A Europeans opinion of an AU - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

falcongli · 10-31-2002, 20:41

I had a European friend of mine staying over while on holiday and I let him drive my wifes AU Fairmont to see what his unbiased opinion of the car was. Mind you this guy usually drives Mercs, BMW's etc where he comes from.

After some city and country driving his opinion was as follows:

Style wise he thought it looked modern with nice lines resembling the Jaguar from the rear.

Comfort and drivability: In his opinion the car was quite comfortable and handled well with ample power (even if an I6 on LPG), easy to drive and well appointed.

It seems that people that have never seen the car quite like it, only Assies seem to hate it. In my opinion I think the AU is a really good car, but I'm sure the BA is a great improvement on an already good product.

Bluedriver · 10-31-2002, 20:49

Hear hear !!!!!

If it was allowed to race in a "fair" Series and a Meat Pie on the bonnet what a winner !!!!

Detroit Rumble · 10-31-2002, 21:30

I've long stood by the claim that if our dear AU was any other car but a Ford Falcon it would have been "GREAT".

If its a Ford. Its crap. Simple.

Father was one of the firs to get an AU, a Fairmont, and he gave it to his cousin to drive, who owned a BMW 3 series coupe and enjoys driving hard, and he was blowen away by the Ford. Had not a bad word to say about it.

61sg · 10-31-2002, 21:45

aussies tastes vary from europeans
some cars that have been top sellers in europe seem to flop in australia.

the front styling of AU1 is not unlike KA and FOCUS both big sellers over seas but the styling on the AU was not accepted so well here in oz.

fte22 · 10-31-2002, 21:58

I agree with all of the above, and what made it worse was that it was against the very soft and inoffensive VT, everybody seemed to just flock to it for the looks and nothing else. Before the BA, it was the best Falcon built to date, and will make a great 2nd hand buy in the next few years.

YuGoStaR · 10-31-2002, 22:06

That is exactly what my uncle said when he came over from Germany.
It seems only us Aussies seem to find this car 'ugly' and so on. Perhaps it is just because we are isolated from other styles and all that.??

the_scotsman · 10-31-2002, 22:22

Well, I arrived here in Australia last year, from Scotland.
I have to say, straight away I wasn't too sure on the AU. I really think the EF/EL look a lot better. The styling of the AU is similar to the Focus & Ka, both of which are VERY popular cars in the UK.
But I think that "new edge design" as Ford call it, just doesn't suit larger cars like the AU. The BA is a big improvement on the AU.
I drive an EA S and I am very happy with it, except for the 3 spd auto, its a slug.
The biggest thing I thought when I got here was....HOLY SHIT, there are normal family cars with 4 litre I6s in them!!!
The more common "large" engines in the UK are like 2.5 V6, say the Mondeo or whatever. The 2 litre, or 1.8 is more the norm in the average car.
I think that says a lot about UK fuel prices! You guys don't know how lucky you are!

flagship042 · 11-01-2002, 05:12

Always liked the Au and thought it was a good car. Most of the fleet operators out there are of the opinion that the AuIII is a superior vehicle, in most respects, to the equivalent Commodore.
It's just that most of the so called expert motoring journalists, said the Au looked like sh!t, so like lemmings, everyone else did too!
There are still too many people out there still bagging the Au (and suprisingly often on this forum, more so after the BA release) when basically, it is a very, very good motor car, especially the later Au's.

marine1 · 11-01-2002, 05:22

Quote:

Originally posted by davidwatt
Well, I arrived here in Australia last year, from Scotland.
I have to say, straight away I wasn't too sure on the AU. I really think the EF/EL look a lot better. The styling of the AU is similar to the Focus & Ka, both of which are VERY popular cars in the UK.
But I think that "new edge design" as Ford call it, just doesn't suit larger cars like the AU. The BA is a big improvement on the AU.
I drive an EA S and I am very happy with it, except for the 3 spd auto, its a slug.
The biggest thing I thought when I got here was....HOLY SHIT, there are normal family cars with 4 litre I6s in them!!!
The more common "large" engines in the UK are like 2.5 V6, say the Mondeo or whatever. The 2 litre, or 1.8 is more the norm in the average car.
I think that says a lot about UK fuel prices! You guys don't know how lucky you are!

Yeah everyone seems to bitch a lot about fuel prices and even more when it goes up a bit. I just think about fuel prices in Europe to feel better.

^RedHot-EL^ · 11-01-2002, 06:32

My Dad owns an AU2 Fairmont with a double rear wing and i rekon she looks pretty madness. Okay AU1 nah- But it had the basis of a nice looking car but it just wasnt there i guess ford tried something different i mean if it had worked there would be praises for this new design and ford would still be the market leader.

- But AU3 are definatly great cars (3rd time lucky ford finally made the Au look a treat)
- The Utes were always Lovely
- T3 = One of the Hottest Looking Cars ive ever laid eyes on :)

My 2nd Fav ford is the AU T3 , comming a close second to the XY P3 :)