The Americans Test a '07 FPV GT

[ondori]

A Four-Door Mustang From Down Under. So ture

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=120772

[DJM83]

Interesting to see the yanks having a drive in one of our aussie V8's (im assuming it was tested in OZ?) Maybe ford might have a think about export with the new falcon? But all the reviews ive read on this car all say the same thing

[Vdouw]

I'll be blown Ford Aus is sending the falcon over seas ... hopefully the orion will allow this to be profitable.

[Vdouw]

Originally Posted by TE50 056

Interesting to see the yanks having a drive in one of our aussie V8's (im assuming it was tested in OZ?) Maybe ford might have a think about export with the new falcon? But all the reviews ive read on this car all say the same thing

And rightly so. The B series are heavy in the steering and you can't really push them too hard with out getting the back end sideways. However when side ways you can hold the ford out further and longer than an commi. That is from personal experiance and from the experiance of my copper mates ... and yes i do know the cop's XT's have the XR suspension.

[Mechan1k]

Michael Stahl tested it by the looks of things (an Aussie) .... it has been written for the US though ... not sure if it was tested out here or over there though.

Photos by Christian Brunelli ... another Aussie.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Michael Stahl tested it by the looks of things (an Aussie) .... it has been written for the US though ... not sure if it was tested out here or over there though.

Photos by Christian Brunelli ... another Aussie.

Yeah i know those 2 guys are aussies but i thought surely ford wouldnt send a car to the US for a test : to much money to do that and we wouldnt want that :togo: and all the pics taken look like the car is on 'our' side of the road. So id say it was here

[Green X]

I have spoken with one or 2 people in the U.S who work for ford and have seen a GT/ XR8 in the states hidden away, Didn't have clue why it was there either.

[Paul]

Guys, that car was driven and tested in Australia by Stahl, who is a Wheels contributor.

[webby_191189]

V8 engine fails to excite?!?!?!? WTF 389 horsepower just aint enough. Damn it would sure as hell excite me.

[banarcus]

Had a giggle when stahl says the boss engine runs out of puff beyong 5500rpm. Mine keeps pulling until you head butt the sunvisor from the rev limiter. No sign of any breathlessness at all if you ask me.

[DODDO]

"The car is a generation behind the VE" Thats because this car is based off a near 5 year old platform, and the VE is less than a year old. If they had have done this sort of test when the BA was first released, im sure their opinions would be different.
Holden had to make a car that was ahead of its competitors, as Ford did when the BA was released. Its a punch for punch competition between Holden and Ford now.

I'd still own a Ford any day over any Holden

My 2c.

Cheers.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by banarcus

Had a giggle when stahl says the boss engine runs out of puff beyong 5500rpm. Mine keeps pulling until you head butt the sunvisor from the rev limiter. No sign of any breathlessness at all if you ask me.

Exactly correct. The boss would rev even further if not stymied by the rev limiter.

[Bent8]

Here's a review by Car and Driver from last June...it's a good read.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...-ghia-awd.html

[Falcon Freak]

Originally Posted by TE50 056

Interesting to see the yanks having a drive in one of our aussie V8's (im assuming it was tested in OZ?) Maybe ford might have a think about export with the new falcon? But all the reviews ive read on this car all say the same thing

It wasn't driven by the yanks. Michael Stahl who wrote the article is an Australian journalist and has been around for many years. What I would like to see is American automotive journalists test FPVs instead of Amercian automotive publications issue articles about FPV which were tested by Australian journalists.

FF

[Mongoose]

Originally Posted by Falcon Freak

It wasn't driven by the yanks. Michael Stahl who wrote the article is an Australian journalist who has been around for many years. What I would like to see is American automotive journalists test FPVs instead of Amercian automotive publications issue articles about FPV which were tested by Australian journalists.

FF

same here, i would love to hear a yanks opinion on it

[KW XRT]

Yea I notice the test was done with the new car {VE** and not the the old one.Funny how the talk performance but don't mention the performance racing and how well the car does there.

cheers

[needaXYGT]

The first four cogs are nicely useful, but the direct-drive 5th and overdrive 6th leave the V8 snoozing at the 70-mph speed limit ruthlessly enforced on Australian freeways.

So true!

FPV maintains that it doesn't want to get involved in a horsepower war with Holden Specialty Vehicles (HSV),

well that explains alot!

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by Falcon Freak

It wasn't driven by the yanks. Michael Stahl who wrote the article is an Australian journalist and has been around for many years. What I would like to see is American automotive journalists test FPVs instead of Amercian automotive publications issue articles about FPV which were tested by Australian journalists.

FF

Yep my bad :togo:

[FPV8U]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

Exactly correct. The boss would rev even further if not stymied by the rev limiter.

Agreed, no idea what the guy is talking about there. :togo:

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by webby_191189

V8 engine fails to excite?!?!?!? WTF 389 horsepower just aint enough. Damn it would sure as hell excite me.

I'd have to largely agree with his assessment to be honest.

I have a BA XR8, and coming from an 2001 model SS, the BA feels heavier and lazier. I'm shopping around for a newer car at the moment and tried a BF GT. In standard form, it really does fail to excite. I'd be surprised when I sit in a VE SS, that I don't get that whoa! feeling again.

I'm a Ford man (but not one eyed) and I do absolutely love the B Series look, and seat of the pants acceleration (while nice) won't be my deciding factor. It doesn't make you wet yourself when you mash the loud pedal, but I'm getting to the stage where that's not as important as it once was. My current car is in mechanically good nick, so I might wait for the S2 VE to come out and maybe consider a hairdryer. The F6 has nice presence but I don't know if I can downgrade to a buldgeless Ford. At the end of the day, the BF GT will probably win out, it's a fantastic package, just not a particularly exciting one in stock form.

I've got extractors an cat backs which is the only mod I've done to my BA. Maybe the GT is different but mine does get wheezy before the rev limiter, and the first time (and only time) I've hit the damn thing I was nearly catapulted through the windshield. I prefer a bouncing rev limiter, and so does my forehead.

I'm still impressed by my BA's handling on the twisty stuff though but I base that solely on driving big Ford and Holden sedans most of my driving life. Attacking Kangaroo Valley in my SS was a hairy proposition, it's faster and much less effort in my BA.

389HP sounds nice on paper, but it's all about perception when you're behind the wheel of it. My previous SS was probably only mildly quicker than my current BA, but if you drove them back to back then you'd think there was a world of difference. When I bought the BA and took it for a test, the salesman was continually asking me, 'great pickup, don't you think?' I then took him for a spin in the SS, I asked him, 'great pickup, don't you think?' while he was white knucking the arm rest. I was sticking the boot into both of them on the lap around the yard.

[merlin]

I rarely rev a car to the limiter - in fact i barely go over 4000rpm, just don't need to, to go quick within the realms of a public road (and I'm talking about a 2L Turbo here).

So if a little 2L Turbo can do this then surely "feeling breathless up top" would be irrelevant to a large V8 with superior torque in day to day driving conditions. I mean unless your a track star, who cares??? I don't get what these reviews keep going on about...

[mcnews]

Originally Posted by Rodp

IThe F6 has nice presence but I don't know if I can downgrade to a buldgeless Ford. .

Yeah F6s are for people that can spell :->

Sorry couldn't resist, do take it in jest, LOL.

[Falcon Freak]

Originally Posted by mcnews

Yeah F6s are for people that can spell :->

Sorry couldn't resist, do take it in jest, LOL.

BANG!

FF

[XR8-260]

Originally Posted by banarcus

Had a giggle when stahl says the boss engine runs out of puff beyong 5500rpm. Mine keeps pulling until you head butt the sunvisor from the rev limiter. No sign of any breathlessness at all if you ask me.

It's all relative, he was probably comparing it to the LS2 engine.

[XR8-260]

Originally Posted by webby_191189

V8 engine fails to excite?!?!?!? WTF 389 horsepower just aint enough. Damn it would sure as hell excite me.

With 290kw, the GT should be faster than it is. 14.5 1/4 mile? Wtf? Stahl probably can't drive though .

[FPV 5TH]

14.5 1/4 mile? he must have been driving uphill

[AUXRVIII]

He states in the article that the block is from Mustang Cobra R, this is incorrect, Mustang uses alloy block.

[Steffo]

Originally Posted by webby_191189

V8 engine fails to excite?!?!?!? WTF 389 horsepower just aint enough. Damn it would sure as hell excite me.

389hp fails to excite when its trying to lug around 1825kg before driver, in manual form. That's 213.15hp/tonne.

Compare that to a Holden vehicle that had similar power... VYII HSV Clubsport. 382hp (285kW) at 1696kg... 225.23hp/tonne. And unlike the FPV it can rev to 6500rpm. And its not geared as lazy. And, obviously, has a better spread of power throughout the rev range. Oh... and this is two generations old while we're at it. And still an LS1 engine. They're LS2 in HSV's now, which have better torque at low revs then the LS1 did. And now sport a better overall chassis too, and more tyre (275's on the back).

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by Falcon Freak

It wasn't driven by the yanks. Michael Stahl who wrote the article is an Australian journalist and has been around for many years.
FF

Pretty much what i mentioned in post #5.

[Falcon Freak]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Pretty much what i mentioned in post #5.

OK so you get the gold star.

FF