Four-cylinder Falcon uses less fuel than Mazda3...

[.FoMoCo.]

New story on the ecoboost falcon spotted on drive tonight:


http:// http://smh.drive.com.au/moto...201-1qsne.html

It's official: large cars can now have small-car economy.

Judgment day for the Ford Falcon has arrived.

Ford has removed fuel consumption from the debate about large cars by fitting its big sedan with a four-cylinder engine that delivers small-car economy.

In a move seen as a last roll of the dice for Ford Australia's factory operations, the four-cylinder Falcon has a fuel economy rating of 8.1L/100km, according to official figures released today.

In its standard form, the Mazda3 small car -Australia's top-selling vehicle last year - consumes 8.2L/100km with automatic transmission, according to Federal Government rating label figures.

If Falcon sales aren't revived by this latest taxpayer-funded hi-tech change then it will indicate there may be other reasons for the home-grown sedan's dramatic drop in popularity - and that the poor perception of the vehicle may have been much worse than the economic reality.

Ford has already discovered Falcon sales haven't been revived by low running costs and a new, super-efficient LPG system, which means the vehicle's options for its future are running out.

Ford Australia recently announced an investment of $103 million (using $34 million from the Federal Government and an estimated $19 million from the Victorian Government) to keep the Falcon in production until 2016.

As reported last year by Drive, the four-cylinder Falcon will cost the same price as the six-cylinder models that will continue to sell alongside it.

The retail cost for a four-cylinder Falcon starts from $37,235, although private and fleet buyers routinely pay heavily discounted prices.

Earlier reports claimed that Ford was considering a price premium for the four-cylinder Falcon but research showed Australian car buyers weren't prepared to pay a premium for the same car with a smaller engine.

The similarly-sized Ford Mondeo with the same engine as the four-cylinder Falcon costs $37,740.

The four-cylinder Falcon uses 18 per cent less fuel than the six-cylinder Falcon and 9 per cent less than the six-cylinder Commodore.

However, the four-cylinder Falcon is not as frugal as the new Toyota Camry, which has a consumption of 7.9L/100km.

And more luxurious models in the four-cylinder Falcon range - the G6 and G6E - consume 8.5L/100km compared to 8.9L/100km for the equivalent Berlina V6 and 9.8L/100km for the Calais V6.

Maybe a little negative? I think those figures are ok, not earth shattering, but ok.