Ford Falcon Orion Spy Shots – Towing

By Paul Maric | June 04th, 2007

Our spy photographer has been at it again.

This time, they have spotted Ford’s Orion undergoing trailer testing over undulated surfaces, presumably testing load and clearance at the rear.

gavin

left hand lane have full size side shots of the falcon.the front and rear are covered but the side is clearly visible.mondeo style sculpting on the lower doors looks nice..
Andrew.

gavin,
what is left hand lane? magazine? web site?
gavin

web site
gavin

sorry its leftlanenews.com..
watto_cobra

I towed an 8×5 tandem trailer today with over a ton on it, in my trusty old EB (my daily hack). I’m reminded again of how good Falcons are for towing.
Andrew M

Right on!!!!
Me.

Some people want the Orion to be verry light, but that means the Falcon can’t tow as much as they reknowin for.
Maybe they should have the FPVs lighter only.
Andrew M

me,
we are only talking like 100kgs or so so i doubt it would affect it much. the chassis and drive train would stay the same though i guess.
and id reckon (with out looking)
that the EB is lighter than the BF to start with
Andrew M

Me,
the EB was 300kgs lighter!!!! yet it was a great tower. it shows there is still plenty of good stuff in the falcon suited to towing
Me.

people want the Orion to be more than 300kg lighter.

Maybe because they don’t want it to be more than the BF, which I don’t want too and its verry unlikely, 100kg more should not matter with performance.
Andrew M

300kgs lighter????
tell em their dreaming.
that would put it lighter than mid sized cars.
yet i bet they still want everything in it to. pffffft
Andrew M

a 4cyl camry is only 200kgs lighter
Toyota Paul

Youd think the Orion will be abit heavier if anything with extra airbags and that… now way is it goinng to get 300kg lighter, that is fundamentally impossible unless the car comes with no features.
Andrew M

paul,
yep no way it will lose 300kgs
i hear they are working on cutting some weight so i reckon the most it would lose would be 100kgs. then you add extra features (airbags etc) and it would be 50kgs lighter than BF absolute max
watto_cobra

I’d be happy with that. More power in almost all variants is practically a given. If they can achieve a small weight saving as well, that’d give it more than a decent kick into a new model.
Me.

I don’t realy care how its weighs. As long as the Orion does not put on more than 100kg than the current one, but 100kg less than the BF would be allright.
IceB

Its a long-used drivetrain testing rig, not so much a tow test rig.
The vertical panel is a wind brake, tests cooling systems primarily, with the drivetrain load capacity as a secondary test. Nothing should come anywhere near overheat or breakage..
Cheers
IceB
Watto_Cobra

That makes sense. Thanks for the info IceB.
BK

Seen the new Falcon today driving along Horseshoebend Road, Torquay at about 1030am. There where two cars following it and one in front of it. Its a great way to get everybodys attention as it did for me. Great camoflauge they use on it but the FORD badges stood out. I bet they be takin it on the Great Ocean road to give it a good run.
Duck

Did HOLDEN do towing tests with the VE?
Watto_Cobra

No idea Duck. I would think so, since Commodore seemed to be used for towing as much as Falcons.

The older Commo’s with the older IRS tended to have probs with towing. A friend towed a fully-laden trailer (with a VR) from Adelaide back to here (Albury) and his near-new rear tyres were scrubbed out after the trip.

Is the VE better than the older models for towing? I don’t know, I haven’t read anywhere of anyone testing that one trait which is important for a lot of people.