Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo 2007 Review

Overall Rating: 2.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.5/5.0
Safety: 2.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.0/5.0
X-factor: 3.0/5.0

Ford Performance Vehicles builds really good versions of Ford's more basic XR models. A joint venture between Ford Australia and Prodrive, FPV puts together a relative handful of sharp-edged versions of Ford's sedans and utes. They tighten normally sloppy suspension, redress the exterior, smarten the interior and boost performance… A lot!

Despite having a plethora of grunt, the car tested here is not an FPV product. Not by a long shot. Rather it's a turbocharged version of the long-running Falcon XR6.

Sticking a blower onto the venerable inline six boosts the Falcon's power from a respectable 190kW to a heady 245. More importantly, torque increases from 383Nm to a whopping 480Nm-- and at just 2000rpm. For the record the XR6T just misses out on being Ford's most powerful in-house model -- the XR8 packs 260kW and 500Nm. Mind you it's also almost 200kg heavier than the six-pack Falc.

Drivers of Ford's own turbocharged Falcon must pay $750 extra to take hold a chunky steering wheel that is adjustable for both reach and rake. This is manual, not electric; a point worth making since our XR6T also had electrically-adjustable alloy foot-pedals (also optional). Also electrically adjusted was the driver's seat-base height -- although the more-frequently moved seat base and backrest adjustments are manual.

The optional steering wheel includes controls for cruise control and the audio system, although they are not illuminated.

Despite the odd choices of what's electric and what isn't, the driver is pampered. The deep seats are heavily bolstered and supportive and the 'you-beaut' ZF six-speed auto gearbox seemingly reads your mind. It really is the best in the business.

However, for this tester, the grunt and the silky drivetrain is all but spoiled by some careless design details -- many of which are arguably a function of the way cars have moved on and the base Falcon showing its age.

We found the exterior mirrors, while stylish, were too small. The central storage bin has only one level and isn't lockable, and the central info screen displays details about the heating and sound system -- but not the trip computer functions, which are in another screen in the instrument binnacle. Furthermore, the graphics of the main instruments are too busy and aren't easy to read at a glance.

Yet it's outside the cabin that Ford's lack of attention to detail is most obvious -- the boot-lid is entirely unlined, with sharp-edged metal-pressings ready for unwary fingers -- or luggage. More obvious but less likely to cause injury, the plastic skirts on the bright orange test car were a distinctly different colour to the steel bodywork, while shut-lines between doors, bonnet and boot lid ranged from acceptable to gaping. And judging by a bevy of scars on our tester, the long, low and deep chin-spoiler falls victim regularly to suburban speed-humps, streetside gutters or raised road repairs.

Clearly, regular drivers/owners will learn the whereabouts of all the controls and learn to read the instruments at a glance, while reduced ground-clearance is one of the prices you seemingly have to pay for driving big, heavy cars with lots of performance. But mismatched paint and sharp edges should not exist this late in a car's build life.

In contrast, the XR6 Turbo rewards its keeper by shrinking distance between points on the map, expanding gaps in traffic and distorting time (and the faces of its occupants) with its effortless, eyeball-unwrapping acceleration. It corners flat, offers a firmly sprung but well resolved ride and predictable, if unexciting, steering.

However, perhaps the saddest part of the XR6 Turbo's failure to deliver affects its admittedly prodigious performance -- the standard stability and traction-control system is not up to scratch. As fitted by Ford, the system is slow to react, inflexible and shuts down all progress when lesser cars manage quite well with merely restricted power delivery.

Specifically, damp asphalt will allow the keen or more tellingly clumsy, drivers to get the car into generous opposite-lock slides before the electronics slams shut the power with often unpredictable results. Most rival traction control systems are instantaneous, progressive, subtle and imperceptible -- not so the Ford system which is tardy, abrupt and total.

Perhaps more irritating than dangerous, on the hard-packed but admittedly steep dirt road to Chez Kealy, the rear-wheel-drive XR6 Turbo managed only 40 metres or so before grinding to a halt in a paroxysm of confused electronics. And this is a road which offers no insurmountable problem to the traction control on a front-wheel drive four-cylinder Holden Vectra.

The shortfalls in the traction, stability and grip systems are not replicated in the braking department, where ABS and brake-force distribution systems are predictable, seamless and unobtrusive -- as they should be.

With apparently deleted details such as a boot-lid liner, covers over vanity mirrors and locks in consoles, there's a suspicion that the XR6 Turbo's been the victim of some unsympathetic corporate cost-cutting.

Though the standard XR6 Turbo packs some serious kW/$, adding options soon gets the price above $50K. The message is clear: if you want a high-performance Ford, spend the money and buy one… From FPV.

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