Mondie

G'day David, Thanks for the update on our car. l have the dealer be calling me on Monday with an update, l hope he tells me the same as what you have. l can live with that. John does seem very keen for the car. Who wouldnt be, its a great looking car. Thanks for the update, Simon

Thanks for posting Lionheart. l am glad to hear that l will be getting what l thought when l originally ordered. On a car of the power of the turbo, both are invaluable. Like you say, now we can get onto more important matters like actually getting our hands on our cars. l will be ringing my dealer in the morning for an update. l hope it is still late next week. We didnt order a sunroof but did go for premium brakes which still means the car has to goto FPV to have these fitted. Hope the delay hasnt been delayed further. We have a guy who is buying our car and l am trying to put him off as long as possible, but l am nearly at the stage where l just have to give it to him. l hope Ford & FPV have got their Sh*t together.

Great review. And notice that the car is a 5 spd manual with TC & LSD. Cool.

that's good news Richdave. My dealer told me last week after he spoke with the tech people at Ford that the turbo, whether auto or manual, will come with LSD AND TC. The brochure was incorrect. Since it has been corrected on the net just confirms this.

l was wondering what everyone else who is awaiting delivery of an XR6T has been told for delivery date. Our dealer says the Ford system shows our car being completed and being delivered on Nov 16th, as it has for the past 10 days. However people he has spoken to controlling production are saying no cars have been delivered yet, even those scheduled for delivery before ours. A firm date isn't available but our dealer thinks he may not receive the car until near the end of the month. Normally this wouldn't bother me too much, but we are selling our car privately and it makes it hard to know what to tell potential buyers. Don't want to hand the car over next week and then have to wait 2 or 3 weeks for the turbo, paying for a hire car!! Anyone else being told similar things on delays??

l would rather the turbo over an XR8. It will be a lighter car, use less petrol, be more balanced, be quieter on the road, and l believe have virtually identical performance to the XR8. The XR8 may have 500nm vs 450, but that 450nm is available anywhere over the middle rev range (2000-4500rpm) The XR8's torque is a peak figure and is likely less than the turbo's at various points over the rev range. Then there is the weight penalty of the V8, probably somewhere in the 50-100kg range. Doesnt sound much, but if it was 75kg, then this is a around 4.5% heavier. The V8 has 20kw (240 vs 260) which is 8% more than the turbo. So the power to weight ratios are very close. The Crumodore SS has 465nm vs 450 for the turbo. but the Wheels road test had the turbo accelerating from 80-120kmh 0.5 sec quicker than the SS in 3rd, 1 sec quicker in 4th and an amazing 2 sec quicker in fifth. Its that lovely flat torque curve at work. But granted the SS likes to rev. So l cant see how the XR8 is going to have any significant advantage if any at all. So why pay maybe 8K more? The bonnet scoop does look horny though.

Yep, that is my understanding too.

l seen an XR6 that had premium audio and it had tweetes mounted in the A pillar. Same as in the up spec AU's. Would you believe the premium audio in the Crumodore SS doesnt even have speakers in the rear parcel shelf, they are all mounted in the front and rear doors. It sounded as bad as you would expect.

When you specify premium audio in the XR6T and so gain the larger colour screen, does anyone know what extra functions it gains? Or is it simply a larger screen to tell you what radio station youre tuned to?

After reading this thread early in the week l called our dealer to try and get to the bottom of this. He called today after having spoken to Fords Tech help, and was told that our car (a manual) will come with both LSD and TC. Apparently the specs brochure is incorrect where it states that you cant have TC with a manual. We found out last week that metallic paint colours arent a NCO either as stated on the spec sheet! l will have to go back and read through some of the road tests l have also, because l am failry sure in one of those the car tested was a manual and l can remember the jurno going on about how well calibrated the TC was. l will be disappointed if we dont get TC as l think its an excellent safety feature and in this day and age would be ridiculous for it not to be fitted to a car making well over 300hp. l guess we will (hopefully) have the car in around 10 days time, so until then who knows what to believe?

If it were me, l wouldnt bother. You will have a brand new car with a 3 yr warranty. What happens if you damage the engine, or worse still have an accident and your insurer discovers the mods? Ford have gone to extreme lengths to make the engine difficult to modify from everything l have read, so who knows what a mod like this may do. l'm sure the computer controlling the engine records all sorts of parameters and has built in diagnostics that, should a engine probelm develop because of the blow off valve, will help Ford techs find the engine has been modified. l think Ford will be closely examining any turbo engines or drivelines that develop problems since the engine is essentially new and relatively unproven.

Superoo, l have asked our local Shell servo here in country Vic when they are getting Optimax and they just dont know. Apparently Optimax is so popular Shell has no trouble selling all they can produce, so why spend money equipping more outlets to sell it. l would have hoped it would come down when it became more popular, but l guess demand is meeting supply hence the price. l too have seen Optimax sell for 6-9 c/lt more than reg ULP. l wouldnt worry that your Turbo will use anywhere near 16.5lt/100km. Sure you may use this for a short time during some hard driving, but you cant drive like that all the time! You wouldnt have a licence for long!! The 13.8 lt figure for our TS is also for a mix of PULP and ULP, probably more ULP than PULP. So if we were to only use PULP maybe this would reduce by 0.5 lt, who knows? l have some old Wheels/Motor mags with road tests on the TS50 where they claim consumption upto 18lt/100. l have never seen anything like that. You have to remember the car jurnos dont own the cars, so flog the absolute life out of them at every chance.

We presently have a TS50 series 1 5Lt that averages around 13.8lt/100km. This is taken from the trip computer that hasnt been reset for several thousand kms. l usually rezero it every couple of months and it comes up with this figure +/-0.1. Driving is probably 50/50 around town/country. We dont drive it that hard. l reckon the turbo will under the same conditions get nearer to 12.5. From what l have read, the turbo guzzles less when youre flogging it, but is less frugal on a long country trip, when compared to a V8. For the sort of performance the car is capable of, that is reasonable consumption l beleieve. The only negative things l have read about fuel economy relate to the XT which uses more than the Late model camira due to its extra weight. At least the Commie has at least one win over the BA!! l understand it prefers PULP but it can safely run on ULP as it has a knock sensor. Our current car doesnt, but l still run it on ULP when l cant get PULP and havent noticed any problems, pinging etc. You will lose some performance but how noticeable it is l dont know, hard to quantify. Probably no greater than the difference between driving on a cool to warm day. l guess it comes down to how much you are willing to pay for the extra performance in fuel costs.

Thanks guys. Just a couple of weeks and my shiny new XR6T will arrive, what a present!

Great photo's Richdave, thanks for taking the time to get and post them. l think Phantom is an excellent colour that will age well, l dont see it as a fad colour at all. It isnt a bright, look at me colour like Holdens Tiger Mica of a few years ago. Hopefully Ford doesnt allow Phantom to become a colour available on all models in the future, but given Ford recent efforts in this area, l believe they will in 12-18 months. Not long to wait, roll on Nov 16th.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. l have had good one, on holidays at the momet so spent the day at home with my family. Got the news that our car was due in on 16/11 when l was expecting it early Dec which put the wind up me as l havent sarted serioulsy advertising the TS50 for private sale yet. And then late in the arvo l get a call from a guy responding to my post on fordforum who sounds very keen to buy the TS. Its all happening!!

Sounds awesome richdave. l cant wait to see them. B) B)

Exactly, that's what l was thinking but you put it into words very well. Spoke to the dealer today, who said delivery has come forward from early dec to 16th Nov. That was a big suprise. Quizzed him on LSD and traction control but he hadnt a clue. Is going to get back to me on it. Hmm.

Agree with you DZ. Nothing can compare to a manual for me. Our current Ford has tiptronic on the steering wheel, and for a short while it satisfied me. But after a while l got bored with the car and hankered after a manual. Our XR6T is a manual, in a couple of weeks l'll be able to let you know all about it!!! Due 16th Nov at the moment.

Hi Richdave, We went for Phantom with Pantom inetrior on our XR6T. If you get the opportunity tommorow l would love to see some photos of an XR6 in Phatom as my wife hasnt seen the colour, and it will help tide me over until the car arrives in Dec!! Cheers Simon

Yep, we went for Phantom with Phantom interior, manual, premium brakes, premium sound, 18's, side airbags, momo wheel, scuffs etc. Went a bit crazy really, but it should be awesome. Still cant believe l paid nearly $700 for a steering wheel, but the momo is nice. Dealer had a car in stock with one and l liked it a lot. Our current car has one and l can see the worth in it. Car is expected in early Dec, plan on calling the dealer tommorow to get an update on this. Was a bit hesitatnt about the phantom interior as l thought it may be a bit loud. But stopped in on a dealer today that had a Phantom XR in stock with phantom inetrior and it looks nice, sporty without being tacky. Whew.

Hi Cro, that's just ridiculous. They obviously dont want your custom. that's nearly 10% of the cars replacement value. Do you intend going for the turbo, or are you now looking at other car options? Tried many oter insurers?

Congratulations on the order, especially since you got a better offer form another dealer! Helps pay for all the extras hey, probably feels like you got some of the goodies for 'free' now. We had to shop around a lot before we could find a dealer that was willing to actually discount a turbo. Most would just smile at you, write out a quote at list and then offer you a set of floormats as a sweetner. Yeah right. that's gonna be one wild ute!

One of the few negative things l have read about the XR6T is the potential insurance cost. l was pleasently suprised when l went into our local RACV branch last week to get a quote on our XR6T, l was quoted only $481 (our current car, a TS50 is also with the RACV at $850) Should mention we live in country vic, l am 32, my wife 27 and we are both rating 1. Makes me wonder what all the fuss is about, l guess the WRX can be ridiculous to insure, so the XR6T was assumed to be in the same basket. So how has everyone else got on with insurance? Have you been able to better my RACV quote?

Cost us an extra$1500, oh well its only money hey? Because we went for premium brakes we had to cough up another $300 for the spare alloy also. It will all be worth it though. Cant wait!!