Ford Territory TX 2006 Review

The new six-speed auto, available with all-wheel drive versions, should go a long way towards dealing with this problem. Like its sibling Falcon, the allwheel drive wagon with the ZF transmission fitted is a revelation.

Our test car, the all-wheel drive TX, is priced from $43,990.

• Power and torque are up slightly with the new SY model. A reworked Barra 190 4.0-litre, six-cylinder engine delivers 190kW at 5250rpm (up from 182kW) and 383Nm at 2500rpm (up from 380Nm).
• Like its predecessor, the ZF is a sequential transmission which means you can change gears manually. There is also a performance mode and with six cogs it fires through the gears in auto quickly and feels quicker off the line than the old model.
• Six gears enable the transmission to better harness the engine's power and torque characteristics, giving a better spread with smaller gaps between gears to reduce the typical gear-hunting effect found with autos.
• The big gains however are in fuel consumption. The old car with the four-speed auto used to get 13.1 litres/100km in rearwheel drive form and 13.5 litres/ 100km in all-wheel drive form. The six-speed model meanwhile is rated at 12.2 litres/100km and 12.8 litres/100km respectively.
• In the real world the old car used much more than this. However, figures for the current model appear to be spot on, with our test car returning 12.4 litres/ 100km and almost 600km from a single tank of fuel on a recent trip.
• This, of course, is going to blow out around town. But what's more pertinent, is that these figures are almost as good as a large, diesel-powered four-wheel drive. The brother-in-law was crowing about getting 12.4 litres/ 100km from his diesel Prado on a trip from Melbourne to Sydney.
• Given these results, it's a shame the six-speed auto is not available with cheaper, rearwheel drive models. In effect, if you want the benefits you'll have to fork out $4500, which is the difference between the TX rearwheel and all-wheel drive models.
• In these times of rising petrol prices, it's worth noting that while E-Gas is a $1400 option on the sedan and ute, you can't get a gas-powered Territory. A diesel is also long overdue.
• All in all, refinements to the engine and transmission make the car smoother andmore enjoyable to drive.
• The only real addition to the equipment list is automatic headlights which means you don't have to worry about turning them on and off.