plonky The Bionic Man - half man-half titanium Member 1,766 Member For: 21y 8m 29d Location: Dodge Scat Pack Posted 08/01/05 11:02 PM Share Posted 08/01/05 11:02 PM This is fun ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatV8 Artificially Aspirated Member 951 Member For: 20y 11m 28d Gender: Male Location: Brisbane Posted 08/01/05 11:07 PM Share Posted 08/01/05 11:07 PM This is fun !<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Plonky, come on! that's the shortest post you have ever made! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTaipan Member 25 Member For: 20y 4m 19d Posted 09/01/05 12:22 AM Share Posted 09/01/05 12:22 AM Live axle? Explain to me what is fundamentaly wrong with the live axle. The Falcon utility uses a live axle with Watts link and apart from a firm ride on broken surfaces, it actualy handles rather well. They grip well and handles well at speed you could say, but its low-speed and handling on sub-standard roads are not so good. Watts link will improve its grip as its basically like having an anti-roll bar... but I think the improved handling it due to the utes having a longer wheelbase more than the suspension...V8 Supercars need the live axle with Watts link due to the enormous horsepower they generate and they are cheap to produce, have enormous longevity and can be tuned effectively with a combination of springs, shocks and bars. They don't "NEED" live axle - there are plenty of independent suspensions which can cope with that amount of load. Watts link is a better setup for a track in their case as cost, setup characteristics and tyre size are limited by the rules. Formula 1 use independent suspension...The SVT Cobra sold in Australia by Ford was not the standard Mustang GT sold in the States.The Cobra has a fully independent rear suspension as well as the 4.6 quad cam Cobra motor.The GT Mustang used a live axle and a 4.6 SOHC engine.The Cobra may have 'only' produced 240kW but it only weighed arounf 1500kg+ and as such had a great power to weight ratio.It is a very good, very powerful and great handling car.The price in Australia was expensive but considering these cars are the only factory produced RHD Ford Mustangs in the world, the price of conversion was included in the retail price. I had the pleasure of driving one of these things for Ford a couple of years ago... I had to drive it in the lunch-time parade of the Ashes cricket tour (lucky prize winner in a competition!). Got the car the day before - bright yellow convertible... we took it from Brisbane to the Gold Coast and back the night before and did the parade before we had to return it... I can't agree at all with the conversion being good value - the build quality was very poor by Ford Australian standards and probably poor by Holden's standards... many obvious things were overlooked - eg the centre console opens the wrong way for the driver (how hard would it be to sway the hinge to the other side!)...So who didn't like the Mustang.....the motoring press...that's who! Basically anything that is built in America has to be bad right? I think when compared with other high-power convertibles and coupe's it was left seriously lacking - even Monaro would make a good case against it, but throw in S2000, Boxster, 300ZX. The thing the Mustang offered that these don't is SOOO much character. It was a delight to drive - yet eternally frustrating too...I'm certainly not a 'bogan' as my previous cars included Mercedes E320, Alfa 147, Subaru WRX, Pulsar SSS, Nissan Patrol Ti, Plymouth Sport Fury, Falcon XR6 ute and currently a Ford Explorer.The Mustang is a great car and Ford needed a 'hero' car at the time it was brought here. I'm thankful it was the SVT Cobra and not the cheap Mustang GT. I definitely agree that it had some tremendous qualities, but it was far from a "great car". The engine was fabulous, steering and grip were good, balance was nice (very easy to hold a power slide - not that Ford needs to know that!), brakes good, ride soft enough for its type of car, but the build quality and lack of versatility would frustrate me too much. If I had $900000 for a second car - I would definitely have it amongst the finalists... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeone Member 349 Member For: 21y 7m 20d Location: Hoddles Creek (VIC) Posted 09/01/05 09:31 AM Share Posted 09/01/05 09:31 AM Okay you win Plonky,(bows out with head hung low) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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