FPV F6 Tornado BA 2005 review

And speaking of dust, for those who want to create billowing clouds of the muck in between building sites, look no further than the Tornado ute.

After a delayed start to life, the Tornado has gathered pace, being launched in May at the relaunch of its sedan brother, the F6 Typhoon.

The clutch was stuffed on the Typhoon because of an errant 50c washer which rendered the spin-cycle-assisted straight six a lame duck before it got warm.

But the problem has been solved at considerable expense and manpower; some 7300 hours of exhaustive testing and engineering has seen to that.

At 270kW the Tornado is a dream drive and feels every bit as rapid and sinewy as a 290kW Boss V8.

There is no shortage of thrust once the turbo comes on song and the 550Nm of torque gives this powerplant elasticity.

It is responsive on demand in any of the six gears in the Tremec T56 manual. There is no automatic option so the manual has to be liveable and it is.

Don't bother about trying to find the traction button. This is blanked out but the Tornado offers reasonable grip.

That is in the dry but in the wet it can become a handful with rear wheels spinning and the tail wagging.

On the road where there are lumps and bumps, the rear can become unsettled, skipping over surface imperfections.

It is not as tied down in the rear, running a live axle and sitting on ancient leaf springs compared with the control blade IRS suspension of the Typhoon.

This test car was fitted with the superior Brembo brake package which is an expensive option at almost $6000.

But they really do feel as strong and responsive as competition brakes.

Fuel mileage depends on how it is treated. Crank up the turbo, keep the revs high and drive it like you stole it and it will drink pretty quickly. On the first 200km of this test the Tornado was consuming about 13.5litres/100km and that was without any really serious driving.

It finished the week at a touch under 13 with a lot of highway work and sixth gear helping the figures towards the end.

The Tornado is a bit of a magnet for attracting attention. And sometimes it has a rather dubious effect on people like the youngsters in their work utes who turn feral at the sight of the Tornado.

As with the Typhoon, the one thing which is underwhelming is the turbo whine and wastegate chatter.

Great for Jap import freaks but it still lacks the buzz you get from a deep, deep, ruffled and raucous V8 soundtrack.

Still, kilogram-for-kilogram the Tornado rips the heart out of any performance coupe from Europe.

And that is the bottom line isn't it?

The Tornado will be "utetopia" to many in the ute-mad crowd out there.