Ford Falcon XR6 Sprint
Australia's Best Driver's Car

13th

Ford's Falcon XR6 Sprint was a late entry in the 2016 Australia's Best Driver's Car, but on paper it showed a lot of promise. A monumental 325kW/576Nm turbo six – with as much as 650Nm available on overboost – an even sportier suspension with asymmetric Pirelli P-Zero front and rear tyres, Brembo brakes and an upgraded interior all spoke of a lot of car with a pre-on roads price of $54,990. At least that was the promise.

Surely there are reasons to get excited about Ford's XR6 Sprint. After all, it's the last in a series of hot six-cylinder Australian Falcons that dates back to 1994. For that reason alone, it would be fair to expect it to be the best ever.

But it's not just the final XR6: The Sprint is also the most powerful six-cylinder production car ever produced by the company.

That's a pretty big send-off and, in fact, if there is one aspect of the XR6 Sprint that got unanimous approval in the 2016 Australia's Best Driver's Car, it's the stratospheric 4.0-litre turbo engine.

Taking some of its mechanicals from the now-defunct FPV F6 (the Garret turbocharger and fuel injectors), the venerable 4.0-litre twin-camshaft, 24-valve 'six' winds out a thumping 325kW at no less than 6000rpm, along with an extravagant 576Nm of torque at a relatively high 2750rpm.

And that's not all. For up to 10 seconds it will squeeze out 370kW and 650Nm on an overboost function that reads the intake air temperature to judge whether or not the extra power is appropriate.

These are enormous figures for a locally engineered six-cylinder that is the basic workhorse for all Ford Falcons today. And they are sufficient to provide acceleration strong enough to overwhelm the traction control system in a straight line, even at speeds above 100km/h.

Perhaps the only negative is that the relatively high maximum-torque rpm means the driver must wait until around 3000rpm before entering warp speed.

Ford says the limited-edition XR6 Sprint (just 550 examples are to roll out of the company's Campbellfield plant) was engineered to be sportier than the regular XR6 Turbo in terms of ride quality with improved balance, sharper steering responses involving less understeer, increased grip and better stopping via a Brembo brake package – all helped along with asymmetric (245/35 R19 front and 265/35 R19 rear) Pirelli P Zero tyres.

That's all pretty heady stuff, and enabled the XR6 Sprint to partly redeem itself in ABDC situations where most of the car's other elements failed to inspire – in some ways undeservedly.

For example, while it drew plenty of negatives regarding its lack of cohesion on the highways and byways of Tasmania, it was something of a surprise on the racetrack. The power of the engine and the surprisingly good balance that had not been evident on the road helped the Ford around the Baskerville Raceway in 1.02.830 – virtually equivalent to the Holden SS V-Series Redline, the Audi RS 3 Sportback quattro and the Jaguar F-TYPE S AWD.

Something of a surprise, as hitherto all ABDC drivers had rated the XR6 Sprint as pretty uncommunicative on the road, citing the roundly-condemned high-set driving position, too-light steering, lack of shift paddles for the recalibrated six-speed ZF auto and the need to be conscious of the sometimes unexpectedly brutal acceleration as reasons for marking it down.

The powerplant did blot its copybook in one way though: The Falcon rated as the second-highest consumer of fuel over our week-long trip, just behind the ultra-consumptive HSV ClubSport R8 LSA.

While the Falcon's on-road dynamics – despite the on-track findings – weren't popular with any of our testers, the ride quality at least garnered some praise. The XR6 Sprint, taken in isolation, is at the sporty end of the spectrum in terms of bump absorption, but in this company the car's overall size and weight combined with its lengthy wheelbase to make it relatively comfy on-road.

It was comfy inside, too, with generous and supportive front seats – only part-powered in typical Ford fashion – and oodles of space, inside as well as in the boot, where a full-size (245/35 R19) spare wheel resided.

But while it did wonders in the engine and chassis department with what must have been a paltry budget, Ford seems to have missed the opportunity to make something more special out of the XR6 Sprint. The interior is glum and monotonous and has only the basics in terms of equipment.

Sure, you get dual-zone climate-control, a quality audio system, sat-nav, leather-suede seats, an electrochromatic rearview mirror and a few trim titillations, but the ambience (not helped by the test car's Smoke colour scheme) remains more taxi than luxury. The two Holdens that featured in the ABDC line-up looked blatantly flashy by comparison with lots of garnishings and lots of electronic trickery.

And the supercharged vacuum cleaner sound of the exhaust was a missed opportunity to trumpet the hot six-cylinder Ford's overwhelming mumbo.

Those things, as much as anything else, turned our crew away from the XR6 Sprint. Although there were some aspects that showed a glimmer of promise, the consensus was that the final, hottest-ever six-cylinder Falcon could – and should – have been a whole lot more.

2016 Ford Falcon XR6 Sprint pricing and specifications:
Price: $54,990 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 4.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 325kW/576Nm (Overboost 370kW/650Nm)
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 12.8/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 304g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP

motoring.com.au’s 2016 Australia’s Best Driver’s Car

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