1996 Ford Falcon GLi from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Heater tap had to be replaced

Two water hoses needed replacement

Airbox exploded

Two sets of rotors and two sets of brake pads in only 37,000km

Transmission repeatedly leaked oil

Transmission was randomly shifting

Engine was burning off lots of oil

Engine produced a lot of soot under high load, resulting in emission of thick black smoke

Brakes fading severely under stress

Plastic headlights turned yellow.

When I purchased the car, it was pretty good looking with only minor blemishes like a very worn steering wheel and a burn mark on the drivers seat.

The first six months, all was fairly well, but then the trouble started. Within the next six months, the car was in the garage three times with severe water leaks. After about 10,000km, I had to replace rotors and pads at the front, after another 20,000km another set of rotors and pads was due. I am heavy on the accelerator and therefore heavy on the brakes, but I have never managed to wear down a set of rotors, or pads for that matter, in just 20,000km. The brakes did bite fairly well when cold, but under a bit of stress, they faded very quickly and at dangerous levels.

At one stage the engine backfired and literally ripped the airbox into pieces. This resulted in pieces of plastic being sucked into the intake manifold and one larger piece held the butterfly valve fully open, so I lost all control over the acceleration of the engine. The only way to stop the car was to turn the engine off in the middle of a freeway.

The transmission was pretty rough shifting and had the tendency to randomly shift back for no reason. One second you are cruising on the freeway doing 110km/h, the next, the transmission shifts back into second, reving the engine almost into the limiter. When you took the foot off the accelerator, it shifted back up and as soon as you put the foot down again, it did the back shift again. Putting the auto into neutral and back into "D" fixed the problem, but only for a short time. From what I've heard, that's a fairly common problem with the EF Falcons.

The fuel economy was also pretty bad. within city traffic, less than 14 litres/100km was impossible and 14-15 the standard when running on petrol, 20l/100km when running on LPG. Even on long distance trips, less than 12 litres was very rare. Sure, a 4 litre engine is pretty thirsty, but this is extreme. You can tell the car was built when petrol was still dirt cheap.

I have no Idea who had the bright Idea to fit the car with plastic headlights, but it was a bad one. They may not break as easily as glass does, but instead, they turn yellow, resulting in a pretty poor visibility at night.

I also didn't think the car was very well built. In the interior, everything was rattling, squeaking and humming and the front suspension was also very noisy. I do realise that many of these noises develop with age, but I've had older cars that didn't have these problems.

If it wasn't for all the trouble I had with it, the Falcon would have been a pretty nice car. It was decent looking, comfortable, spacious and a nice ride on long distance trips.

I am willing to accept that the car was a lemon. If it wasn't, I couldn't understand how anybody would possibly consider buying a Falcon. But lemon or not, I've had two Fords in my life and both were crap, to say the least. It's enough for me to not ever buy a Ford again.

I reckon stick to your Camry. I'm sure it is a lot less troublesome :).

It is strange the vastly different experiences different people can have with the same type of car. My parents had a Falcon for 6 years (it was a 94 ED), they bought it second hand with 160,000 kilometres on the clock, and while they had it they clocked up 120,000 - during this time the only problem they had with it was the thermostat in the radiator stuffed up, they replaced it the same day and never had another problem (the car already had 260,000 kilometres on it when this happened). It started everytime, they were definitely sad to see it go.

I also have an older Falcon. It is a great car.

Mind you I do service it and don't flog it.

Buying an 8 year old car with 260,000 kms on it would necessitate service and some care.

Any car being "driven hard" will use excess fuel, brakes, auto and tyres. Particularly if it is a heavier car to start with.

Taken into account it probably cost him about $3000, he can hardly complain about his own poor driving habits.

As I see it, the only valid complaint is the headlights yellowing.

Exploding airbox is an LPG thing, this can be solved very easily with a pressure release device.

Auto down shifting is probably due to the foot to the floor attitude you obviously have, same applys to the fuel consumption.

As for the brakes, If your constantly braking hard buy sports brakes. Stock brakes on a family car aren't designed for that kind of constant heavy braking.

Just while every one is getting in with their two cents here, I thought I might add my own in defense of the car in question. All the water leak headaches this guy is talking about is purely poor preventative maintenance. Hoses fail with time and should be replaced before they leak, not when the problem hits and you can’t drive the car because of it. So it is not the cars fault, it the owner's lack of insight into the proper preventative maintenance required to keep an engine in good working condition. I own the same model car and have virtually replaced every aspect of the cooling system over the years except for the water pump, which will be changed out soon before it fails. Also just for the record, I have found non genuine ford parts to last many years longer then the original components ever did. Food for thought.

Well, looks like I need to clarify some things.

Yes, I am heavy on the accelerator and I am aware I have to pay the price for that (higher fuel consumption, more brake wear etc). But these Problems have nothing to do with my driving, unless all Fords behave like this when "challenged".

I've had a lot of cars in my life and They've all been driven the same way. Funnily enough, none of them had these issues, even the ones that were a lot older and had higher mileage that the EF.

Yes, the exploded airbox was caused by running the car in LPG mode but if there's a known problem, then why does Ford not install measures to avoid the problems? Have you ever been on a busy freeway in a 200HP car accelerating beyond your control? Not a very nice experience.

Brakes: Yes, I do expect higher wear on the brakes. If a car's brakes fade to the point, where there's virtually no braking power left, when you reach the bottom of a windy mountain road, then the car is dangerous. If I have to fit sport brakes in order to safely reach the bottom of a mountain (with a car in front of me doing between 30 and 50km/h), then there's something seriously wrong. And even my driving style does not wear the discs and pads down in just 20,000km.

Fuel consumption: True, big engines use a lot of fuel and a lead foot certainly doesn't help. But 15l/100km in city traffic and no less than 12 at a constant speed of 100/110km/h? The old 3.0l 87 Skyline I had was happy with 12 in city traffic and about 9.5 long distance and my current 2001 TJ Magna with its 3.5l 24valve v6 is happy with about the same, sometimes even less. Considering this, the Falcon is very thirsty.

Maintenance: I'm not a mechanic. I have my cars serviced regularly and if they tell me a part needs to be replaced, I do that. If they don't tell me, I don't. When I had the cooling system fixed, they could have checked the other hoses and recommended them to be replaced. They didn't, so they were either OK or they didn't bother checking. The latter doesn't say a lot about the quality of Ford workshops does it?

Transmission: If I cruise on a freeway, doing 110km/h and the tranny decides to shift back into 2nd, then it has nothing to do with "my foot on the floor" but with a dodgy transmission. I don't know about your car, but the Falcon I had was not the type of car that requires it to be "floored" in order to keep it at 110km/h. Sometimes it really helps to actually read the post you are responding to.

Of course some hardcore Ford fans will go apes**t if somebody dares to say something about their beloved brand (same goes for hardcore fans of any make of course), but my review of the EF I had was simply based on my experience with the car. If I flog a car to bits, then I have no problem admitting it. It has happened in the past, when I was young and wild, but now, in my 40s, things have slowed down a lot.

As I said in the original post, I am more than happy to accept that the car was simply a lemon. That happens everywhere and no matter how much you spend on the car, it'll never be OK. But it happened to me twice with a Ford and that is enough to deter me from them forever.

Well mate, God help you if you buy a Commodore. Holdens haven't made a decent car since the Kingswood.

Your mileage is average; I had a RAV4 and that would only get 11 ks to the litre on the highway; that's thirsty for a two litre, and they are all the same.

I like Fords, but over the years, all up I have owned 56 cars. I will drive any thing from an Austin to a Zeta, and anything else between A to Z, except a Commodore - I have driven them, they're a boring overrated Ausi icon, so life is too short.

Have to go, more cars to buy and drive. The road in front is shorter than the road behind me. Happy trails.