- Doors and Seats
NA
- Engine
4.1, 6 cyl.
- Engine Power
NA
- Fuel
NA
- Manufacturer
RWD
- Transmission
Manual
- Warranty
NA
- Ancap Safety
NA
1987 Ford Falcon Review
The 1980's were notorious for lots of things. Fun things, great things. "Down Under" by Men at Work was a number one hit, the 84 Bathurst 1000 win by Brocky in the VK Commodore, and of course, the XF Falcon. The solely best selling Falcon that Ford has ever made, to date, with a full 278,101 units being produced.
- Reluctant Engine with plenty of potential, Extremely economical, especially on gas, Decent workhorse, Pricing is amazing currently, Looks great in my opinion, the chrome 12 Slotters are gorgeous
- Where do I start, embarassing turning circle, Exceptionally sluggish, 0-100 in about 10 seconds if you're lucky, Bits and pieces have stopped operating properly, completely, recently, Cannot do a burnout at all, foot planted in accelerator and brake is useless, Steering quite sloppy
I personally, am the proud owner of a 1987 XF Falcon Ute, a beautiful specimen in my eyes. She has seen a lot, and in the many years she has been alive, not once has she stopped working the way she should. Now, for the review. The car is an amazing one, a perfect find I like to think, as it happens to be my first car, and although it could be a bit of a fixer-upper in places, it does what it is needed to do. In terms of reliability and durability, so far so good. My passenger door just broke though so that's a fault. Apart from that and the bottom end of the engine not going to well at the moment, its wonderful in terms of those two things. Hasn't broken down while driving yet either, and not many problems before hands from previous owners. Original engine, original tyres to. Its perfect.
Servicing costs wise, I wouldn't know as of yet. Cheap though, no doubt. I bought this car for $200, yes just two hundred bucks. So any parts are made available at just about any scrap yard. New bonnet, new fender, new door. Cheap.
I personally love it. Since it has the canopy on top, its safe to carry things around in. It has the ability to be slept in. Fits a mattress comfortably, and two pillows and you're set for a night under the stars. The driving side of things is pretty decent too. The steering currently lacks a bit but a steering alignment should do her good. Hits corners well, and you don't feel stressed coming in too hard, as the brakes are magical for an older car.
I obviously love a lot. Its an amazing first car, great visibility, not hard to drive, can be fun on a road with good corners, stores what I need it to and in my opinion looks great. Bull bar gives a slight sense of safety as well. But as with any car, be it an Audi R8, a Mazda RX3 or a 80 Series Landcruiser, you begin to find faults. And this car has flaws. The auto is rather lifeless, and I would have preferred a manual but that's not the case. The high beams are good, but general headlights are average. The sound of an old Falcon on gas is cringe-worthy, and the only heads it turns are people at the lights wondering, "What is that horrible sound? It sounds like that car is going to fall to pieces!"
Yep. We all know that sound. Needs a bit of work.
The steering does need an alignment, and throttle response isn't the best. And the interior is rather ugly, but I like it.
My car happens to be the good old 4.1l EFI, pushing out around 120kW to the rear wheels when new. Now, I doubt many kilowatts are left. But the power is there, and the LPG conversion gets great mileage.
In all honesty though, I could go on for ages explaining faults, flaws, perfections and everything I love about this car. However I wont. What I will do though, is give you an idea of what to expect and to look for in an XF Ute if you do buy one.
- High kilometres are inevitable in most cases, but doesn't mean that the engine is an average one. A rattly engine could be bad news, but make sure you have come to terms with the fact that most old cars will have this, and that parts are cheap as chips.
- White is the best colour in my opinion. Looks the best over time and rust is generally always there, but not always noticeable, and white can still make an XF look great.
- Ensure the cooling system is in tip top shape, always problems there.
- Try for the 4.1 EFI, as the 3.3 is embarrassing.
- The list goes on, but remember although this is an old car and it can still be a great car.
And I love mine.
Cheers for reading,
JC