Thread: Buying a Falcon

Brian
AH HA,the good old AU Falcoon,the one with the looks only a mother could love!!!!
Yes they can be a lemon,sounds like they saw you coming and picked a ripe one
The AU cost Ford big as they wernt well liked.
The BA/BF is a much better vehicle,the motor now has 24 valves and vairiable cam timing,they are a strong motor,yet sip the fuel.
Andrew

Had both Commodores and Falcons as company cars, and, although I was bought up as a holden man, the Falcon is a much better car. The engine is heaps better, as is the trannie. The seats are far more comfortable in the Falcon as well. As already mentioned, they chew through brake rotors, but they are cheap to fix.

I would happily swap my 18 month old commodore with 75KKM on the clock with the older 07 model Falcon I had that had 225KKM on it when they replaced it - even with those KM on it, it was a great car to drive.

Oh, and the newer dunny doors have heaps more issues with the electrics than the fords - in our fleet, it would be about 4 to 1 in favour of the holden for being towed to the dealers with some electrical fault - they are truly an aweful car.

Cheers - Gav

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

A 2002. It has just hit 195,000 k's. I have spent that much time, money, and frustation on it that I am stuck with it and will run it until it breaks in half from rust or does another expensive electronic failure. It is now worth about $3,000 and one can spend this on a major failure. I won't be.

Gas guzzling unreliable heap of s--t.

Well thats your problem, the AU has to be the biggest POS Ford has ever built, my uncle bought one just after my grandad got his EL, the EL has been a fantastic car, had a new transmission a while ago, but was passed on to my other uncle after a divorce, has been replaced with a BF II which is brilliant, only complaint is the trim on one of the inside door handles fell off, thats is, the AU has cost them big, brake rotors need replacing a lot, power steering, electrics etc. absolute lemon and Ford lost a lot of respect when that replaced the EL, The BA was and still is a much better car. Personally i would have a holden right up to when commodore was released, after that i'd have a Falcon, just not an AU. Sorry to hear you ended up with such a lemon though, my uncle could sypathise with you haha.

Hey LR JR.
Wait till you steer a FG G6E Turbo,who needs 8 cylinders,really nice driving car.
Andrew

If i wasn't on P's for the next 2 years i would be saving for an XR6 turbo ute, bugger these slow old tdi Discovery's haha, in all seriousness i would love to have a drive of one (would have to be a manual though, but i fear the slushbox might go better as it stays on boost between gears). I wish rego didn't cost as much, can't justify a road and an offroad car, thats why i've got what i do, plus a dune buggy and gokart

Cheers
Will

As much as i dont like jap vehicles, i'd get a camry over a foulcan or dunnydoor.

We've had a series 1 AU for about 12 years now, 230K and no problems. Just replaced front discs about 2 months ago, replaced 1 alternator, and clutch and flywheel when we first bought it (previous owner had some fun before selling it).

Main issues now are a thinning clear coat, and the plastic elec connections for the heater/ac controls failing.

Mums got the AU series 2 and that's been totally faultless.

One comment on the BA/BF: Before you attempt to change the plugs, make sure you have a spare coil or two at hand. The rubber sleeve where it connects to each plug is prone to splitting when you try to remove the coil. And they occasionally burn out. Coils are now relatively cheap, they used to be $80 a pop.

Also the rearmost plug is under the panelwork above it, you will need a couple of universal joints and nimble fingers to extract the plug socket!

At least the old 3.8 Dunnydore had the coils on the front of the motor, a doddle to replace.