My Last Beast

G'day all. As some of you may know I have just taken possession of my last ever brand new Ford purchase for myself. It has been a challenging gestation, made a lot easier with the help and advice of some of our forum regulars. So before I go any further just wanted to thank Ian and Tony for all their help and advice.

It has been a pretty awesome couple of days so I thought I better get some pics up and also give my honest appraisal of Fords last gift to me....the FGX XR8 or better known around my house as "Vader".

I have been waiting for this car for some time now and am glad that I made the decision after the BF got written off due to hail damage. The hardest choice was getting the paint decision right after not being able to get my first choice (yes still a bit of a sore spot). Having seen one in a yard Silhouette became the decision and I am glad that I went that way in the end. It just looks so menacing from front on and really suits the car.

After Tony worked his magic and fingers to the bone finance was sorted by Wednesday. If you are after good advice and someone that is really out for your best interests I would strongly advise having a talk to him. He's got my business now sown up. Got up early on Thursday morning and walked to the dealership. The DP opened up at 6:30am so that I could get an early start to Brissy. Everything was how I asked. All stickers and paperwork kept, brand new brochure on front seat, accessories in the boot, and less than 30km's on the clock.

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Driving out of Gundi the first thing is that bonnet and the engine. Both a great sight and noise when chewing up some kilometres.

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Got to Brisbane and dropped the car off to Auto Glamour for the correction and Ceramic Pro.

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Early start this morning and got the XR8 back. Daniel has done a brilliant job on the car. They are right about black cars. Get them clean and they look a million bucks. Very happy with the result. Made my first mod by changing the rear boot badges. Still annoyed that Ford haven't acknowledged that this is the last "Falcon". So I changed the badging to how I think that it should have been done in the first place. Now the Falcon nameplate sits proudly next to the XR8 badge on the rear. Here are some of the pics from the job done.

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This for me shows how good it came out.

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The rear end for me was the big winner. Changing the badges is something I was passionate about and I am glad that I did it.

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So after a full day with the car I am a very happy owner. Now here for the review of the car from my point of view.

THE INTERIOR
First thing first....that driving position. The bane of many magazine writers. Must admit the first time I got in the car I would have liked the steering wheel to be a bit higher. Seating position was OK but it sort of felt like the dash was a bit low if that sounds a bit weird. However after the 450km trip straight to Brisbane the seating position became familiar and very comfortable. The wheel is nice and controls well placed. If I was being pedantic I would have to give the cluster a bit of a spray. The XR badge at the bottom seems like a bit of an afterthought. I liked the XR badging on the B Series and thought for the last that this sort of treatment would have been nice.

The ICC is nice and simple and Sync 2 seems to be pretty good with the limited time I have used it. The sound quality is above average and what i have expected from Ford. Better quality would have been nice but this is one area that I was always going to work on. Until then the motor will have to do.

Seats are nice and like anyone who has spent time in a B-series, very familiar. I do like the stitching and colour treatment. I also like the black hoodlining and spear treatment. Just seems to suit the black paint and overall theme of the car.

THE EXTERIOR
Being that this is the last Falcon for me the main question is whether they have got it right. For me they certainly have. The shape is spot on and Ford Australia have managed to blend the Falcon with the corporate DNA that current exists in the rest of the range. There are a lot of little touches to like such as the headlight treatment, better badges for the XR8, and rear tail lights. Lack of Falcon badge is still disappointing. The only question for me is how to break up the side profile in a tasteful manner. In the past there were XR8 badges on the rear doors or subtle side skirts. I haven't seem a good execution of a solution yet, but don't intend on changing anything on my car.

Rims do suit the car, however when I look at it I still would have like the option of something else. These rims have been around for a long time and it would have been nice to see ford spend a little bit more for a new choice. Maybe this might come with the Sprint. But once again having said this, I have no intention of changing them.

MOTOR & HANDLING
Wow. Just wow. That's how I would describe that motor. Giggle machine wrapped in a black suit. A real gem of a motor and when paired with a manual just a pleasure to drive. Whether cruising around town or the highway the motor is flexible enough to pull lazily from low rev or angry dispatch speed when the loud pedal is mashed. Must admit the supercharger whine is addictive and I still giggle very time I hear it. The bi-modal will be disconnected this weekend as I find the standard setup too quiet too often.

The suspension, given it's R-Spec is what has been described everywhere else. I little stiff but generally a very good compromise. Under 90% of the surfaces I have driven so far it is good. Parts of the highway it has been a little rough but knowing the package I can accept this. Have had the chance to go on a few flowing runs and the handling is quite neutral to understeer but very easy to correct to point where you want to go. Haven't had a play without traction control yet but this will come at some point later. At this stage I am very happy getting used to the car and feeling what it does.

Brakes and tyres seem pretty good as well. Not a huge amount of road noise but a bit which is to be expected. One moment today when a Corolla decided to play chicken. The Brembo's pulled the Falcon up brilliantly and I must admit to being quite thankful for having them there. The tyres are new so no dramas yet. Will be going to Yoko's when they get shagged.

SUMMARY
With just a day and a bit in this car I can honestly say "Thank you Ford. You have delivered me the last XR8 that I had hoped for. It truly feels like the pinnacle and a great way to finish the badge. It's perfect for me and what I want out of my Falcon. Just would have been nice to give me a red one." This is one friggin' nice car. Stand proud Ford because this is a car to be remembered, but also mourn the fact that we lose something very special next year.

Thanks to all the people at Broadmeadows that made my beast. I love it!

Look’s nice but I would have gone for Red,;)

Awesome mate. So happy for you. This purchase has been a journey in every sense. Enjoy it!!!

Did you consider Red Glenn?

Nice one mate, thanks for sharing. So so so jealous right now. Enjoy the beast. Everyday u will wake up n walk out the front door to go to work n as soon as u see it a big grin will spread across your face n the excitement will fill your body as it sits there waiting for u.

Agreed, that supercharger is addictive, not sure on black tho.

Personaly i would have gone for red, like the one i saw in NZ last week, looked good in RED....

So happy for you Glenn. It's a great package and a great Falcon. in my opinion you have bought the FGX in the right colour. Maybe down the track you could add some vixen red highlights a bit like the black widow R SPEC if you want to break things up. I wouldn't paint the wheels red but a red pin line on the outer edge of the wheels design may look smart.

Well done Glenn. It's an awesome looking car.

Congrats Glenn. It looks amazing, and once it loosens up at around 10,000 km it will really start to shine.

And as for this red nonsense. Just remember this.

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Thanks for the feedback guys. On the colour choices these were my issues/responses. The main challenge is that some colours looked great in certain conditions but just didn't "pop" in others.

Kinetic. Works brilliantly with the FG2 for some reason. However with the FGX it just didn't do it for me in the direct sunlight. In the shade or evening great colour.
Smoke. Was seriously a hard colour to walk away from. Loved it in the shade. Once again worked brilliantly with the FG2, especially with black decals. But I had Ego before and I still think that colour was brilliant and would suit the lines of the FGX better.
Sensation. Was looking for a darker blue and this was quite nice in the flesh. However at buying time not available.
Victory Gold. Just didn't do it for me.
Emperor. Looked good in many pictures. Nice colour but I really wanted a vixen type of red to match my EB. This colour I know I would have woken up each morning thinking "what if".

Silhouette was the only colour that did it for me in all lighting conditions. Especially when you look front the front on and a distance. The front end just looks so menacing. I am quickly understanding some of the comments about black cars. It does show up dust and bugs very quickly. Not a major issue but something I will have to learn to live with. But having said that thanks guys for your feedback.

Driving Vader back from Brissy last night I got to thinking about possible mods. I don't want to go to the extreme and want everything to be tasteful. So I started with the ECU cover. Once again just little touches that finish off the car.

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Took a couple of picture this morning to highlight why I enjoy the colour and the car in general. Ford have got is so right with the front. For once I can honestly say that I have no issues with the styling.

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The rear has been well executed. Personally think that this is how the badge treatment should have been done. I love the Falcon badge back on the car across from the XR8.

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So for the short term I will just be enjoying the car. No tune or exhaust at this stage. The two things I am looking at getting done is the coil cover lettering and changing the window switch LED's to blue. Having them white whilst the rest of the ICC/dash is blue is a little cheap for me.