Ford Responds To Slow Sales With Its FG Falcon Range
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Dec 03, 2008
Drive
Ford’s FG Falcon range was launched in April into a diminishing large-car market. Rapidly rising fuel prices were putting large six-cylinder cars off the menu.
The first all-new Falcon since Ford Australia’s embattled AU model of 1998, the FG bears a strong resemblance to the BF model it replaces, yet it is markedly different.
While Ford’s large car has never returned to the halcyon sales days before the slow-selling AU, the FG is now universally accepted as the best Falcon produced in the company’s 48-year history.
The 4.0-litre, in-line, six-cylinder engine has new-found vigour in the entry XT model, with 5kW more power and 8Nm more torque, giving it 195kW and 391Nm.
An optional 4.0-litre LPG (E-Gas) engine linked to a four-speed automatic is available on a number of FG variants.
However, Ford’s trump card with this latest Falcon is the luxury G6E model. With a silky 4.0-litre, six-cylinder turbo producing endless power and torque (270kW-533Nm), this highly flexile engine makes great use of the six-speed auto - a far more refined and fleet-footed package than the similar-engined and more hard-nosed XR6 Turbo and the larger-capacity and heavier 5.4-litre, V8 XR8 model (290kW-520Nm). In many ways, the heavier-nosed XR8 now feels dated, lacking the on-road finesse and better balance of the G6E Turbo and XR6 Turbo.
Safety-wise, tests by the Australian New Car Assessment Program have confirmed a five-star crash rating for the FG, a first for a locally built car, while all variants come standard with stability control. Importantly, Ford has delivered a large local car priced from $36,790, that is excellent value for money.
