Seeing that a list of the top 10 Falcons of all time was in Wheels magazine, it was the first thing I flicked through when the latest edition finally arrived today. To Wheels' credit, the EA was mentioned. The EB GT and ED XR6 (not the EB II?) also get a mention (but not the XR8 Sprint), as well as the XP, XR GT, XY GTHO Phase III, XA-XC hardtop, XE Ghia ESP, T3 T-Series, and BA. It would have been nice to see the XD or the XK there too, but obviously there wasn't room.
However, I am less impressed by the clearly biased article dedicated to the EA.
1988 EA
"Laugh if you like (and fair enough, really), but this series was regarded as one of the most handsome cars in the Ford empire - indeed the world - at its launch. EA might have been pretty, but early quality glitches with dampers, steering columns, panel fit and fuel injection quickly gave it the reputation of a dunger. And the crude three-speed auto stifled performance. But with quality refinements and body integrity improvements, the lame EA morphed into the much better EB and ED, and the highly successful EF and EL that carried Ford through the '90s."
Well and good, but what about the key defense of the EA, the performance of the manual MPI models? Wheels' own figures rate this car as the equal of many fancier vehicles. The FPV site made the point quite clearly. It's a shame Wheels didn't have the guts to show the whole story here, and I'm damn tempted to write to them saying as much.
Or perhaps we should keep it a secret, because anyone in a 'lame' manual EA outperforming more highly regarded cars will most certainly be getting the last laugh. :s5
However, I am less impressed by the clearly biased article dedicated to the EA.
1988 EA
"Laugh if you like (and fair enough, really), but this series was regarded as one of the most handsome cars in the Ford empire - indeed the world - at its launch. EA might have been pretty, but early quality glitches with dampers, steering columns, panel fit and fuel injection quickly gave it the reputation of a dunger. And the crude three-speed auto stifled performance. But with quality refinements and body integrity improvements, the lame EA morphed into the much better EB and ED, and the highly successful EF and EL that carried Ford through the '90s."
Well and good, but what about the key defense of the EA, the performance of the manual MPI models? Wheels' own figures rate this car as the equal of many fancier vehicles. The FPV site made the point quite clearly. It's a shame Wheels didn't have the guts to show the whole story here, and I'm damn tempted to write to them saying as much.
Or perhaps we should keep it a secret, because anyone in a 'lame' manual EA outperforming more highly regarded cars will most certainly be getting the last laugh. :s5