2000 Ford Falcon Series 2 Forte 4.0 six
Summary:
You'll get to know your dealer on a first name basis!
Faults:
Stereo replaced three times. Keeps shutting down. Removal of the fuse for a few seconds gets it working again after the pin is entered. The latest stereo will not play a CD if you press CD. Instead, you must remove and reinsert it. Who knows why?
Fuel gauge is all over the place, telling me I'm about to run out of fuel, when I've just filled up.
An electrical fault caused the starter motor to keep going even after I removed the keys and locked the doors. Entire dash was removed to find the fault. Starter motor was fried in the process.
Rear bumper was warped and had to be replaced.
Rear suspension clunks when accelerating hard. Dealer reports that it is a common problem. Not fixed.
Horn works sometimes.
Door locks lock and unlock of their own accord. Provide huge entertainment to passengers.
Engine has terrible harshness at 2900rpm. A colleague's Falcon doesn't.
General Comments:
The worst car I've ever owned. Generally supposed to be a reliable car, but I believe I got a dud.
Needless to say, after tax time, I'm going back to a Commodore.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 1st December, 2000
13th Dec 2000, 06:22
My family had an 82' Falcon four liter 6, 5 speed manual. The Falcon was a terrible car, it was full of rust, the clutch cable broke three times and the gearbox had to be replaced four times.
The initial gearbox lost 5th gear, putting the car into 5th gear was like putting it into neutral. Worst of all this happened on a long trip, so we had to travel in 4th all the way home, resulting in using a lot more fuel than we should have. When we took the car to a mechanic, he told us that the gearbox was full of metal shards. The next three gearbox's were only 4 speeds, because the 5's were very rare and were VERY expensive.
The electrical system was terrible. Sometimes the windscreen wipers wouldn't work, and when they did, the one on the driver's side tended to slip off the side of the windscreen, so you had to put your hand out the window to push it back on.
We were reluctant to use the horn, as it tended to stay on.
The headlights only worked when they wanted to, and when they did, only hi-beam worked.
In the end we sold the car to a wreckers, because it was going to cost more than the car was worth to get it road-worthy, no, sorry, to get it safe to drive.