By EWAN KENNEDY
2 January 2006

There are some excellent bargains to be had in Ford Falcons sold as new cars during the late 1990s. The AU series, introduced in September 1998 had radical, new-generation styling that didn’t sit well with the conservative people who move in family-car circles. Resulting in lower than average resale values for smart punters to take advantage of.

The so-called ‘waterfall’ grille in the lowest cost model, the Falcon Forte, was one area of concern, but it was the tail that received the most criticism. It fell away sharply and gave the car a weak appearance totally out of character with Falcon's tough reputation. Facelifts to AU series II in April 2000 and to AU III in November 2001 toughened up its appearance by courtesy of standard rear wings to fill out the shape of the rear. They also had a boxier bonnet, squarer bumpers, even side skirts, but to no avail.

Ford Australia gave the AU a huge facelift to produce the BA Falcon and introduced it in September 2002. This more-conservative car was a success but still lagged behind the Commodore in the sales race most of the time. The BA was further upgraded to the BF Falcon in October 2005, but visual differences are only obvious to keen car spotters. There were major changes to the transmissions, however, more about them later.

Falcons have seating for five adults, though they more suited to four as rear-wheel-drive means the transmission tunnel takes up a fair bit of foot-room in the centre-rear position. Legroom and headroom are ample for all but the largest adults. Some find the relatively steep slope of the roof makes it awkward to get into both the front and rear seats, even bumping their heads at first attempt until they learn the lesson.

Boot space in the sedan is good, but should be better - the area is rather shallow in the older models and the slope of the bootlid on the AU reduces its useability. At least it’s easy to load thanks to a good-sized opening. The BA is noticeably better, though still on the shallow side. Falcon station wagons are great load carriers, being built on a longer wheelbase than the sedan so they have a long, wide, practical cargo area. Incidentally, the rear end of the BA wagon remains virtually identical to that of the older AU.

These are big, rugged cars that cope extremely well with the vagaries of Australian bush roads. Comfort is good and passengers can step out of a car after a trip of hundreds of kilometres still feeling fresh and relaxed.

Handling is surprisingly good for a car of this size and mass. You wouldn’t call it an agile machine, but the big Falcon holds on at speeds far above those likely to be attempted by sane drivers.

Ford's six-cylinder engines all have a capacity of 4.0 litres, but come in several formats, including some with a turbocharger. The standard AU unit is good enough in its own right, but the BA’s six-cylinder is noticeably better. An interesting variant on the six-cylinder is a dedicated LPG engine. Very common in taxis, but less so in private cars, with the exception of in Victoria, this engine is all but indistinguishable from a petrol unit to drive. It’s quite a bit thirstier than the petrol, so fuel range suffers. LPG costs considerably less than petrol, often being only around half the price.

Ford fitted a 5.0-litre V8 to the AU, but it didn’t have a lot more performance than the six-cylinder units. Much better was the BA. It came with the choice of two new V8s, both with a capacity of 5.4 litres, one with a single-cam cylinder head, the other with a twin-cam setup.

Manual gearboxes are rare and probably best avoided in all but the sporting XR6 and XR8 as they can affect resale. The manual was a five-speed until the October 2005 BF series, when a six-speed was installed. Note that we aren't covering the high-performance Tickford and FPV variants in this feature, they are sufficiently different to be the subject of a separate write up.

Automatics were all four-speed units until the launch of the BF, when they leap-frogged five speeds altogether to go to a sophisticated six-speed ZF unit. The latter, only fitted in the topline variants, is a real beauty. The rest of the range stuck with the four-speed, albeit with some updates.

Prices for spare parts, servicing and repairs are very reasonable. There are Ford dealers just about everywhere in Australia. Most spare parts for the Falcons covered here are readily available, on some older cars a few bits may have to come from a parts recycler.

These are very simple cars to work on, with plenty of underbonnet and undercar space.

Insurance is often dearer for a V8 Falcon than a straight-six, and dearer again for a turbo six. Even then, prices are pretty reasonable and premiums for the everyday models are invariably at the lower end of the scale.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Engine wear is indicated by a reluctance to start and by smoke from the exhaust and/or oil filler.

Four-speed automatics can cause problems on hard driven cars. Make sure they change gears cleanly and don't hunt up and down. Be suspicious of any automatic that’s slow at going into gear from Neutral or Park.

Listen for a whining differential when driving at around 60 to 90km/h.

Tens of thousands of used Falcons will have been taxis at some time in their life. Look for vinyl, rather than cloth, upholstery, severe wear both inside and out, holes where signs and a taximeter have been removed and a paint respray. Be wary of any Falcon running on LPG. Gas powered private cars are quite common in Victoria, but rare elsewhere in Australia.

Check the cabin for damage caused by wild kids. In station wagons have a good look at the load area for signs of commercial use.

Rust is far less of a problem in these newer Falcons than old ones. To be on the safe side, check the door lower corners, door sill panels, mudguards and bootlid. If you do find serious rust the car may have been badly repaired after a crash – a good reason for steering clear of it.

CAR BUYING TIP
Family cars can suffer in resale value when fuel prices rise sharply – so it’s a good time for the canny buyers to make a move.

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