XF Falcon - worlds best braking/handling car?

OzJavelin · 10-07-2006, 07:34 AM

Driving to work this morning in the dark (about 6:30am) through notorious stretch of roo country I was sitting on 100km/h in my SV8. Now doing 100km/h in roo country just before sun-up makes me a bit of an f'wit, but being on my own I can run with high beams and "hopefully" spot anything ahead.

Anyway, a far greater f'wit roars up behind me and literally is sitting up my *** .. so close that I cannot see his headlights ( which is nice 'cos they were aligned properly anyway and they were annoying as he approached!

). Now if doing 100km/h in roo country is bad enough, doing 100km/h in roo country sitting a couple of metres behind another car seems pretty stupid ... unless I am mis-informed and XF Falcons are the greatest breaking and handling cars around??!!

So when I see a roo and jump on the anchors in my SV8 (ABS and all), the XF sitting a few meters behind me will either:
1. Stop without hitting me because of it's superior braking
2. Simply drive around me and the roo because of it's superior handling and inbuilt "stability control".

So .. do I need to trade in to buy what must be obviously (based upon driver characteristics) the best car ever built?

Lukeyson · 10-07-2006, 07:39 AM

LOL
ummmmm no ..... if it was my old XF, if i hit the anchors at 100kph it would have locked up and understeered off the road. lol.

Rev28K · 10-07-2006, 08:04 AM

XF Falcon - 500,000 Taxi drivers can't be wrong.

charles_wif_xf · 10-07-2006, 10:39 AM

LOL. That said, my one is quite capable in the braking department, but to get the most out of the brakes, you need to progressively mash the pedal, not in one quick stomp. Also the quality of the tyres help greatly as well. I used to have "cough" Eagle GA's (Goodyear) "cough" on the front and braking action was marginal when the brakes were called to spring into urgent action. With the Pirelli's now, let's just say my braking distances have dramatically dropped.

mash85 · 10-07-2006, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charles_wif_xf

LOL. That said, my one is quite capable in the braking department, but to get the most out of the brakes, you need to progressively mash the pedal, not in one quick stomp. Also the quality of the tyres help greatly as well. I used to have "cough" Eagle GA's (Goodyear) "cough" on the front and braking action was marginal when the brakes were called to spring into urgent action. With the Pirelli's now, let's just say my braking distances have dramatically dropped.

cant be as bad as the bob janes my dad had on his xf. death trap in the wet

BlueXr8 · 10-07-2006, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mash85

cant be as bad as the bob janes my dad had on his xf. death trap in the wet

cant be as bad as the tyrpes i got atm excalburs. hahaha i laughed when the guy said brand new tryes in his advert.

however awsome fun is the wet for getting sideway barley touch the gas and the back end comes out, once i hit 18 only 3 months away im just gunna smoke 'em to the rim lol however the wet sideways thing could be to do with my car is an Xr8

Ultimate · 10-07-2006, 11:07 AM

I had me a 85 xf. God was it a tank no way you could pull up easy.

Jeff

max · 10-07-2006, 12:15 PM

Anyway, a far greater f'wit roars up behind me and literally is sitting up my *** .. so close that I cannot see his headlights ( which is nice 'cos they were aligned properly anyway and they were annoying as he approached!

). Now if doing 100km/h in roo country is bad enough, doing 100km/h in roo country sitting a couple of metres behind another car seems pretty stupid ... unless I am mis-informed and XF Falcons are the greatest breaking and handling cars around??!!

Hmm... this guy was being unintelligent to the extreme factor. Must have been a redneck.

**Mechan1k** · 10-07-2006, 12:27 PM

I've hit a roo in an XF Falcon ... they can doo 100km/h and hit one with ease.
End result
XF = 1
Roo = 0

The big red was dead ... the XF had a busted grille and a broken headlight protector ... not another mark on it. It definitely is a tank.

galaxy xr8 · 10-07-2006, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

I've hit a roo in an XF Falcon ... they can doo 100km/h and hit one with ease.
End result
XF = 1
Roo = 0

The big red was dead ... the XF had a busted grille and a broken headlight protector ... not another mark on it. It definitely is a tank.

Must have been a very very small roo, cause there is no way a plastic fantastic XF would survive that unscaved hitting a roo at 100klm. come on mate.

:

Fairlane · 10-07-2006, 02:02 PM

Dont most XF's have Drums on the rear.

14" Tyres + 20 Years of worn suspension components + Drums = Written off XF & SV8 + One ****ed off SV8 owner.

peedee · 10-07-2006, 03:55 PM

Majority have 4 wheel disc except base models and commercial base models, but I do not care how great a handling stopping car it is, stoopid to run that close to anyone at 100kph in any vehicle, Ive hit a roo in a 13 tonne fire tanker and all thet happened was the roos face imprint was in the right rear sheet metal wheel cover that was at about 90kph and mongerl just hopped away
peter

brenx · 10-07-2006, 04:31 PM

rofl. I used to drive my mums 84 XF when it was relatively new. Brakes? What brakes? The pedal feel was nice and solid but it never stopped in a hard braking situation. I played a little. It just cooked the brakes and they faded away.

xbgs351 · 10-07-2006, 05:08 PM

Some iron calipers, good pads and fluid and they should pull up extremely well. Unfortunately most have alloy calipers, cheap pads and old brake fluid.

No matter how good the brakes are, they won't make up for an idiotic tailgating driver.

Phoon Hoon · 10-07-2006, 05:18 PM

Maybe we should run a poll:

XF vs SV8 vs Western Red

On this forum, I know which'd win!

EL_futuraistic · 10-07-2006, 05:40 PM

Clearly tailgating a late model anything in a old model something is a bad idea..... and tailgating at 100kp/h is even more stupid.

Question is, why did he not simply pass you????

My vote is for the Western Red

**edit** to clarify, tailgating is dangerous and stupid at any speed

OzJavelin · 11-07-2006, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EL_futuraistic

Clearly tailgating a late model anything in a old model something is a bad idea..... and tailgating at 100kp/h is even more stupid.

Question is, why did he not simply pass you????

No idea .. he had at least three passing areas. Just caught up to me and that was it. Maybe it ran out of puff after that? Maybe I should have slowed down and either:
1. Allowed him to pass (unlikely)
2. Quickly sped up so it would take him awhile to gain momentum to catch me again?

Typically I try to drive consistently to give people a chance to pass me if they want. If they catch me when I'm at 100km/h, I'll stay on 100km/h. I won't slow down for them to pass and I won't speed up to get away from them. It's basically their call ..

brenx · 10-07-2006, 06:02 PM

My mates old XC really stuggled to survive a roo. The XC was really roo-ted.

red_hotxr6 · 10-07-2006, 06:55 PM

Maybe what ever the heck you are driving depends on the drivers reaction time............

Aussie Falcon · 10-07-2006, 07:10 PM

Anyone see the XF demolished and turned on it's roof by the Italian Fans on Norton St this morning?

Phoon Hoon · 10-07-2006, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aussie Falcon

Anyone see the XF demolished and turned on it's roof by the Italian Fans on Norton St this morning?

Yep! My eight year old picked it as a Falcon before I did. That's my Boy!!!

Van D · 10-07-2006, 08:01 PM

XF's can go that fast? Hmph.

I'm definently upgrading the brakes in my XF. It's got front disc, rear drum. When I put a disc LSD in the back, i'll be upgrading all brakes and suspension (including sway bars etc) hopefully.

It actually doesn't stop that bad i've found.. But when I jump in the parents BA and take it out, I can't help smiling when it pulls up.

Ringo · 11-07-2006, 08:15 AM

Eagle GA's on an XF....what luxury

When I bought my XF S Pack 5 Speed (Dual Fuel) it had Bob Jane 4 x Pos-a-Tractions on it. They were actually mislabelled because I had no freakin traction whatsoever. Under braking in the wet I could lock the front wheels with minimal brake pressure....they still had 50% tread left too. I wondered if they were made of plastic, not rubber.

I got a set of Bridgestone GR50's and wow - I had brakes and steering even in the wet.... I was thinking of a going on a track day with my new sports car.. it was an S pack after all - poor mans ESP right ?

Now if the falcon in the TAC add has pos-a-traction tyres and was doing 45 kph I think it still would have hit the girl at about oooooo 45kph...but sideways.

brenx · 11-07-2006, 08:28 AM

lol. My old man loves pos-a-traction tyres. He even had them on my mums XF. Also had them on his ED and VN commodore.

Stoney! · 11-07-2006, 10:03 AM

POS - A - TRACTIONS ARE CRAP

I had them before the Turanza ER592's (AWESOME TYRE) I can't get over just how **** the povo tractions were, and they were out before next rego, for the extra 15 odd bucks a tyre, the turanzas will be my bet from now on.

POS, hmmmm Piece of ****?

Stoney!

goXF · 11-07-2006, 01:40 PM

I've had my XF for over 4 years now and still have POSATRACTION on them and have had no problem with them whatsoever. By the look of it I will get close to 50,000K on them.

Ringo · 14-07-2006, 08:30 AM

^^ Please don't tell me that your avatar is real and that you were wearing POS-A TRACTIONS on it at the time?

I got 65,000 klms out of a set of B'Stone GR50's

Would have got more except for the bushes on the f end wearing out which worn the inner edges of the tyre.

I have my pressures kinda high as well which helped....40psi

Anyway back on topic

If the XF in question was running GR50's then there was nothing to worry about - the XF would have been like it as rails !

goXF · 14-07-2006, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ringo

^^ Please don't tell me that your avatar is real and that you were wearing POS-A TRACTIONS on it at the time?

!

I don't think my XF could ever get that fast or even close to it - so no the avatar is not real.

The fastest I have ever been would be around 130-140 while overtaking.
But I have never felt out of control in the xf with the posatraction's - probably because i am generally a sedate driver (in my car).

xe351 · 14-07-2006, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goXF

I don't think my XF could ever get that fast or even close to it - so no the avatar is not real.

The fastest I have ever been would be around 130-140 while overtaking.
But I have never felt out of control in the xf with the posatraction's - probably because i am generally a sedate driver (in my car).

mate, dont underestimate the old XF. They are capable of those speeds, its dumb to try on a public road, but yes they will do it. An acquaintance had a standard 4spd xf, topped 197km, but that was all it had. I suspect it had the 2.77 diff.

goXF · 14-07-2006, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xe351

mate, dont underestimate the old XF. They are capable of those speeds, its dumb to try on a public road, but yes they will do it. An acquaintance had a standard 4spd xf, topped 197km, but that was all it had. I suspect it had the 2.77 diff.

Well i have never tried to go really fast - only when overtaking - and even then i would only get to about 130.

I have a 3spd auto which would probably hold it back a bit and maybe being on gas as well.....