Falcon Soars
Filed Under Curt Hennig | Posted on April 12, 2008
AHEAD OF THEIR SHOWROOM DEBUT NEXT MONTH, ANDREW HEASLEY SAMPLES
EVERY MODEL IN THE NEW FORD FALCON RANGE.
LET’S cut to the chase. The new Falcon is an extremely
impressive car to drive, from the bottom of the range to the
top.
There are discernible differences to the way each model variant
drives: some are more suited to loping along with cruise control
on; others have nicer cabin ambience; and others have brutal
performance.
Drive intelligently on flowing open roads and there’s some
excellent fuel economy figures to be seen. How’s a 6.8 L/100 km
average at a steady 90 km/h for a 1.7-tonne car? That’s the lowest
reading we obtained, and remarkable by
any reckoning.
It shows you can have the benefits of a big, safe car that
devours distances without necessarily doing the same to the world’s
oil reserves.
Yet we blew out beyond 18 L/100 km in spirited driving in the
XR6 Turbo.
But a consistent attribute across the range is the sure-footed
and composed way the Falcon handles. It’s commendable that
electronic stability control is standard across the Falcon sedan’s
petrol cars, but lamentable curtain airbags are not standard on
some models.
Its on-road composure, though, should minimise your chance of
getting out of shape in the first place. It’s a credit to local
engineers: there are ample imported cars that don’t ride and handle
nearly as well.
Whether the new Falcon will draw people away from SUVs and other
classes of cars remains to be seen. It’s even got a fight on its
hands against Ford’s own Mondeo and Territory, with which it shares
showroom floor space.
Consumer tastes are changing. So-called ”user-choosers” -
people who can pick
their company car - are increasingly turning their back on
traditional large cars.
Still, first impressions are positive.
Turn to page 7 to find out how each model fared.
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