Some News, Territory Turbo-based F6 X'

[G6ET8U]

I reckon you are right too ZAP, and it is such a shame. Ford may not like the aftermarket or indeed agree with what they do to their cars, but to ignore it is stupid. Look at the VL Calais Turbo, why are they still getting good money for them now? Because they were great cars back in their day but moreso because they were embraced by the aftermarket, with this happening, then the general public will create a 'cult car' status similar to the WRX to Subaru.

The turbo Falcons and other variants need to be this car for Ford. For god sake they already are... look at how many people have gone far and beyond on their XR's and F6's... they might only make up a slight part of the new car market but the aftermarket and beyond is just an amazing marketing tool for Ford and FPV that they have to spend no money on that will keep giving returns well on it to the future.

To me the VLCT is just this kind of car. It's a hero car for the kids that is attainable, just like the XR6T is now but it has seen Expensive Daewoo through a tough period that was the VN/VP/VR/VS and the berth of and success of HSV, it was a platform with which to build from. That period of time was Holden's time, this is now Ford time. As it was when they had XR/XT/XW/XY. But they didn't capitalise, they went someway by having the XE ESP in the end but that was it and they pulled the pin after that. Right at the time that Expensive Daewoo took over with the first of the HSV's in the VL Group A SS Walkinshaw.

It is time to make something special, something that will stand the test of time and provide a platform for them to build upon.

If I can see it and I reckon so can you, why can't the people who actually control the brand?

Jack

Edited 18/11/07 12:48 AM by Dagabond

[ZAP]

I understand what you are saying, but Ford/FPV also do not give a toss about us once we buy the car. This is very evident by their very poor after sales service that we have all experienced to some dissapointing degree.

About the only car maker I can think of that has developed a car for the modders would be the Chrysler 300c and I think this was more accidental than deliberate.

The VL makes no money for Expensive Daewoo now and is a bad memory, that won't go away. It reflects back to a very dark time in Holdens life when they had to import motors from Japan as they did not have anything suitable. Expensive Daewoo make no money off the VL as Ford do not make anything from a million dollar GTHO. It is all just branding that seem to be the only thing Holden/ford think we care about. Myself and I am sure a majority of this forum, buy cars based on merit and requirements, not brand. I will not buy another Ford unless it is the best car for my needs and budget.

[iTec]

what merit is there in 90% of this forum? we drive a 4 door 1.8ton car to work alone, wont let the wife drive it because we have spent 20k making it more powerfull then 99% of cars on the road. Yet we can still only do 60kp/h for 99% of the time we are driving and that's if we arent stuck in traffic!

as for VL's not making Expensive Daewoo any money that's rubbish..

I grew up wanting a HO... I grew up and got a XR... branded by ford as a seven year old, the day I learnt what a HO was, the kids of today who grew up watching brock and skaife, whilst ford was off killing there v8 program, are now in SS's are they not?

why did the turbo sell so well? it drinks as much fuel as a v8, is speced the same, has the same insurance costs but it was cheaper to modify... and it bought a hell of alot of people into ford dealerships that otherwise would not have because of the hype and reputation it had earnt.

ford has done some things to help that cause... fixing the issue with the cylinder wall in Mk2's it was a non issue unless you were pushing big power, ford fixed it, valve springs were an issue early on, ford added stronger ones in mk2, again not an issue in a standard car, stregthening the bottom end in BF's? last time I checked there werent to many rods getting throwen out the bottom of stock motors (yes it does happen but enough to upgrade every motor of the production line?)

as for fords after sales service, keep in mind that very often you are not dealing with ford directly, but rather a company that represents ford and has there own agenda and bottom line to protect. if your not happy with a dealership go to another one!

you are buying a GTR, an absolute weapon of a car? is it a car that you need? does it meet all your requirements for a practical family car? or is there just that little something else about the car that made you lay down a large chunck of cash?

[ZAP]

Nick,

I do not think you have read my post throughly.

The VL and GTHO does not make any money for Expensive Daewoo or Ford NOW, it is only brand awareness (or marketing) that brings any benifits to these companies.

The VL Turbo sold very few cars as they were released during high intrest rates, skyrocketing fuel prices and the persona of a V8 being a real mans car.

The Ford Turbo cars sell ok, but not well on the scheme of things. The ratio of NA to Turbo XR6's I bet would be 80:20 I would think as fuel and insurance costs turn most average drivers off the Turbo.

The block shifting problem was a manufacturing fault and would have been rectified purely for specs, not for people wanting to run 15+ PSI through the motor.

The same goes for the valve springs and rod upgrades, many stock cars showed problems as they get worse with age and are failing durability tests. We have several Ford engineers on this site, and I would bet that Ford build to the $ not to the minority of people who modify their cars.

As for Ford service, you do not see many "good service" stories here. I am happy with my dealer, but this is only because I now have a understanding with them about what I expect.

As for the GTR, I have always wanted one, and figure that I will not get a lot of opportunity to own a practical supercar in my lifetime. I rarely have a need for the backseats as we have the Territory for this and the kids will be out of baby seats by the time it arrives. Nissan have already made it very clear that any modifications will cause warranty rejections. It looks like they have built in many sensors that all store their info and can be downloaded by Nissan. These include G sensors that will know if a car has had slicks or a piggyback ECU fitted. They will sence above normal acceloration or cornering G forces.

Car makers are making it much harder for people to modify their products, not easier. Car makers would prefer us to buy a car all in the same colour, with all the factory options and never drive them, oh and also upgrade them every 3 years.

[senna_T]

ZAP is right guys, modern mass produced vehicles are all built to a budget, the bean counters rule the roost when it comes to ford. Rod Barret is doing a good job convincing everyone we need more differentiation between ford and fpv models, but it still comes down to the question everyone asks "how much will it cost"

[paulie0735]

Zap makes a very good point, he's living proof of the fact that cult cars pay back in future purchases. The GTR of years past has an enviable reputation as being the ultimate street car for those without the cash for a 911 Turbo. Even the Lambo or fazza are shadowed on the street by a well set up GTR. So as the cult car cements itself in our minds the fact that Nissan now plan to release the new model here is proof that the value of a cult model can pay back the manufacturer for many years into the future

As for the VL's, I agree they set up the Expensive Daewoo brand for future generations with this car, not sure that they did it on purpose but the fact is its happened and its now coming to pass some 20 years later, the kids are moving from the VL to the VN SS (while Expensive Daewoo were building genuine muscle and the HSV brand was born the best the boardy boys could come up with was the XF S pack) and now it’s the VT SS the kids are buying and those kids are the future 'new car' buyers and gee I wonder what brand they will buy when it comes time to purchase a 'new' car??

Ford have the opportunity to learn from the past, Expensive Daewoo and Nissan have paved the way but it would appear that the politics of FPV having to pass everything through the Ford Australia design 'filter' means they will always be conservative and that is a damn shame.

I wonder if FPV/Ford Australia have ever sat down and wondered why their cars in general terms drive better and (well documented) are actually a better all-round car than the HSV and yet the pubic prefer to buy the HSV product. Clearly they haven’t put much thought into this cause if they had they would know that most people buy the car they prefer to look at than the one they prefer to drive, sad fact but true. Now if FPV could just tick both those boxes we could have a genuine 'modern day' cult car on our hands.

[RHR]

I wonder if FPV/Ford Australia have ever sat down and wondered why their cars in general terms drive better and (well documented) are actually a better all-round car than the HSV and yet the pubic prefer to buy the HSV product. Clearly they haven’t put much thought into this cause if they had they would know that most people buy the car they prefer to look at than the one they prefer to drive, sad fact but true. Now if FPV could just tick both those boxes we could have a genuine 'modern day' cult car on our hands.

Well said

I think the main problem is that ford Prior to the BA have been so far off the mark in regard to the looks department that a lot of PPL have jumped ship to other cars. Personally I think the current FPV cars look great and they are not over the top.

[redman]

So they shoot themselves in the foot once again and say dont buy the first run we'll have a better look down the track....

++

hope they supply a trailer for the extra fuel required

[senna_T]

Hope no one was expecting one of these this week...

Dear Colleagues

There are two issues that have affected the shipment of a number of the initial F6X 270 launch vehicles which we

believe is close to resolution.

A stop shipment was issued by Ford to FPV for the following reasons:

· Brake Squeal

· Quality concerns with some of the plastic parts painted in molten metal

In terms of Brake Squeal, Brembo has advised that chamfering pads is a recommended brake squeal mitigation strategy

and as such the plan is as follows:

· FPV dealers that have already received their cars will be required to chamfer the pads. A PIL is being sent out

today and tomorrow along with replacement pads and work instruction

· Prodrive / FPV are reworking all cars that are at FPV and should be completed by tomorrow

In terms of the plastic painted parts FPV has been coordinating with Ford, Venture and Sumitomo to ensure supply of

quality parts for production and retrofit. Starting today, FPV is retrofitting all the captive cars with a number scheduled to

be completed by COB today.

Vehicles have been shipped by Ford to FPV to have the FPV content added. Once completed, these cars will be

returned to Ford for the plastic parts in question to be retrofitted.

We would like to take this opportunity to apologise for these unexpected delays but in the interests of the long term

success of the F6X 270, we believe the right course of action has been to delay the shipment of the remaining launch

vehicles until a satisfactory resolution has been achieved.

We thank you for your patience and understanding and we hope to be shipping vehicles to dealers again in the next

week. If you have any further questions with regards to this matter please feel free to contact your Regional Operations

Manager.

Performance Inc.

Rod Barrett

General Manager

Brake squeel - what a surprise!

[ZAP]

My F6 has squeeled since day 1, yet there is no recall ?

Good luck trying to fix it with chamfered pads......talk about a temp fix.