2004 Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo Utility 4.0 straight 6 turbo from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Eats V8's for breakfast

Faults:

Nothing so far.

General Comments:

The Falcon's 6 cylinder turbo engine is a credit to Fords engineering.

There is so much power on tap and it makes all the right noises especially the turbo at high revs.

The Ute handles extremly well for a leaf spring suspension setup.

Can get a little tail happy when driven hard due to no traction control which the sedans have.

The semi-automatic gearbox handles the power well and changes smoothly.

The interior is modern and very spacious for a ute.

The leather seats are a very comfortable and are a must have.

I love the blue lit instrument panel.

Missing boost gauge which I may install later on.

Greater performance increase is only 5k to double the power without losing reliability due to Ford De-engineering the engine.

Reliability for a turbo is perfect, very little maintenance needed.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 18th January, 2005

2004 Ford Falcon XT sedan 4.0 6 cylinder from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

A dud

Faults:

Electronic throttle died and had to get the car towed.

Leaky water pump

Disk brakes needed to be machined at 7,000 clicks and due for another machining again.

Rear diff leak.

Drivers window failed to work on some occations.

Some interior trim has come loose.

Rough idle in cold starts.

Annoying rattle near passenger seat.

General Comments:

This car is not worth the trouble sure its comfortable and not too bad on the fuel. But the quality is just not good enough. For a car that was rated as COTY in 2002 this car is just the pits.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 19th September, 2004

6th Oct 2004, 23:34

Well sounds like you have one troublesome Falcon XT and you have my sympathy. I don't own one, but at work I get a new one every couple of years and have been driving Falcons for a living for 10 years.

Quality control seems to vary.. the last AU had electric window problems, like yours. The one before was a mess with lots of things going wrong. Bur to my surprise since they handed me a Falcon XT six months ago this particular car has been very well behaved and has presented no problems so far.

I agree with the theory that at Ford it seems to depend on the time of the day on the production line. If it's late on Friday or whatever you get low quality control.. if you get people who take some pride in their work it results in a good car.

I still prefer the Falcon to the Commodore though... I presume you don't work for Holden!!

But due to problems in the past with new Falcons I'd never buy a Ford myself. Sorry to hear about your many problems.

14th Nov 2009, 08:56

My parents have a '94 XT wagon they bought 2nd hand a couple of years ago, and it is a very comfortable car to drive, but it does have quite a few problems. The electricals in the car are a bit dodgy, the electric tailgate release only works occasionally, which is a pain as there is no other way of opening it. The keyless entry no longer works, yes we replaced the batteries in the key pads, and the lighter fuse keeps blowing. The air ducts in the rear of the centre console keep falling out and the silver trim around the shifter is bubbled and rippled.

The diff rumbles and the dealer (not a Ford dealer) says it's the rear bumper vibrating. Not the greatest vehicle ever built by Ford. My EA was a lot less troublesome until it went to car heaven 3 years ago.