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By
EWAN KENNEDY
25 February 2008
Ford has shown its upcoming high-performance Falcon range at
a special media unveiling in Melbourne's Exhibition Centre. An event
that involved plenty of coloured smoke, loud music, OTT presentations
and marketing hype. Just the thing for bold, standout machines like
these latest hot Falcons.
These are the fastest ever road-going Falcons, with the V8
engine used in the standard XR8 now being presented in full GT
specification. Thus delivering 290 kW, with a hefty peak of 533
Nm.
Interestingly, the XR range continues to use the same
designations as in the outgoing BF series, unlike the standard
Falcon range that has seen the vanishing of the Futura, Fairmont
and Ghia designations. So the Falcon XR, XR Turbo and XR8 continue
– but are better than ever.
Falcon XR styling is bold, with a continuation of the
four-round headlight arrangement that has been a tradition with
XRs for many years. That’s complemented by a bonnet with ‘spears’
that flow down into the shape of the big grille.
Major changes have been made to the six-cylinder engine, which
now develop 195 to 198 kW (depending on fuel grade) in the
non-turbo version; a huge 270 kW in the Turbo model, and the full
GT figure of 290 kilowatts in the XR8.
The XR6 Turbo engine has received the greatest amount of work,
particularly in respect to minimisation of turbo lag, and to
fatten out the torque graph. There's at least 425 Newton metres
all the way from a ridiculously low 1250 rpm, up to 5750 revs. Few
engines can manage a peak figure in excess of 400, let alone have
it available to the drivers at virtually all engine speeds. It’s
a real triumph for Australian engineering expertise and we can’t
wait to sample this engine when the first press drive is organised.
A special feature of the XR8 is an exhaust system that bypasses
most of the muffler under certain hard-driving conditions. Using a
system based on the one we know and love in the Aston Martin and
Jaguar ranges this gives maximum acceleration – not to forget
plenty of aural excitement.
Fuel consumption is particularly impressive on the XR range,
with reductions of between two and seven per cent depending on the
engine and transmission combination.
Transmission options will be six-speed manual and six-speed
automatic. Considerable work has been done to reduce the shift
effort on the Tremac TR6060 manual ‘box. Which should finally
make it more user friendly than in the current unit.
Sports seats, enhanced instruments and firmer suspension, not
to forget bigger brakes, all promise to make the FG Falcon XR
something very special for the Aussie driving enthusiast.
Being very aware of the current craze for sporting utes, Ford
Australia will continue to produce ute variants in its new FG
series.
As with the rest of the new FG Falcon range, prices and the
on-sale date for the XR series are yet to be announced. The cars
will be displayed to the public at the Melbourne International
Motor Show from February 29th, and finally go on sale in May.
Prior to then we will have test driven the new Falcon and will
bring details of its on-road engine performance and chassis
dynamics.
Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) is also to introduce variants
of its range, but only the sketchiest of details have been
revealed. None of are engine outputs or acceleration figures.
These will be revealed in June. Again we will sample the quickest
of all Falcons before their release.
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Marque Publishing Company
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