Power to grab notice

Then there was the rematch during the ride as I dropped them both home.

But it is hard not to want to race when there is 260kW of power bursting from the V8 engine.

It did not matter if there was no one at the lights to race me – I wanted to get to my destination right now.

It makes the XR8 a little wasted on the city streets, but a muscle car is still a lot of fun. And what kind of girl does not like muscles?

I squealed the wheels just about every time I took off around a corner or from traffic lights.

Not on purpose, of course.

Although it wasn't so much fun when I nearly lost control on a wet road in a residential area, as I took off from one of these corners.

I can see why stability and traction control is a necessity, not an extra.

So much power under the hood must be respected but it makes this car all so sexy.

It certainly gets the attention of a lot of boys on and off the road, so a Saturday night cruise through the city was a must to test out the XR8's handling.

With a group of fellas fighting over who got to ride shotgun, I immediately knew travelling with fellow revheads would be a challenge in this car.

There were the inevitable calls to do a burnout on every street and to floor it to get a feel for the XR8's speed. But I kept the hooning in check and the boys were happy to turn their attentions to a power-window race.

Don't get me wrong – not being of the Ford persuasion, there were plenty of quirks about the XR8 to annoy me. For starters, the power bulge on the bonnet has no use at all but to sit annoyingly in the corner of the driver's eye.

Plus no girl has the desire for a decoration named "power bulge" to protrude from her car.

For a vehicle with so much power, the dashboard display makes driving at a safe speed very difficult.

The notches on the speedometer are so close together, it is hard to read the lower speed markings of 25, 40 and 50km/h necessary for South Australian driving.

It is very impressive to see that the XR8 appears to have the guts to get to 260km/h. However, unless you are a regular on Northern Territory highways, topping that speed is rare and illegal driving behaviour.

An after-market stereo would be a must as the standard system had a tendency to pop at high bass and volume levels.

The XR8 makes a very good point of being a sporty-styled car – with racing pedals, rear spoiler, alloy wheels – but the standard exhaust system was a let-down.

It was nowhere near loud enough for me to make my entrance.

I would just have to get used to leaving others in my wake instead.

LOVE IT LEAVE IT

Ford BF Falcon XR8

Price: $52,580

LOVE IT

Parking was a breeze – a very tight turning circle.

Comfy leather seats

Sports transmission, for those who prefer to manually shift gears

Power and rumble of a V8

LEAVE IT

Keeping a watchful eye on the letterbox for the speeding tickets

Power bulge styling on the bonnet

Cup holders in the way of the gearshift