Australian Car Advice | News Blog

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Model tested: 2008 Ford Falcon G6E Recommended Retail Price: $46,990. Options fitted: None fitted.

Handling; engine and gearbox; rear leg room; price point

Non-flat boot floor; no xenon headlights

CarAdvice rating: (4.25)

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Model tested: 2008 Holden Commodore Calais V6 Recommended Retail Price: $46,190 Options fitted: Metallic paint ($400).

Space, standard ESP, solid ride

No Sat/Nav or reversing camera, ‘poverty’ interior

CarAdvice rating: (3.00)

Model tested: 2008 Honda Accord V6 Luxury Recommended Retail Price: $46,990. Options fitted: None fitted.

Impressive handling; size; features

Sometimes heavy on fuel, too many buttons on centre console

CarAdvice rating: (4.15)

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Model tested: 2008 Toyota Aurion Presara Recommended Retail Price: $49,490. Options fitted: None fitted.

Performance, plenty of luxury items, good safety equipment

Stodgy handling, generic interior styling, pricey

CarAdvice rating: (3.50)

- Review by Paul Maric, David Twomey and Matt Brogan, photography by Paul Maric.

Introduction:

In this day and age it is becoming increasingly difficult for car manufacturers to meet the demands of consumers. With petrol prices continually skyrocketing, pressure is on manufacturers to make fuel efficient cars, while still catering for size and performance.

In the first test of its kind in Australia, CarAdvice has pegged the rear-wheel-drive Falcon and Commodore against their Japanese front-wheel-drive rivals, the Accord V6 and Aurion.

The luxury variants chosen here will be popular amongst professionals and families with a luxury cruiser in mind.

After a week of extensive testing ranging from city driving to performance tests, we have determined a winner. The results are close but paint a clear picture of the current large car market in Australia.

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“More than ever, it’s important to consider not only the car’s ticket price but also its ongoing running and environmental costs,” Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said.

On average, a Holden Commodore will cost $2430 in petrol to run per year and will put out 3.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide doing so. The Ford Falcon does the same distance costing $2272 in fuel and releasing 3.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The most surprising news however, was the Mazda 3, which came third, costing $1845 in petrol. Meanwhile Australia’s most popular car, the Toyota Corolla came fourth with a $1672 yearly petrol cost.

 Out of all the cars tested, the Green Vehicle Guide recommends the Toyota Yaris as the cheapest option for getting around (not including hybrids). The Yaris costs $1350 a year.

The Prius was the cheapest hybrid car to run, with a total bill $990 in fuel each year. CO2 emissions for the ‘revolutionary’ Prius where half of the Commodore’s at 1.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

For more information you can check out the Green Vehicle Guide at www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au (which ironically, is currently off-line with “Server too busy” errors).

CarAdvice recently conducted a fuel economy test with a new VE SS Commodore to find out if the era of big V8s is coming to an end. The results will be released before the end of next week.

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“To manage such a production with eight cars and a production crew would be an extremely consuming and costly exercise and besides, the vehicles were in production at the time,” said FPV General Manager, Rod Barrett.

The artificial FPV Falcons were created by advertising agency Magnum Opus and CGI specialists Airbag Productions utilising actual CAD data from the development of the new FG range to produce the digital images.

“The result was a more flexible shoot, no large crew, no weather contingency, and the freedom to choreograph the shots, choose our own weather conditions, rehearse the shots and then produce the finished television commercial.”

The new ad will premiere this Sunday July 6 on pay-TV channels Fox Sports, Sky News, Fox Sports News, Discovery and the History Channel, with free-to-air catching their first glimpse predictably during the Seven Network’s coverage of the V8 Supercar Series - and then here on CarAdvice when it is inevitably uploaded to YouTube.

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This offer will also be extended as an option to workhorse models - which includes the R6 variant - with ¾-tonne and one-tonne suspension packages from December production.

“With the introduction of DSC on Falcon Ute, in conjunction with the availability of side head/thorax airbags, customers are able to configure their vehicle with a comprehensive safety package that is unmatched in the passenger-derived ute market,” Ford Australia Vice-President Marketing and Sales Mark Winslow said.

The DSC system will incorporate Traction Control, four-channel Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) and Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), with the latter not previously available on Falcon Ute models.

From September 1, the inclusion of DSC as standard fitment will effect the recommended retail price of all XR model Utes which will increase by $500 - while the option price for DSC on the rest of the FG Falcon Ute range will be $500 RRP.

Schedule

Pricing

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He also intimated that Ford globally was working of “low displacement, forced induction” engine technology, taken to mean small displacement engines that use both turbo and supercharging to provide the power and performance of a much larger engine while offering the fuel efficiency of a small engine.

Ford Australia President Bill Osborne, who normally takes the media briefing but is in the United States where the Australian government is discussing the future of the local automotive industry with both General Motors and Ford, has already said the Falcon will have diesel power by 2010, when it also switches from a locally-made straight six-cylinder engine to an imported V6.

Mr Winslow said Ford definitely saw a lot more diesel-powered cars in its future, along with other developing technologies, but was not really talking about hybrids.

He said the E-Gas Falcon was a proven green vehicle that provided both lower tailpipe emissions and lower running costs.

He cited the example of an E-Gas Falcon XT which he said, run over 25,000 kilometres a year, was $350 cheaper to operate than the best-selling Toyota Corolla.

Mr Winslow said that in the past two years E-Gas Falcons had gone from having residual values $1000 less than a petrol car to commanding a $2500 premium.

Further questioning the rush to hybrids, Mr Winslow posed the question of who would buy all the three year old used hybrids that would head onto the market as a result of the government backed push to encourage Toyota to build 10,000 Hybrid Camry’s a year in Australia.

“We would be concerned about the profile of the second user for such cars, which we expect in the first place will be bought by companies and government.”

He questioned whether typical second-hand private buyers would be keen to take on hybrids, with the potential of costly battery replacement.

“E-Gas on the other hand has the proven record of operating economy plus it is greener, with four per cent less emissions, and that is where Ford is already firmly established.”

Mr Winslow also confirmed that E-Gas was now being built in the new FG Falcon range and said the cars were being shipped to dealers.

He also emphasised that from about 2010 Ford would be pursuing its plans for a diesel engine in the Falcon and added that once the next-generation Focus small car was being built in Australia, it too would offer a locally-made diesel alternative.

He said Ford believed these cars would also present a strong case to government and fleet buyers as alternatives that were fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

Mr Winslow said that in 2007, of total Falcon sales, 15 per cent of sedans, 41 per cent of wagons and 37 per cent of utilities were E-Gas.

He said Ford had stepped up production of the LPG components about two years ago and was in a position to meet almost any demand for E-Gas in the future.

He also added that by 2010 Ford would have the Australian-built Focus with a diesel engine to compete with the Toyota Camry hybrid when it eventually became available.

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Mr Iemma says he has written to Holden Australia to volunteer the NSW Government fleet as a potential customer for an Australian made hybrid Commodore.

“If Holden was to build a hybrid Commodore, as has been suggested, then I have assured the local car maker we would be lining up to be one of their first customers, the same goes for Ford Australia if they want to pioneer an Aussie hybrid.” Mr Iemma said in a statement.

No doubt the state governments would all like to have their hybrid vehicles sourced locally to support Australian manufacturers, but what about private customers?

Would you buy a hybrid/diesel Commodore or Falcon? Why/Why not?

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Ford says the car took over 18 months to build, during which time Ford focused on meeting specific design requirements as well as applying the Touring Car Entrants Group (TEGA) ‘Blueprint specifications’.

The TEGA specifications dictate many aspects of the car, including length, width, height, weight, wheelbase, wheel track, suspension mounting points, front bumper and rear wing positions, plus a number of secondary mounting point positions.

“Aside from the obvious lines and aesthetics that we’ve inherited from the FG Falcon XR8 road car, the adjustments to create a unique and functional V8 Supercar have come together into one extremely well rounded vehicle which we are very pleased with. said Ford Racing Manager, Ray Price.

Ford says the colour scheme was designed by a Ford employee specifically for the FG01 prototype.

“Developing FG01 was an intricate process and the design and build centred around meeting TEGA specifications alongside the goals of Ford and its major V8 Supercar teams, which were mainly related to cost reduction, reparability and safety.” Price. said

Ford spent considerable time and effort to ensure that the maximum amount of parts from the BF Falcon could carry over into the new FG chassis to assist with cost control and minimise redundant parts.

“Ford teams agreed that as a priority this V8 Supercar had to be less expensive to build as a new shell, and less expensive plus quicker to repair in the event of an accident,” said Ray Price.

The new Supercar also has safety in mind, the biggest improvement being moving the driver seat as far inboard as possible, for the largest gap between the seat and driver door.

“The overall functionality of our new racecar combined with its aggressive look will ensure the Ford teams are able to continue building competitive, race winning Ford V8 Supercars.

First to drive the new Falcon V8 Supercar will be Craig Lowndes and Channel Seven pit reporter Grant Denyer riding as passenger. But it all gets serious when the FG V8 Supercar and Ford’s traditional line-up of Falcon’s will hit the track this weekend at the Midas 400, Sandown Raceway June 7-9.

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Based on Ford’s recently launched FG Falcon XR8 sedan road car, the new Blue Oval weapon will feature a striking ‘Nitro’ blue with white themed livery.

The FG01 prototype will reside in pit lane for the duration of the event, from where Team Vodafone driver and V8 Supercar Champion Craig Lowndes will steer the new race car on a number of demonstration laps of the twisty 3.1 kilometre track.

Channel Seven pit reporter Grant Denyer will be riding as passenger, giving the V8 Supercar world a glimpse of Ford’s future in the sport.

“There has been a lot of excitement at Ford surrounding the launch of the new FG Falcon road-going series, and that excitement has certainly extended to the development of our new race car,” said Ford Racing Manager, Ray Price.

“Our new V8 Supercar has been in development for over 18 months, and it is great that we have been able to get FG01 out on the track so quickly off the back of revealing the new model Falcons.

“Ford’s V8 Supercar teams have been invaluable in having the car we have numbered FG01 ready for a mid-year homologation.”

FPR, Triple 8 (T8) and Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) played a pivotal role in building the FG test car which is called T2 internally – T1 was the test car for the currently raced BA/BF V8 Supercar model.”

“FG01 signifies a fresh look for the Fords, the best way to describe it is that it’s much more aggressive, I think everyone will be really pleased,” said FPR Team Principle Tim Edwards.

As the official Ford homologation team, Triple 8 has been involved in the development of FG01 and they are responsible for technical compliance of the vehicle within the TEGA ‘Blueprint specification’.

Additionally T8 contributed its aerodynamic expertise, designing and supplying components for testing.

Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) assisted with various technical elements of design and integration

“A mid-season homologation will ensure Ford teams are awarded the maximum amount of preparation time for when we’re ready to bring the FG to the track to race,” Price said.

The FG V8 Supercar and Ford’s traditional line-up of Falcon’s will hit the track this weekend at the Midas 400, Sandown Raceway June 7-9, further information at www.sandown400.com.

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Not that there are many limitations on the new FPV range, now a simplified collection of just GT and F6 variants, except for the utilities, which still retain the Pursuit and Super Pursuit names.

In line with the reworked naming of the mainstream models, gone are the Typhoon, Tornado and Force.

The bulk of the FPV range is still as in your face as ever, with bold striping and strong colours in evidence across the range, except for the pinnacle of the GT range the all-new GT E , which has been very much caste in the mould of the Euro executive express.

The GT cars all get the 5.4-litre V8, which has been the subject of no less than 29,000 engineering hours of work to squeeze more power from it and more refinement from the way it produces that power.

There’s a new twin plate throttle body, new camshaft profile, altered timing and new stainless steel straight-through exhaust manifolds, along with a higher compression ratio.

All this means an extra 13kW for a total of 315kW peaking at an all important 6500rpm – 500rpm more than previously. Torque is a fat 551Nm at 4750rpm.
On the road this engine feels eager and powerful, unlike the somewhat lazy version that we found in the FG Falcon XR8 when it was launched a month or so ago.

The V8 is happy to get on with the business and revs freely and strongly, hauling the not inconsiderable bulk of the GT models to very substantial speeds in seemingly short periods of time.

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