPG BURNS CLEANER THAN PETROL. ALSO AUSTRALIA HAS HEAPS OF LPG SO ITS BETTER FOR US.AN ELECTRIC CAR ALSO WOULD BE GOOD WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR.ELECTRIC RANGER?FORD BRING IT BACK.
Ford need to bring out a car that can compete with toyota
your not possibly implying that holden actually compete with toyota are you………MR. Holden?
Mr holden at it again hey?? (what a toss)
well up until about 6 months ago nothing was anything near what ford had on offer. and dont forget this new model means improvements again that should put it well clear of competition again for another 4-5 years (until next redesign). dont forget holden just had their big spend and it is already 90% behind the 8 ball. come 2008 it will be nowhere it yet again
Adam,
You really need to do your homework!! Like others have said, you would be hard pressed to notice the difference in power between a petrol and a dedicated LPG engine (provided it has a good system)
A turbo LPG engine is actually a great idea, as LPG burns better and more efficiently when mixed with warm air, as opposed to a petrol engine liking colder air to make the fuel/air mixture more dense. (hence intercoolers on turbo petrol cars)
In this case, the turbo LPG system would not require an intercooler as per the petrol version, and feeding warm air via the turbo would actually increase power output!!
Great idea if it ever gets produced!!
hey henry thanks for adding further to my thoughts that LPG turbo would be a great idea. if ford did it it would leave other manufacturers scrambling i reckon. it would be the first “green” car to actually have some power.
I also assume your comment was aimed at Anth and not adam as you stated??
I would just like to say that Ford Australia, (family cars – not go karts or try hard Ferraris and the like…) has been well ahead of “local” competition in particular Holden in most areas for many years. To those that question this… and are interested in this fact, educate your self as I have no time! Ps I forgot to mention that the Falcon, (in history to date) is more Australian than any other brand. The only major pitfall for ford is their marketing department!
The reason a dual fuel engine produces less power when on LPG is that the valve timing and spark curve on such an engine is a compromise, generally optimised for petrol. A dedicated LPG engine produces more power as the timing and spark are optimised for LPG.
I have driven LPG dedicated Falcons for many hundreds of thousands of k’s and find such engines excellent so long as the LPG regulator is serviced correctly, and rebuilt at 160,000 km.
hey,laurence tucker,
you are dead right on the compromise with tuning bit. not many people understand the difference between duel and dedicated.
also the dedicated model runs different piston rings i am told (and makes sence) since the upper ring doesnt get lubricated by the oil in the fuel as an unleaded motor would.
i have a dedicated gas ute i bought as a demonstrator model and when i enquired about it at first i wasnt told it was on gas. when he told me i took a step backward until he told me it was dedicated. and after a drive i bought it.
out of interest what does it cost to get the regulator rebuilt?
also if you have a look at the spec sheets the pre 2003 gas models actually had more torque compared to the petrol models.
and im with you too John,
fords biggest and prob only pitfall is their extremely poor marketing. if any other manufacturer did a gas model you betcha they would be talking it up big time.
i cant remember the last time i saw a ford advert. especially when they have some pretty good stuff worth shouting about.
things worth advertising for ford…….
1. only manufacturer to produce/offer gas in their line up. my gas falcon is cheaper to run than the missis hyundai excell (and needless to say it rides and goes better)
2. best motor and transmission
3. 6cyl with most torque in the world and most torque out of a 6 or 8 in OZ
4. oh and gas again. fuels are a big thing at the moment and they have the monopoly on that at the moment
For those still wondering about the XR6 Turbo and LPG. It has already been done aftermarket.
Check out the post below from TURBOTAXI. You do not need to go dedicated LPG to get more power out of it. You just need to go with LPG injection. With a separate computer everything is tuned for LPG at the flick of a switch.
You have to do your sums though as this gas installation will cost you $4.5 – $5K.
http://www.fordxr6turbo.com/fo.....58&hl=
Well here’s hoping it won’t have that rotten hunchback look of the AU, BA and BF. Those cars were completely spoiled by the curved roofline and the poor packaging this silly bungle caused.
XR6T-270kw. Typhoon spec
XR8-290kw. Old GT spec.
F6-300kw.
GT-320kw
^Lets hope it will be like that!
…But somehow, August Wheels mag has the XR6T at 260kw and XR8 280kw, Hope they wrong though. Ford needs more than that.
205kW/395Nm sound good.
I guess in 2009 the MkII ORION is gona hve 210kW/400Nm or more.
As you all know you probably heard that all of the OHC and DOHC engines are totally de-tuned and fine tuned “engineered” to make LESS power.
Yet if you think about it a little clearer … there is 240-250kW/450Nm of untapped NATURALLY ASPIRATED grunt under neath
occuring NATURALLY.
yet de-tuned … to add even more to the FORDS long lasting INLINE SIX 4Litre engine.
;)
And if the ORION XR6 TURBO gets the TYPHOON SPECS
it still wont be the same car.
The XR6 TURBO ORION wont make 550Nm , and the engine programming , throttle responce will be different.
So you can expect the old 2004 Typhoon F6 5 speed to beat a brand new ORION XR6 Turbo … because Orion XR6T wont have more than 500Nm.
it will just be the power output … it will be 50Nm shorter from F6 BA/BF.
so its nothing like Typhoon specs… at the end of the day the TYPHOON F6s engine is mechanically “tougher” internally from a stock XR6 and XR6T “XR6 stock = XT”
so technically…. dont be confused.
the ORION F6 TYPHOON will actually be 300kW with the same engine from BA/BF typhoon , but with new ECU firmware tune up to give it 300kW/575Nm
something that allready exists in the current Typhoon , but as i said ITS RESERVED “DE-TUNED”
And the ORION XR8 wont have the same GT BA/BF specs
because.
the GT “BOSS290″ engine is totally different than a XR8 engine.
looks the same on the outside , they are both 5408cc just like the XR8 and Barra220/230
but the heads are different.
tougher springs , valves , cams , chain , crank , con rods , piston rings , pistons.
Its not just another TUNE up to get it from 260 to 290.
It actually is MECHANICALLY 290kW and more since it makes 340-350kW
so the new GT ORION will be 320 , in fact its the same as the BOSS290 , different ECU tune up.
and the XR8 ORION is just like BOSS260 100%
but tuned up to another 30kW or around 50Hp … its just a TUNE up! … furher enabling of the engines natural resources;) which allready existed in the car ;)
cheers
BA..
Yes it is a different motor but when you start cranking it up, it doesnt get that much more than a 260kW Boss. Have a read of the latest Motor. Herrod have spent a lot of time in developing upgrades for both the 260 and 290.. and with the same bits they end up developing very similar numbers.. albeit the 290 just pips the 260 due to the extra goodies ie cam, valvetrain etc.. but not by 30kW
Gee its good to talk about cars again on the site without any arguing!
How to make a Ford Falcon sell?
Improve the BUILD QUALITY!!!!
Frankly, the current B series Falcons are total shit. Built by Gibbons with access to Welding equipment. We have 8 of them in a fleet (all Futura’s) and they are very, very bad.
The dash boards creak, the cruise control is a part-time affair, leaks, bodgy fitting panels, rust, heavy steering, electric windows that don’t work…. I could go on…
If they spent a few hundred more on materials, these cars would be acceptable. Until then, I’ll push for Subarus…
Chris Ford: troll. I’ve had a Futura for three years and it’s an excellent car. It’s a business item. Solid as a rock, comfortable, and no wear or creaks after 90,000km.
Courtney & Patterson tells me the new E-gas will be a carburetter model. Multi-point gas is not coming until 2010 with the Cyclone engine.
“nevket240 Says:
December 30th, 2007 at 11:30 am
XR6T-270kw. Typhoon spec
XR8-290kw. Old GT spec.
F6-300kw.
GT-320kw”
mmmm!! not bad for an old bloke.
regards.
Go team vodafone we got pole haha.
I keep fogeting its the V8s this weekend.
How ? OZ ……..
I don’t know. But I wont anymore! HA HA HA