Ford Falcon GT 2005 Review

For as much music as Ford's 290kW V8 can pump, this rock 'n' roll machine needs a thumping sound track to complement that subtle Australian muscle hidden below a well-cut suit of heavy metal.

The Falcon GT, massaged by the crew at Ford Performance Vehicles, is a fine bit of Australian engineering that pays homage to the glories of past GT sedans, family cars that are tuned to rumble.

So the first thing to do each morning before driving to the shops, is the music to match.

Cold Chisel's Swingshift fits like a glove. It's local, live and loud. Or try Shipping Steel and Cheap Wine and Rising Sun.

The Falcon GT deserves driving music.

It can be a subtle machine around the suburbs. It can be a sedan to run to the office or shops.

Or the Falcon GT can be the one for a long and hard drive in the early morning light, sunlight filtered through the trees, drop a gear or three, hard on the brakes and toss the car into turn after turn.

Engine barking, back up through the gears to maximum power (290kW) at 5500rpm.

Maximum torque of 520Nm spins in at 4500rpm. This is a quick and sure machine for highway overtaking.

The six-speed manual is firm and precise and car and driver love that push from second to third and the extra engine music as the revs run past 4000rpm.

This is not a sports car in the old ways and means of a sports car. This is no Porsche 911 or BMW Z4.

This is a (relatively) heavy family car turned into a fine muscle machine with better road manners than the donor car.

And there is a deal of sporting tune, a sharper turn in, sweet engine punch, better brakes and better grip all round.

The ride is firm and supple and while there has been some work on spring rates – lifted 14 per cent at the front, 10 per cent in the rear over the Mk1 GT – there remains that degree of comfort over turn-in sharpness.

Other sports sedans may be that little edgier at the front end, the GT rewards with a more easy lope over a long day on Australia's ordinary bitumen roads.

There can be a little bit of body weight shifting across the front end in hard, tight turns. It's a small price to pay for the GT's ride comfort, only upset by short, sharp holes at lower speeds.

It is no loafer. The Falcon GT has the ability to run hard for hour after hour with remarkable resilience. It will jump when prodded and it handles good and bad bitumen with speed and safety.

And it remains more the long distance tourer than the belt-up-the-mountains sprinter, for the Falcon GT is best where it can stretch out those 5408ccs and run through that new, and well-weighted, six-speed manual gearbox.

This has a nice feel to the shift and a sensible spread of ratios, all tailored for FPV vehicles. And in case a driver gets too carried away, there's now a ¿shift alert¿ aural warning if the redline's looming.

This Falcon GT is a sensible piece of fun.

There is room for the family and it has the dynamics for a spirited run across the country.

It looks the part. More than half of the FPV sedans built since the GT and GT-P debuted in March 2003 have been ordered with the FPV stripe package.

There are the stripes and there also is the Boss 290 decal for the sides of the bonnet's power bulge. Very Starsky, as is the twin pod of instruments – one for oil pressure, one for oil temperature – sitting on top of the centre dash.

There's the silver lame running through the seats, plenty of elbow room and a sensible, if dullish to some eyes, dashboard layout.

Sit down, buckle up and chase that power bulge down the road, window down to catch the exhaust and to let the rest of the world catch up on some Australian rock 'n' roll.