Updated Ford Falcon (BFII)

[Magnet]

To counteract the VE Commodore, Ford are going to be releasing the BF2 Falcon with a few cosmetic changes. News that's come out is the introduction of the Fairmont Ghia Turbo

Originally Posted by FAF Forums

FAIRMONT TURBO TIP
IN AN attempt to detract attention from Holden’s
VE Commodore market release next week,
Ford Australia is expected to divulge details
of its forthcoming BF Series II later this week
and GoAuto understands that a Fairmont Ghia
Turbo model variant, featuring the force-fed
245kW/480Nm 4.0-litre inline-six (as seen in the
XR6T sedan and Territory Turbo 4WD), will be
announced. The revised line-up is due to hit the
streets in October

Further information is in

http://www.*****************/car-review/1957859.aspx

Here are a few leaked photos of the car. Looks a bit sad in my opinion, a bit Toyota Avalon.

Fairmont Ghia:





XT:

[Peter3hg]

I quite like the look of that interior.

[SV]

Turbo Ghia would be fun..
Any leaked pics of the XR or GT?

[Magnet]

XR exterior remains unchanged, but gets some coloured dials, not sure about the FPV range though.

[flyingfridge]

hmm, that new exterior does look very wannabe Toyota, something a ford should never want to be. The skirts on the Ghia Turbo are overdone and garish too for a car that should be 'sports classy' not 'sports fully sick maaaatttee'

i dunno, but for some reason I feel like ford may be running a little scared after the release of the VE, and they'd have right to be, an all new car with a $1bn development budget should give them right to be scared. But this shaky? It reminds me of the pasting the VT gave the EL when it was released.

[SL65]

Looks better. Not bad for a facelift. Remember the facelifts of the AU range. Could anyone possibly tell the difference between an AU Series I and an AU Series III?!!


The interior is really good on the Fairmont, but now not as good as the VE equivelant. But still good...all they need to do is get rid of that awefull steering wheel.

[un-dee]

That looks deeply mediocre.

[fbc]

Interesting - didn't expect them to make that many cosmetic changes for BFII. Not sure on the new look - the headlights really aren't working for me.

[andyhui01]

Originally Posted by SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!!

Looks better. Not bad for a facelift. Remember the facelifts of the AU range. Could anyone possibly tell the difference between an AU Series I and an AU Series III?!!


The interior is really good on the Fairmont, but now not as good as the VE equivelant. But still good...all they need to do is get rid of that awefull steering wheel.

wasn't it just the grill for the AU Falcons? and I've always liked the Falcon, still looks good in my books...

and to the guy who mentioned the interior, how is it different from the current Falcon/Fairmont, looks the same to me

[SL65]

Originally Posted by andyhui01

wasn't it just the grill for the AU Falcons? and I've always liked the Falcon, still looks good in my books...

I honestly don't know. I could never identify any differences And the grill looks the same. Only difference is that there is a "Series III" badge on the back

And the guy who mentioned the interior isn't Aussie and he was just commenting on the interior in general. I can't notice anything new and I don't think there is anything new. They don't usually change it with facelifts.

[Magnet]

OK, you trainspotters, here are the differences between the three AU models (remember we are talking about the Forte, otherwise it gets too hard)

AU


AUII


Changes over AU (styling only):
Front grille from Fairmont Series to get rid of whale mouth.
Deeper rear bumper to hide differential
dual airbags across the board
16 inch wheels and styling tweaks to make the AU look more substantial and less cost-stripped.
Standard interior colour was now the classier warm charcoal with dark graphite as an option.
The ugly centre control panel was toned down and base seats lost their vinyl backs.

AUIII:



Changes over AUII

AU III facelift added body-coloured side mirrors and side protection strips(deeper sill panels too), clear side repeater lights and ABS across the range

[SL65]

^See what I mean

Only unless you've researched on the internet (like some people), would you be able to spot the difference

Gee the AU was one beutifull car.......

[andyhui01]

ahh... is that what they referred to as the whale mouth? I thought it was the fairmont model... and wtf is Forte? is it the equivalent of XT now?

and the other day I saw the HSV version of the AU Ford Falcon (Don't know what they're called), it isn't actually that bad looking...

btw, just curious... did the AU ford Falcon sell so badly the gov. forced every taxi to buy the Falcon?

[Magnet]

The sad thing is that I knew those Falcon facts before I got those photos.

Falcons originally sold more taxis than Commodores (VB-VL) as they had more shoulder room inside and could fit three adults comfortably across the back seat. Falcons could also be purchased with a so called taxi pack (grey bumpers, yellow or white, and vinyl hose-out interior).

Past reputation of Holdens always being in the shop for repairs meant that 9 out of 10 cabbies now prefer Falcons. Holden now does not supply taxi-packs for its cars. I'm sure Holden doesn't mind not being seen as a supplier of cabs though.

Yeah, the Forte is just the XT. They changed the name for the BA so it wouldn't have AU connotations.

The previous performance Fords were called Tickfords or FTE (Ford Tickford Engineering). They released the TE50, TS50 and TL50. The Series 3 TE50 with the stroker 5.6 wasn't a bad old stick.

[Labcoatguy]

#$%#@&^$ If Ford brought these to the US it wouldn't be in as deep shiat as it's in right now. Yeah yeah blah blah "don't have the bucks for LHD conversion/crash/emissions testing" if Chrysler can regularly bring concept cars straight to the showroom (even without Benz money, look at Viper, Prowler, Neon), there's no excuse for Ford.

[Deanodriver]

Originally Posted by Magnet

Falcons originally sold more taxis than Commodores (VB-VL) as they had more shoulder room inside and could fit three adults comfortably across the back seat. Falcons could also be purchased with a so called taxi pack (grey bumpers, yellow or white, and vinyl hose-out interior).

Past reputation of Holdens always being in the shop for repairs meant that 9 out of 10 cabbies now prefer Falcons. Holden now does not supply taxi-packs for its cars. I'm sure Holden doesn't mind not being seen as a supplier of cabs though.

I've also heard that the cabbies prefer them because the Ford six takes to LPG better. Then again, I've seen more and more taxis that aren't Falcons (mainly Avalons and even a couple of Magnas/380's), rarely see a Commodore cab.

Originally Posted by andyhui01

ahh... is that what they referred to as the whale mouth? I thought it was the fairmont model... and wtf is Forte? is it the equivalent of XT now?

Basically, the Forte was the base model for the AU (like the XT in the B series). The EB2-EL's base model was GLi.

I'd say the reason Falcon sales were downhill is partly due to the styling, and partly due to the fact that the Commodore of the time was a nicer car (coming from a Ford fan). I do like the VT and VX.

Labcoatguy, I've heard that the next model Falcon (due early 2008, AFAIK), is going to be designed on a global platform like the VE Commodore, and is likely to be able to be built in LHD. Whether Aussie made Falcons will end up Stateside, however, is another thing.

[andyhui01]

[quote="Deanodriver"]

Originally Posted by Magnet

Falcons originally sold more taxis than Commodores (VB-VL) as they had more shoulder room inside and could fit three adults comfortably across the back seat. Falcons could also be purchased with a so called taxi pack (grey bumpers, yellow or white, and vinyl hose-out interior).

Past reputation of Holdens always being in the shop for repairs meant that 9 out of 10 cabbies now prefer Falcons. Holden now does not supply taxi-packs for its cars. I'm sure Holden doesn't mind not being seen as a supplier of cabs though.

I've also heard that the cabbies prefer them because the Ford six takes to LPG better. Then again, I've seen more and more taxis that aren't Falcons (mainly Avalons and even a couple of Magnas/380's), rarely see a Commodore cab.

wow... I haven't seen 380 cabs, only Camry's, Taragos and Transits are the rare ones that I see.

[Dsemaj]

The front of that just looks fiddely.. If you get what I mean.

[Janus]

Originally Posted by andyhui01

wow... I haven't seen 380 cabs, only Camry's, Taragos and Transits are the rare ones that I see.

There are a few of them in Adelaide. There are more Falcons then Commodores and more Commodores then 380's, but you still see quite a few of them. I'm guessing because they are built here and they are cheaper then the competition.

[KaJuN]

What a handsome car! Why do other countries always get the cool looking Fords? This is way better than the Fusion or Five Hundred. I really like the two tone interior with the black dash and tan seats. The only change I'd make is adding dual exhaust.