The WORST Falcon model, and why.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Has anyone mentioned Falcon power windows yet?

Nup, never heard of those.

[bb_zetec]

Myself and Family have owned various Fords over the years...Falcon wise me having 2 XF's, an ED, an AU and now FG.


Looking back on them they never let me down where it counted...my carb XF I remember driving home with a blown head gasket and damaged idle solenoid..it was still able to deliver. Lost a Welsh Plug and the thing overheated on the highway and lived to tell the tale. I think I drove along for about 15 minutes or so before I even had realised that the thing was overheating!


Rust was the main killer of both the XF's I had...and as others have stated the XF Ghia electrics were woeful..i lost track of how many power window switches, regulators and dash pods I went through. The EFI never let me down though.


The ED I had suffered from air conditioning problems and I think it was pretty abused in its previous life but it still served its purpose.


AU I had suffered from Series 1 niggles and build quality problems, it was red and the paint oxidised quickly...off loaded it for as much as I bought it for though so that was a win.

I did own a VL Calais though for a while and that was very unreliable. Not bashing Holden v Ford etc.. but the eletrics all around were abysmal. Numerous crank angle sensor failures in the dizzy, almost every single item item in the interior fell apart, Fuel gauge failures etc...

The RB30 was a great engine packaged in general poor quality build and workmanship that was accepted during that time. I was stranded over 6 times and thought enough was enough...went back to a Ford as I knew they usually pull through when it counts.


The FG I have now is a lot better than the previous cars but again has its niggles and quality dramas that we all accept and live with. It does show in the interior and paint finish especially where costs were cut, but the Barra engine is superb and the best inline 6 to come out of this country.

How the FG will be in another 10 years...well time will tell, but I suspect that the car will fall apart around the drivetrain as most of our Fords usually do.

[Sprintey]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Nup, never heard of those.

Underrated comment. Mum's VY is wind up windows (was absolute base model) and is prized as such. XW - wind up windows. ED Sprint (yes!) - wind up windows.

Was the evil part called the actuator? Whatever it is, I know it. I wonder how many successive sales they lost when returning customers knew the bl**dy windows would seize at some point between 'opened' and 'closed'. It was probably $1 cheaper per unit to make it out of cheese.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

I wonder if part of the problem was that FoA had become too accustomed to "trailing" Holden?
I reckon by the late 60's we had honestly better cars, but too many people still preferred Holden.
FoA didn't seem to comprehend that even by sticking a new body on the XC, they had knocked the lamentable VB off the Holden pedestal. I can recall there being talk of how Ford needed to make the Falcon smaller to compete.
Then of course they had the amazing success with the Laser, which seemed to convince everyone that badge-engineering was the way to go.

I don't recall the specifics of Capricorn. But I do recall they toyed with the idea of a badge-engineered Luce (929)

After reading this it dawned on me I had referred to Capricorn being based on 626. When it was actually the 929, which you mentioned. Forgot that even existed.

I'm not exactly sure the reasoning of Capricorn to replace the XF. Must have come from Dearborn, who had the FWD Taurus replace some of their big RWD cars.

Originally Posted by XR Martin

Was the front end of early EA susceptible to collapsing?
I seem to recall something about it, and apparently they added a welded 25mm bar across the front of the cross member?

Was that just a myth or did the early EAs not come with that bar. My 89 EA1 had the bar.

I'm pretty sure it was prone to the suspension sagging. Never heard of it actually collapsing, but if my memory serves me right it did sag.

[Swordie]

There was the Brock EA Falcon - "sports camshaft, extractors, full exhaust system and bluebrinted ignition system the big six went from 139kW to a dyno-tuned 164kW- one kilowatt less than the 5.0-litre V8-powered Commodore SS of the time".

An extra 25kw was allot in those days.

https://www.shannons.com.au/auctions...4A4PBP5PFTBDA/

[mondeomatureguy]

They say (who ever they are) that the the 1998 AU Falcon was one of the worst falcons ever built.
But I like the XR8 in the Au model.

My worst falcon I think is the Xk Falcon and I read when they did come out that they weren't right for Australian Roads.
The front end was very fragile and saw many XKs broken down by the side of the road.

[Paull]

Originally Posted by mondeomatureguy

They say (who ever they are) that the the 1998 AU Falcon was one of the worst falcons ever built.
But I like the XR8 in the Au model.

My worst falcon I think is the Xk Falcon and I read when they did come out that they weren't right for Australian Roads.
The front end was very fragile and saw many XKs broken down by the side of the road.

Happy to stand corrected here but I don't think "they" have ever said that the AU was the worst Falcon ever: I certainly would not say that at all. I think you are getting mixed up with "they" saying that the AU was not the nicest looking Falcon ever. IMHO, I think the AU build quality is superior to that of the BA. Just doesn't look as good.

[XR Martin]

Single piston brakes on the AU was a bit of a joke though.
They were ordinary on a 1400kg 139kw EA, let alone a 1700kg 185kw AU ten years later.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by Paull

Happy to stand corrected here but I don't think "they" have ever said that the AU was the worst Falcon ever: I certainly would not say that at all. I think you are getting mixed up with "they" saying that the AU was not the nicest looking Falcon ever. IMHO, I think the AU build quality is superior to that of the BA. Just doesn't look as good.

I think you're pretty right on that .

The funny thing about the AU is it was primarily judged on a different look not so much on some very well engineered features the car has.

Testimony to that fact is the amount of them still plying the roads pretty much wherever you go. The car has almost a cult following these days .

Most polarising Falcon certainly is the AU mostly on the back of it's departure from more conventional looks of previous Falcons but if anyone genuinely regards it as one of the worst I'd argue very strongly against that theory for a whole host of reasons .

Far from being one of the worst looking Falcons even if that's a valid criteria the XR's and Tickford AU's IMO look pretty tasty to plenty and have aged really well it seems . The Ticky's especially are still highly sought after and in good nick demand a decent bit of cash to scruff one .

[383hq]

1999 AU falcon has design cues of a 2011 MB CLS class, I'll let others judge whether that means its a decade in front of popular aesthetics as an subjective opinion.

Some durability test results (if they ever saw a public forum) and internal opinion (obviously heavily biased) might suggest that the AU was the better built car, but to fix the aesthetics, BA was bought forward, with cost cutting programs to offset the earlier then expected tooling costs, particularly where the AU was far superior to its major competitor at the time.
Just about everyone agreed it looked better.

[UTXR8]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

My error, when you said running gear, I took it you meant the engine & gearbox etc. But yes, the floorpan is essentially VL but what's wrong with that ? It's had over 10 years of development, so that was a major advantage, as this was Ford's weakness.

The front track of the VN is the same as VL, but the rear is 2-inches wider. This was fixed with the updated front suspension for the VR in 1993.

The engine bay is not the same, the entire firewall structure & plenum chamber is totally different.

Dr Terry

i always thought only series 1 vn had vl trac probs...by vn 2, it was sorted...

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by UTXR8

i always thought only series 1 vn had vl trac probs...by vn 2, it was sorted...

No real changes to the VN suspension until VR. Except for the intro of IRS, but this was Calais, Statesman & Caprice only in those days.

Dr Terry

[gooseneck]

I can't fault any of the Falcons except I just hate rust more than anything else so I would have to single out the XD/XE Falcons, I went to see an XE once and it had a big 1 inch hole in the side of the passengers side engine bay. I was also warded off buying a nice White XC Wagon for $1,000 because a friend told me they develop holes in the firewall. Wish I had bought it such a nice looking beast.

Most Fords I've owned have been shagged on the 2nd hand market before I got them, I'm talking strictly about lack of maintenance even oil changes. But that won't tell you or me what is the worst Falcon, to be honest with you I haven't really come across one.

Fair warning I always buy a car for $1,000 or less.

You could do a lot worse with a Toyota than a Ford trust me. Buying a new Toyota is fine but buying a 2nd hand Toyota is frought with trouble, as soon as you get into the 2nd hand market for Toyotas or any Asian car for that matter you pay a premium for the pure fact that its an import and you simply don't get that with an Australian made Ford.

Worst cars I've ever owned were Toyotas. I've never bought anything else besides Ford or Toyota. The fact that you pay a price premium on the 2nd hand market for a 2nd hand Toyota is to me reason enough to steer away from them. Parts are more expensive than a Ford in some areas and cheaper in other areas so the mantra that you can get cheaper parts with a Toyota is BS. Don't believe me? Price a Toyota water pump someday. A Toyota ISC Valve, a Toyota Distributor. All which need replacing at 300,000km or more.

The idea that you get a more reliable vehicle with a Toyota is BS too, when buying on the 2nd hand market the owners always say "300,000km, heh barely even worn in." is bull, all of the plastic parts have that many miles on them and so do the switches. And so does the transmissions. The valves, distributor, coil packs, leads, fuel pump, power steering pump, etc. Just because the engine has 300,000k and hasn't YET blown up doesn't make a car more reliable overall!



If anything when buying 2nd hand it makes a car LESS reliable because the previous owner didn't have to replace anything until some poor sod like me bought it thinking that Toyotas are reliable. in practice a reliable "new" car bought new by someone shafts the 2nd hand market purchasers big time. If you're poor and you buy a 2nd hand car these days its usually a 50/50 that its going to be able to pass an inspection or not.

When you look at it from a 2nd hand poor person like me you get far more quality and more car for your money by buying a RWD Ford because when you look at the big picture you can get a lower mileage Falcon for $1k than you can a Toyota and that really matters if you are into restoring or repairing your own cars.

Example A)
$2000 = 1997 Toyota Vienta Grande V6 (Bought with 360,000km) = Blew head gasket, mechanic told me the transmission needs replacing because the bands are worn, universal joints are finished, plastic interior is falling apart, had to repair a trace in the ECU because a capacitor ate the PCB around #1 injector MOSFET and was keeping the #1 Injector open, also replaced all of the injectors as part of the diagnostic process, water pump is hard to get to to replace, power steering pump is up against the firewall, struts/springs were completely done and never replaced.

Basically the thing to take away with my adventures with asian cars is that the V6 FWD car is the stupidest design ever made but also that for $2k you get a completely shagged car not even worth repairing because at the end of the day you still get a FWD V6 instead of a RWD I6 with a 2.3 ton towing capacity with the Falcons.

Example B)
$3,600 for a 1995 Ford Fairmont Ghia EF w/Tickford Engine. Never had a problem with it except the transmission was done and I replaced it for $1,200 and rust started to creep in and I was too lazy to fix it and I had a problem with owning Fords at the time, I guess the drivers side power window made me go sour but it was only a $300 fix, I was spoilt. Was otherwise a completely trouble free car aside from the fact that it tried to kill me coming out of a water ladened road one night but thats my fault more than anything else. Anyway it was lack of maintenance by the previous owner which nearly got me killed and my fault for not checking the brakes before buying it, the brakes were so worn that the ABS system kicked in when it lost traction on the wet road and made the car do a complete 360, I slammed on the brakes and made the brake master cylinder explode fluid everywhere. I learnt my lesson, don't give an EF a bootful in the wet.


Example C)
$1,200 1999 Toyota I4 Wagon. rust rust rust, fading paint, solid engine and transmission, everything worked inside, but the rust killed it.


Example D)
$1,000 Ford XF S-Pack Sedan, great car but previous owner neglected basic engine maintenance and 'hotwired' the carburettor venturi hoses, never had a problem with the transmission but the engine had an open valve that made the car diesel like crazy. Still drove it though in fact I learnt how to drive in it.

Never had an issue with any XF really except for this one lonely S-Pack and I've owned at least 2x Wagons. And as for the Ghia Digital instrument clusters I've only had one which flickered a bit but it did have a lot of hours on the circuitry in there and you have to remember this circuitry was made from 1980s electronics. Was a simple fix with the flickering by replacing the electrolytic filtering capacitors inside and I've done that repair at least twice on two different digital gauges and it had no problems after that. I would suspect dry joints at this late stage if anyone out there is doing a repair job on one. I wouldn't use anything more than a 25 watt iron on that poor bubbling PCB, ALL early PCBs from the 1980s had issues with the adhesives. Just pop open the top on a breadbin C64 someday and have a look if you don't believe me.

I used to buy XF GLis and put my own Ghia digital gauges into it, I can't comment on the unreliability of early XF electronics otherwise because we never owned a Ghia XF.


But one thing I'll never forget is how beautiful the aircon gauges used to look on the GLi in the dark when my dad used to sit me up atop of the center console and drive me around at night at low speed with no seat belt back in the late 80s/early 90s. Back then the glowing gauges would stay on when you turned the ignition off because the gauges used to be coated in a green phosphorescent paint.

Those beautiful green and blue paint that they put into the aircon and fan speed gauges is a memory that my young self will never forget. Wish I could find a brochure picture so I could show you what I used to see as a tot. I'll also never forget the awesome low rumble sound of the 4.1L engine as it came to pick me up after school, you could always pick it out when one drove past as it was a distinctive tone. Made me fall permanently in love with all carburetted engines.


Knock on wood my dad never had a problem with the XFs either but he wasn't aware that the XFs had an electronic ignition system either so haha! Ignorance is bliss I guess!


One thing that Ford gave us poor sods was a glimpse into the future and for that I'll never stop thanking Ford for.

[Wretched]

BA was the worst one I owned and even through the history of my family.
The style was nice, interior aged badly but the quality of materials was woeful at best and reeked of cost cutting. It spent so much time getting things fixed I had enough and got rid of it.

Some of the issues that I can remember:

• Unpainted areas under the doors
• Went into limp home mode within 2 months
• Two of the locking actuators ceased, only one covered by warranty
• Water pouring in from the passenger footwell due to poor drainage around the windscreen
• Bonnet latch breaking 3 times
• Gearbox whine after 40k km
• Seats lost their support and wore prematurely
• Steering wheel wore out as did the dashboard, didn't appear to cope well with Australian conditions

[gooseneck]

That Red/Blue color of the thermostat gauge is what I remember the most from my childhood about XFs. Looked beautiful as a kid and left a beautiful memory for me.

[62XKFalcon]

As a newbie to the forum as of today, I have read this thread with interest because I am doing minor restoration to a 1962 XK Falcon, which will be 60 years old next year! Original 144 Engine and matching chassis numbers! Owned several Fords over the years, my first an XL Falcon in 1964, a 440 Cortina, 84 Fairmont Ghia, 1999 Courier and driving a 2004 Courier 4Door. The XK was probably the worst Falcon, but they really did work hard to get things right and by the XP, deserved a lot of credit.

[janddbone]

EF!!!

[fgpsi]

Originally Posted by Swordie

VN had the option of the fuel injected 5.0. This was really nice motor in it's time. One of the best sounding v8's around to this day.

they were great for burnouts but they were extremely slow. had a stock vs caprice supercharged v6 (L67) in the early 2000s that ate any injected 5.0 litre holden for brekky and most had at least exhaust/headers or other mods. the look on holden fangirls faces when they got trounced by an untouched grandpa spec boat 6 with mudflaps was priceless. underrated motor was the L67. taking off at the lights after I boosted it and added a pod filter was epic wheel spinning goodness

[mick taylor]

Originally Posted by 62XKFalcon

As a newbie to the forum as of today, I have read this thread with interest because I am doing minor restoration to a 1962 XK Falcon, which will be 60 years old next year! Original 144 Engine and matching chassis numbers! Owned several Fords over the years, my first an XL Falcon in 1964, a 440 Cortina, 84 Fairmont Ghia, 1999 Courier and driving a 2004 Courier 4Door. The XK was probably the worst Falcon, but they really did work hard to get things right and by the XP, deserved a lot of credit.

What was really wrong with the XK-L Falcons for their day ?
The got cheap 2ed rate quality steel Ball joints made in the UK, the ones in the USA were top quality ball joints.
Apart form that what was wrong with them, nothing back in the day, they were way more advanced than any crappy Holden at the time.
With the power of a big 144 high compression and Low compression could be ordered.
The Holden's only had a 138 low compression rubbish.

Just remember what the roads back in the 60's were like, so many coped a hell of flogging.

I had a ball joint fall out on my HX Holden, it was the thread and nut that let go, not the ball. maybe some idiot tightened the nut up past the specs ?

Just remember that the XK got the big 170 in the last few months as well.

But as to the worst Falcon, as to what is the real issue.

XA-B-C were the biggest rust buckets for sure.

The very first EA engines had problems with the heads, they came with a shrouded casting in the chamber that went out beside the valve to reduce emissions but they created a hot spot to ping and blow head gaskets I believe, I was working at Ford at the time and they were full on pulling heads off every day.

The biggest joke of any Falcon would have to be the EA with the 3sp auto I drove a Fairmont Ghia 3.9L EFI and 1st gear was way to high, that it could not spin the wheels taking off on grass.

[janddbone]

EA 3spd could spin a single wheel all day! Ha ha!!! The high first gear i nthe four speed was always a problem right through to the end.

[xb74_black]

On my xf 351 pano i despaired with the original dash - i fitted vdo water temp and oil pressure guages, a tacho and used the GPS for accurate speed. Eventually i fitted black cardboard over the blinking dashboard lights.

[jpd80]

XP Falcon, never go into a left corner fast, the tyres howl and you go straight on into oncoming traffic.
I learned this as a young driver in my dad’s car, needless to say the old boy wasn’t impressed by my stupidity.

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by jpd80

XP Falcon, never go into a left corner fast, the tyres howl and you go straight on into oncoming traffic.
I learned this as a young driver in my dad’s car, needless to say the old boy wasn’t impressed by my stupidity.

This ^^^^^

XP 2 door - so much rust, body flex and so little performance. I could never get one to corner. We scrapped a few of them in the 80s.

[slowsnake]

I would say that thinking back to the 80's there were quite a few XA and XB cars and vans still around, I had a XB van 302ci donk and if I opened the passenger door and stood on the sill with the door open I could lift the turret, windscreen surround and roof up with my shoulder nearly an inch, I bought it with a pink slip too....went like a bird, but scary, of course I welded the door jamb back together, I was chasing rust for a week, nasty!