Faults:

Only fault encountered was the idle-speed controller; easily fixed for $150. To be expected though when only paying $1000 for a car.

Only other thing encountered in the 1 month I've had it is the interior lights (at night with headlights on) tend to flicker on/off sometimes.

General Comments:

Great car, would be an awesome first car. Definitely recommended to anyone with their eye on a cheaper family-car!

Faults:

3 exhausts between 1997 - 2010.

3 replacement batteries between 1996 - 2011.

Replacement front strut inserts in 2007.

Replacement front discs in 2007.

New cylinder head/water pump/radiator in 2011.

General Comments:

I bought this car, an April 1994 ED GLI Wagon, in October 1995 with 45000km on clock. It was obtained at the time to carry my growing family. The cruise control, A/C and other options attracting me, plus the lack of ABS due to having had bad experiences in company Falcons at the time. From memory I paid $25800 for it.

I still own the car almost 17 years later, now with 236000 km covered. It has been a great family chariot, although it was replaced with newer models years ago. It is a great tow car and a very comfortable mile eater. It has been continuously maintained, and still drives as well now as when I bought it, if not better.

Faults:

Heater hoses at 250,000...

Oil leaks out all the usual suspects when I bought it - Changed main rear seal when converting it to manual from auto, and was disappointing to discover it still leaked... Changed engine to the Tickford XR6 inline 6 shortly after. Recommend taking the head off any inline six from this era and replacing with the AU (1998 or newer) multi layer steel gaskets.

Quite honestly - It is hard to tell if anything has gone wrong with the car, it is so modified now that the only original parts on it are the drivers door and the boot.

General Comments:

Bought my first one of these by accident years ago, and fell in love with the smooth power from the inline six four litre.

Found the interior very comfy and well equipped (Fairmont model), and when I blew that one up by not noticing the water hoses had ruptured, the mechanic ripped me off to the tune of $2500. From that moment on I decided to learn to do it myself.

Well worth the effort of putting the Fairmont / Fairlane high spec interior into the Falcon, along with all the XR6 bits in the driveline and suspension.

Ford should have made a model like this in the first place --- Sporty and plush!

Faults:

In the past 3 years :

- Head gasket replaced (overheated) at 190k's.

- Radiator replaced at 200k's.

- Body control module replaced at 205k's.

- Water pump replaced at 180k's.

- Coolant expansion tank replaced at 210k's.

- Hood struts replaced at 215k's.

- Shock absorbers / struts at 200k's.

- Belt tensioner at 170k's.

General Comments:

The Falcon served me well for the first 3 years, but after that things went downhill. The cooling system is a weak point of the car. The first series GLi doesn't come standard with a low coolant level indicator, but this can be wired in. This would have saved me the big expense of the head gasket repair - I recommend a retrofit if you own one (when mine overheated, the temp. gauge still showed 'normal').

Build quality is below par - many rattles and ill fitting components and panels.

Motor is strong and reliable, and the ride is comfortable.

This Falcon had a very easy life, never raced and never used for towing and I kept right on top of the servicing - but it was way too much trouble in the last 3 years of ownership.

The car had the following problems when I traded her in : transmission intermittently sticking in second gear, power steering pump playing up on cold mornings, starter motor on the way out, window rails worn out (would not seal correctly), radiator starting to seep coolant, front-end suspension badly worn.