Three years ago with my new (used) car.
It’s only a matter of time before a “big Aussie six” – a locally-made, six-cylinder, rear-wheel-drive Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore – is no longer a viable option for a first car buyer. Local production ended a few years ago and while our streets are still full of these cars, eventually many will be used up while those that remain will appreciate in value.
I thought about that this week as I signed over the registration of my 2009 Ford FG Falcon G6E to a young man, only 18 years old, who was excited to get his very own Falcon.
It reminded me of when I scrimped and saved for my first (technically second) car, a 2004 Ford BA Falcon XR6. I, too, was excited to get a big Aussie six which, at the time, was declining in popularity but wasn’t dead yet.
That car had a couple of issues but I loved it dearly, only selling it because I was moving overseas. When I returned, I was back in another big Aussie six, a 2007 Holden VE Calais V.
I’ve now owned three big Aussie sixes. It’s tempting to go look at a used XR6 Turbo or a V8 Commodore but it now may be time for a change.
A few days ago, on my last drive.
That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed the experience. Edie, as I nicknamed this Falcon (Edie Falco, Edie Falcon, get it?), has proved to be the best car I’ve ever owned. I’ll admit I got quite sentimental the day I sold her.
The 4.0 Barra inline six under the hood was smooth and tractable, much better than the 3.6 V6 used in the rival Commodore. With 261 hp and 288 ft-lbs, there was never any shortage of power while the six-speed automatic transmission was rarely caught in the wrong gear. There was a sports/manual shift mode but I rarely felt the need to use it, except perhaps if I wanted to quickly turn onto a street during a break in traffic.
I did look at the Falcon XR6 Turbo and G6E Turbo, which used a boosted version of the Barra six with 362 hp and 393 ft-lbs. Fortunately, they commanded far too much of a price premium. That’s just a tantalisingly unnecessary amount of power for day-to-day driving in Brisbane where there seems to be a speed camera on every corner, and I just know I would’ve gotten into trouble with that beast under the hood.
Almost everyone that was ever a passenger in my Falcon commented on how cushy and comfortable the seats are. They’re supportive but so very plush.
That goes for the rear seats, too. While there’s a large drivetrain tunnel, these are wide cars – an inch or so wider than a current-gen Camry – so there’s room for three people back there. The seats also split and fold 60:40, something I missed in my old Calais.
I liked the use of silver plastic trim to break up the black interior, while the G6E’s addition of leather/leatherette trim on the doors made the interior feel plush. The blue/purple ambient footwell lighting was a nice touch, too.
Lesser FG Falcons weren’t as nice inside. Before I bought the G6E, I looked at a G6, a rung down on the ladder. This trim level used a velour-esque upholstery which didn’t seem like it would age well. The trim was also used on the door panels and, in one model I test drove, the adhesive had disintegrated, leaving saggy, billowing trim. (The same awful adhesive must’ve been used for the headliner in my car, which failed about a year ago.)
I didn’t care for the XR6’s cloth trim, either, which seemed a step down from the nice cloth seats in my old BA Falcon, while the base XT was basically built for fleets and taxi companies and rarely driven by private buyers. Yes, the G6E was a good choice and, surprisingly, the black leather never seemed to burn my legs in our hot summers. The G6E came in a beige, too, but while I’m a fan of lighter interiors, I didn’t regret buying one with a black interior.
The colour screen was mounted nice and high but, as this was an FG model and not a more recent series, it wasn’t a touchscreen. My car also didn’t have navigation but that’s hardly a big deal – factory navigation is never as good as Google Maps and it requires relatively regular updates which dealerships will often charge for.
Fuel economy was typically around 12L/100km (19mpg), not amazing but something I was used to from past experience.
My Falcon helped me move house twice, took me all around south-east Queensland and into New South Wales, and proved a comfortable and capable companion. It didn’t handle quite as well as my old Calais, which used a clean-sheet platform instead of the FG’s extensive evolution of the prior BA/BF model’s underpinnings. The Calais, however, rode more firmly and had an inferior engine.
The Falcon certainly didn’t embarrass itself in aggressive driving (i.e. all my driving). Handling was more than competent, with little body roll and a firm but rather well-damped ride. All FG sedans used a double-wishbone-type front suspension and “Control Blade” independent rear suspension. G6E models, like the G6, used a special “Luxury Sports” tune of the FG’s chassis. It was more compliant than the tune used for the performance models (e.g. the XR6), while the base XT used its own softer suspension tune with greater ground clearance.
The variable-ratio hydraulic power steering in these FGs is terrific. It had a nice heft to it and plenty of feel. This was especially noticeable after driving newer cars with electrically-assisted units. These units are great in that they can support more safety equipment but there’s something especially lovely and tactile about a good hydraulic set-up.
Foibles? There was no Bluetooth audio streaming – that came a year or two after my car was made – and, right to the very end of the FG and FG X lines, Ford never put back-lighting in the steering wheel controls. Absolutely maddening.
Otherwise, this was one great car to own and to drive.
Yes, I loved Edie, but it was time for her to go.
At just under 175,000km and just over 10 years of age, it had simply reached a point where things were statistically more likely to go wrong.
A constant creaking at the front of the car took three mechanic visits to diagnose and fix – it turned out to be two control arms which I paid just under $1k to have replaced. That completely resolved the issue but it reminded me that all good things must come to an end.
I owned the Falcon for just under three years, longer than any other car I’ve owned. Up until those recent repairs, it was faultless.
Nevertheless, I realized the last four cars I’ve owned have all cost the same amount to buy and been roughly the same age when I bought them. It’s time to break that pattern and get something newer, preferably something with leftover factory warranty.
I’ve also been doing freelance work lately that has afforded me time behind the wheel of various brand new cars (I’ll explain later). Features like blind-spot monitoring and autonomous emergency braking have made me feel safer behind the wheel, adaptive cruise control and ventilated seats have coddled me, and one feature has proved extremely valuable.
I’m talking about Android Auto. Google Maps simply embarrasses factory navigation units in terms of usability, while the ability to use Spotify on the infotainment system or have messages read aloud means there’s no temptation to touch my phone while I’m driving. It works better than using Google Assistant (or Siri, if you’re an iPhone user) and it just makes life easier, particularly on busy days.
And you don’t want to be caught touching your phone while driving in Queensland – it’s now a $AUD1000 fine and four points off your licence. Yikes.
If there’s a third reason I sold the Falcon, it’s that I simply wasn’t giving it the attention it deserved. Thanks to the aforementioned freelance work, I’ve been spending so much time in other cars that I was driving the Falcon merely to make sure it was being driven.
I’m still likely to replace the Falcon but I have the satisfaction of having a car in my garage to drive while I’m temporarily not a car owner.
Edie being taken away by her new owner
Most importantly, I have the satisfaction of knowing my Falcon went to someone who will appreciate it. Someone who may be more than a decade younger than me but who is doing what I did – getting a big Aussie six for his first car.
The buyer’s father texted me just a day or two after the sale to tell me his son was really enjoying the car, as he’d been saving for three years and had been determined to get a Falcon. That put a smile on my face.
Thank you, Edie, for three years of fine motoring. I may never own a big Aussie six again, sadly, but yours was a high note to end on. Take a bow.
2017 photographs captured by Katrina Bentley
Related Reading:
My comparison between the Holden VE Calais and Ford FG Falcon G6E
COAL #2 – 2004 Ford BA Falcon XR6
Owing to YouTube channels like “Benny’s Custom Works” and “The Skid Factory”, Americans are becoming aware of the Big Aussie Six and the Barra in particular. I wouldn’t call it a trend yet, but some Americans are starting to import these engines and install them in American cars that originally came with a V-8 or domestic six. I saw one YouTuber stuff one in an American Ford Granada.
And the world shrinks a bit more.
There’s more than one Barra-engined US Falcon on my Falcon/Comet FB groups. The Barra can provide stupid amounts of power and fits without having to do any surgery to the suspension towers like the Cleveland or the Coyote.
Oh my Aussie Falcons sixes included an XR auto sedan loaner and an XB panel van with a toploader 4sp box, bought for peanuts when I visited Oz between 85-86. I have fond memories of both which all came back when I first drove my 64 Comet (essentially the same car)…
I’m quite interested to see what you replace it with! Oddly, I’ve always had a soft spot for big Aussie cars. Typically we’ve only had Japanese and German (and Swedish) cars, but when my dad was exploring the idea of a 1.5-2 year contract in Canberra a few years ago, I was very enthusiastic, with the condition that we looked at a Calais V wagon. (His employer would have paid the cost of leasing the car for 2 years.) He didn’t end up taking the contract. No clue why I’ve got such a soft spot for them. Keep up the great Instagram work btw!
PS. My first car (in the sense that I could drive it most of the time, and my name was on the ownership papers) was a 2014 Mazda 3 Sport GT, and my second (current) car is a 2016 B8.5 A4 allroad Technik 2.0T Quattro. I just went through the trouble of sourcing an original Audi warning triangle from Europe. At 19, I’m slightly concerned that I’m turning into “that guy”. Oh well!
I’ve always wanted to visit Australia, but I suspect while my wife would be entranced with beaches, deserts, wildlife, flat whites … I’d be distracted by Falcons, utes, and diesel 4×4’s.
Where’s the engine pic? 🙂 Otherwise nicely styled inside and out, good to hear it performed well over the years you had it. The new gig sounds great, a stream of new loaners certainly helps to scratch the new-car buying itch (a little bit anyway). Looking forward to hearing more about that too.
The end of the road for Falcon, in more ways than one. Let me guess; its replacement will be a…JDM kei microvan. 🙂
You know me too well 😉
I am sure there are a hundred good reasons why it never happened, but it seems to me that something like this would have been so much more satisfying in the US than that uninspiring Ford 500/Taurus we got here. It would have been so to me, anyhow. 🙂
We have had Falcons since the first Aussie versions and people strode straight past the later cars to buy Mondeos at Ford dealers the Mondeo is wider just a tad than the Falcon but gets much better fuel economy handles and rides better and was a more modern car, true it doesnt have a V8 or RWD but it doesnt really need it and neither did the customers as Ford AU found out to their cost just like their rival Holden their main products had become irelevant.
cant hide behind the shortened name
Have you ever owned a V8, and do you plan to? The Falcon and Commodore seem like alternate universe Detroit iron and an LHD Falcon could have been a successful Mercury in the US.
No. Between rego costs and omnipresent speed cameras and the fluctuating price of fuel, it’s just never been on my radar. Even if I do love them.
‘…an LHD Falcon could have been a successful Mercury in the US.’
Now that would have been interesting! It would certainly have differentiated the supposedly upmarket division. Maybe Mercury might have even outsold Ford? 🙂
The 500/Taurus was just as foreign as the Falcon, and its platform used just as modularly in Australia with its Territory variant. The Volvo based D3/4 didn’t move squat for volume for many years until the fifth generation Explorer was released in 2011.
The final Commodore was overall a better car than the equivalent Falcon, and it would have been even better with the Barra sixes.
Sadly, the U.S. Falcon was never like this! Take that, Robert McNamara!
When we took a vacation to Sydney, we rented a car for a couple of days. I absolutely wanted to drive on the “wrong” side of the road. When I went to the Hertz rental counter, they wanted to put me into a Camry. I told the lovely lady behind the counter that I didn’t fly half-way around the world to drive something that I can drive in the US. I wanted to drive something uniquely Australians, Falcon or Commodore.
Her face lit up when i said this. She didn’t have one at her location, but got on the phone to another Hertz location and within about 20 minutes we had a nice Falcon XR6 at our disposal.
I loved driving the Falcon. Took it out to the Blue Mountains. The power was great, it drove great. Way better than my Ford Fusion I had just recently sold. I wish that Ford had imported the Falcon to the US instead of the 500/Taurus that we got in the 2000s-2010s.
Here’s the car we had.
Funny you should mention the XR6.
Facebook literally reminded me this morning that exactly nine years ago, I bought my BA XR6.
Strange coincidence.
Ford deleted the base model from rental fleets in NZ replacing them with the XR6 model performance wise there is no difference but the wider tyres give better grip and halfway decent roadholding over the base model and promoted them into a best seller.
Great to read about (and see pictures of) your Falcon — being an admirer of big sedans, I love these cars. Glad that it went to a good, appreciative home.
Creaking control arms become squawking control arms a Falcon trait since ages ago, the Barra six would have to be better than the 3,6 used in the Holdens as its just awful no low down torque at all and driven back to back with the older 3.8 Buick six you do notice the difference when overtaking,
But this is a bad day to post a FG story where I’m concerned I just farewelled my younger brother by live stream he was a FG fan he had a XR8 FPV model and unfortunately due to a medical event died in it on the Monash freeway 15th Feb not bad cars Falcons just dont hit anything.
God almighty, Bryce, I was delayed by that accident so I read about it. Just awful.
My sincere condolences to you and your family.
I don’t wanna go to bed, I’ll be good this time, I promise…
And there, at the end, Ford made good on their promise, like the little kid who has finally learned a lesson – but doesn’t get to prove it. They weren’t allowed any more.
Perhaps another way to put it is that they finally made the car the Falc should always have been; roomy, good-riding, smooth, torquey, nice-handling, great seats, robust. In too many iterations, it fell short on at least one of these fronts (thought the BA was pretty good). Having taken too long to make the promised product, the market had turned away, disappointed once too often.
Love them as I do, I’d never own one now. Too big, and too low, and 19 mpg. More useable room in the upright seating of an SUV a size smaller, so I’m with the herd, I guess.
It’s long been one of the great conundrums – Falcon or Commodore?
And now it’s late to choose. Glad you enjoyed it/her. But what’s next?
PS, have to say, that central stack looks very GM/Opel/Vauxhall to me
I’ve owned my 09 G6E since 2011 and in that time other than consumables it’s proved faultless to drive.
Like you William I don’t get to drive it that often as I have a work supplied car to drive which at the present time is a Isuzu 4×4 king cab diesel. It’s 6 speed auto box is not as intuitive as the ZF in my Falcon. My Falcon is just coming up to 100K on the odometer. I drive the car more when I’m on holidays for I have to hand in my work car.
My Falcon has driven me from NSW to Queensland and Victoria in everything from scorching hot weather to snow and never missed a beat. It’s even been on dirt roads and dust sealing is excellent.
Driven sensibly good fuel economy can be had and oddly enough using 91 fuel gives better economy than Ford’s stated use of 95. On long country runs and not using cruise control 95 returned 8.2L/100km and 91 returned 7.1L/100km.
The original Goodyear Excellence tyres were changed for Yokohama Decibel tyres giving a much quieter ride on coarse bitumen. Also the ZF auto has been slightly modified from the factory setup in that it has a external oil cooler fitted in 2012 as soon as the warranty ran out. It’s about to have it’s second transmission oil change for I have that done every 50K kms as I don’t trust this ‘sealed for life’ idea.
I try to keep the car clean and polished and I’ll keep it for some years yet.