By EWAN KENNEDY 
14 August 2006

Ford has given selected media an advance look at the upcoming Mark II version of its BF series Falcon. We haven’t seen the car in the metal at this stage, but Ford is anxious to steal some of the thunder from Holden's new VE Commodore so has come out with information almost two months before new Falcon's release.

Fuel economy is of vital importance to all buyers at present, and no more so than in the large-car market. Ford made numerous changes to the BF Falcon to gain real decreases in fuel consumption and has again moved to further make the car use less petrol.

With its standard model, the Falcon XT, official fuel consumption is 10.7 litres per hundred kilometres. This has been dropped from 10.9 litres per hundred in the original BF. Coincidentally, the VE Commodore has a figure of 10.9 litres.

Ford Australia president, Tom Gorman, smiled as he said that Holden is simply playing catch-up to Ford in the economy stakes.

Even more interesting is Ford's decision to offer the six-speed automatic transmission as an option in all models of the BF II range which don’t have it as standard (the exception is the LPG engine which continues to use the four-speed auto). Thus the Falcon XT, Futura and Fairmont can be bought with the six-speed.

Fuel consumption test figures with the six-speed automatic drop to a meagre 10.2 litres per hundred. That is a further half a litre down on the Falcon BF II four-speed, and 0.7 down on Commodore models, which aren't offered with a six-speed auto.

Based on these figures the Falcon will use 105 litres less petrol if you travel 15,000 km in a year. Or about a tank and a half of ‘free’ petrol. Of course, you will be asked to pay more for the extra efficiency of the six-speed auto, and Ford Australia won’t tell us how much at this stage…

Styling wise, Ford has changed the look of the front of the Falcon more than is usual in a simple facelift. Principally by introducing a new bonnet that has a tapered shape to highlight an aggressive looking radiator grille. The front bumper has a squarer look and features strong horizontal shapes. The air intake in the lower surfaces of the bumper carry this theme to an even stronger extent.

There are also changes to the shading of the headlight surrounds to make them stand out in a bolder fashion.

Fairmont Ghia has been particularly singled out in the facelift, with Ford's stylists chasing a European sports/luxury look for the car.

As we said, we haven’t seen the new Falcons in the metal, but in photographs it certainly comes across as a striking body shape.

The interior gets a revamp as well, with new colours and trim design as well as some changes in materials.

Ford won’t announce prices of the new Mark II range until close to its release. President Tom Gorman says Ford is still examining details of the new Commodore and that Falcon, "will be competitive in price". Of particular interest will be the cost of the six-speed auto option, as that transmission is a real trump card in the fuel economy battle.

Gorman wouldn’t admit to being surprised by the big price drops in some Commodore models, up to $8400 in one case, but appeared very confident that Ford Australia could remain in the battle for buyers’ minds in the large car market.

We will have our first test drive of the BF MkII Falcon early in October and will bring you full technical information and detailed driving impressions immediately following that event.