1996 Ford Falcon Reviews - Page 4 of 5

Plastic Headlight lenses, faded yellow with age, wet n dry sanding and buffing with cut and polish.

Outside plastic trim around rear doors, flaking due to sunlight.

Rear Demister faulty.

Shudder under braking (Warped Rotors.

Very well handling car with a lot of steering feel compared too many other family cars. This car however was an former QLD Police car and has sports suspension.

The car is fitted with ABS disc brakes, which do a very well job at stopping the car, but disc warping issues have become an issue with this car.

Very powerful engine (157 Kw) with a load of bottom end torque. It becomes very harsh however at high revs (3000+), but in general it hauls the 1550kg car well.

Easy to maintain compared to imported cars and basic service parts are extremely cheap.

Great interior, loads of room, good trim, good dash and great visibility. The trim has aged very well and is still modern.

The car is extremely comfortable car on highway journeys and country roads, but around town it's weight and size is a burden especially when it comes to fuel economy and parking. Overall it is a great car, but is a bit crude in some respects compared to some of it's opposition.

Boot strut broke after about a year - fixed this myself by bolting it back on.

Thermostat went cold and had to be replaced.

The door locking system occassionally went "berserk", frantically locking and unlocking itself until I stopped the car and opened one of the doors. I have never done anything about it, and it has not happened for some years now.

Dashboard rattles, although not severe, come and go from time to time.

Overall, a very good car from the day I bought it. At the time, there weren't anywhere near as many XR's as there are now, so it attracted quite a bit of attention. The handling and performance are good, but the trade-off is a rather thumpy ride on rough roads. If you do not want to put up with the occasional hard thump coming through your seat don't buy one of these cars! If you put your foot down even a little too much on corners (particularly U turns) the limited slip diff will chew out your back tyres in no time.

You have to take care when near gutters etc, because of the low ground clearance.

Radiator weeping fluid at 70 000km. Cheaply replaced by myself.

Boot strut broke away from mount. $50 to have repaired.

Replaced front and rear bushes at 150000km. $600 to have repaired.

I really did well out of buying this car. I bought it when I was 18 from a Queensland Government fleet car auction when it was 12 months old with 40 000km on the clock. It was as standard as they come except for the cruise control.

Over the next year I made upgrades including lowering with Pedders suspension. K&N air filter, cam shaft, extractors and 2 1/2 inch Lukey exhaust system. These mods made the car much quicker and will give many similar aged V8's a good run for there money. I drove the car very hard for many years and had minimal mechanical problems as a result of my driving habits.

I also spent $3000 on a Kenwood sound system and have tinted the windows as this suits the dark blue piant very nice. Add to this some ROH Reflex 16" mags and it is one hot looking Gli. I have not done anything to the body, no spoilers on this ford. The basic EF falcon body looks fantastic untouched.

Now I am 25 my driving has slowed down quite a lot and I observe road rules (getting old in the head I think). The car still draws much attention at the lights and I quite often find people wanting to pit there car against mine. The last being a new BA XR6 Turbo, which while being much quicker then me still makes me laugh at the fact he feels he has to prove himself against my 8 year old Gli.

I would say in the last 7 years of ownership I have never taken it back to a dealer, do all my own servicing and have never not had it start or let me down when I needed transport. It has cost me no more than $1000 in total in repair costs since I have owned it. (That's $142 a year, what does your car cost you?)

I really don't see me updating any time soon as this car is just so right for me. I hate working on cars and this one doesn't give me any bother. And that is after me thrashing it for so many years!