Faults:

Fuel pump failed - Due to car being in storage.

Aerial needed replacement.

Paint severely weathered - Keep in mind it's 23 years old and it comes up nicely with a good polish.

Air conditioner in need of repair - again, age.

General Comments:

Being my first car, I needed something that was cheap to purchase, and economical to run. But it also had to conform to my desire of not driving something that is completely gutless, or too small, or front wheel drive, or anything like that. Enter the XF!

When I originally bought the car, it was running straight unleaded petrol, and to be honest it drank it like a fish, so I got an LPG conversion, which in Australia is subsidised. Usually LPG = lower performance, but to be truthfully honest, there is no real noticeable difference between running it on LPG or petrol.

Performance wise it is no rocket, but taking into consideration it's a large car, with a 3 speed automatic transmission and a tall diff-ratio, it's not that bad at all, and has plenty enough power for day to day driving and overtaking etc. As most people who have driven a Falcon with this engine in it would know, it's got heaps of torque and grunt, so it does do the job really well, even if you won't be beating many people at the lights hahaha.

The XF is incredibly comfortable to ride in. The driveline is very smooth, and its wide track provides comfort easily for a maximum capacity of 5 adult passengers. It's a perfect family car. The power steering is amazing, and as my car has been lowered, it holds the road really well, and has phenomenal handling, as if it is on rails.

Economy wise I spend about 30 dollars a week on LPG, which is reasonable for runabout driving. I get around 300KM out of a tank of LPG, but on the highway it really comes into its own, and would easily go far beyond the 400KM mark.

Another thing that is great about this car is the brakes. Being the first model to have 4 wheel discs as standard, it pulls up on a dime, and even without ABS, it gives you plenty of confidence.

Our family has owned many XF's over the years, and we have never had a problem with any of them, they start first time every time, and just go forever, you could not get a more reliable car. Even after over 20 years and almost 300000 KM of driving, this one still goes like it always has - without a hiccup. If you are after a cheap, reliable runabout, then you'd struggle to find a better package than an XF. Get one on LPG, as they do everything the petrol ones do, but with about a third of the running costs. And look out for rust. If you can get one with no rust, you are definitely on a winner.

And also, the XF series 2 (1986 or later) is the better package, with 4 wheel disc brakes and power steering as standard, if that sort of thing bothers you!

Faults:

I bought the car to use as a work vehicle, as I was a contract worker at that time and I needed a good work type of vehicle to use for work on a regular basis, and when I bought the car from a car yard, I knew that it was an ex company vehicle and with reasonably high k`s, so I expected some minor faults, but I was very disappointed with the car very soon after buying, with problems like

# Constant overheating. Terrible reliability.

# Diff vibrations, had to have gearbox + diff + tailshaft serviced.

# It leaked LOTS of water into the cabin when raining hard - that was the very worst problem with the car as it made it extremely uncomfortable and as the whole dash had to come out to fix it, is was way to expensive to try to fix as there were heaps more problems anyway and it would have been a waste of money to try to fix.

# Bugger all grunt, even after major services and tuning and I mean only 140k flatout, but it did have an airbrake type of canopy on the back.

# Oil pressure sender switch slowly leaked out nearly all of the engine oil while driving down the F3, which was very bad!

# Small rust starting to appear under 1/4 windows and bottom of rear lower panels.

General Comments:

Even though the car looked good with coloured bumpers, mirrors, tints, mags and good paint and trim inside and out, it had a lot of small hidden problems, which really made the car unreliable and s##t to own.