Ford Falcon (XF)

The Ford Falcon (XF) is a full-sized car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1984 to 1988, with the utility and panel vans running through to March 1993. It was the third iteration of the fourth generation of the Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (XF)—the luxury-oriented version.

Overview

The XF sedan and wagon range was sold between October 1984 and February 1988.[1]

In 1980, with high fuel prices in the wake of the 1979 oil crisis leading market sentiment in favour of smaller cars, Ford Australia planned to phase out the full-size, rear-wheel drive Falcon after the 1982 XE model. It was to be replaced by a smaller front-wheel drive car derived from the Ford Telstar/Mazda 626 platform, in a program dubbed Project Capricorn. However, the market success of the XD Falcon against the smaller Holden Commodore saw Bill Dix, who became CEO in 1981, cancel the project. Ford instead began development of the EA26 Falcon program, a new full-size, rear-wheel drive car range. The XF Falcon was conceived as an interim facelift for the XE Falcon until the all-new fifth-generation Falcon was ready to go on sale.[2]

The XF Falcon continued the sales leadership of its predecessor. It remains Ford Australia's best-selling Falcon model ever with 278,101 built.

The production total was boosted by a prolonged run of the utility and panel van models.[3] Ford had not developed an EA26 Falcon-based replacement for the XF commercial vehicle range, intending to discontinue it due to declining sales against commercial vehicles from Japanese makers which were up to 30 per cent cheaper. However, the strengthening of the yen against the Australian dollar in the mid 1980s eliminated the price advantage of the Japanese imports. This led to a sales revival for the Falcon commercial range such that by January 1987, Ford announced its intention to continue manufacturing the range. [4] After five additional years of production, the XF commercial range was further updated into the 1993 XG and subsequent 1996 XH models, which sold alongside the fifth-generation Ford Falcon sedans and wagons.

Powertrains

XF models were available with a choice of 3.3 or 4.1-litre engine six-cylinder engines.[5] The 4.1-litre unit was standard on Fairmont models and the S-Pack.[6]

Power and torque outputs for the carburetted 3.3 and 4.1 litre engines saw little or no change from the preceding XE series; engineering revisions were aimed at improving fuel economy and driveability.[7] The 3.3 litre engine's maximum power and torque outputs remained at 90 kW and 240 Nm. Maximum power for the 4.1 litre engine decreased slightly from 105 to 103 kW, while torque increased from 310 to 316 Nm[8][7]

The optional 4.1 litre EFI engine underwent a significant upgrade for the XF series, with a switch from Bosch Jetronic LE to Ford's EEC IV electronic fuel injection system. Maximum power output increased from 111 kW to 120 kW, and maximum torque increased from 325 Nm to 333 Nm.[3] An XF Falcon S-Pack equipped with the EFI engine and four-speed manual transmission tested by Wheels magazine in 1984 accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.3 seconds, ran the standing 400 m in 16.4 seconds, and ran to its 4500 rpm redline in fourth gear for a top speed of 190 km/h.[7] These performance metrics were only marginally behind the respective 8.9 seconds, 16.3 seconds and 194 km/h recorded for a 1982 XE Fairmont Ghia ESP equipped with a 5.8 litre V8 and four-speed manual transmission.[9]

From 1 January 1986, Australian Design Rule 37 came into effect, requiring all new cars to be equipped for operation with unleaded petrol.[10] ADR 37 specified emissions standards that Ford met by the fitting the Falcon with a catalytic converter, and Falcon engines were modified for running on regular grade 91 RON unleaded fuel. Power and torque outputs for the carburetted engines fell slightly; the 3.3 now produced a maximum 88 kW and 235 Nm, and the 4.1 produced a maximum 97.5 kW and 316 Nm. Conversely, maximum power output from the 4.1 EFI engine increased slightly to 121 kW, although torque fell to 325 Nm.[3]

Transmissions available were 3 speed column shift, four- or five-speed manual floor shift, or the much more popular three-speed automatic with the selector lever located either on the floor or the column in cars that seat six. In three-seat utilities and vans, the three-speed manual on the column was standard.

In October 1986 a further update was released, which saw power steering and four-wheel disc brakes become standard across the XF passenger car range, and the four-speed manual replaced the three-speed as the standard transmission on the Falcon GL sedan and station wagon.[11] At this time, the availability of the five-speed manual transmission, previously only available with the 3.3 litre engine, was extended to both carburetted and fuel-injected 4.1 litre engines.[5] Equipped with a 4.1 litre engine and five-speed transmission, the Falcon GL sedan's fuel economy was quoted as 11.5 l/100km city cycle and 8 l/100km highway cycle.[5]

With the replacement of the XF Falcon passenger car range with the EA model in March 1988, the powertrain options for the remaining XF Falcon utility and panel van range were rationalised to the carburetted 4.1 litre as the only available engine, with a choice of three-speed manual, five-speed manual, or three-speed automatic transmissions.[12]

Specification levels

An optional "S" pack was available on some models, featuring body stripes, fog lamps, styled wheels, Falcon "S" badging, steering rake adjustment, driver's lumbar support, driver's seat tilt and footrest, and sports instrument cluster.[5]

Ford produced some limited-edition, value-packaged vehicles during the XF series, including the Falcon Silver Edition sedan of 1985 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Ford Falcon in Australia. Also, a six-seater GL-based Falcon Family Edition sedan and wagon were offered in 1986. These limited-edition vehicles featured unique versions of two-tone "style-tone" paintwork.

• Falcon (utility and panel van)
• Falcon GL (utility, panel van, sedan, and wagon)
• Falcon GLS Ute (utility)[13]
• Fairmont (sedan and wagon)
• Fairmont Ghia (sedan and wagon): the luxury Ghia featured a 4.1-litre fuel-injected or carburettor inline six-cylinder engine, and a trip computer that calculated fuel consumption and driving times, among other things. The drive line consisted of a BW40 three-speed auto with either a 2.77 or 2.92 LSD and four-wheel disc brakes. A wagon variant of the Ghia was made available from October 1986.[14]

Reception

The XF Falcon and Fairmont range was Australia's top-selling car throughout its model run. The XF contributed to the Falcon range selling 68,313 units in its home market in 1984, a lead of 12,000 over the second-placed Holden Commodore, and accounting for more than 10 per cent of the total 633,745 vehicle sales that year.[16] Two years later, and despite Holden releasing the significantly updated VL Commodore for 1986, the XF Falcon/Fairmont range sold 66,436 units versus sales of 54,696 for the Commodore range.[17] As Ford increased its overall market share to 29 per cent during a significant market downturn in 1987, journalist John Wright noted that a key factor in Ford's success was the Falcon's deep penetration into the fleet sales market, which had contracted only seven per cent versus a 33 per cent downturn in the market for private sales, where the Commodore had been slightly more popular.[17]

In a three-way comparison with rivals Holden Commodore and Mitsubishi Magna featured in the June 1986 edition of Wheels magazine, the Falcon was credited with being "deceptively well developed and impressively proficient in its own way", despite making "no pretence of being the most advanced or refined thing on wheels". There was criticism of its optional power steering being too light and too direct, while the standard unassisted steering was described as slow, heavy and devoid of feel. While the overhead cam engines and four-speed automatic transmissions offered in the Commodore and Magna were recognised as significantly more advanced than the pushrod engine and three-speed automatic drivetrain of the Falcon, its chassis dynamics were judged to be superior, with its handling described as "predictable, controllable and virtually fail-safe right up to the limit".[18]

Motorsport

Due to the lack of a V8 engine, the XF Falcon was not suitable for involvement in the Australian Touring Car Championship, with most Ford supporting drivers and/or teams electing to race the Ford Mustang or Ford Sierra RS Cosworth under the new Group A regulations.

The XF Falcon, however, was raced in the AUSCAR series, with Jim Richards winning the first AUSCAR series in a XF Falcon. XF AUSCAR's were fitted with 5.8 L 351 Cleveland V8s (subsequent Falcon models in AUSCAR racing would use the 5.0 L 302 cid V8), and had an aero kit designed by Ford Australia designer Wayne Draper.[19]

Further reading