Ford Falcon: FAQs

The original XK Ford Falcon was basically a right-hand drive version of the US model and although it was it was an instant hit as the first serious alternative to Holdens, it proved unsuitable for harsh Australian conditions.

But over seven generations and 56 years the Falcon was gradually localised and its big inline six-cylinder engine became noted for its torquey performance, easy maintenance and low-stressed reliability.

Long before production ceased in 2016, ending 91 years of Ford manufacturing in Australia, there was good reason why the Falcon became the vehicle of choice for the Aussie taxi industry, notwithstanding the transmission and differential overhauls required after about 300,000km.

Indeed, following the launch of the first Aussie-engineered (XM) Ford Falcon in 1964 and the launch of the XP with a 70,000-mile endurance test at Ford’s newly opened You Yangs proving ground in 1965, Falcons began to earn Ford a reputation as being an engineering-led car-maker, in the face of Holden’s stronger marketing might.

The second-generation Ford Falcon (starting with the 1996 XR), including the mighty 1971 XY GTHO Phase III, the third-gen (from the 1972 XA) and the trusty-but-boxy fourth-gen (1979 XD) cemented that reputation, the latter going on to become Australia’s favourite car in the 1980s.

The subsequent Mk5 Ford Falcon (from the 1988 EA) brought a number of class-leading technologies but played second fiddle to the Commodore in the sales race and the Mk6, starting with the ugly-duckling AU of 1988, continued the Falcon’s fall from public popularity as car buyers downsized.

By the time the seventh and final generation Ford Falcon emerged with the FG in 2008, Aussies had fallen out of love with large cars and, despite offering unrivalled value, the subsequent FG X of 2014 ran for just two years until October 2016, ending the Ford Falcon’s run as one of the world’s oldest-surviving automotive nameplates.

Some might say this honour goes to the mighty 1971 Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III, which was reputed to be the world’s fastest four-door at the time, or the 1972 Ford Falcon XA GTHO Phase IV that broke the auction record for an Aussie-built Ford at $2 million in 2018.

Others may say the best Ford Falcon was the final XR6 Sprint limited-edition of 2016, which was all-Australian including its turbo-six, but according to Ford Australia itself the gong goes to the born-again FG X Falcon XR8 released in 2014 and employing the discontinued FPV GT’s locally supercharged ‘Miami’ version of Ford’s Coyote V8.

That depends which Ford Falcon XR6 you’re talking about, since the nameplate dates back to the ED Falcon XR6 of 1993, which produced a modest 161kW.

Falcon XR6s became progressively more powerful over the next three generations, but the big step was the BA Falcon XR6 Turbo of 2002, when the turbocharged version of Ford’s Australian-made 4.0-litre straight six delivered 240kW and 450Nm.

The finest, final Ford Falcon XR6 Sprint of 2016 went out with a bang, slamming down 325kW/576Nm from its turbo-six. This engine offered up to 370kW/650Nm in overboost, making it the most powerful Australian-made six-cylinder production engine sold.

Ford Falcon XR models, powered by either a 4.0-litre turbo six-cylinder (XR6) or 5.4-litre V8 (XR8, which later scored a supercharged 5.0-litre V8), are most certainly muscle cars.

This has long been the subject of debate, since before the Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III was billed as the world’s fastest four-door production car when it was launched in 1971.

At the time, the official outputs of its 351 cubic-inch (5.763-litre) Cleveland V8 were vastly understated at 300hp (224kW) and 515Nm, but its 142mph (225km/h) top speed was not.

Since the 2002 Ford Falcon BA, all Falcon performance models have been speed-limited to 230km/h, so the more relevant question is what is ‘quickest’ Ford Falcon, rather than the ‘fastest’.

Excluding the Falcon-based FPV models, the powertrains of which were transplanted into later Ford Falcons anyway, our testing showed the final 2016 Ford Falcon Sprint limited-edition is the quickest Falcon in the real world.

Unofficially, in 2016 Ford engineers said both the XR6 and XR8 Sprint could hit 100km/h in about 4.5sec, making them about as quick as the 400kW-plus GT-F limited-editions that were widely regarded as the quickest Falcons ever.

But they insisted a well-driven XR8 Sprint manual was the quickest, at “somewhere under 4.5 seconds”, followed by the XR6 Sprint auto and then the XR6 manual.

In our testing, however, the XR6 Sprint was the quickest at 4.6sec – despite the lower power output of its 4.0-litre turbo six (325kW/576Nm, or 370kW/650Nm in overboost) compared to the final XR8’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 (345kW/575Nm, or 400kW/650Nm in overboost).