If this is a sign of trouble, then Ford Aus are in deep dodo

[freaky]

Originally Posted by loltastic

I would strongly suggest looking at the EVO X. Now with a simple flash available from Ralliart Australia, power goes from 217kw to 270kw, and torque goes from 366Nm @ 3,500rpm now up to 500 (!) Nm @ 3,500rpm. Still retaining stock airbox, filter, exhaust, everything. 3 minute job, in and out. $2,800. That'll do 0-100 in mid 4's.

Just a thought.

does it void factory warranty ?

[Falcon Coupe]

Originally Posted by loltastic

I would strongly suggest looking at the EVO X. Now with a simple flash available from Ralliart Australia, power goes from 217kw to 270kw, and torque goes from 366Nm @ 3,500rpm now up to 500 (!) Nm @ 3,500rpm. Still retaining stock airbox, filter, exhaust, everything. 3 minute job, in and out. $2,800. That'll do 0-100 in mid 4's.

Just a thought.

Good results but it's highway robbery.

[buickman]

Originally Posted by BAGTp001

This is a very sad thread. Im starting to fear for the Falcons future. Ford has a huge image problem and they need to fix that and fast. Ford Australia open your eyes.

Looking around a Ford dealership over last weekend and was amazed how may silver coloured G series FG sitting around and I would gather they have been there longer than the dealership would want them.
Also they are not as common on the roads as previous models were when released.
They are a very neat looking car but the fuel costs and resale has frightened the buyers into smaller more fuel effient cars.
I hope not but the FG and it's update might be the last Falcons if things don't improve.

[dave351cid]

the company i work for (ergon energy) have changed from buying hilux utes to ford rangers.
ford = 1 / toyota = 0

also replacing landcruiser utes with nissan patrol utes and toyota prados with nissan patrol wagons and pajeros,

toyota seem to be on the black list for now.
poor emissions control, high prices, poor safety features, poor handling, poor load carrying capacity are some of the reasons i have heard.

[snappy]

If ford are not doing so many fleet sales wouldn't that achieve a better resale value

[MR_SIDO]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

Good car + ordinary build quality + bad dealer network = no sales.

Alright, I am getting sick of people flaming dealers like this. I am a Dealer Principal and I can tell you that MOST Ford Dealers are working their guts out trying to make the dealer experience a positive one. To say "bad dealer network" to me is extremely offensive.

Unfortunatly like most things in business you cannot please everyone and every now and then you have some issues that reflect the dealer in a bad light. Its the old story, you will recieve 10 bad stories to 1 good one, why do you think the news is mostly bad? because no-one thrives on good stories, only bad ones.

Re-sale values are crap at the moment and most of the issue is to do with high new vehicle volume over the last 5 years and many low kilometre Falcons, Commodores, Aurions, Camry's and soon Corolla's coming back into the market. With Corolla selling 3000 per month, wait and see how many of these are back in the market in 3 - 4 years time, it will be a dollar a dozen. And the manufacturers couldn't give a rats.

Anyway, I would say that most of these words will be wasted on you guys as I am only a Ford Dealer, hey....what would I know?

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

Good results but it's highway robbery.

Nah, these guys are lining up to be fleeced. No highway needed, now thats evolution.

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by MR_SIDO

Alright, I am getting sick of people flaming dealers like this. I am a Dealer Principal and I can tell you that MOST Ford Dealers are working their guts out trying to make the dealer experience a positive one. To say "bad dealer network" to me is extremely offensive.

Unfortunatly like most things in business you cannot please everyone and every now and then you have some issues that reflect the dealer in a bad light. Its the old story, you will recieve 10 bad stories to 1 good one, why do you think the news is mostly bad? because no-one thrives on good stories, only bad ones.

Re-sale values are crap at the moment and most of the issue is to do with high new vehicle volume over the last 5 years and many low kilometre Falcons, Commodores, Aurions, Camry's and soon Corolla's coming back into the market. With Corolla selling 3000 per month, wait and see how many of these are back in the market in 3 - 4 years time, it will be a dollar a dozen. And the manufacturers couldn't give a rats.

Anyway, I would say that most of these words will be wasted on you guys as I am only a Ford Dealer, hey....what would I know?

Well said.

[loltastic]

Originally Posted by freaky

does it void factory warranty ?

Unfortunately it does for that option. Such a gain in torque apparently is the reason. :togo:

Daylight robbery for the car at its asking price, let alone the mod. In the US they have a flash tune ($990) that increases power 70hpatw and torque 75Nm for the EVO X. So much potential in the engine. They also pay $38k for base model 5MT when we pay $60k. :

[icejagans]

there use to be a time when the government would protect the local products by implementing tariffs.
the industry was booming with 5 manufacturers; nissan, mitsu, toyota, ford and holden.
now tariffs are almost non-existent and we are down to 3 makers.
if we want a thriving automotive industry, simply raise tariffs.

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by MR_SIDO

Alright, I am getting sick of people flaming dealers like this. I am a Dealer Principal and I can tell you that MOST Ford Dealers are working their guts out trying to make the dealer experience a positive one. To say "bad dealer network" to me is extremely offensive.

Unfortunatly like most things in business you cannot please everyone and every now and then you have some issues that reflect the dealer in a bad light. Its the old story, you will recieve 10 bad stories to 1 good one, why do you think the news is mostly bad? because no-one thrives on good stories, only bad ones.

Anyway, I would say that most of these words will be wasted on you guys as I am only a Ford Dealer, hey....what would I know?

In their defence mate, theres been a lot of posts on here over the years, clearly outlining faults, and the service received. Many others posting similar experiences, or at least experiencing the fault that required service.

Yeah, there is the odd person who tells us one day of doing massive burnouts, dragging one hoon or another and then complaining about the 'terrible' diff noise and the dealers response a few months later in another thread. They expect it to not only be bullet proof, but idiot proof to boot.

On these forums, there are also stories of brilliant service from some dealers. But they are only the owners of the vehicles, what would they know?

Read some of the threads on it, theres too many for the claims to be just whingers, theres quite a few people who are genuinely disappointed. Its a pity the good ones get tarred with the same brush.

[JAKHMR]

I dont think its about the dealers at all, we know they all do a great job in making it a positive experience for us all when we want to buy. But, from my point of view its more about the way the FG has been marketed. Its about the direction and decision making that top managment have been leading Ford into. I haven't seen many, if not 1, good commercial pointing out the good points of the FG versus the other brands.
Am i wrong?

[snappy]

Originally Posted by fmc351

In their defence mate, theres been a lot of posts on here over the years, clearly outlining faults, and the service received. Many others posting similar experiences, or at least experiencing the fault that required service.

Yeah, there is the odd person who tells us one day of doing massive burnouts, dragging one hoon or another and then complaining about the 'terrible' diff noise and the dealers response a few months later in another thread. They expect it to not only be bullet proof, but idiot proof to boot.

On these forums, there are also stories of brilliant service from some dealers. But they are only the owners of the vehicles, what would they know?

Read some of the threads on it, theres too many for the claims to be just whingers, theres quite a few people who are genuinely disappointed. Its a pity the good ones get tarred with the same brush.

That pretty much the long and short off it . Also having forums or internet in general make it so much easier for bad service or good service to be dicussed or read about.
In my expierence to outlay 5 grand in the first 12 thousand kilometre's on a new car which i paid 44k was just insulting . It went from a dream to a nightmare in a matter of months.Not to mention the other costs over the last 3 years. I have a 5 year warranty that has not covered one thing. With no help and no back up from the dealer or ford crc and then send me a letter saying come see the new fg. No thanks my backside is still swollen from last time

Hate to say it because My blood runs blue but i will never buy a new ford again.

[sgt_doofey]

In these times of high petrol prices, why aren't they advertising the eGas Falcon? It's cheaper to run a 6cyl car on LPG than it is a 4cyl car on petrol. Hell, it's even cheaper than a 4cyl Turbo Diesel.
My EL which is over 10 years and 234,000kms old is cheaper to run on LPG than our 2 year 45,000kms old Turbo Diesel Peugeot 307.
Why not advertise that?

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by 05MkIIFutura

hyundai are now building cars with a level of quality that ford can only dream of. Its a fact of life - if you want a large car that doesnt rattle or fall apart, buy an Aurion.

There's 3 letters in todays CarsGuide complained about piston rattle in Aurions, and Toyotas reply sounds like something Ford would say, they are supposed to do that.


Its high petrol prices that are killing the Falcon resale value, because no one wants a so called petrol guzzler as a second car, they are switching to 4 cylinders, so no one wants them second hand, they are hard to sell, so resale plummets accordingly.

[Daymoe]

I have a bad feeling that if Ford doesn't get their act together we won't see the Falcon again in the near future.

[duaned]

Originally Posted by 05MkIIFutura

hyundai are now building cars with a level of quality that ford can only dream of. Its a fact of life - if you want a large car that doesnt rattle or fall apart, buy an Aurion.

Rubbish!! Thousands of Aurion owners australia wide are hounding dealers about dash rattle problems, vent rattles, console rattles and in-decisive gearboxes. After a family menber also had one ( 6 months ownership, 21 times back to dearship) he managed to get a full refund from toyota and bought a Honda. Now that IS quality!

[paule11]

I drove an FG xr6 last week I was extremely impressed with it its a lot better than an Aurion and better than the BF xr6 we brought last year .I test drove a few aurions last year and was surprised that some had poor airconditioning with bad rattles .
If I was looking for a new car now it would be the fg.
For the price and quality I think they are a very good buy .
There should be ads on tv showing the quality of the interior and showing the fuel economy is not that much worse than some four cylinders.
I have trouble fitting into some small cars sat in an skyline and peole laughed at me with my head against the roof and shoulder touching the window

[ebxr8240]

Spent the last two weeks in N.Z .Seen many new Falcon's there...

[mik]

i think there are many hanging on to the older cars that are quite happy to do general maintenance and save $$$ for a time in future when the economy picks up again, lets face it most cars au forward are very easey cars to live with on a daily basis, apart from the odd faults here and there they basicly long lasting cars, with pretty much most of the luxuries that is expected of modern cars , power steering ,air con ,central locking,abs, etc, ...my mate was killing time the other day he had a look in a ford dealer they had 16 bf falcons with 30 thousand k`s on the clock for very little money, its no wonder that new car sales are down, it appears to me apart from the world economy there is a glut of cheap low kilometre cars on the market, why would low to middle class buy a new car for lots of dollars when cheap almost new are still available all over the place, would that be a fair comment MR SIDO?.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by MR_SIDO

Alright, I am getting sick of people flaming dealers like this. I am a Dealer Principal and I can tell you that MOST Ford Dealers are working their guts out trying to make the dealer experience a positive one. To say "bad dealer network" to me is extremely offensive.

They weren't working particularly hard to keep me in a Ford. I visited about 10 dealers in Sydney to try and buy an XR5 - ended up giving up. Most laughed when I said I had an XR8 to trade, one was downright insulting - best offer, 10k trade, the other offer 6k trade. The dealer I bought my BA XR8 through, I was happy with their service and after sales, but they couldn't even offer me a trade-in price for the vehicle they had sold to me 3 years before!

First VW dealer I visited sold me an R32 within 5 minutes of being on their yard. Put in for its 15k service yesterday and I was exceptionally impressed on how they treated me and the car. Absolutely night and day compared to many years of Ford servicing.

Had a very similar experience looking for an AU3 XR8 years ago, ended up getting a VT SS.

Given those experiences I've had in the past with Ford dealers, I'm not even sure if I'd consider a new one again. I've owned around 15 Fords in the past, half of those being new and my experience has been in steady decline and hit rock bottom last Ford outing.

[Mercury 8]

Originally Posted by Rodp

They weren't working particularly hard to keep me in a Ford. I visited about 10 dealers in Sydney to try and buy an XR5 - ended up giving up. Most laughed when I said I had an XR8 to trade, one was downright insulting - best offer, 10k trade, the other offer 6k trade. The dealer I bought my BA XR8 through, I was happy with their service and after sales, but they couldn't even offer me a trade-in price for the vehicle they had sold to me 3 years before!

First VW dealer I visited sold me an R32 within 5 minutes of being on their yard. Put in for its 15k service yesterday and I was exceptionally impressed on how they treated me and the car. Absolutely night and day compared to many years of Ford servicing.

Had a very similar experience looking for an AU3 XR8 years ago, ended up getting a VT SS.

Given those experiences I've had in the past with Ford dealers, I'm not even sure if I'd consider a new one again. I've owned around 15 Fords in the past, half of those being new and my experience has been in steady decline and hit rock bottom last Ford outing.

Geez mate how many more posts can you bag Ford in.Since you don't drive a Ford any more or thinking of buying one it might be time to build a bridge.Lifes to short.

[DOC]

Originally Posted by MR_SIDO

Alright, I am getting sick of people flaming dealers like this. I am a Dealer Principal and I can tell you that MOST Ford Dealers are working their guts out trying to make the dealer experience a positive one. To say "bad dealer network" to me is extremely offensive.

Unfortunately like most things in business you cannot please everyone and every now and then you have some issues that reflect the dealer in a bad light. ?

I am sure you run a good shop, there is a survey here some where that over time shows 75% of people either do not trust the service dept or wont kick them into the future

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...92#post2356292

without going over my horror stories with service Dept's, ( to a point where i do not want to know about ford service unless vital ).

It nearly seems the new car is placed up the front of a dealership as it's primary focus, and he service dept / horror stories are hidden out the back behind closed secret doors.

This seems arm about face in many ways, and if the focus was placed on customer service / back up / support and building trust then any dealer would be beating customers away with a stick, and any clued up sales people would be feeding of those happy people.

[Falcon Coupe]

How many times do we see a first time poster looking for answers to problems or joining purely to vent ?

As non enthusiasts most customers do not join Internet forums as the car is transport only and they don't care to spread stories of Dealership Utopia.

When things go pear shaped they seek sympathy and advice, i guess this is why the negative far outweighs the positive as far as topics go.

[balthazarr]

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

How many times do we see a first time poster looking for answers to problems or joining purely to vent ?

As non enthusiasts most customers do not join Internet forums as the car is transport only and they don't care to spread stories of Dealership Utopia.

When things go pear shaped they seek sympathy and advice, i guess this is why the negative far outweighs the positive as far as topics go.

Good points. Also, enthusiasts are more likely to nitpick and be perfectionists when it comes to the pride and joy; complaining about things the average A-B motorist probably wouldn't even notice.

[whynot]

I didn’t mean for this thread to turn into a dealer bashing exercise, though I do believe that the dealers are part of the problem. And, yes, I agree, people do tend to whinge more in an anonymous internet forum. Most readers, however, do compensate and take what is said on an Internet forum with a grain of salt. For example, when we purchased bought the Misses a new Mazda 3 last year, I joined the Mazda forums. I read all the whinging about dealers and the Mazda 3 to try to build up a profile of generic issues (excessive brake pad dust is one issue that I can clearly recall). But I digress ....

What should stop Ford executives in their tracks is the thought that one medium fleet purchaser is not even going to bother to invite Ford to tender next time. Period. Full Stop.

:

How can you sell anything (cars, airplanes, perfume, toilet paper, or whatever) if the person/company that you are trying to sell to does not even want to be bothered contacting you? It is not as if the factory product is in so much demand that Ford can pick and choose their customers (that is, set the market price with a take it or leave it attitude).

For fleets, TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is all they think about. In the past, fleet managers where happy enough to buy Falcons because it made financial sense.

Now, for whatever reason, the fleet managers are looking elsewhere.

Now, for whatever reason, the user-choosers are looking elsewhere as well.

As painful as this question is to ask; is the only market segments that are left for Ford to sell Falcons to are the die-hard rev heads and Falcon fanboys?

[whynot]

Originally Posted by boss-290

You clearly have no (sic) idea what you're talking about.

My fleet manager would agree with you. Nuff said.

[DOC]

Originally Posted by balthazarr

Good points. Also, enthusiasts are more likely to nitpick and be perfectionists when it comes to the pride and joy; complaining about things the average A-B motorist probably wouldn't even notice.

Yes agreed a fair point as above, so disregarding any polls and on a personal level and as an enthusiast , when you call through to see if your car is ready, get told "all good to go", you arrive and get told there is a small delay, then 2 hours later sitting in a drab waiting room with cheap caterer's blend coffee, to then see your car coming to a sideways screeching halt similar to a b grade American movie, go out to find the interior looking like it had been used by a group of your 12 boys on an interstate football trip ( literally rubbish everywhere strewn around the inside, glove box open, all log books over and under seats among the rubbish ), ?

Lets pop the bonnet, coolant all over the motor due to failure to tighten the hose clamps, engine cover hanging off due to missing or loose bolts, the trye black was painted onto the rims rather than the tyre ( this alone tells me if they can't do a simple thing right or care to take the time then what else ), OK real happy

So i quietly give a not happy Jan, the response was " OK we will put you with the xxx group next time as they care for the customers cars " my thoughts were not great i will be looked after, but how is it you have group yyy that does not care about customers cars.

So just from a one persons view, if they get the service dept right, the rest will follow and apologies for the poll above and concede with those views made.

But this is just one of several trips to service and not one has been a pleasant outcome, and why one person would prefer a place that provides good service.

[Magna]

Originally Posted by MR_SIDO

Its the old story, you will recieve 10 bad stories to 1 good one, why do you think the news is mostly bad? because no-one thrives on good stories, only bad ones.

but the horror stories are peoples experiences and if it can happen to them it can happen to others.

[Ringo]

Fords are not doing great with fleet sale right now, but they are doing OK.

Fleet Companies are taking losses on BF Falcons but so too with most 6 cylinders.

Used car resale value boil down to supply and demand.

There are a lot of 3/4 years falcons being turned out on the used car market every month and they have a reputation for being heavy on fuel.

The price acheived for Corolla's, 4 pot Camry's and anything 4 cyl are very strong - dealer know they can move those cars within a few weeks no sweat.

E-gas Falcons work out to be about as expensive as a Camry over 3 years 90k interestingly enough on a fully maintained lease (Fuel, finance, maintenance tyres the works)

So what do Ford need to do? Continue to bring back the 'Fun Factor' to the brand- (XR's etc), do something radical about fuel economy to be able to beat Holden and Toyota. Perhaps even extend the warranty.

Mazda's Zoom Zoom campaign was so succesful that 2 year later people still say it to me about my Mazda. Ford need something like that again, I don't even know what their slogan is right now off the top of my head.

PS we had a Holden guy come and talk to us about new models the other week and within 15 minutes people where looking at their watches. No polish, No passion, No engagement....he seemed bored talking about his companys products. The ford guys the other month were a bit better...they were trying more.

PS The price of 4 year BA Falcons are rediculous right now and there are some around with low kms. Go stright to the fleet company to buy and be amazed. 4 years/80k gas wagon 12,000! Petrol sedans are cheaper....put them on gas and get a govt rebate....kaching...Unbelieveable value right