NB4C

From my experience, it doesn't do what it's intended to do, and that's maintaining steady traction. My car's only a BF N/A, and the wheels still spin like crazy if I floor it on a wet road - can't imagine the turbo. I have felt it kick in during sharp cornering on wet road, it makes the car vibrate a bit, not sure if it actually stabilises the car - it's not dynamic stability control (which I don't have).

Thanks Cobra, my point exactly. The point of buying a Caterham or Ariel Atom is affordable track performance. We are talking a purpose built stripped down light car with a 4 cylinder engine, not a high tech supercar or F1 car. There is no way a Caterham is worth 100K+ even if it could do 0-100km/h in 3 seconds and produce 1G of grip. It has none of the high tech equipment or luxury you'd find in a conventional car. With out all that weight, it's not hard from an engineering perspective to pull super car numbers. The Caterham should cost 40-50K max, the other 90K is bullsh1t.

They only charge about 4000 pounds more for it to be prebuilt as opposed to 'build it yourself' in the UK, so hand building doesn't add that much to the price. Such a high price defeats the purpose of a simple, road legal go-kart. Cool car, but the price is ridiculous.

Just for giggles and sh1tes: 2009 Caterham 7 CSR200 CVW7 This is a cool looking car, but honestly, I can only see the parts totaling 20K, add another 20K for intangible expenses. http://redbook.com.au/new-cars/details.asp...id=1229A3E6CE7F Redbook price: $129 000 Feel free to add to the list - I get the feeling that it won't be long until someone posts the W427.

You'd think if he could afford a $2M Bugatti, he could afford a measly police bribe.

Silver or Sky Blue look great on the new FG Falcon. I know black looks awesome, but it's hard to keep shiny, absorbs more heat, and hard to see at night.

This is a prime example of a super-lagger. The fan sits in the air intake pipe and leaches energy to keep itself spinning.

Bruno = how far a straight actor would go to pretend to be gay.

Well, considering how the RS is going to retail for around 50K-60K, I would still want AWD. Or even RWD if costs are really that high. The WRX and Lancer Ralliart are AWD, weigh less than 1.5T and cost 40K. Ford's got some serious competition.

Ron, I was reinforcing Evil F6's point about us getting raped on prices. No matter how you cut it, you get a much better deal for the same car in the US.

You know what, Ford's competition rally car was AWD, so it really sh*ts me why they didn't base the production model off that and instead opted for a cheapo FWD.

Thanks for the scan, corzza. Spot on, if you convert the price tag of the 335i, it becomes $AU50-60K - even the M3 sedan costs $US55K+ ($AU70K+). But the Australian market has much higher tariffs than America. A sub 60K 335i right here would absolutely slaughter the local competition and a lot of Aussie jobs. 60K for a 335i or 60K for an F6 - now the bang for buck winner isn't so clear.

Corzza, you have a scanner don't ya ?

Great info, guys. Considering that some Aussie roads will ground scrape most stock cars, lowering isn't for me.

Does lowering your XR6T actually provide any noticeable improvement in performance/stability/handling ? I always thought it was purely cosmetic.

Manuals are very clunky in Falcons, so Auto's the way to go. I see the Falcon as an affordable comfortable sporty car - not sporty enough to justify manual transmission.

We're cool 01txr, I'd be lying if I said most Asians don't drive Toyotas or Hondas. The philosophy is that affordability comes before driving experience. But people like me want something more exciting. As for Euro cars, you'll be surprised how cheap some of them are before tariffs and LCT. Take the BMW 335i for instance: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drive...rticleId=117669 $USD50K ($AUD63K) in the USA vs $110K in Oz. Same story for Mercedes, VW and Audi. Beemers are not that costly to manufacture, it's just that the govt puts up these taxes to protect the local car market and jobs. For $AUD63K, a decent Beemer sh1ts all over the similarly priced Expensive Daewoo Statesman. Some of Australia's Ford and GMH cars are fairly decent, but they need to become more competitive. Not just in price, but also reliability, customer service and weight (for fuel economy). I wouldn't mind if they made the Falcon/Late model camira 200mm shorter (100 out of the cabin, 100 out of the boot) and 100mm narrower - make the seats thinner and you've got your leg room back. That could probably shave off 100kg and some cost.

Easy with the Asian stereotypes, hehe - I'm Chinese. Most of my Asian friends are quite open minded (your workmate might have been one of those hardcases). Asian people usually drive Camrys and Corollas because that's what their parents bought as a family car. Some just follow the crowd because they don't know a whole lot about cars. But I did my research and have found the Falcon to be a great all round package: affordability, comfort and POWAH. Most people I've given a ride to have been quite positive about my Falcon. I even convinced my cousin to get one, he said "screw fuel anal small cars, this car is just wicked". Skylines and Supras are great fun to thrash around on the track - and that's where they belong. But I don't see myself getting one, not refined enough for everyday driving.

Most people who bag out the new falcons are ignorant. They obviously haven't driven or been in one. I sometimes take them for a drive complete with full throttle launches at the lights, that usually shuts them up.

I agree. 5 second 1/4 miles are usually pulled off by top fuel dragsters. An 8s quarter mile would be believeable - a 1700hp viper takes 9s.

Thanks inflyt, I could do with an engine fix too and a tuning company sounds great. My cousin's BA (stock) engine has more punch than my BF (stock). Would you know how their general servicing costs compared to a say ... ultratune ?

Ben, I feel for you. I got my Falcon last year and knew something was up when my local service centre tried to charge me $300 for a new set of keys. It also took them 1 whole hour to bring me a can of touch up paint. Were they really that busy ? This sh1tty level of customer service is why more and more Australians are avoiding Ford - if think that's partly to blame for their 200 million loss the previous year. Btw, my car is due for a service, can anyone recommend a non-dodgy place within 20km of Rockdale ? (doesn't have to be a Ford centre, my warranty expired).

I think of the F6 as a tiger - might have a cute nose and eyes for the sake of looking a bit modest, but everything else about it is pure ferocity. Metrosexual ? ... hardly.

I hope for wider wheels to increase traction. 300+ KW is wheelspin mayhem on the current stocks.

"2010 FPV FG update will introduce a 325KW 5.0l V8 engine" I think there's a good chance this new aluminium V8 would be lighter than the cast iron I6 + turbo. It'll give the new GT a slightly higher power to weight ratio, but seeing as V8s achieve their max torque higher in the rev range - it'll be a tough call.