Ford Falcon G6E EcoBoost 2012 Review

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $46,735
Options fitted (not included in above price): Metallic paint $NCO
Crash rating: Five-star (ANCAP)
Fuel: 91 RON ULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 8.5
CO2 emissions (g/km): 201
Also consider: Holden Berlina 3.0 SIDI (from $43,490); Skoda Superb Elegance 118TSI (from $45,990)

Remember when Ford planned to close down the Geelong engine plant and have a four-cylinder car join the Falcon and Territory on the Broadmeadows vehicle assembly line?

The company long ago gave up its plans to build the third-generation Focus here, but there is a four-cylinder car now being built on the production line nonetheless. It's a turbocharged 2.0-litre version of the FG Falcon. Available in XT, G6 and G6E levels of trim, the Falcon EcoBoost delivers 90 per cent of the power developed by the venerable 4.0-litre Geelong-built six, for a combined-cycle average fuel consumption figure 85 per cent of the six's.

Looking at those stats, you could be forgiven for wondering why Ford went to the trouble of re-engineering the Falcon for such diminished returns. Well, for starters: it's a back-up plan if the Geelong plant where the six is built ceases to be deemed economically viable. Plus the four-cylinder is ready to be certified Euro 5-compliant at a moment's notice. 

The EcoBoost tested is the G6E variant. It's a very pleasant place to be, although some will argue that the interior design and fittings are conservative. As one would expect of the flagship model (among those variants powered by EcoBoost at least), the G6E offered some niceties; among them auto-on headlights, one-touch key start and Bluetooth audio streaming. A USB port under the lid of the central armrest in front would charge a smartphone or iPod and the car would also pair easily — very easily — with the former, as well as stream music, either wirelessly or by the USB lead. Pairing the phone and having it reconnect each new day was quite straightforward.

Behind the wheel, everything about the Falcon G6E EcoBoost was familiar, until you turned the key. While it remains a quiet car overall, the engine is plainly a four-cylinder from start-up and when it's under load.

As the writer noted during the local launch of the EcoBoost Falcon, the engine note is not especially thrilling. In fact, the Honda Accord Euro long-term test vehicle currently on our fleet is aurally more appealing at any revs. The EcoBoost engine has a sort of clinical quality about it, which becomes quite dramatic as it surges up to the redline. At freeway speeds there's not so much as a whisper from the engine and there was very little noise from airflow over the body or where tyres contacted the road, but road noise was more apparent on coarse-chip surfaces out in the country.

Over the week in our possession, the G6E EcoBoost posted an average fuel consumption figure of 10.6L/100km, which included a lot of peak-hour commuting, some hard driving in the country and about 80km of freeway cruising. That splits the difference between combined-cycle (8.5L/100km) and urban cycle (12.2L/100km) fuel consumption.

In the real world people can probably live with a figure of around 10 litres.

Power delivery feels a little 'doughy' unless the driver floors it, pushing the accelerator beyond the 'bump' in the final stage of travel. The engine is not like earlier turbo fours, where power comes in late and with a rush. As a matter of fact, the four-cylinder does a fine job of emulating the power and torque characteristics of the six, although the 4.0-litre engine is just that bit easier to drive around town and requires slightly less determination to extract optimum performance.

Torque is channelled to the rear wheels through a ZF six-speed automatic transmission, but it's the lighter HP21 unit, rather than the HP26 fitted to the six-cylinder variants. Gear changes remain very smooth and the transmission responds quickly to the driver's demand for a lower ratio (by pushing the selector forward in the sequential-shift détente to the left).

There are various ways in which the vehicle tested exemplifies the way Falcon is evolving, whether it's Ford righting minor wrongs of the FG model at launch, or the differences the four-cylinder engine has wrought on such things as weight distribution and the effect that has on passive dynamics.

As we reported during the local launch, steering is much lighter than in the six-cylinder models, but feedback through the wheel remains true to form. The Falcon EcoBoost keeps the driver very well informed of what's happening through the wheel, and the large sedan also turns into corners promptly and holds a very precise line once committed.

In early FG models there was often some rack rattle encountered at times, but with the EcoBoost Ford engineers have remedied most of that.

From a handling perspective, the lighter, shorter EcoBoost engine has sanded back some of the Falcon's rough edges. Tidy and consistent cornering is the order of the day.

On a trailing throttle the EcoBoost Falcon was very well behaved. It refrained from stepping out at the rear and roadholding was admirable, even on damp roads. Eventually the Falcon will push its way out of a bend when gentle power is applied from the apex, but even nearing the extremity of its limit of adhesion the symptoms are tell-tales rather than full-blown understeer.

Stability control reacted quickly to quell power oversteer and seemed to cut in at lower speeds and sooner than we recall of earlier FG Falcons.

So the EcoBoost notches up incremental gains for Ford's large car. The four-cylinder engine is perhaps not the major paradigm shift everyone expected, but wherever it has made a difference to the Falcon the difference has been worthwhile.

As a result, this drivetrain combination in this package is a much better outcome than perhaps buyers appreciate. Certainly that's what the sales figures are telling us.

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