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Thread: If Falcon and Commodore are "world class" why does no one buy them ?

  1. #21
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    Not as many is in New Zealand with no local manufacturers to protect... that place is a sea of choice!



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    As leroy said, as long as you dont buy a Patrol i bought my Common door for $30,000 with nothing, 16 years later a Furd with every thing $34,000 good value from what i see
    There is a fine line between "Hobby" and "Madness"

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    I think its a matter of having more choices too
    when the govt opened the door to grey imports I think they were very suprised by the amount of cars that were coming in
    so that door was slammed shut

    people like choices we don't have many different models of cars compared to NZ as stated and Japan etc.

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    Embarrassingly enough i have had one eye on maybe purchasing a second hand Toyota Prius for a delivery car for small runs.

    Sat down and did some maths as to my savings by going from a 260Kw 5.4L Boss engine V8 running on injected LPG Ute with a large load area to a petrol electric Hybrid with almost no load capacity.

    $40 of LPG gets me close to 400Km.

    A Prius in ideal conditions gets 4.7L per 100Km, or at $1.60 a liter cost $7.50 per 100Km or $30 per 400Km.

    Hardly worth the savings IMHO and the risk of a battery pack playing up...and the risk of being call green (read Gay).

    Yes the Fords and Holdens lose a lot of money when purchased new, in my opinion you would need to have rocks in your head to buy one new if not in a position to have a business and depreciate the vehicle, when it comes to the Aussie big cars its best to buy second hand after some other sucker has lost a lot of money and enjoy whats left of the vehicles life, buy with less than 100,000Km on the clock and piss it off once its at 200000-250000Km old before it becomes a money pit.

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    Prius aren't green either, it takes more carbon to dispose of one than it takes to build a Commodore or Falcon.

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    Put the prius on gas godzilla

    Or what about a Suzuki Mighty boy on gas

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    I had to laugh at Bacchus Marsh when i was filling up, i noticed a lady in the next bay filling up, then i realised she was at the LPG only bowser...... with a Holdan Barina... on gas!!!

  • #28
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    I had an EL on gas and, when I pensioned it off (260,000K roughly) I bought a WH Statesman on petrol, the difference in running cost is minimal as running on LPG you do not generally get as good fuel economy as you do on petrol, and by the time you factor in the cost of the conversion. EL on average was about 12.5 l/100K on Gas (actually nearer to 13 I suspect) whereas the Stato on petrol is giving me around 10.8 l/100k. I live in the country so most of my travelling is highway driving.

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    Full electric is the only way to go IMO, waiting for Tessler to make a cheap car!

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    Quote Originally Posted by lsemmens View Post
    I had an EL on gas and, when I pensioned it off (260,000K roughly) I bought a WH Statesman on petrol, the difference in running cost is minimal as running on LPG you do not generally get as good fuel economy as you do on petrol, and by the time you factor in the cost of the conversion. EL on average was about 12.5 l/100K on Gas (actually nearer to 13 I suspect) whereas the Stato on petrol is giving me around 10.8 l/100k. I live in the country so most of my travelling is highway driving.
    Country driving is the key. If you had it in the city it would be a different story.

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    Quote Originally Posted by admin View Post

    Or what about a Suzuki Mighty boy on gas
    I had a ongoing joke with someone i use to work with that drove a 3 cylinder Daihatsu, use to tell him he was a cylinder short of being normal.

    Unfortunately the conversion to sequential LPG is not cheap as it is, Changing a Prius to gas would probably leave even less room not to mention the possible cost extras associated with a prius and i dont know if the engine is LPG compatible.

    I have a rule now with cars running sequential LPG, always buy a vehicle already converted, why throw money away converting them when a second hand car already converted costs no extra to buy,
    Last edited by Godzilla; 18-02-13 at 08:31 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SpankedHam View Post
    Ludicrously big 4WD poser vehicles seem to be all the rage.
    Quite the opposite, its the small pretend not even suitable for a gravel road vehicles that people buy. The joke is they buy these CX5/7, CRV, Xtrail things that they think are 4wd's yet have no luggage capacity or offroad ability - marketing has a lot to answer for.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Godzilla View Post
    I had a ongoing joke with someone i use to work with that drove a 3 cylinder Daihatsu, use to tell him he was a cylinder short
    My grandfather for many years drove a little suzuki 3 cyl 2 stroke 4wd. Yes, 2 stroke. He used to mix his own fuel.

    I will never forget as a teen waiting with friends and having him turn up to pick me up. It sounded like a chain saw and had lots of smoke belting out of it, embarrasing big time.

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    Have to agree with the amaroks, got a couple of single cab work utes.
    Very comfortable and economical, leave the tritons/hiluxes for dead.
    time will tell how good they are after they have 300000km on them.
    Got an fg falcon ute with 6 speed auto as well, done 320000km with only regular servicing/water pump/1 set of brakes done.

    None of them are as good to drive as a sedan though.
    Last edited by hoe; 22-03-13 at 10:04 AM.

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    Heard a word on the street that Ford are about to announce that all Australian manufacturing will cease shortly.

    Although not surprised, but i know there are a few Ford workers here, can anyone confirm or deny this?
    I guess just like Shell and Alcoa, the business model will change from manufacturing to partial assembly or some other role?

    Does it mean that that Falcon will be made offshore?
    Territory seems to go ok for them.... cant see that stopping.

    Anyway.... just a word i heard, would be interested to hear from someone that might actually know a little more.

    Ok, found these news storys



    Last edited by ol' boy; 23-05-13 at 10:40 AM.

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    It's in the paper now.
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    Ok.... it was always on the agenda anyway, just the news outlets making a story out of it now.
    Been on the cards for a long time.

    Future Development havent worked on an Australian Built car for years, with exception the Territory Diesel.
    Just like Shell, more jobs offshore.

    Shell Geelong is closing down to a transfer station as they move into Gas Exploration in South Korea.
    Geelong jobs have been offered to those that would like to work in South Korea.

    Sure is a changing global economy

    Fords move into Thailand and South Africa will obviously see continued production and shift in manufacturing labour and conditions.
    Wonder if they have to pay tariffs?
    Last edited by ol' boy; 23-05-13 at 10:53 AM.

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    Announcement on ABC24 now...

    Confirmed production to end October 2016
    Ford says it will continue product development with 1500 employees, a loss of 1200 workers
    No final word on Falcon or FPV
    The Falcon name to retire when they retire the vehicle.

    Will be interesting times for V8 Supercar... perhaps why other manufactures have been allowed into the mix this year.
    Bathurst will be an interesting forecast if there is no Ford vs Holden

    Product Develop side of the business is still going forward, ie: Lara proving ground and Future Development

    Watch all the redundancies packages get offered now... They do alright these boys
    The last lot of package were very attractive!

    Kodak
    Darrel Lea
    GSK
    Shell
    Alcoa
    Geelong Cement Works
    and many more.....

    Watch Tony Abbott jump in to save the day if elected
    Last edited by ol' boy; 23-05-13 at 12:40 PM.

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    Yep. I can see Tony handing another 500 million over to Ford to keep manufacturing cars in Australia.

    The next question that begs to be asked is how long GMH will continue to crank out it's half of the falcadore.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SpankedHam View Post
    The next question that begs to be asked is how long GMH will continue to crank out it's half of the falcadore.
    Manufacture until 2022 according to a statement today... A lot can happen in that time though

    With regard to FORD and the Falcon platform, which is pretty much what the jobs loss relate too.
    Its interesting the Media are all looking at Carbon TAX, The price of the Dollar, The cost of Labour, Energy costs etc etc....

    From what i've seen, people just no longer buy that product!!!
    No point making something that doesn't sell, regardless of price.

    I dont know anyone that has bought a new Falcon Sedan or Wagon in the passed 10 years.
    Even Ford workers with their 27% discount seem to buy other makers cars, although some have bought XR6 or XR8 utes or Territory's.

    People even shell out more money to buy a Toyota Landcruiser or BMW than the local built FORD product.
    So you cant blame the economies of scale.

    They just dont seem to sell.
    Last edited by ol' boy; 23-05-13 at 01:36 PM.

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