Ford Falcon BF II ready to rumble

AnthonyQLD · 22-08-2006, 04:46 PM

http://carsguide.news.com.au/story/0...-21822,00.html

Smoked · 22-08-2006, 05:07 PM

Hopefully might take some heat off the VE launch.

BlueRaven · 22-08-2006, 05:09 PM

I think thats the plan

BlueRaven · 22-08-2006, 05:17 PM

BTW, I love how 'us vs them' Tom Gorman is. Its so refreshing to see..

Quote:

"Nothing they have put in front of us surprises us ... or scares us. We think we got good value. We have spent less."

Gorman believes the VE is not good enough on fuel economy and, following Toyota's lead with its four-cylinder Camry and upcoming V6 Aurion, he is going after his rival. "I don't think they have listened. I think it's just pointing out that we're better than they are," Gorman says.

Smoked · 22-08-2006, 05:21 PM

Well, atleast he acknowledges the way the real world works in terms of marketing

Pouki · 22-08-2006, 06:11 PM

i like the look of the BF MKII i think it will go good the fairmont ghia looks really nice hopefully it does take some hype of the VE and the camry that have been spoken up so much in the media

**DJM83** · 22-08-2006, 08:00 PM

Lets hope he can put his money where his mouth is so to say

Brute6 · 22-08-2006, 09:42 PM

I saw my first BFII on the road yesterday. A Fairmont Ghia. And to be honest, at first from a distance I thought it was a Camry......

:
But once I got close, it does look very good, better than in print.

brodfloyd · 22-08-2006, 10:00 PM

what happened to monotube shocks?

BPXR6T · 22-08-2006, 10:21 PM

Can't say I'm overly excited. I still prefer my BA to the BF.

Kachow · 24-08-2006, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FourBarrel

Can't say I'm overly excited. I still prefer my BA to the BF.

ditto

Auslandau · 22-08-2006, 10:42 PM

Dont think there is too much to get excited about? The changes from the BA1 (Exterior) to the BF11 is not worth changing the model number! Are they too frightened to change from a successful design and will find them selves floundering in the long run?

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99FalconS · 22-08-2006, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by auslandau

Dont think there is too much to get excited about? The changes from the BA1 (Exterior) to the BF11 is not worth changing the model number! Are they too frightened to change from a successful design and will find them selves floundering in the long run?

Could not agree more.

22-08-2006, 11:58 PM

Bonnet, front bar, headlights not enough to call it BFII?

Lukeyson · 23-08-2006, 01:18 AM

I really waiting to see what FPV offer, read some interesting rumours in the other threads, and heres to hoping FPV raises the bar a little, seeing as its been the same 290 job since BA.
But i am not holding my breath waiting :(

Full Spectrum · 23-08-2006, 05:05 AM

And if it fails? Is there a plan B???.

Fordoldie · 23-08-2006, 07:09 AM

"We are in the process of reacting"

"We assume our competitor will be successful and then we try to beat them"
Tom Gorman

It always strikes me as a cop-out when leaders make such comments about oppossing teams or brands.
Confusious say: He who take cheap shot at competitor usually end up with egg on face
Most intelligent people can see right through those comments and there is only one reason for making them, he is worried.

One can only hope he is right although given the fact Ford has been behind Holden in Fuel economy so far, its a brave call to say they havent improved with VE (when they apparently have) and that BFII is better? Time will tell

Full Spectrum · 23-08-2006, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordoldie

"We are in the process of reacting"

"We assume our competitor will be successful and then we try to beat them"
Tom Gorman

It always strikes me as a cop-out when leaders make such comments about oppossing teams or brands.
Confusious say: He who take cheap shot at competitor usually end up with egg on face
Most intelligent people can see right through those comments and there is only one reason for making them, he is worried.

One can only hope he is right although given the fact Ford has been behind Holden in Fuel economy so far, its a brave call to say they havent improved with VE (when they apparently have) and that BFII is better? Time will tell

You read fuel figures in testing from on-line and mags and they all get better economy then holden has on the sticker.

FASTXR · 23-08-2006, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordoldie

"We are in the process of reacting"

"We assume our competitor will be successful and then we try to beat them"
Tom Gorman

It always strikes me as a cop-out when leaders make such comments about oppossing teams or brands.
Confusious say: He who take cheap shot at competitor usually end up with egg on face
Most intelligent people can see right through those comments and there is only one reason for making them, he is worried.

I agree - I always thought that one of the first rules of business is to pay more attention to what you're doing, rather than what your competitor is doing. Otherwise you wait for them to do something and then come up with an answer to it, by which time they've moved on to the next thing and so on. All you're doing is playing catch-up

Iphido · 23-08-2006, 07:07 AM

Plan B is always add more equipment, special runouts and slash prices.

Orion is only 2 years away.

I am hoping that FPV does use its orion engines in the BFII.

We don't know everything about BFII yet. For example nothing about LWB, Nothing about FPV's. Even the Fairmont Ghia, there is stuff thats been changed but has not yet made it onto the press release.

merlin · 23-08-2006, 07:45 AM

I think they (Ford) are resting on their laurels again - will they ever learn? Where are the power increases (if only minute), where is the extra STANDARD equipment (not these 6 spd and DSC OPTIONS). They had a chance to trump VE and basically all they have done is made the car uglier - Yuck - Looks like a new Camry from the front with a slab sided AU body stuck on the rear in that picture. Sorry not liking it at all, they have gone backwards.

Also they are unique in having the LPG only engine - why not increase the power up to a decent level (its 157kw right?) or offer vapour injection. Same LPG engine since 2002 and they have now had 4 years to improve it and done jack - what do their engineers actually do?

Lukeyson · 23-08-2006, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by merlin

Also they are unique in having the LPG only engine - why not increase the power up to a decent level (its 157kw right?)

I hear ya man !!

156kw @ 5000rpm
374nm @ 2750rpm

vztrt · 23-08-2006, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XR8fella

I hear ya man !!

156kw @ 5000rpm
374nm @ 2750rpm

I'll tell you what, I've driven a few dedicated gas cars and they actually go pretty well. Just cause the KW are lower, Big deal it's torque that gets the car moving. That and decent gearing.

**Mechan1k** · 24-08-2006, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XR8fella

I hear ya man !!

156kw @ 5000rpm
374nm @ 2750rpm

Factory option bolt-on supercharger kit for the EGAS

Iphido · 23-08-2006, 08:01 AM

The 6 speed and DSC is a worthy option.

And the Fords are more economical. By a large margin, over 1 L per 100 in some cases (Calais verse Ghia).

Apparently Ford is having problems with getting injection on engines due to patents. Really stupid. Ford should have sorted all this out with BA when we knew fuel was going up and actually spend some money on it. With BF the LPG engine became ~15% less efficent too.

With a gas engine I would like:
-Higher compression more like 11:1.
-Injection LPG
-Atleast optional 6 speed auto
-Atleast 180Kw
-DSC and traction control work with it.

Fordoldie · 23-08-2006, 08:58 AM

[QUOTE=Iphido]The 6 speed and DSC is a worthy option.
And the Fords are more economical. By a large margin, over 1 L per 100 in some cases (Calais verse Ghia).
Apparently Ford is having problems with getting injection on engines due to patents. Really stupid. Ford should have sorted all this out with BA when we knew fuel was going up and actually spend some money on it. With BF the LPG engine became ~15% less efficent too.
QUOTE]

Only Ford are saying it is more economical just as they stated the same thing previously so we have to wait and see on that one

As for the DSC option, the enthusiast Ford owner will take it yes but not the masses, that's a factor that Ford have not bet on

mcflux · 23-08-2006, 01:53 PM

BA to BF was worthy of name change I suppose. Sure, the exterior and interior changes were minimal/extremely subtle, but the mechanical changes were substantial enough.

Supporting argument: Think VR to VS.

I guess a counter for this argument however could be 30th Anniversary EA (BTR auto) or EB to EBII (3.9-->4.0, improved suspension, ABS, etc).