Ford Falcon XR6-Turbo 2005 Review

The Ford XR6-Turbo gives you the Falcon muscle car image of Supercar race champion Marcos Ambrose, complete with V8-style power, but with the running costs of a six-cylinder.

Falcon-racing Ambrose and his success in winning the past two Supercar championships as well as leading this year's series is very relevant to this report.

Sales of the Falcon XR range have gone through the roof since his XR-based machine started winning on the track.

Ford makes the sporty XR Falcon in XR6, XR6-Turbo and XR8 versions. The first uses the standard Falcon six-cylinder four-litre motor, albeit a pretty fair 182kW of power. The XR8 has the big 5.4-litre V8 giving 260kW power.

The XR6-Turbo is an excellent compromise. It's the six-cylinder engine with a Garrett turbocharger bolted on. It's helped by an intercooler, resulting in 240kW of power at 5250rpm and 450Nm of torque.

While this torque is just 10 per cent shy of the V8 engine's, the V8 peaks at 4250rpm while the XR6-Turbo torque maxes at a usable 2000rpm.

Yet on the road, subjectively the performance gets more scintillating as the revs build up and the turbocharger is spinning hard, force-feeding that air into the engine.

A major upgrade for the Falcon BA Series II is the XR6-Turbo and XR8 getting a six-speed manual transmission (the XR6 retains the five-speed). Ford has calibrated the six ratios sensibly.

It didn't want just another extremely tall gear on top of the five-speed, which would be a waste with Australian speed limits.

So it set desirable first and sixth ratios and crammed in all the others so they can be used with effect. The XR6-Turbo needs 2200rpm at 110km/h in sixth gear, with good response if the driver does not want to change down and really get charging.

Fifth gear can be used to cruise main suburban roads at 60km/h.The clutch is medium-firm but tolerable for everyday use. The chunky gearshift, as usual, baulks a bit when the gearbox is cold, but flows OK although a little notchy when warmer. The gearshift is purposeful rather than light. A four-speed sequential shift automatic is optional.

The XR6 five-speed manual is $38,655, the XR6-Turbo six-speed is $46,360 and the XR8 six-speed is $51,275. Only the XR6 charges $1000 more for an automatic.

Other than the turbocharger and intercooler (with its metres of large-diameter pipes around the engine bay), the XR6-Turbo has little that the standard XR6 does not, and is obvious only by a small TURBO badge on the boot lid.

They have 17in-diameter wheels and 45-series tyres, body dressup kit and rear wing, alloy pedal covers, airconditioning, limited slip differential, a driver's seat with some adjustments powered and a traction control that can be switched out (we will desist from calling this the Hoon Button).

Fuel economy is important in this examination. The factory figures say the XR6 averages 11.5 litres/100km, the XR8 a thirsty 14.1 litres/100km and this XR6-Turbo in between at 12.9 litres/100km. But our week's drive in the XR6-Turbo returned a pleasing 11.6 litres/100km. Pleasing because although it did include a cruise to the Fleurieu, it also did a lot of stop-start city work and had its open-road strong acceleration exploited a few times.

Ride is supple enough, with the slap of the tyres on small surface irregularities heard rather than felt. Steering is not go-kart sharp but the 1751kg sedan corners better than standard Falcons.

And there's the advantage of it being based on a Falcon sedan: a spacious interior and a large and deep boot, even with a full-size spare wheel. The middle rear passenger has leg space compromised by a large transmission tunnel.

Some performance-car buyers might want a bit more safety. The car has strong ABS and traction control but only twin front airbags. Side airbags are an optional extra. The rear outboard passengers get only low, fixed head restraints.

But out on the road when the right foot is planted and later at the servo when the wallet is opened, all is forgiven.

SMALL TORQUE

Ford Falcon XR6-Turbo

Price: $46,360 manual
Engine: Six-cylinder in-line, dohc, 3984cc, turbocharged
Power: 240kW @ 5250rpm
Torque: 450Nm @ 2000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed manual, rear-wheel-drive
Wheels/tyres: 17in x 8in alloys; 235/45 Dunlop SP Sport 3000