GDH

I reckon it's OK...will want to see one on the road, but the front looks less stylised and fiddly than the VY. Colour's good...reckon we'll be seeing a lot of that blue. GDH

Agree 100% Have seen a loonie in a ute who was so peeved about one of those airport transfer buses (the 20 seaters with the tralier out the back) sitting underspeed in the right hand lane of the freeway, that he passed him down the centre median, spitting gravel and garbage everywhere, pulled back in front of the bus, then jammed his brakes on. Bus went basically sideways to miss him, and almost collected another car in the process. I was about 5 cars behind, and MOST unhappy about the gravel shower...I became most happy with my ABS about a second later. Some people just shouldn't be out there...at all, let alone the roads. GDH

If I could get away with 2 seats, I'd certainly go a 350Z...but last I looked they're dearer than a T by some margin, so perhaps that's not quite a fair comparison. A fairer comparison is probably a GT Liberty...I drove a B4 before getting the T (no comparison), but the GT is meant to be better, so I'd certainly look at one of those now. I would not consider an RX8 - I've had the "pleasure" of an RX7...reliability wasn't its strong suit. It was a lesson for me that Japanese doesn't necessarily translate to good. GDH

Would definitely buy a T if I had my time again...there was nothing at the price point to compete with it at the time, and for my money that's still the case. If I won lotto then all bets would be off! GDH

I usually run BP Ultimate, but have recently changed to Optimax (absolutely nothing to do with the 4c vouchers...). My economy's not quite as good - same driving style - but I reckon that's mainly to do with the high temperatures around here of late knocking the stuffing out of the turbo. Haven't tried normal ULP (shudder!) GDH

Too true. Good on those here who can and do trade their cars in regularly to get exactly what they want - but that's the only reason...to get what you want. Rationalising the decision to upgrade to a GT by believing it will suffer less depreciation (due to relative rarity or whatever) is most definitely not a winning financial strategy, and nor is optioning up a car with every bell and whistle - never has. As an example, earlier model HSVs have terrible resale %, because each new model has more power, better performance and equipment levels, and that's just to keep ahead of std issue SS's. In the end, I need a car for transport, and I want something that appeals to me. In my price range, the XR met my needs and wants best. The train/bus will depreciate a lot less than my car will, but I wouldn't swap my drive for a few grand a year. GDH

Find another dealer... I had a stacker fail in an AU, and Ford replaced it under warranty no questions asked. I use CDRs almost exclusively in my BA and haven't had a problem. GDH

Sounds a pretty fair price...might look into those myself (shortly...) GDH

Hey Daniel - great stuff...have fun! Painting of the engine bay was one of the running changes (post June 03, because mine's black). For a few extra bucks of paint I think it finishes the car off much better. GDH

Went yesterday - definitely worth a look - especially the "assistants" at the Smart stand... GDH

Very happy with blueprint too...lots of em around, sure, but I suspect that's because the car looks great in the colour, it's limited to XRs/FPVs, and they don't show the dust as bad as others Next Falc will be a yellow - I reckon Citric Acid or its equivalent in a few years time... GDH

At $200/month, I would have thought you're the sort of customer they'd really take care of...unless you have to be with Telstra for reception coverage, I'd be looking at taking your business elsewhere. GDH

Congrats Peter - that is a magnificent result! (looks in the piggybank...not enough for a phase 3 kit, but enough for a copy of Motor) Looking forward to the magazine coming out! GDH

And a few years on, they stop pretending about liking you or your car, and assess you based on the real target, your wallet... Debt city here - I had to promise my wife the new kitchen she wanted before I got the car...I think my half of the deal was better. GDH

During the day - 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. I like the XR dash, but if my pride and joy were an SS, I would equally like it...they both do the job. At night, it's no competition... GDH

Missed the article in the magazine, but the newspaper kindly picked it up... http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0...5E13762,00.html Knew it already though. GDH

Bugger. It worked yesterday... GDH

Ok, so how/where do I play the long-distance version? Alright, alright...will put you out of your misery! Here it is: http://ogc.ath.cx/files/tmp/pingu.htm GDH

Ahh statistics...you can make them prove any point you'd like. The raw figures in themselves prove very little, unless they reflect a significant deviation from the overall population. I doubt that there is anything particularly significant in these statistics, as they would more or less reflect the general motoring population...ie people die in car crashes closer to home because the vast majority of trips are undertaken closer to home, men are over-represented in fatals because they drive proportionately more often and further than women, and 18-35yos more than likely drive 40% of all trips, hence would be expected to be involved in 40% of fatals... But they sell papers and they justify increasingly draconian enforcement policies... GDH

Realistically it's Stage 1 for me too - good bang, good bucks, insurance and EPA kept happy. More would be great, but to put it in perspective, most of us weren't in 300KW cars 12 months ago... GDH

True enough, which is why, unless there is an overwhelming reason to announce a series 2 (which for mine means either a significant mechanical upgrade or a marketing tool to address poor sales), there actually shouldn't be one. It only serves to brown off your existing customers - case in point, the AU I/II/III saga made Ford no friends at all. The alloy head on the didn't make it an XD2, a 4sp auto in the EA didn't make it an EA2... Are the BAs selling well? - Yes. Is there a major upgrade on the way? - Dunno. Getting an additional 10KW out of the T, a brake fix and a new colour or two are more in the realm of running changes (that have been occurring since the BA launch anyway). But I reckon I could do a lot worse than be "handicapped" by owning a series 1 T...by the time someone who waits has a series 2 vehicle has their car, I'll have had 18 months of enjoyment out of mine. Swings and roundabouts. GDH

If Ford gave me my $50K back, I'd buy my T again...today. Nothing has come onto the market in the last 6 months that would alter my choice. But in 3 years time, who knows...but so long as Ford keep developing the product, I will more than likely be in another one. GDH

Good advice there...pick the options you want, because you want them. Come sale time, a car with premium brakes, premium sound, 18" wheels etc will be easier to sell than one without, but will not sell at anything like the premium you've paid over the base car. My options? Premium sound (because I'm in the car a lot), metaliic paint (just because...) and mats all round (because interior carpet gets really 2nd hand really quickly without them). Would the car be better with all the other options? Almost certainly. Is it worth an additional $5-10K to get them? For me, no. GDH

6 months old and 23,000km later, no problems/noises so far here. All the best ExAreSix...hope it's flying again soon. GDH

Shouldn't be a problem - there's more than enough scope for your parents to get in trouble driving the car stock... You're obviously too nice - if I'd had a car like this when I lived with my olds, they wouldn't have even asked! GDH