Faults:

Only normal general maintenance has been carried out. Regular servicing, water pump and drive/cooling belt replaced. Automatic serviced, diff fluid changed. Coolant changed yearly.

New tyres, exhaust and brakes shortly after buying it. New battery.

Minor repair to electric window (Silicone release spray is the lubricant to use on the runners).

General Comments:

The Falcon (Futura) is a VERY good car.

Reliable, comfortable, excellent cruiser, handles well and relaxing to drive.

It is a bit thirsty around town with the air conditioning going. That is to be expected with a wagon weighing about 1.7 tonnes.

I needed a wagon to carry my sons Double Bass in.

Research on the net gave me the choice of 2 models. The EL falcon or a VT Commodore. This was $10,000, the VT would have been about $18,000. I prefer to not have a lot of money depreciating on the road or being dented in the carparks.

The servicing I lavish upon my older cars makes them great to drive and cheaper in the long run. Preventative maintenance is VERY economic to do. I am an Electronics Tech, we do a lot of preventatitive maintenance. Downtime is just too expensive.

Any garage can work on it, bills are cheap. Some of my friends have exotic cars, their bills are many times higher than mine.

My nickname for this car is "The Jolly Green Giant".

Faults:

Plastic Headlight lenses, faded yellow with age, wet n dry sanding and buffing with cut and polish.

Outside plastic trim around rear doors, flaking due to sunlight.

Rear Demister faulty.

Shudder under braking (Warped Rotors.

General Comments:

Very well handling car with a lot of steering feel compared too many other family cars. This car however was an former QLD Police car and has sports suspension.

The car is fitted with ABS disc brakes, which do a very well job at stopping the car, but disc warping issues have become an issue with this car.

Very powerful engine (157 Kw) with a load of bottom end torque. It becomes very harsh however at high revs (3000+), but in general it hauls the 1550kg car well.

Easy to maintain compared to imported cars and basic service parts are extremely cheap.

Great interior, loads of room, good trim, good dash and great visibility. The trim has aged very well and is still modern.

The car is extremely comfortable car on highway journeys and country roads, but around town it's weight and size is a burden especially when it comes to fuel economy and parking. Overall it is a great car, but is a bit crude in some respects compared to some of it's opposition.

Faults:

Boot strut broke after about a year - fixed this myself by bolting it back on.

Thermostat went cold and had to be replaced.

The door locking system occassionally went "berserk", frantically locking and unlocking itself until I stopped the car and opened one of the doors. I have never done anything about it, and it has not happened for some years now.

Dashboard rattles, although not severe, come and go from time to time.

General Comments:

Overall, a very good car from the day I bought it. At the time, there weren't anywhere near as many XR's as there are now, so it attracted quite a bit of attention. The handling and performance are good, but the trade-off is a rather thumpy ride on rough roads. If you do not want to put up with the occasional hard thump coming through your seat don't buy one of these cars! If you put your foot down even a little too much on corners (particularly U turns) the limited slip diff will chew out your back tyres in no time.

You have to take care when near gutters etc, because of the low ground clearance.