Goodbye RWD :(

[Italian_Stallion]

Looks like Ford is pulling the plug on the RWD Falcon...a very sad day

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-news/f ... 19lel.html

[089JAY]

AWD is still alot better than them being FWD, but in saying that Bye Bye V8 SuperCars.

[EFFalcon]

I wouldn't read too much into it yet anyway.
Until there are capable replacements announced its a bit meh.

[Mr_4.0]

Why bye bye v8 supercars? If your talking about v8 supercars being rwd keep in mind Holden and ford haven't used 5litre motors either for a long time.
Ford do now but the v8 supercar motor is not what's in the falcon. Same with Holden. The cars are basically not even the same

[pHaT`eL]

Im not sure about the COTF rules, but its normally been the road going car must be RWD and a V8 from factory.

[EFFalcon]

i think he's meaning with the rules stating that they need to produce a 4 door RWD V8 sedan to be elligable.

but i think thats all changing anyway, and if it wasnt changing, i'd put money on V8 Supercars changing the rules to keep the 'sport' alive.

[sk8n6]

yeah i think its just a media stir up.

I remember back in high school (the 90's) reading that falcon was going front wheel drive and so was bombodore.

probably some way to try and get people to go " quick lets get a falcon now instead of later as they are going awd"

although were apparently getting a 4 cyl falcon now aren't we

[089JAY]

I hope they do chop and change the rules abit to allow these proposed AWD Falcons in, and also, I'd love to see the TRD Aurions in aswell, would be awesome to see them destroy the big V8's like the Sierra's and Zilla's did

[sk8n6]

v8 supercars are far removed from there road going 2nd cousins

they run the same gearbox chassis diff suspension brakes, in the name of parody.

Basically a falcon or commodore shell in welded over the top of the v8 supercar chassis.

They dont run cammer's or ls1's so i don't think the TuRD racer will be in untill its rear wheel drive v8.

So sorry to shatter the dreams of toyota's being the next zilla or cossie

[pHaT`eL]

Cant really be called that anyway as its not the road going car thats winning like the GTR's and Sierras used to be - to some extent anyway.

[Phoenix]

What's wrong with an AWD? If it is set up similar (and I know there is a difference in calibre) to an R8 where no more than 30% of power ever reaches the front end. means better cornering without the huge understeer issues that you normally get with AWD.
I say bring it on, if it is done properly rather than a pox slap together job.

[nstg8a]

dont believe until you see one on the street.

[EFFalcon]

the new rules coming into effect in 2 years time will open it up, but who cares what effect it has on V8 supercars..

cars are getting better and better, 5 years ago no would have thought we'd have a supercharged 5.0 putting out 300+ rwkw stock.

in 5 years time there will still be performance Fords (be it falcons or not, in what ever form)

[EFFalcon]

guess it depends on how the AWD is done, if the engine/driveline combo is *primarily* FWD then that means transaxle..

if we get transfer case, then easy job converting back to RWD

[sk8n6]

I still can't see it,

AWD with transaxle would mean v6 power at the very least as the straight 6 will run into width issue's.

However if they do go AWD and some ppl are all for this how come AWD Magna's weren't a huge hit.

I for one agree there will always be performance fords around in years to come, i just hope its still based on a traditional falcon rather than stretched Mondeo

[nstg8a]

I still can't see it,

AWD with transaxle would mean v6 power at the very least as the straight 6 will run into width issue's.

However if they do go AWD and some ppl are all for this how come AWD Magna's weren't a huge hit.

I for one agree there will always be performance fords around in years to come, i just hope its still based on a traditional falcon rather than stretched Mondeo

good question, a mate of mine back home had a mivec awd diamante (jdm magna) and it was a very very good open road car, i notice over here, magnas have quite a stigma attached to them, for what reason im not sure, but i believe it has to do with quality issues from being assembled here rather than in japan.

a mivec awd diamante has 200kw, so its no slug.

but i put a lot of it down to pure brand snobbery, so many have such negative perceptions of japanese cars nothing would have romped over the top of ford and holden.

[EFFalcon]

$$ would also have an impact.

[nstg8a]

i think if theres a dramatic change like rwd or fwd or awd, it needs to be holden first. they have such loyal fans they would still buy a ss if it was a fwd diesel with 110kw.

if ford does it everyone will go straight to holden.

[TUFED6]

I seem to recall a similarly bullshit article coming out of drive last year, containing no facts and quotes out of context. I wouldn't believe a fkn thing they publish. Look at all the dumbcunt responses to the article. Roflchopter.

[justa6]

remember year's ago it was going to be the last falcon ever, then no more inline 6, and look what we have now, the best falcon ever built, with the best engine's.

nstg8a i think you'll find alot of them already there. commodore best selling car 15 year's or some bullshit.

[Dumpsta]

Exactly, amount of times I've heard of FWD falcons or no falcons at all.. I'll actually be surprised the day either is for certain.

[[Sterling]]

AWD XR6T ftmfw. Images launch controll and all wheel drive!
Personly I'd love and awd falcon.

[SNR]

What's wrong with an AWD? If it is set up similar (and I know there is a difference in calibre) to an R8 where no more than 30% of power ever reaches the front end. means better cornering without the huge understeer issues that you normally get with AWD.

That's not always the case though,

a properly set up rear drive car can be way faster than a much more powerful all-paw machine.

Case in point NB8B (~2001) MX-5 and MY98-02 WRX - there's a massive power defecit but put a capable driver behind the wheel of each and throw them at some twisty mountain roads and it's the rear drive car that comes out on top.

Just because it works for other cars doesn't mean it will work for a falcon.

That said, I've often wondered how hard it would be to put the Territory AWD drivetrain into a falcon considering the shared chassis etc, and I would suspect that anyone interested in potential setups and shortcomings of a could-be AWD falcon should look at the Territory setup (because you can almost guarantee they'll borrow and tweak from that rather than starting from scratch!)

[private9]

Falcon death by media, Magna stylez...

[Nikk O'lass]

I seem to recall a similarly bullshit article coming out of drive last year, containing no facts and quotes out of context. I wouldn't believe a fkn thing they publish. Look at all the dumbcunt responses to the article. Roflchopter.

This, slow news week.

[Troutman]

There's two sides to the story. The media does have a long history of predicting the doom of the Falcon - this was even happening in the days of the XF when we were again considered lucky to get an all-Australian EA.

On the other hand, despite the product being mostly excellent the Falcon's sales are increasingly poor and unlike Holden, there has been nothing happening in terms of exports. The wagon and Fairlane died recently with the BT-R 4 speed before that. This year's four cylinder Falcon - presumably a generic imported engine - is likely to be a volume seller which would put the local 4.0 into question with a relatively small market.

If the trend towards 'import-isation' continues then the Falcon's once great local engineering would eventually be almost as low as something like an Aurion in 10-15 years. On the plus side, the product itself would probably be better as a result (who would actually want a BT-R over a ZF?) and there is no talk as dramatic as actually closing down local production as per Mitubishi Australia's arguably media-fuelled demise.

[Parfrey]

This crap comes up like once a year.. i won't believe it until im driving a 4cyl turbo diesel awd falcon
Imagine how much stuff would break on a 400awkw Turbo 6 falcon.. that would weigh 2 ton.. lol.

I think there was an article recently about using the FG platform to build the new mustang???

[sk8n6]

The media claim that falcon doesn't get exported,

I'm sure New Zealand is an export or is it just classed Australasia

And what about South Africa were are there falcons getting built

[InfernalTyrant]

I hope they do turn AWD.

[justa6]

didn't holden do an awd monaro? from memory it wasn't a big hit or earth shattering quick. i'm all for rwd,as parfrey said, could you imagine the shit that would break on 400kw awd.

[EFFalcon]

Coupe 4 was the AWD monaro... it wasnt good because the driveline couldn't take much more then stock.

[gthofan]

didn't holden do an awd monaro? from memory it wasn't a big hit or earth shattering quick. i'm all for rwd,as parfrey said, could you imagine the shit that would break on 400kw awd.

Edit.. Beaten :p Heres an article about it anyway. http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Artic ... leID=43724

[nstg8a]

at the end of the day what difference does it really make?

how many people on here were gonna go buy a new falcon in 2015-16? and by the time theyre cheap enough for most e series owners to afford one, or want one, then they will be pretty much legislated off the road anyway.

Maybe if people bought more new falcons now and in the last few years things might have been different. lets face it, the falcon is doomed, sales have been falling for years, and even now, when the fg is (arguably) a superior product to its main rival people still buy far more commodores than falcons.

imo ford is doing the last roll of the dice now with falcon/territory, with the investment in miami, ecoboost and the turbo diesel. if they dont significantly lift sales then ford really only has one option.
Ford is smart, afaik, theyre the only car manufacturer in the USA thats making a good profit, they didnt do that by going after the niche markets.

enjoy the all aussie falcon for how ever long it lasts. whether thats another 4-5 years or another 15 years.

[EFFalcon]

where do you think 'E-Series' owners will be in 5-6 years time?
A lot of people own E-Series whilst they're young, bit of go, still cheap and fun to mess with.
5-6 years from now is a completely different ball game.

A LOT of people on here would be the people who would be looking at those cars.

worst case, we buy the last of the Falcon's and enjoy them until they rust.

[deansxr6]

Lol at Coupe 4's biggest peice of shit. A family friend has one, he said it's just a overpriced nugget.

[TUFED6]

where do you think 'E-Series' owners will be in 5-6 years time?

[EFFalcon]

lol... i think i know that guy?

[Nikk O'lass]

It would be nieve to think that the Falcon would be canned, while another low volume RWD car is kept alive...

Im sure that, some how the Falcon/mustang will share some major platform, not to mention Ford is revamping Lincolin, a brand that traditionally uses RWD.


Worst case senario is a TT AWD falcon that does a 12.5 1/4...

[EFFalcon]

worst case, we get the mustang locally