notorious benny

I have just had the same issues ..... I wanted to like the GS ute but while it has that kick arse 5.0 under the bonnet the rest of the package is just low rent :( :( I wish FPV would give us a full kitted out Super Pursuit...... Insead I have just found myself a new E2 Maloo R8 optioned with 20's and leather for 59k driveaway. The new supercharged 5.0 is forcing the HSV dealers to bargain hard for business...... Looks like I will be in the red corner for the next 2 to 3 years ...... hopefully by then FPV will have something a little more palatable for those V8 ute lovers!!

Hi there my '08 FG has premo sound..... will be selling early next year, high 20's is what I will be chasing....

Oh and as for that bloke named Dillz......... What can we really expect from a bloke with a name like that:)

We also have to remember that the 335 kw engine is a replacement for the old boss 315. The GT pricing remains very similar. FPV havn't supercharged the 5 litre to make a 'hero' car. They have supercharged it to give us a euro 4 compliant V8 with a torque curve that suits a near 2 ton car GT and the throttle response that GT owners have been begging for! KW might win the schoolyard argument but we all now its torque and more importantly the spread of torque that makes a car really go!! Just look at a turbo!!

60000 Kays on my FG now. I get between 9 and 11 L/100 on a highway trip. Driven very carefully to get a sub 10!!! 15 to 18 L/100 around town 25 to 30 l/100 on a good blast up a mountain. All these sub 12's around' town' are not doing stop start driving!!! Car is stock manual 08 sedan.

I think your right seduced! I want a civilised GT with great low down lazy torque and a V8 soundtrack. This is the reason I picked the FG Turbo last time around. The Ford/FPV V8 variants didnt have that nice lazy low end grunt and that meant you had to rev em even if your only driving at 6 or 7/10ths (I know, I test drove em). Now that FPV looks to have fixed the torque hole I am officially shopping :) I really couldnt give a rats about how many seconds it runs down the quater, its the tractability for real world driving that I am most interested in. I mostly enjoy my car by heading for a weekend drive on some alpine roads, not for the drag strip....... I think most GT owners would fit that category.

I will be buying a newGT next year!! I can't wait. I have no intention of modifying mine and really don't care if a tuned xr is faster or not....... In fact as long as its as quick as my stock as a rock Fg turbo I will be a happy man!!! For me its being able to own a ford that has a bent eight under the bonnet that can at least match it with the red team........ I really love my turbo, but to be able to own a supercharged factory backed V8......... I reckon 90 percent of owners will be doing what I intend to do and keep them stock in the engine department besides for a daily driven car how much power do you really need???

R1R's are a semi slick compound ..... I was lucky to get 18,000 km out of my T1R's so I dont think the R1R is quite what I am after considering I travel about 35000 kms a year including towing a ski boat.......

Your right, I was happy with the T1R's their dry weather grip was excellent but they werent as good as the factory Dunlop sport maxx's in the wet. Still far far better than the federals in the wet though...... I can get Dunlops again for 380 a corner Toyo T1R's for 360 ADrenalines for 415 Goodyear Eagle F1's for 420 Michelin PS3 for 430 Conti SC 3 for 468 ........ I am not to concerned about the price of any of these and am more interested in what gives the bes wet performance out of them all.......

Update.... The Conti Sport Contacts are in the mix as well now ...... $468 per corner...

Hey guys, I made the mistake of putting cheap rubber on my FG. I currently have Federal 595SS tyres on my FG and I am very very un-impressed! They are acceptable in the dry but in the wet they are bordering on downright dangerous! I previously had the Toyo T1R's on my FG and before that the stock Dunlops. I am looking for stability and wet weather ability, from some research the Goodyear Eagle F1 assymetrtics consistently get good reports. The Bridstone adrenalines seem to get mixed reports and I cannot seem to find too much info about The Michelin PS3's I am shopping in the 245/45/R18 size I am leaning towards the Goodyear Eagle F1's at $420 a corner I have also found a supplier here who will sell me Michelin PS3's for $430 a corner. I am interested in hearing from peoples experiences with Goodyear F1's, Michelin PS3's and Brdigestone Adrenalines........ also willing to consider Conti CS3 tryes but have a feeling I will be looking at 600 a corner for them.........

I have an FG manual, there is plenty of shunt in 1st gear!!

What I am trying to say is that its all speculation......... Where is the official announcement that the XR8 name is being dropped?? GS/XR8 ............. whatever they call it, it will be priced similarly to the XR6 Turbo's. Ford would want a 'meat and potatoes' V8 model similar in price and spec to an SS dunnydore. This is MY speculation, but I would make a small wager that an XR8 model will be announced later this year.........

All this talk of S/C V8's.......... What about the grass roots punter like me?? If Ford put out a great sounding, high revving N/A 5.0 in an XR8 package that is comparable in performace to my stock FG turbo I would buy it in a heart beat. I love my Turbo's preformance and crushing torque at basically any revs, but a 270-300ish KW N/A V8 that's actually goes??????? I am there! Its pure speculation, but I am going to lay down my bets......... that Ford will keep the XR8 badge/spec level and it will have an N/A 5.0 in it. And as this whole thread is simply speculation, how do we know FPV isnt working on getting big power outta the 5.0 with twin tubos?? I mean Ford Aus does like to play with turbos............

I didnt relaise that you got a non colour screen if you didnt option premo sound!! I just thought all XR's came with the colour screen!! LOL With my new knowledge I certainly would tick the option again, my dealer only charged me $800 for the option, a bargain if the colour screen is going to cost 2 grand later down the track.

If its any help to you my manual FG XR has now got nearly 50,000 kms on it and the banging and shunting is no wosre than it was on day one.

LOL!! Of course the point is to get more power out of less capacity!! At the end of the day a N/A EL Falcon can tow 2.3 Tonne...... A modern Turbo is just going to do it all the easier. For any vehicle when your towing a big, heavy load you should always excercise some semblance of mechanical sympathy both for the driveline and the brakes.

A turbo is a turbo......... As long as the bearings dont overheat or starve for oil....... If it wasnt up to the task Ford would de-rate the Turbo's tow capcity compared to the V8's. My owners manual says 1600kg for the manual and 2300 kgs for the auto. Exactly the same as the V8's. (For FG models) When towing my boat the turbo is barely spooled most of the time anyway. It works a bit harder getting up to speed or overtaking, but that's about it. Just did a 1200kay round trip across the hay plains in the middle of February heat with the 1600kg boat and a full car...... the car handled it easily, in fact I would argue that the fat torque curve of the turbo would be far superior as a tow car than the weedy V8 torque curve. I would say the clutch is going to be the first driveline component to show any adverse affects from towing, not the engine or the turbo. So far that's been fine as well, even when pulling the boat out of the water (3 or 4 times a week in summer!). The big six has so much torque that it will pull the boat out with less than 1000 on the tach, so the clutch dosnt cop very much abuse at all. As for the OP wanting to tow above the 1600kg rating I would advise him to do so at his own risk. If you have an accident and are found to be towing above your vheicles rated capacity you can kiss any insurance payout bye bye. They car can probably handle it but can your wallet??

Dont bother optioning it. I have it in my FG turbo and its crap. However I had a good aftermarket set up in my last car so factory sound will never cut it.

I tow a big ski boat around with my Turbo all the time. Why would it hurt the turbo being on boost??? Arent they designed to run on boost?? What do you guys think is happening to the turbo's in a 50 tonne semi? Of course they are always on boost!! Just give it a few minutes when you pull up to cool the oil down before shutting down and its all good. I love being able to overtake and tackle any hills without slowing down, sure beats towing with a POS turbo diesel 4x4!! The only thing I do is leave it in 5th gear for headwinds and hills to save the gearbox/clutch.

Never mind, I searched some of the other threads for reccomendations and I have found myself some Toyo T1R's for 350 each. Mods can delete this thread if they wish.

Hey guys, well it looks like the dunlops on my FG are finally ready to be replaced (26000 kms out of them). The big question is where is the best place to buy that will ship them to me?? I live in the middle of nowhere (griffith) and tyres out here are hellishly expensive. I would really like to buy a decent set of treads like some adrenalines but dont want to be ripped off. What prices are you guys in Sydney scoring your adrenalines for? Are there any other good quality options I should consider? I dont mind paying a bit of money for a premuim tyre, but it would be nice to make sure I am getting a good price for it all the same. Cheers Benny.

Yeah mine recovered pretty quickly too, was pretty stinky though!! The thing was I stepped pretty quick off the clutch and didt try and slip it much for the launch. At the time I thought I was getting wheelspin but the clutch was slipping all the way to 5500rpms I think. Seems to be holding up alright today, giving it some stick to see if it will slip or not and it seems to be okay. So I dont think its completely shagged. I will keep an eye on it, just sussing out my options incase it really starts slipping on me. Is an option 3 really neccesary for a stock FG that normally dosnt get given too much of a hard time on launches. (I am more into brisk drives on alpine roads than drag racing.) What are the lower spec Mal wood clutches like and what are their costs in comparison to an option 3?? Cheers Benny.

Hey guys, took a mate out in my FG turbo today and he wanted to see a launch. (stock FG manual) So I dialled up about 2000 rpm and stepped quickly off the clutch, the car launched hard and snaked around a little, It felt to me like the wheels were spinning off the launch. When I shifted to 2nd the clutch was very soft. Then came the awful smell of smoked clutch!!! Obvioulsy the slutch had slipped pretty bad in 1st gear. Even though we launched hard, it wasnt spinning wheels but slipping clutch!! The pedal pressure has returned since this incident but the clutch still feels just a little light undefoot to me. When I floor it in 5th and 6th I dont seem to be getting any slip, however when I pull up I still get a faint wiff of burnt clutch (this is the same day of the frying). My question is, have I completely destroyed my clutch? Will one frying have ruined it competely? I am normally quite gentle with my clutch and this is probably only the 5th or so go at a launch with it (its got 26000kms on it). Is there anything else I can look for to find out why the clutch slipped so badly?? Finally if I need a new clutch whats the best option for something a little more robust to put in a standard FG T??? WHat price am I looking at? Cheers Benny.

Leave it in 6th and it will read 0 l/100km down a hill!!