Ford Falcon is back

Its styling is arguably too derivative and the inline six is already destined for the big engine plant in the sky, but there's life in the Falcon yet. Fresh from around 450km in a range of Ford's new FG sedan six-cylinder models, we can vouch for the effectiveness of Australia's newest large car.

In fact, while we've driven the car in isolation -- but on roads we know well -- we'd go so far to say Ford now builds the best large car Down Under.

Over the next week we'll bring you more details on the new Falcon family, including the single V8 sedan offered -- the XR8. They'll be drive impressions on the base model XT, the Fairmont-replacing user-chooser-focused G-Series range (G6, G6E and G6E Turbo) and the XR sporties, including full specs and confirmation of pricing and options.

In the meantime we felt it important to get our impressions to you as soon as possible.

And they're good... Ford says it sought leadership for the FG range in key areas such as ride and handling, NVH (noise vibration and harshness) and real world performance including fuel economy and safety. While we might argue about the effectiveness of the company's crash rating and safety communications at Tuesday's debut of the first production FGs, we've got few qualms in giving the range a thumbs up in terms of its refinement and dynamic ability.

In short, the car is improved from the BF (and its variants) in a number of key areas. In our opinion it now shades Holden's VE Commodore in terms of an overall package at base model level and above.

The Falcon's base 4.0-litre six is improved for the FG and, soundtrack aside, is hardly recognizable as the engine 'nine out of ten taxi drivers prefer'. Indeed, at 195kW and posting impressive sub-9.0L/100km economy figures on the open road during the launch, it's far too good for Silvertop now.

The I6 is partnered by a new five-speed auto that is lively and responsive. Though the ZF six-speeder remains Ford's 'premium' tranny, the new French-sourced gearbox is a significant step forward from the old four-speed unit.

Holden buyers will effectively have to shop at Calais level (SV6 if you want a 'sporty') to match the refinement and power delivery of this combination. Omega's rattly, at times breathless V6 and four-speed auto are more than ever, simply off the pace.

The FG's overhauled turbo six meantime is a story in itself. It no longer even sounds like a local engine. When provoked it produces a syrupy, aggressive yet flavourful note, that's part-Skyline GTR, part-BMW. While it can be viciously thirsty if you're using all 530Nm-plus, when we could restrain ourselves from exercising its amazing, relatively lag-free midrange, we were able to easily better 10L/100km on the highway.

Already our colleagues at Wheels and MOTOR magazine are talking about sub-5.0sec 0-100km/h times as achievable from a turbo six FG.

Mark our words, Ford will have to work very, very hard to power-up its new generation V6 to match the new turbo I6's combination of refinement and performance, let alone surpass it. Even matching the base engine will be a challenge.

Steering turn-in, accuracy and feel -- an advantage Falcon has traditionally held over Commodore -- is improved, right across the new range. The FGs all exhibit a wieldiness that few large cars (from anywhere in the world) can better.

Also improved is the Falcon's ride-handling balance. Across the four suspension specifications, the compromise that's been struck is top notch. The base XT on its 16-inch steel wheels and conventional profile rubber has a good supple ride and yet it is far from at sea in the twisties. On the gravel, our own Joe Kenwright reported the car was comfortable, predictable and trustworthy. Good news for those country reps out there.

Move up the range and the G6 and G6E tighten up the handling just a touch but still combine good ride comfort with well controlled levels of roll and pitch.

The impressive thing about the more aggressively suspended cars -- the XR sports models and G6E Turbo (which gets its own calibration) is the fact they manage to combine prodigious levels of grip and tight attitude control while retaining more than competitive ride compliance. This remains the case in the range-topping G6E Turbo even on optional 19-inch wheels and ultra low profile rubber.

The suspension clearly has a strong structure to work from. On the mix of mountain and country roads traversed in the first half of the FG launch, we heard not a creak or groan, nor felt a shimmy or shake from the FEU (field evaluation units) cars that make up the launch fleet.

On those same mountain roads, we noted the substantially better sight lines the FG affords -- over both the outgoing BF series and Holden's VE.

There's a palpable difference in the vision through corners. Unlike the Commodore, not once did the writer find himself actively trying to look 'around' the A-pillar. This is a key plus for the FG in terms of active safety, in our view.

Not everything was perfect, however. In the G-Series cars and base XT we found the seat cushion too soft and felt long haul comfort may now be compromised. More investigation is necessary.

The detailing of the front passenger airbag cover is fussy and the quality of some of the trim parts -- such as the gloss detailing on the higher grade models' centre stack -- was not up to scratch. Indeed, the cars driven today all had various trim issues, including a consistent problem at the A-pillar headlining junction.

Falcon and Territory program boss, Russell Christophers told the Carsales Network a number of the issues had already been fixed on the Geelong production line.

It needs to be -- the last BF was built last week and the FG commenced full series production ramp up this week.