so, in the last few days I had been given the chance to drive two very important cars to this country (not quite back to back, but both in the last few months)
and I had notice that the non disclosure statements have expired (and as many of you might have guessed, I'm not a journalist so no renewal for me!)
First off, I care little for grammar, and have had alot to drink, so......blah!
so the two cars were the LPi falcon and the four cylinder turbo falcon(not a production model but enough to get you a good feel)
I will also add I am a little bias, and I'm honest in the fact I dislike the GM board (and therefore the products that stem from it)
now that that is out of the way, I will start with the LPi first,
OMG, for those that have driven old vapor systems forget all you know (and any dislikes you might have) about LPG powered cars
now I drove my tickford powered fairmont to this drive, I then jumped into a standard falcon, and (the fairmont was healthy when I did this) and TBH, the older car (bar the gear box) was the better car, so much so, that to of the ford engineers (who had been on the EL team) took my car around QR and came back with grins (and comments that the suspension was gone, but it was still the car that should have been standard, one even offered to get me a 6 speed auto cheap) but while the current falcon is good, (and that gear box, while old now, is great) it was a notch above in the LPi,
the LPi was as good as the petrol, in fact, it was more fun, the torque while seemly not more, was noticeable when driven in anger there was a corner that was hard to pick the (petrol) auto was hard press to guess as well, sometimes 3rd, sometimes 4th, the LPi 4th, everytime, no guess work, same line, same-ish speed
and while there are down sides, (for those that remember me discusing the spare wheel, it was three days after i drove the car, hence why i knew, just couldn't say anything) so, bar the spare wheel, and the lack of range, and refilling options on longer drivers (go a little bit out west, and no LPG) if is more than worth it hands down, better in most ways (so city driving, and 99% of your driving needs) than a petrol, (now let hardware rejoice!)
Now the petrol 4 cylinder turbo
at the time i drive it, it was/is a ore production model, so, there is a good chance it might chance, but with three people on board turbo lag was noticeable, (in fact TBH, it felt more like the v-tec kick but earlier in the rev range) with the auto for tooling around you will miss the low down ease of the bigger engine, but it drives very much like the mondeo (which makes sense seeing that it is the same engine) but will a touch less power, now this wasn't on a race track or alike, so it was city-ish traffic, and no chance to give it the beans, but it did seem to steer nicer, and the two corners (I lacked brakes for) it felt pretty damn good, (much better than (the my guess of 120~140kws) engine power would dictate) as far as full sized car, it felt as good as, well a falcon, the car drove well, and what more could one ask for,
tbh, while without a diesel there is a firm chance that post 2016, there will be no locally built cars, (be that falcon, or commodore) the two cars that I drove were not only good to drive, but were good, balanced, and well spaced (for passengers, and boot space) while 4WD's and MPV's have taken the roles that the big aussie car once held they are still imo good value, and without such cars we as a country, become a little bit closer to lacking a true identity
while the cruise is the only small-ish car that is currently built in this country, and the current crop of falcon buyers seems to be taxi's (even then VW is making good grounds in that market place) I would urge all those that are in the market for a new car to look into a car built here (wait till the newer ones are out)
that said, I currently drive a renault so I'm one to speak!
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