julian

As some of you may know a I drive a 2002 T-3 TE50 and I had a 220 kilowatt TE50 before that.

My dealer has a purple X R8 on his lot in with 101 kilometres on the clock and slightly scraped front skirts (each corner) so I had to have a drive. The drive was only six kilometres as after that I knew it was not the car for me and that I would have to wait for the GT.

First impressions were that the steering did not seem as communicative as my TE 50. Sort of a dead feel by comparison. The test drive was on suberban streets despite an invitation to go up the Gosford Expressway. At first it seemed as though there might be a little more torque down low and this may still be the case as i think first gear is significantly higher than in my car. The accelerator doesn't have as much travel as in my car and I quickly found it on the floor. The accellerator bottoms out with a plasticy click rather than squishing into carpet. I can't really say anything about the handling as I didn't get to attack any familiar corners apart from right Angle ones and I didn't want to scare the poor salesmen too much. I was mainly testing the power. There is no red line on the 7000 rpm tachometer and I took it to around six in second . My car is keen to rev and the new car didn't seem to have any significant discernible advantage in power anywhere in the range. To be fair it was probably very tight, the new car has a higher first gear and is pulling more weight but you would certainly be disappointed if you were trading a T3 in order to get more power. It also doesn't feel as chuckable due to the steering which imparts a heavy front end impression without much feel.It is shod with 17s rather than the 18s on mine. The All Black leather interior is a bit flat without coloured inserts and the door trims definitely looked cheap by comparison to the old ones as there is too much textured plastic.The dash is however a big improvement and the seats are nice. This car had the standard brakes which worked well on the test but may well fade as they stank when I got out of the car. The car is much quieter inside than my car which has has a lot of engine noise. My 2002 Tickford has much more internal engine noise than the 2001 Tickford as the 2001 car was based on the Fairmont with much more carpet and firewall padding. The engine note on the new car is quite pleasant but is more of a high-tech noise than traditional V eight burble and certainly nothing like the soundtrack on the Ford ad featuring their Ute.

I'm sure it will be quite a nice car but given the choice of my car or this car I would choose my car. I will have to wait for the GT and then test again. My car has the Brembo brakes and I would strongly suggest that anyone able to buy a run out T three cheap seriously consider it over a new X R eight. Of course resale value would make the new car a much better choice but I don't think it is a better drivers car. My test drive was however by no means comprehensive and high-speed cornering and the stopwatch may tell a slightly different story. By the way the gearbox doesn't suffer the same rattling which annoys the hell out of me when my car is in neutral with the clutch out

xacoupe

hrmm, some quite fair conmments in there.
As for the power, it's accepted that teh 250Kw the T3 has is somewhat understated so that would most likely account for the feeling of no more power.

In a way the new XR8 is giving us people that cannot afford something like a T3 (when they were new) a chance to own something similar.

CDAA

Fair enough, but to compare an XR8 with a T3 is, well I would have been surprised if it was 'allot' better at all. At the risk of making assumptions, if your car was an AU3 220, I think you may have been more satisfied with the new model. No doubt it would be previous XR8 and SS owners that Ford would have it sights set on impressing and definitely not T-Series owners (especially T3’s). Why would they 'down trade' to an XR?

Compare apples with apples and update your car (when ready) to its rightful peers, GT or GTP. I look forward to hearing your review julian on that one.

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harasn

it was a new car and very tight. drive it when its got 1500kms or so on it. the v8 will loosen up and go better

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BA Falcon
BLOODY AWESOME FALCON
Have you driven a .... GT lately....

BIGBADAU

T series would be lighter to wouldnt it? as far i am concerned you cant really compare the two cars and it wouldnt surprise me if the XR8 wasnt much faster as there is only 10 kw's in the difference.

Im not here to say that your right or wrong, but hey lets actually get some figures before we start to judge the car.

shaft

Hey I think everyone has missed the point of what julian was saying.

I do not believe that Julian was judging the car. what he was doing was giving a factual report based on his knowledge. Of Course he is going to compare it to the car he owns, especially as the figures are so similar. I beleive that It was a fair and unbiased review.

Now the AU is history, We need not be so defensive. :o)

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کhậfţ

CDAA

Beatnik, not being defensive mate, but I believe Julian’s point 'was' not to make an unbiased report on the XR8, but rather comparison with his own T3. From his comments he was pretty open about that really (see above).

I'm not arguing that that his criticisms are wrong, more the fact that he is using the wrong car as a bench mark IMO. Similar power outputs is where the similarities end with these two cars.

Point I'm making is I do not think I mist the point. :hrm: :s5

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GTP07S

That statement is a bit premature isnt it????

I see the AU around in more numbers now than I have ever have and Im damned sure they will be around for a long time to come, I reckon that in 10 years the AU will still look modern.

I for one now that the novelty has worn off is not even interested in trading my AUII XR8 220 for a BA of any type.

I like the fact that you can tell an AU XR coming at you from a fair distance away, you certainly cant do that with a BA XR.

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Terry Stevens
2005 Rapid BF GT-P
Interstate Member - FPV&XR Car Club SA
www.fpvxrclub.com.au

BrightEyes

Totally agree. Many people are asking me is my "new" AU one of the "new" Fords that won car of the year - this is how much average Joe knows about his cars. And the AU will certainly still look modern against it's contemporaries in years to come - it was after all, way ahead of it's time in design, and the others are just starting to catch up.

julian

Everything is relative guys. The T3 is my daily driver that I arrived at the dealership in. Would you have preferred me to compare accelleration to my GSXR1000 bike, my turboed 308 ferrari or perhaps the 161 three on the tree kingswood I learned on.