Road test: Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo

Comfort and Handling

The XR6T makes 450Nm of torque from 2000rpm

The XR6T is a brilliant car to drive. It's responsive, it's fast and will likely bring joy to all those who drive it.

For starters, the fact that it's an Australian-built car, means that the big 1.6 tonne vehicle handles Aussie blacktop with aplomb.

While other cars we've tested, for instance the 206 GTi and Clio Sport, have stiffer suspension and a more tenacious attitude towards an apex, they pay the price on the Australian roadways where the Falcon just eats it up with nary a sideways glance.

In town the Turbo Falcon was unexpectedly compliant, as you can pootle about at low speeds without the turbo spooling up and the steering is well balanced, allowing for precise input at low speed.

Parking isn't the Falcon's forte, but that's not to say it can be parallel parked or squeezed between a couple of German luxo-softroaders.

With a turning circle of 11 metres kerb-to-kerb, the XR6T actually feels a lot better in tight spaces than I first guessed and the automatic transmission is suited well to the vigours of commuter traffic (and 450Nm of torque for that matter).

Out on the highway, the Turbo Falc' will cruise at 110km/h with ease and it makes for a practical long-distancer, and dare I say it, grand tourer.

Compared to the VY Commodore S, the XR6T feels a lot heavier on the road, but even in the face of added mass, it handles slightly better than the Holden in the twisties.

Put this down to Ford's more modern control blade IRS suspension rig that keeps that the rear wheels on the road and also a better overall chassis that communicates promptly to the driver what the wheels are doing. The independent, double wishbone type suspension at the front end is also very savvy.

The steering feel is spot on: It's well weighted, delivers good levels of feedback via the front hoops and generally speaking the car turns in with a lot more gusto that you'd expect for a 1664kg large car.

The XR6T will eat up corners all day and I was surprised with how quick you can carve up the road with the Falcon before testing the tyre's adhesion limits - testament to Ford's impressive suspension upgrade.

At the same token, I didn't think the XR6T changed directions as smoothly as the supercharged VY, which again could be blamed on its poor diet and increased weight. The Ford has a fairly neutral balance while cornering, though it won't mind oversteering if you prod the throttle (with extreme prejudice).

Sitting on specially developed 235/45 ZR17 dunlop tyres, the XR6T offers solid levels of grip. They rarely bite into the sidewalls even when cornering flat-chat, and will tell you promptly when they're about to break traction, which (remarkably) didn't happen too often.

Brakes wise, the Falcon does well, but not brilliantly. The brakes are equipped with ABS, which works a treat, as does the switchable traction control (which is miles ahead of the jarring Holden TC) and in general the brake feel is pretty good, with progressive yet firm braking.

If you like to drive cars for pure enjoyment, let's say you're an enthusiast, then I would suggest that you spend some cash on upgrading the brake package; perhaps more efficient discs would do the trick. Ford also has a premium brake package that must be specified before the vehicle is built.

The standard brakes (front: vented disc brakes with twin piston calipre, rear: solid disc brake with single piston caliper) do a fine job in everyday traffic and on the freeway and so on and are the same items fitted to all standard Falcons.

Third gear will pip 200km/h in sports shift mode

But when you've been frapping it well 'ard for a few hours straight while in the twisty stuff, the fade makes itself known and you'll feel like you have to reduce your approach speed into corners as a result.

Other than that, the XR6T is a very accomplished vehicle, and really, what more needs to be said?

The chassis is nice and rigid for such a large car, the steering is very talkative, body roll is minimal yet the suspension is compliant enough to handle everyday communting on our pock-marked roads.

Engine

When a die-hard Holden friend jumped into the passenger seat of the XR6T, the first thing he said was: "Looks nice, but it's two cylinders short of greatness, mate."

I simply smiled to myself and, well, after rocketing down the coast on a quick Sunday afternoon drive, his tone immediately turned from six-bashing, to "Imagine the tuning possibilities!" Indeed, there is a stigma attached to the humble six-cylinder car in Australia, but the new XR6T will go a long to dispelling this, as is evidenced by the killer torque curve on offer.

The 4.0-litre inline six-cylinder engine has dual overhead camshafts, variable valve timing, 4-valves per cylinder, an aluminium alloy head, with the icing on the cake a ball-bearing turbocharger fed by a front-mount intercooler.

On paper, this equates to 450Nm of torque from 2000-4500rpm, and on the road it equates to a very fast 0-100km/h time of 6.0 seconds flat.

The 3984cc engine has a low compression ratio of 8.7:1, thus able to drink regular 91RON petrol, though we stuck to 96 and 98 octane rated fuel for the road test.

Peak power of 240kW - that's 5kW more than Holden's flagship SS Commodore - kicks in @ 5250rpm, though both power and torque don't seem to taper off, and the Falcon will keep on flying well past 5500rpm. The electronic throttle control works quite well and wasn't too sensitive with the first few degrees of actuation, which I appreciated.

The key to the car's amazing shunt lies with the turbocharging. In layman's terms, exhaust gases are used to spool up a turbocharger, which feeds cooler air (via the intercooler) into the cylinders, which results in more volatile explosions, or combustion, and the end result is more power and more torque.

On the road, the XR6T is very quick. It's also a very sonorous engine, emitting a muted, yet very pleasing thrum through the seat cushions, and if you wind the windows down you'll be able to hear a little turbo whine, though this may not be to everyone's liking.

It really is quite astonishing how much urge this engine has, and the possibilities for tuning it make me want to weep like a baby. While standing starts are stupendously rapid in the Turbo, it dispatches 80-120km/h roll-ons with lighting pace.

As far as fuel efficiency goes, the city cycle is on par with the blown vee-six of the VY S, at 12.5-litres/100km, though the highway cycle suffers at 8.0-litres/100km where the Commodore drinks just 7.4-litres covering the same distance. I should also mention that when pushed hard, the Falc' will drink - we managed about 24-litres per 100km at one stage.

There are three shift modes on offer in the auto model - adaptive (normal), performance (holds gears and revs them out more) and sports shift, which is the semi-manual tip-tronic mode.

The sports mode is very nice, and the push-forward to change down, pull-back to change up gears is the more logical setup in my mind, as you work with inertia, not against it, and BMW has recently adopted this method as well.

The performance mode is good when you want to have both hands on the wheel, but need pin-point response from the engine and gearing, and the adaptive is fine for traffic and commuter duties, while final drive ratio for the auto is 3.45:1.

The 240kW XR6T will hit 100km/h from rest in just 6.0-seconds

I really can't praise the drivetrain enough - the auto transmission is remarkably pliable and the engine, well, it's one of the best sixes to ever come out of Australia, let alone from the Blue Oval, and many die-hard V8 fans will be perplexed at just how good it is.

Extras

Everyone gets electric windows, the driver gifted with express wind-down function (no up though), there's air vents and air-con for both front and rear passengers and there's lots of XR logos inside, and a discreet Turbo badge adjacent to the right-hand brake light.

The single in-dash CD player is adequate, but the stereo would distort when pushed.

There is a premium audio option, which adds a colour display screen to the centre console, a 6 disc in-dash CD, and audio 'pep-pack' - that is a 150 watt amplifier and 150 watt sub-woofer, all of which cost $900.

There are lots of stowage areas, particularly in the front (glovebox, coin tray/holder, centre console storage box door pockets etc.), as well as a tilt-adjust steering column, front seat headrests, cruise control, power steering, a very practical trip computer, electric mirrors and an in-glass rear radio antenna, which provides impressive reception, even out in Woop-woop.

A 60:40 split fold second row allows long items (such as snowboards or surfboards) to be loaded in without sacrificing all three rear seats, and audible warnings for lights on and seat belt off are helpful. There's also two buttons on the centre console that are simple, yet very useful additions: A universal light switch and a lock doors switch.

Safety features include a driver's and front passenger's SRS airbag, 4-channel ABS plus traction control, and an immobiliser, alarm, central locking and a security coded audio system also make the cut. It can also tow up to 1600kg on a trailer fitted with brakes, has a 68-litre fuel tank and a lovely slippery diff.

Overall: 4.5/5

I knew the XR6T was going to be a good car, but I was totally gob-smacked at how well it deals with a plethora of different situations. You can drive the Falcon XR6 Turbo around like any other family car, nice and carefully, or you give in to the car's underlying bad-ass nature and get from A to B in a high velocity, wheel-spinning, smokey haze of rapidity.

The only real negative I can see with the XR6T is it's astonishing thirst, though if you don't push it hard 100 per cent of the time, you can still get acceptable overall fuel consumption figures.

The engine has the kind of power many V8s would envy, as Holden's Gen III mill needs to be revved hard before peak torque kicks in (4400rpm). The XR6T's prodigious glut of torque, which is sustained from 2000-4500rpm, gives the car a very quick feel off the line and the elasticity of this potent engine gets two big thumbs up from me.

What can I say? A new breed of Falcon has landed. This is the kind of the car that I'd love to own, and with comparable stats to Holden's V8-powered SS, while being $4000 cheaper, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate the status quo in the Aussie performance car market.

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