Ba Falcon Utes - Any Feedback?

[MRMOPARMAN]

dude, read the first post.. the bloke wants an XR6 NON turbo for a work car.. you'd have to be spastic to start modding a work car.

 

so tell all the blokes running 11's and less on BTR 4 speeds that their box's fail at life, and see what response you get?

[SLW42]

It may just be my age and not being happy with standard, but How much money did they spend on them to get then to handle it without breaking, go onto www.boostedfalcon.net i think could be .com.au and you find the people that have a fair bit of poke running through there car are they still running btr's? All i'm saying is get a manual ba cause IMO the btr's are shit

Edited August 24, 2010 by SLW42

[MRMOPARMAN]

to go 11's on any auto will cost you money. you'll find the BTR would need less money spent than alot of other autos. ive been around the ford forums for years and the majority of E series falcons into 12's/11's are running btr's or c4 conversions.

 

which is a little beside the point, considering the OP is more than likely to keep the car stock, and you yourself said they handle stock power outputs fine.

 

my AU ute V8 5 speed on gas (same box, but motor has less power and torque than a ba) couldnt even handle the stock motor. 5th gear bearing chewed out, taking the syncro with it, the shifter block failed, the thrust bearing shaft flogged out, and the stock clutches were shithouse.

 

all that by 130,000km. 5 speed FTL! un flogged aswell.

[Redwarf]

Keep it civil, thrillseekers.

[LXY-642]

If it's sometime in 07 or newer it'll have the 6 speed. Be it the auto or the manual. The 6 speed auto is an amazing gearbox. Gotta watch the exhaust manifold bolts I have found. Same as e series manifolds. Not the bolts into the head. But the exhaust manifolds are two peice and I have found the 3 bolts that join the front half to the back half tend to come loose, and also the 2 that join the manifold to the down pipe. Had all 5 of them come loose on my dad's old ba. Not sure if they ended of changing the manifold for the mkII though however?

 

Another thing if you look in the owners manual the dedicated LPG cars may have slightly less power, but they are also listed with more torque :)

 

If I could afford to I'd get a ba xr ute when I get my license back for work.

 

 

Just realized 07 and newer would be bf mkII. My bad. Maybe it was mid 05 or something that they all had 6 speeds? In the xr models that is? I would personally get an auto. Try for a 6 speed one. The 5 speed manual's feel shit to drive. My personal thought of a bf mkII I test drove my vl was nicer to drive gear changing wise. The 6 speed manual's feel good to though.

 

Oh and I used to work at a ford dealership. Another common problem I think was only on the earlier ba mkI's was the seatbelts used to always stop retracting but was only a need of a clean to fix.

[philbey]

edit: drove a brand new XR6 recenetly (do they do a ute version?) now that was a nice car to drive.

 

Yeh I'm actually looking at XR6's. On gas, that's the only reason I started looking at them was because of the full LPG

 

Cheers for that guys some awesome feedback here. Blilndspots don't phase me I'm used to bad ones on cars.

 

Dunno what I'll do yet. Probably get a garage built first so I can get the wagon out of the rain. It takes me a long time to make decisions for big purchases so I'm starting the research now.

[philbey]

Deliberate double post, I had a browser window open from last night and didn't see the later responses!

 

On topic, should serve you well as long as it was maintained well by the previous owner, and regardless of what anyone says, ford being ford, get a manual, it's less trouble, and brace the firewall where the clutch cable goes through.

 

I haven't seen any Manuals in my area for sale, even some of the interstate ones that I looked at (for reference) were auto's as well. That's within a price range too.

 

And yeh, I'm not after a turbo. And I'm not going to do anything but drive it.

 

Cheers for all the feedback guys.

[curly]

Autos are far better and cheaper in the long run just ask a taxi driver, ive had both factoty gas and after market and dual fuel is much better, less problems, better on fuel, also if you run out you can't walk and buy a can of gas, mine uses almost twice as much petrol as gas $ wise and it runs better on gas,

[Jesseb369]

Just get a Diesel 2wd hilux

 

cheap 4 cylinder!

[Raven]

I sell parts for these things.

 

Common issues:

 

Door locks assembly

 

Window regulators.

 

Exhausts tend to fall off the commercial utes

 

Bonnet release cable (also breaks the fuse box).

 

H/P power steering hoses rupture.

 

Front brake hoses need replacing due to being too short.

 

Do I need to go on?

[MRMOPARMAN]

Sports car :)

 

On topic, should serve you well as long as it was maintained well by the previous owner, and regardless of what anyone says, ford being ford, get a manual, it's less trouble, and brace the firewall where the clutch cable goes through.

 

ba's got a hydraulic clutch, so no firewall bracing needed

[Raven]

I agree with Jesse up there.

 

Save yourself some cash and get yourself a Hilux.

 

They just don't have these issues and are a better built vehicle.

[Des]

If you keep up the maintenance they are ok. Taxi drivers wont drive around in unreliable and gut less cars will they ?

[Raven]

If you keep up the maintenance they are ok. Taxi drivers wont drive around in unreliable and gut less cars will they ?

 

Sure do!

 

Taxi drivers in Adelaide drive Commodores & Falcons. Taxi laws state that every 6 years they have to upgrade to a new model car.

[MRMOPARMAN]

Sure do!

 

Taxi drivers in Adelaide drive Commodores & Falcons. Taxi laws state that every 6 years they have to upgrade to a new model car.

 

the taxi laws arent in place because the cars the cars are unreliable. they are in place to keep the cars in a certain condition (theres only so many dodgies you can do on a car before it falls in a heap), and taxi drivers drive paticular cars because they're the cheapest to run and repair. no other reason.

 

even hilux's have their problems. a few less, but they are no where near as good to drive as a falcon. not even the same century.