Faults:
Well for a 15 year old car that has been around the whole of Australia it hasn't been too bad. Only a New gearbox and new radiator has been replaces since I have had it. But bad fuel has totally wrecked my lifters.
As for door handles.. "Don't and I mean don't! pull up door handles as the door closes it wrecks and puts strain on the handles".
Air conditioner had a slight leak and got that fixed, surface rust started forming in some areas. (Get it early and you won't see it for another 10 years).
Dif leaks oil from the Filler cap.. don't know why tried to fix it 20 times and no luck.
Car radio only played AM when I got it, but bahh I wanted a better one anyways.
General Comments:
I love this car, nice to cruise in, beautiful acceleration and gear changes and quiet all you hear is exhaust, easy to find parts, and fairly cheap to run doing a minimum of 500km in the city, The engines are have rock solid bottom ends and a cooling system even with a major leak still doesn't overheat.
The car has serious power and for a heavy huge big old car I can clock 0 - 100km/h in 10.3 seconds.
It gives a fairly comfortable ride and with a little bit of lowering of the suspension, the control and body roll is nearly eliminated.
LSD is gr8, grips on a dry road like you won't believe, but tho can be very dangerous doing power slides in the wet.
Some things can be changed though. The Diff is one, it needs a much shorter diff to have more acceleration and get EXTRACTORS!, the performance goes up by about 20k/w. Also run the carbie version on Premium Unleaded and watch that tacho and Speedo go up and up.
All up it's a great car, to do up and to have as a good tow car, look after them and they will serve you till the engine falls out. Good for towing and better than any commodore!
PS. Don't use additives in your radiator such as radiator stop leak.. It stuffs up your thermostat and clogs the heater.
XF's RULE.. Peace out.
Matty_2003_ford@yahoo.com.au.
13th Jul 2004, 06:35
I have to agree with the above comment, for a 250 ford 6 to be described a "quick", would be a first. My experience has found these to be work horses and very reliable even when things go wrong. The manual transmission would allow you to hold out the engine for longer, but I can't see the XF being able beat a 253 commodore which is lighter car with a larger engine.
You have however picked a good first car which will go "forever" with the right care and attention. Be careful to always have good radiator inhibitor and coolant in the cooling system.