Touring Tassie in XR6

alecrain · 05-01-2010, 12:35 PM

Hello,
I just came back from a 10-day tour of Tassie and I'd like to share my experiences of driving the FG XR6 in that beautiful state.
I managed to convince my wife to upgrade (from XT) to XR6 in order to enjoy the winding mountain roads of Tasmania more. We got an almost new XR6 in Mystic (green/blue/turquoise) and drove it around the state.

I must say it's one terrific car and both of us loved every minute of it. It handled beautifully, looked fantastic parked next to our tent and was the best thing about the vacation- apart from the beautiful nature.
The roads there, I reckon, are made for a car like that- there wasn't a stretch of straight road longer than 300m on the whole island, and apart from few very slow tourists from time to time the conditions were perfect.

One more thing, I've been driving for almost 10 years now and have never been pulled over, breath tested or gotten a ticket- until Tassie...

ps. have a look at my blog at http://arekphotography.blogspot.com for my photography from the trip. I'll be uploaded daily

mcnews · 05-01-2010, 12:39 PM

The roads down the south west of Tassie are awesome eh. Strahan, Queenstown etc. Bliss

alecrain · 05-01-2010, 03:05 PM

As I mentioned before, I really loved the car.
I loved how it handled, how it took corners, how sensitive the steering was and all- that was mostly due to stiffer (than XT) suspension- which actually bothered my wife. She, being smaller than most men, was thrown around in the seat- that enveloped me nicely- and she didn't appreciate feeling every bump of the road on her (beautiful) rear

I really liked the 5-speed auto. It was great in auto (normal and performance modes) as well in manual mode. Perfect for winding roads with lost of ups and downs. Overtaking was a dream too

:

I really liked few innovative things in the car. iPod connectivity (and bluetooth) were fantastic! Digital speed display was very handy and precise, by comparing it to the GPS. I actually liked that the central display was raised it allowed for faster glances at it. Oh and the auto climate control, very cool feature!
I also loved the fact that the car finished some of the simple things for me.
I remembered to turn the lights off, indicate few times when lane changing and doing additional wipe after washing windscreen.

As for the things we didn't appreciate...

nothing really

After few minutes (and referring to the user manual) I found how to open the boot and fuel lid

tex · 05-01-2010, 03:31 PM

Glad you enjoyed my home state, there are roads over here that even the 'locals' have forgotten about..............

There is more speed cameras, and the hidden, covert kind than any other state of australia - km for km of road. Fact. belive me, just because you haven't seen one in a couple of hundred km's, you most certainly have still gone passed one, or two. I note they have started hiding the cameras (about the size of a packet of ciggys on a tripod) in the bushes again. Extension leads then go off to a car occupied by some bloke, not concerned with job satisfaction, just the sound of $$$$$$$$$ going to state revinue.

I was RBT'd once over xmas and at 9am new years day.

Please visit Tasmania the speed camera state again soon.

block58 · 05-01-2010, 04:00 PM

You're really lucky.

Last time I was on Tasmania roads was in a Pulsar hire car. That has got to be one of the worst cars for someone who gets travel sickness.

jaydee · 05-01-2010, 04:06 PM

I'm off to Tassie on the 17th for 10 days too, only got a Camry but.
What did the XR6 cost to hire?
Great photo's by the way.

alecrain · 05-01-2010, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tex

Glad you enjoyed my home state, there are roads over here that even the 'locals' have forgotten about..............

There is more speed cameras, and the hidden, covert kind than any other state of australia - km for km of road. Fact. belive me, just because you haven't seen one in a couple of hundred km's, you most certainly have still gone passed one, or two. I note they have started hiding the cameras (about the size of a packet of ciggys on a tripod) in the bushes again. Extension leads then go off to a car occupied by some bloke, not concerned with job satisfaction, just the sound of $$$$$$$$$ going to state revinue.

I was RBT'd once over xmas and at 9am new years day.

Please visit Tasmania the speed camera state again soon.

Now you got me worried mate.
Do you know how long would it take to track me through Avis with some potential speeding fines?

:

GTP owner · 05-01-2010, 04:32 PM

It is a great divers state except for the revenue raisers. You needed the turbo to overtake the slower cars though - then you would have found Nirvana

Neeek · 05-01-2010, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alecrain

Now you got me worried mate.
Do you know how long would it take to track me through Avis with some potential speeding fines?

:

If my step-father's shennanigens are anything to go by (he was over from the UK for a month or two, and hired a nice new XR6 through Avis here in Brisbane), you've got about 3 weeks, tops.

He got back home to find one fine on the doormat that happened two weeks prior on the Bruce Highway, and then got another one about a week later for speeding in the other direction about a week later.

Seems Avis are more than helpful in assisting the local constabulary!

jaydee · 05-01-2010, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neeek

If my step-father's shennanigens are anything to go by (he was over from the UK for a month or two, and hired a nice new XR6 through Avis here in Brisbane), you've got about 3 weeks, tops.

He got back home to find one fine on the doormat that happened two weeks prior on the Bruce Highway, and then got another one about a week later for speeding in the other direction about a week later.

Seems Avis are more than helpful in assisting the local constabulary!

But how do they go about getting the fine paid, you wouldn't get extradited so what will they do, send nasty letters?

UNR8D · 05-01-2010, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neeek

If my step-father's shennanigens are anything to go by (he was over from the UK for a month or two, and hired a nice new XR6 through Avis here in Brisbane), you've got about 3 weeks, tops.

He got back home to find one fine on the doormat that happened two weeks prior on the Bruce Highway, and then got another one about a week later for speeding in the other direction about a week later.

Seems Avis are more than helpful in assisting the local constabulary!

if he isnt planning on comming back to aust I would use them as a dart board ;).

on topic thou, I would love to do that trip, hoping I can get the time off work this year to do brisbane to vic, go on the spirit of tas then spend a week driving around tassie, unfortunataly I sold the T so ill be doing it in a lexus IS300, should still be a good trip. Ill be sure to check out the pics. Road trips FTW.

The G6ET Spot · 05-01-2010, 07:30 PM

My wife and I are heading back over there in May for the next installment.

This time in the G6ET instead of the XR8 ute.

Look out Tassie.

09SR5 · 05-01-2010, 08:16 PM

I recently went home to NZ for Xmas and due to the airline pricing it was a couple of hundred dollars more to hire a car for 10 days than add two extra national flights. I could have gotten a compact or mid size car but went for the Falcon instead. I had a Vixen FG XR6 with 6 speed auto. It was brilliant. It's amazing how these cars have transformed to what they are. On the open road it sipped fuel and I was acheiving 7.9l/100 and by driving as I normally would, no feathering the throttle or anything like that. The auto was fantastic, engine was fantastic, looks fantastic. I did have to get help to open the boot however!

It's prompted me to head to the Ford dealer to look at same car in turbo form.

Falcon_Crazy · 05-01-2010, 09:00 PM

I enjoyed evry bit of Tassie and am keen to go back down in my FG Ute..had as much fun as i could in the RTV though!!! Great shots BTW

makattkd · 06-01-2010, 10:36 AM

Its actually amazing how many XR6 rental cars are about down here, In fact when I bought my FG in October a mate in the service department was saying the just delivered 70 (yes 70!) XR6's to one Rental company!

I would love to use my XR6 for our Targa reconnaissance car, but it would be a shame to get gravel rash/stone chips on it. West Coast Tassie roads are pretty coarse stone! Maybe ill just Rent one, think they are pretty reasonably priced.

How did u find the brakes through the fast twisty stuff?

alecrain · 06-01-2010, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by makattkd

Its actually amazing how many XR6 rental cars are about down here, In fact when I bought my FG in October a mate in the service department was saying the just delivered 70 (yes 70!) XR6's to one Rental company!

I would love to use my XR6 for our Targa reconnaissance car, but it would be a shame to get gravel rash/stone chips on it. West Coast Tassie roads are pretty coarse stone! Maybe ill just Rent one, think they are pretty reasonably priced.

How did u find the brakes through the fast twisty stuff?

The brakes were all right, however they felt different (bit delayed) compared to my BA's.
And I think I did a total of ~50km on unsealed roads in the XR6. Could hear the stones hitting everywhere but I didn't see any marks anywhere- that's good. Perhaps the huge wheel arches helped

Riksta · 06-01-2010, 12:50 PM

I'm thinking of doing Tassie maybe April/May, depending on finances, as I have a mate who moved over there a couple of years back, going to go catch up with him.

I'm still debating whether to drive to Melbourne and Ferry the AU over so I've got a car I'm well used to, or whether to fly and hire an XR6T/XR8 (well, I wanna go for a car that's a bit of fun if I don't take the AU!).

alecrain · 06-01-2010, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riksta

I'm thinking of doing Tassie maybe April/May, depending on finances, as I have a mate who moved over there a couple of years back, going to go catch up with him.

I'm still debating whether to drive to Melbourne and Ferry the AU over so I've got a car I'm well used to, or whether to fly and hire an XR6T/XR8 (well, I wanna go for a car that's a bit of fun if I don't take the AU!).

Where would you hire XR6T or XR8?

ps. by taking the ferry you're loosing 2 days

makattkd · 06-01-2010, 01:28 PM

Yeh in all honesty its not worth it, better to hire...

whynot · 06-01-2010, 07:24 PM

This article makes me jealous ... We, actually five of us, spent two weeks touring Tasmania in early December. While I had booked an XR6 months in advanced with Thrifty, when we arrived all they had left was a Toyota Aurion. Dear oh me oh my, what an absolute puss bucket of a vehicle. Driving an Aurion around Tasmania nearly spoiled our holiday. There are some fantastic roads in Tasmania that dip, curl, and twist; screaming out for a vehicle with honest dynamics.

Surprisingly, my whinge about the Aurion meet with some stiff reaction from the apologists on this very forum ...

alecrain · 07-01-2010, 04:08 PM

**Polyal** · 07-01-2010, 04:15 PM

Nice! Tex I dont know how you just called Tassie the camera state, it is the least patrolled, enforced etc state I have ever lived in.

alecrain · 07-01-2010, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polyal

Nice! Tex I dont know how you just called Tassie the camera state, it is the least patrolled, enforced etc state I have ever lived in.

I've seen a lot of patrols on the main roads around Hobart and Launceston, but none further away.