Jp300 - Picked Up New Fg Xr6T

[Guest XR09]

Yeh it took a while to get it right. At no extra cost, thanks to ram auto. think he worked for fulcrum before setting up his own place.

I still get a bit of understeer going hard into slow corners. Funny that. But in the wet it oversteers in slow corners. So yes it is a lot of trial and error. And my tyres suck.

I teach advanced riding courses so I can play at places like Mnt Cotten and QR and yahoo they are letting us use Lakeside again.

I have not touched the bars yet. The rear is so good as it is I doubt I will replace those. I will go the front when an adjustable 33mm come up I think. A 33 cause I thinkn the FG has a bigger bar than the bf's did.

[JP300]

It's still bog stock standard. I think I've cracked the diff bush and the clutch feels very second hand already.

I've also blown the sub! I notice that the old Premium system in the BA is better that in the FG. It's a bit dissapointing.

I'm going in for warranty!!

[RAP1D]

No way John, premo sound is loads better...

Replace the sub and fiddle with the EQ and bass, mid , treb , set the delay to drivers position... then the system will sound nice

[Ricks_Xr6t]

Not to bad for sanyo I must say,rapid do you mean replace the sub as in aftermarket??

[RAP1D]

Yep... mine started popping and farting a few weeks into owning the car.

I just cut the wires off it, fitted a 12in JL sub in a sealed box, and wired the box up... very easy upgrade.

The EQ isnt too bad to use, I pulled out heaps of midrange, added alot up high... then tweak it with the bass, mid and treb controls.

If you get all that sorted it will sound really good.

[JP300]

1 month and the car is still stock... not even an air filter.

Been busy at work and too many distrations.

The car feels good and with 2000kms on the clock I have no other problems to report.

Went down to Tunehouse and the place looks like a Ford dealership.

I'm going to get it run up on the dyno to see how she runs stock.

[Guest Al@n]

Hi, just wondering how much better the FG is over the BA/BF. And what you put that down too, Cheers

[JP300]

The FG definitely feels like it has come from the BA/BF heritage and on paper there are not really that many differences but the improvements are definitely noticeable.

The spring and shock combination is a lot more compliant as the car feels so much better planted on the road than the standard BA/BFs. The car starts getting a bit giggly in the rear end at higher speeds over bumpy corners. I remember driving one of the first F6s and it felt even worse in the rear end.

I do not like is the hollow diff bush. On hard launches and quick shifts it bangs like the diff is bashing on the underside of the car. I think that a solid bush will sort this out.

The steering differences are huge. There seems to be a lot more feel in the wheel and the new rack works very well.

Power wise the car feels strong and the manual feels pretty good but it has a bit of hesitation between shifts. I do not think that this is going to be too hard to sort out with a custom tune.

The manual is pretty good but seems to be a bit clunky going from 1st to 2nd... Warranty??

Body and Interior are as good (or bad) as any other Falcon. I had one rattle in the boot which was a loose panel. Pushed the clip in and it stopped.

The sub-woofer (premium sound) is stuffed and I will try and get it sorted under warranty.

The clutch is pretty ordinary even with the standard power. It is also a bit too light for my liking.

Even with all of the above criticisms, overall I feel that the FG is a pretty huge leap forward.

I'm pretty happy with it and would recommend it over the BA/BFs if your budget can go that far.

[Mish]

What I'm trying to figure out (and I'm sorry that this is a bit off-topic) is, is it a good enough car compared to like a Mazda 6MPS? I really like the FG XR6 Turbo, but am very worried about Ford reliability and quality control. I read an owner review on Drive.com and the guy said after 6months the car felt like it was 10 years old. How long have you had yours for now JP? Coupla months yea? One of the biggest issues is that I need a manual, and I think I've only heard one decent report about the manual out of all of 'em!

[bcl]

John,

Thanks for allowing me to have a drive of your FG manual yesterday.

I’ve been driving my BA manual for the last 2 weeks, and prior to that my BF, interspersed with driving the STi’s and my sons EVO.

I commented to Jim after getting back into the BA just how much better I thought that the BA front end was over the BF, both in steering weighting and feel, and turn-in. Both my BA & BF F6’s have the same Tein suspension with EDFC, and bigger sway bars.

I have never been a fan of the BF front suspension.

I had a high expectation for the FG, but it did nothing for me. Admittedly a standard suspension and I was not driving hard; as you commented the FG is much better at speed.

I had higher expectations of the new gearbox over the T56. Yes it is definitely better, but 1-2 shifts are still clunky, has a stiffness to it, and not a smooth change, or as smooth as I expected; especially after driving the 6-speed manuals in my STi’s.

Clutch is very light compared to the AP twin-plate of the F6, although not as light as an R8 clutch (which I refer to as a girls clutch).

Oh, and after being used to 6-pots, stock brakes just don’t cut it. The first time I braked I realized how used to late braking I’m used to.

Obviously the FG interior is far better than the BA or BF, but I expected more from a drivers perspective out of the FG. I didn’t think I’d say it, but I felt better getting back into my BA again, not because of the gearbox, but it felt better on the road for everyday driving…. Maybe because I’m used to the BA setup I have ,although I had not driven the BA for 15 months.

Brian