harryh

Just heard that they are killing off the FPV badges (GS, GT, GT-P) to be replaced by XR8 Badge. I know the XR8 Badge is generally well liked but to replace the iconic GT badge with XR8.... what are they smoking? I will have paid off my G6E turbo in 2015 and was hoping Ford would release a GT HO to sign off the Falcon Nameplate in style.... but nope, they are killing it early. Looks like I will be buying the 430kw HSV..... I never thought I would consider it as I have been in a Ford family since the 70's and have owned 9 of them, 7 from brand new. Mustang looks great but I have two kids so for a big affordable (relatively speaking) family car, Expensive Daewoo is the only game in town. It's actually quite depressing!

Create fear and guilt to get people to accept a tax that will have absolutely no effect on the climate AT ALL.... Sounds like the brain washing of a religious cult. Our government and the green movement are criminals.... This is simply theft. I am all for a clean planet and environment but a carbon tax will not change anything. We still sell the tools of pollution to the rest of the world but tax our people for using it.... Where is the sense.

Yep, all of the above. I call it "death by 1,000 cuts". Slowly let it die by doing just enough to make it appear like you are trying though clearly not enough to make a difference. Then when it has reached a low enough point, it's easy to justify closing it down and moving offshore. They will say "we tried everything and we have been forced into this move" along the way they will soak up tax payers money as we try to bail out the sinking ship.

Can't believe people buy performance cars, mod the for extra power then put crap rubber on them so there is no traction. Paid 435 per tyre for Goodyear assymetric 2 and they are worth every penny.... They are absolutely amazing in the wet (better than the original dunlops in the dry and the dunlops are not cheap) and even better in the dry. The only thing keeping you on the road is the rubber so I can't understand the compromise ppl are making. Why bother improving your brakes/suspension/power and put cheap rubber when all three are compromised by crap rubber.

GT - sure the handling is better on the six but how often is that going to be a problem? However the luscious noise of the GT will bring continous pleasure.

Yep, I would be annoyed but I gotta say, "suck it up princess"..... Tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Great for young blokes and sheilas. Once you have driven a car with g6e t power it would be frustrating to drive one of these under powered cars IMO. Sure, it handles better but if you are going around corners faster than you can in my g6e t, then you are going way too fast. The only place you could use the potential extra corner speed is the track. I do think they are great value for money and are fantastic for their demographic (I would have bought one when I was single and in my 20's) I hope they sell heaps.

Had my g6e t since oct 2010 and done > 35,000km and has not skipped a beat.... I don't drive like a grandpa either as I average 15l/100km. Annihilated an ss in a drag this week and my car is stock and he had his car rolling before launch. Would be disappointed to be in an ss when pulling up to turbo fords.

Nice work and thanks for the pics. Re tyres, I put on a set of Goodyear F1 Assymetrical 2 and the difference in traction is amazing. I have now have more traction in the wet than I had on the original Dunlops in the dry. They were expensive but certainly worth it. My car runs stock and I have trouble breaking traction in the dry and it takes a heavy boot to break it in the wet where before with the dunlops it was very easy to break traction in the wet.

I drive a G6E Turbo though my next car will be the GT-P. The F6 might be "the pick" according to some and the turbo rush is a lot of fun though I love the sound of a v8. My brother has a BA GT and the sound of the car in the underground car park today was spine tingling. My Turbo eats his car for breakfast but for smile inducing sound, you cant beat a V8 and the new SC V8 is super fast too. I dont give a poo what the mags and reviews say... I am not racing at the track so the better handling from the lighter front end wont make any difference to me. Both a fast bricks but the GT sounds heaps better.

I towed a big trailer full of a stack of rubble with my G6e turbo - over a tonne - and I could barely feel that I had a load on the back compared to my uncles Nissan patrol diesel with which I towed a similar load the week before and was constantly aware of the load. The biggest danger is forgetting you have a load out back and having an accident as a result. Love this engine!

Iam no engine expert however having a small engine delivering high power via a turbo would surely create more stress on the engine. They probably try to overcome the stress issues by having stronger internals however if there is any weakness it would surely effect longevity. My work colleague has had two audi a3's both turbo's and both were sold shortly after finding metal shavings in the oil. He has now purchased a territory diesel. A small turbo is different to our 4l turbos because the larger engine does not need to use the turbo all the time because the base power of the engine is enough 90% of the time. The small engined turbo needs to use the turbos all the time because the base engine is underpowered. I think longevity will be the ongoing issue for all these new cars going for the small engine higher output option. This is not an issue just for ford... Most mid size cars are 1500-1600kgs these days so they all have to pull weight and burden their turbo engine. Fleets won't care because they sell the car before the warranty is finished though if I was buying a family car, I would go the straight six and if not turbo, I would go the new LPG.

People love to bag fords saying they are crap but my experience of my Honda accord euro luxury purchased as new has been crap... Problems: machined disks at 25,000 km, replaced at 30,000km - only after winging like a bitch. Incessant squeaking from the steering wheel. Leaking sunroof. Rattle coming from the brakes when going over bumps. My mate has the same car and 90% of the same problems. Then it weighs almost as much as the 4 cylinder falcon with much less power and half the torque coming in at much higher revs so is almost 2 seconds slower in the 0-100km/h time. Why is everybody knocking the 4 cylinder engine.... It will be quicker and better to drive 90% of 4 cylinder smaller cars so people won't be buying better performing alternative by going to honda/Mazda/subaru. Then you get big car space with better performance and comparable fuel economy. Anybody comparing this to the rubbish 4 cylinder Late model camira from the 70's-80's shows a complete lack of understanding about the modern turbo engine vs old 4 cylinder engine. The above does not make me believe it will work perfectly from a sales perspective... Ford marketing will be sure to scuttle potential sales succes. The lack of factual understanding re the engine performance of this car from supposed car buffs has me holding out little hope for better understanding from the general public.

Given almost everybody here has the turbo, the answer is obvious. Nobody here is thinking "I wish mine wasn't a turbo". If you go the n/a you will be saying "fark I wish I had the turbo". If you want one that's less likely to be flogged, buy the G6e turbo, they are only driven by cardigan wearing lawn bowlers.

I have read your book, well done. Interesting, thought provoking and sad, particularly thinking of those that lost their lives because of other dick heads. Surprised you are sane after seeing the stuff that you have! Couldn't put it down and finished it in a day. Everybody should read the book, makes you realise that as good as we think we are, sh*t happens and people die so we should think before we speed up the dying process by driving like dick heads.