- Doors and Seats
2 doors, 2 seats
- Engine
4.0T, 6 cyl.
- Engine Power
270kW, 533Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (91) 12.4L/100KM
- Manufacturer
RWD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2011 Ford Falcon Review
“There goes my license.” I thought to myself as I reached the speed limit on Melton high well within 5 seconds, zipping about in my brand new ride. Pulling up at the lights, I see a beautifully clean Gts-t R32. I looked at him, he looked at me, and we knew it was on. Planting the foot down we both knew this was gonna be close, but as the whoosh from my turbo glistened in the air, he started to fade more and more into the distance. But confused as you may be, this isn't a scene from the fast and the furious my friends. No, this is the (and more importantly my) FG XR6 Turbo Ute.
- Beast of an Engine delivering loads of power to boot, One of the finest & cheapest platforms for modifying & tuning Period, The sound of the turbo spool will make you drool, ZF 6 Speed is a masterpiece
- Cabin lacking in Quality, Chassis can be noisy and of poor quality, This car is a dying breed, Traction Control can be twitchy at the best of times
Powered by the massive Geelong-sourced 4.0L straight six, coupled with the small but potent Garret 3582 Turbocharger, along with a brilliant ZF 6 Speed Auto, this Ute means business and provides almost no lag, and some impressively quick shifting times between gears. The performance figures out of factory are even more impressive with 270kWs (@ 5250rpm) and 533Nms of torque (@ 2000-4750rpm). Place your foot gently on the pedal enjoy the cruise but plant your foot down, hold onto your seats and pray for dear life. Being the young, strapping, man that I am though, this power was only just the beginning. With a couple of thousand in hand, I was able upgrade my intercooler, fuel injectors, dump pipe & high flow cat which gave me a mouth watering 310.9Kw reading at the rear wheels, straight off the Dyno. This is literally one of, if not, the best platform on the market for modifying and tuning, and better yet, IT"S AUSTRALIAN.
But unfortunately (and inevitably in most cases) the car isn't perfect. Firstly, the interior makes my grandmothers 1950's home look modern. I mean sure, the XR stitching on my leather seats are a nice touch, the seats are pretty comfortable (although seat adjustment leaves much to be desired) and the color screen gives the illusion that this is a modern car. Keyword being 'illusion'. Unfortunately the plastics look old and well 'taxi' like in nature and unlike Fords counter part the Holden Commodore, the interior has no real pizzazz. More unfortunate then that, the FG Mk 2 and FGX seemed to not learn from these mistakes. The build quality of some of the components also is less then average in these cars. I've already had to replace one tailshaft (and that was before modification) and I'm sure if you Google searched “Fg Falcon Problems” the list would be abundant. Also if you enjoy hearing strange clunks and thuds then this is the car for you. You'd probably hear less from a Semi Trailer tumbling off mount Everest. But alas these are not enough to ruin my experience with this monster of car.
Believe it or not but Fuel Economy surprisingly isn't as bad as you think. I mean sure, you give it a hard time (within the speed limit of course 'wink wink') and it'll drink fuel like Russian drinking vodka, but if you drive it sensibly, with the occasional squirt, you'll see some impressive fuel figures (sometimes getting over 550Kms a tank, post modification). Servicing also won't necessarily break the budget and although the book recommends every 15,000kms at least, I tend to prefer every 7500-8000kms, you know just to be safe and all that. You can expect to pay 200-300 for these services, as the motor is fairly reliable, even when modified. Strong internals and some of the finest engineering in Australia have made this engine; in particular, the greatest engine to ever be manufactured locally.
The sad part, and hardest for me to see, is that we will not see this fine Australian automotive engineering anymore. With Ford set to close up local shop in 2016 and Holden to follow suit soon after; these types of cars are becoming a dying breed. And so this begs the question. Is this car, the car for you? Well if you enjoy going fast, then yes it is. If you are looking for a cheap, reliable and modifiable platform, then this car is for you. But lastly (and most importantly) if your looking for an all Australian built car that you can be damn well proud of (i know I am) then my friends, look no further, then the Xr6 Turbo Ute. Oh, and if you loose your license, just remember I told you so.