The WORST Falcon model, and why.

[marty351]

Now that some of us lepers have been confined to their colony, what, in your honest opinion, is the WORST, nastiest and downright godless Falcon you, your family, a friend, or anyone else you can come up with, have either owned or used. And why.

[MercuryT]

BA Falcon (although hear FG just as crap)

Loved and hated it all at once.

Best engine ever in Aust - no doubt.

The rest of the car built shockingly bad.

[kypez]

EA... If it wasn't the head gasket blowing, the rust will get you. And the 3 speed auto was terrible!

[Burnout]

Not a falcon, but the TC Cortina I had was rubbish, 4speed manual gave up @ 16,oookm and the suspension was shagged as well. I got rid of it.

[MercuryT]

Originally Posted by kypez

EA... If it wasn't the head gasket blowing, the rust will get you. And the 3 speed auto was terrible!

Did the power steering pump fail every 2 seconds?

The heater fixed and fail and fixed fail?

Door actuators fail constantly?

I loved my BA as a super quick, awesome engine (not one oil leak in 200thou.....) but gee whiz it was poorly made compared to other cars I've owned.

[kypez]

Originally Posted by MercuryT

Did the power steering pump fail every 2 seconds?

The heater fixed and fail and fixed fail?

Door actuators fail constantly?

I loved my BA as a super quick, awesome engine but gee whiz it was poorly made compared to other cars I've owned.

My BA had so few issues. Depends on the car I guess. Mine lasted 8-9 years before I had to fix the actuators and that was only on a couple of doors. Still have the original in the drivers and passenger doors.

I was still running my original powersteering and heater/AC till I removed the latter last year after 16 years of use without ever the need to regas.

The BA was solid for me. As has the FG.

[Sprintey]

On the new car market:

AU1 - its looks when compared with the VT in 1998. Repelled loyal customers and the way it was marketed was a fundamental misread of the market for which quite a few executives left... We all know how robust and legendary they proved to be however.

XK - front suspensions busting, not a good initial impression.

EA - quality control



As they aged:

BA - control blade rebuilds, quality. How the interiors have aged. When new the BA was exciting and perception was that it saved Ford with its style, power and inclusion of lots of tech like the DOHC and IRS... It will still go classic and be remembered as one of the best however, because of the Turbo...

Stuff like the Territory never getting a real fix for the tailgate rust deserves a mention too...

[DJR-351]

Brand new 351 4 speed XD Ute, it basically fell to pieces in 10 months of driving it between Lake Grace and Tom Price (WA) and back, gravel roads killed it.....

My good mate Len kindly let me buy back my old XA GS 351 Ute, happy days again....

[kypez]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

On the new car market:

AU1 - its looks when compared with the VT in 1998. Repelled loyal customers and the way it was marketed was a fundamental misread of the market for which quite a few executives left... We all know how robust and legendary they proved to be however.

XK - front suspensions busting, not a good initial impression.

EA - quality control



As they aged:

BA - control blade rebuilds, quality. How the interiors have aged. When new the BA was exciting and perception was that it saved Ford with its style, power and inclusion of lots of tech like the DOHC and IRS... It will still go classic and be remembered as one of the best however, because of the Turbo...

Stuff like the Territory never getting a real fix for the tailgate rust deserves a mention too...

What were the control blade rebuild issue? I've never touched mine in the 17 years of ownership!

[Sprintey]

DJR - my BIL had new 308 WB ute in same area/driving at around same time, that thing was solid - copped a lot of roo hits though!

[Sprintey]

I've rebuilt mine once Kypez, but I have a heavier car.
Issue is the complexity and cost of repair as the car depreciates, it will bring forward the time when the repair is more than the value of the car and thus scrapping occurs earlier.

[kypez]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

I've rebuilt mine once Kypez, but I have a heavier car.
Issue is the complexity and cost of repair as the car depreciates, it will bring forward the time when the repair is more than the value of the car and thus scrapping occurs earlier.

Fair enough. I had never heard of that issue is all!

[MercuryT]

Originally Posted by kypez

My BA had so few issues. Depends on the car I guess. Mine lasted 8-9 years before I had to fix the actuators and that was only on a couple of doors. Still have the original in the drivers and passenger doors.

I was still running my original powersteering and heater/AC till I removed the latter last year after 16 years of use without ever the need to regas.

The BA was solid for me. As has the FG.

Fair enough. Did you own for a decade and had at 300thou?

My other cars were like I bought when sold.

The BA just crumbled completely

[kypez]

Originally Posted by MercuryT

Fair enough. Did you own for a decade and had at 300thou?

My other cars were like I bought when sold.

The BA just crumbled completely

Not saying it didn't happen to your cars. Just saying that I didn't have issues.

The BA was at 8kms when I picked it up and the FG was at 17kms. BA has about 210,000 kms on it and the FG is only 46,000. So, not near 300,000.

But my XR8 is a track car so has had a hard life for the last 10 years or so. The Aircon and heater only came out to save weight last year.

[happy1]

Originally Posted by kypez

What were the control blade rebuild issue? I've never touched mine in the 17 years of ownership!

Exactly! Even Territory which is much heavier don't have a problem with its control blade arms.
If you had mentioned Diff bushings, I would have agreed. They could have been engineered better so they didn't split. The Turbo model and probably XR8 have more of this due to the power.

I find this thread quite silly really.

The BA is quite well put together compared with VE Commodore.
On the VE Commodore it isn't possible to take off the plastic panels without cracking off the small brackets on them. That's shocking design!

Neither of the Ford or the Commodore are as well built as a Toyota where every clip is carefully engineered, and can be dismantled without damages.

Real s**t cars are things like Holden Cruze and Jeep Cherokee, where expensive parts break down, and you break down along the road.

Parts prices and availability is also a factor to consider. (Ford has already many obsolete parts), and even when you could get the parts they were often far more expensive than expected.

Anyway that's just my opinion.

Cheers,

[Jastel]

Have had multiples of every model Falcon for the last 30 years for the Taxis.
Every model was better than the previous model. Yes they all had some problems and every now and then you were stuck with a lemon that you had to ditch...but if someone could give me a 2050 model car today I will take 10...

The old rose coloured glasses kick in and we dream of the simple old days...you forget the abysmal handling, the pathetic fuel economy, safety?? What's that?

Yes, fixing and tinkering with old cars was an easier thing to do but keeping a horse was pretty easy too, we think...

[wodahs]

and here i thought it be the Millennium Falcon
that thing was always braking down

[Falcon SXR8]

Ba falcon for me, besides the awesome turbo barra it was absolute junk. Stranded me on the side of the road 4 times in 40 000kms. Has put me off modern falcons for good.

[prktkljokr]

XD Falcon, every time you turned your back a new rusted section would appear, met a guy later on that used to work at Backshall Ford panel when they were new, he told me they were repairing them flat out when new, rust problems water leaks etc, he said the rear roof pillars and the front door pillars had rust stains on most cars he saw.

[Syndrome]

XF. It was successful only because it's main rival Holden was bankrupt and almost went out of business. I don't believe any teenage boy had a poster of an XF on their bedroom wall nor do I see any demand for these cars by collectors these days. And look at the project cars forum - nobody has ever wanted to restore an XF back to factory condition.

[XR Martin]

EA 3speed, did a headgasket, and leaked oil like a sieve. Never broke down, apart from when the battery terminals were left loose by the mechanic who did the headgasket. Otherwise it was alot more solid than my brother's VP, just a hell of alot slower (from a stop, but from a roll it was close)
ED XR6 broke down twice, broken clutch cable clip and snapped fan belt because I over revved it.
EL Futura with 350k kms when I got it, never broke down. Leaked oil like a sieve though. Gave it to my brother who ran it into the ground. Had nearly 450k kms, only died from lack of maintenance.
EL XR8 never broke down.
BA hasn't broken down.
FGX hasn't broken down.

I've had heaps of ****ters amongst those too and I don't recall anything leaving me stranded. But I'm pretty proactive regarding maintenance on everything I've owned.

Yes the BA is cheap in a lot of areas, but it's still a solid car.

[MercuryT]

Originally Posted by Falcon SXR8

Ba falcon for me, besides the awesome turbo barra it was absolute junk. Stranded me on the side of the road 4 times in 40 000kms. Has put me off modern falcons for good.

Yep. And I (stupidly) owned it a decade.....

All the recent FPVs like GTs just as crap. Wings, stripes and spoilers don't hide what it is actually is.

Look and go well sure, but no surprise it's gone under as not even close to competition quality wise outside performance.

[au2000]

My ea would have to have been my worst and best falcon..
Had a constant throttle position switch issue which even when replaced would still idle all over the shop At 1 point would go from 900 rpm up to 3500 rpm while at red lights causing the car to lurch forward
Mind u it cooked a bead gasket just outside of bendigo 1 holiday and could still drive it all the way home at 110 and back to my mechanics the next day..

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

XF. It was successful only because it's main rival Holden was bankrupt and almost went out of business. I don't believe any teenage boy had a poster of an XF on their bedroom wall nor do I see any demand for these cars by collectors these days. And look at the project cars forum - nobody has ever wanted to restore an XF back to factory condition.

Geeze you must walk around with your eyes closed. Plenty of XF's still around registered and still in everyday use, maybe that why no one collects them.

[superyob]

EB Falcon. Very bad...

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Geeze you must walk around with your eyes closed. Plenty of XF's still around registered and still in everyday use, maybe that why no one collects them.

I can't remember the last time I saw an XF on the road. And even thought it is not listed amongst these numbers I'd be surprised if there was 5000 still registered.

http://fordforums.com.au/showpost.ph...&postcount=101

[marty351]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

I can't remember the last time I saw an XF on the road. And even thought it is not listed amongst these numbers I'd be surprised if there was 5000 still registered.

http://fordforums.com.au/showpost.ph...&postcount=101

And my guess would be that most of those are utes and pano's.

[383hq]

Seems to be a theme around XD-EA falcons
I would have suggested XF-EA as well. EA's had all sorts of problems associated with design/production.

Personally
EL, AU2 and FG2 have all been excellent mechanically
AU was the worst from aesthetics perspective- it wasn't until crca 2011 when Mercedes tried something similar with the CLS series, so I'll claim it was decades ahead of its time.

TF cortina, BA2 RTV v8, and bf2 xr8 were ok for me. Biggest issue was with a BF2 Xr8.

As Jastel suggests, the issues associated with car ownership seem to be getting smaller and more trival.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by happy1

The BA is quite well put together compared with VE Commodore.
On the VE Commodore it isn't possible to take off the plastic panels without cracking off the small brackets on them. That's shocking design!

Neither of the Ford or the Commodore are as well built as a Toyota where every clip is carefully engineered, and can be dismantled without damages.

I see you too have met my friend Mr VE Commodore

I worked on those things when they were new and the clips and how they held into the panels were stronger than the bloody trim piece and the structure holding the clip into the trim - boom! broken trim!

I'm going to put my vote in for BA/BF Falcon, here's some examples from my old workshop:

Both B series Falcons are in at the same time for busted door locks:



B series in for busted heater shaft:







B series in for busted ignition barrel (replace column, in case of BF you need to also recalibrate steering angle sensor in ECU):



Another B series with busted ignition barrel - put relay in and car starts itself?



Also BA/BF have crap A/C systems compared to earlier series Falcons too.

P.S If you go to open the bonnet on your B series and the bonnet latch snaps off in your hands, the part number is CR101 and is available through all Repco and Burson stores

Those of you with B series autos have you busted the gear shift cable yet?

At least the door lock is easy to replace on the B series though.

[Tassie f100]

EA for lack of reliability and over abundance of early rust especially around the boot area.XA-XC Coupes for hardly any rearward vision and needed 3 parking spaces to open the doors to let rear passengers in and out