Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Ford, Australia, FPV
Say it ain't so: Ford Falcon could go front-wheel drive

"You guys are obsessed with rear wheel drive," Alan Mulally mused to the Australian press after a browbeating about which pair of wheels might propel the Falcon into the future. Try as they might, the Ford Chief would not be pinned down about the chassis architecture of future Falcons, saying only that the choice would be customer driven, and plugging front and all-wheel drive vehicles as "pretty spectacular."
Mulally is right that Ford's global push to put exceptional small cars in showrooms is what the automaker's focus is and should be. The Falcon has long fallen off its sales peak from the halcyon days of two decades ago, and while Mulally agrees that it's "an absolutely dynamite vehicle," small cars in the future will prop up the more niche-y vehicles like the FG Falcon. Mulally went on to say that Australia will serve as an engineering and product development outpost for Ford, and the big-vehicle prowess in Oz will be useful regardless of layout. As Ford pulls its global platforms together, the Ranger and Focus will come at us from Australia, too.
While we all wish we could fill our driveways with an FPV GT sporting Paul Stanley eye makeup and Boss V8 motivation, we're not holding our breath. Ford doesn't appear to be following GMs lead bringing its Australian cars stateside, and the V8s days may be numbered. Mulally acknowledged that fuel efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions are going to be tremendously important going forward, which will likely spur a shift to smaller four- and six-cylinder powerplants with forced induction serving as the performance option. An FG FPV with an Ecoboost four underhood? Heck, we'd still take it - it's bound to be better than the mush-tastic fleet-only Crown Victoria.
[Source: drive.com.au]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ian 10:45AM (8/26/2008)
Ford believe that they have technically "solved" the problem of torque steer. Thus when looking at new cars FWD isn't off the table any more, even for quite powerful 300HP engines. Hence M is absolutely right in hedging on making ALL new cars RWD. Other technical and efficiency decisions will matter more than trying to say emulate BMW in having RWD throughtout the range.
Let's not forget that if torque steer is errqdicated it makes a lot of sense to have the power deliveredto an axle with the weight of the engine right overhead. Rather than being less sporting it could be MORE sporty.
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Sean Flanagan 10:53AM (8/26/2008)
That makes no sense at all. I drive a "sporty" FWD car (07 Civic Si), and even with its superb chassis setup and limited slip, I'd rather have the same package in RWD just for more control. In fact, my next car will more than likely be RWD.
why not the LS2LS7? 11:07AM (8/26/2008)
In a car the size and power of the Civic, FWD is actually the better performing option. And Honda already knows how to maximize FWD peformance.
If you went RWD, the extra mass and packaging issues would likely lower the overall performance.
1337 11:16AM (8/26/2008)
Yeah, FWD is the ideal choice for small car performance. Wait, why are the Elise, S2000, Miata, and 1-series all RWD, again?
BigMcLargeHuge 11:21AM (8/26/2008)
Very highly unlikely that having FWD will inherently make a car 'more sporting'.
It takes tremendous effort just to get them to be 'as sporting'.
Its nearly impossible to create a 50/50 weight distribution, common on BMWs, when all the drivetrain is up front. That makes an equivalent handler to said Bimmer much more difficult to create from FWD.
Rear-biased AWD can rectify the situation some. Pushing and pulling simultaneously keeps 100% of the weight on 100% of the rubber.
tankd0g 11:28AM (8/26/2008)
I guess if sporting just means a spirited drive on public roads then I guess it really doesn't matter if it's FWD or RWD, however if you ever go to a track:
There's nothing you can do to FWD to make it launch off the line the way RWD does. In FWD there is no throttle induced oversteer, only understeer. If you want oversteer, you have to be thinking about it 3 seconds ago, because lift off oversteer is all you have. That's actually plenty fun in a small FWD car, if it's even possible in something as big as a Falcon, it's probably like swinging a sledge hammer.
psarhjinian 12:00PM (8/26/2008)
"Yeah, FWD is the ideal choice for small car performance. Wait, why are the Elise, S2000, Miata, and 1-series all RWD, again?"
If you only have to worry about two seats, then RWD is fine, but have you compared the interior volume of a 1-Series to, say, a B200, VW GTI, Civic Si or even a Fit, it makes sense. Front-engine/rear-drive eats space, power and efficiency.
In a niche car, that's ok, because only gearheads are buying it. In a mainstream product like Ford's Falcon, you can't sacrifice what most people want (space, power, economy) for the 9/10s track ability that only matters to a few die-hard gearheads. The sales of the Camry/Aurion should be proof enough of this.
Besides, have you ever driven a Mondeo? If that's the Falcon (and Fusion's) replacement, then sign me up, because in every way that matters to most people it's a superior car.
Blar 6:48PM (8/26/2008)
"Let's not forget that if torque steer is errqdicated it makes a lot of sense to have the power deliveredto an axle with the weight of the engine right overhead. Rather than being less sporting it could be MORE sporty."
First point: this is exactly why mid engined cars kick a$$.
Secondly, let's not forget that torque steer is not the biggest problem in a powerful FWD car. Nose heavy weight distribution and demanding the majority of all lateral and longitudinal acceleration are the two biggest problems for a powerful front driver. The result is those tires are over worked and cannot keep up. As tankd0g points out, it really doesn't matter when driving half-fast on the street.
For a given class of car, any class of car, RWD will generally outperform FWD in outright performance. Yes, even small cars.
SGV 10:46AM (8/26/2008)
Say it ain't so. Say . . . who cares? This thing is sold way in Australia only, is ugly as sin (like all the original crap from there, GM or Ford) and Mullaly has proven over and over again that he is the right guy.
The "phenomenal" success of the Pontiac G8 and the high price of gasoline, should keep us away from the delirious dream of ever having Australian Fords in these shores.
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Rob 10:50AM (8/26/2008)
The rear wheel drive Falcon would be a great car to bring to the US as a Mercury -- PLEASE!
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The Luigiian 10:56AM (8/26/2008)
The Falcon is intended to be the platform for the next Ford Mustang, which means that if the Falcon goes FWD, the Mustang would probably go FWD.
Therefore, I don't believe it. Somehow I don't think Mulally is stupid enough to try the Ford Probe idea again. It didn't work the first time and it won't work this time.
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carguy 11:02AM (8/26/2008)
So they will rebadge the Taurus and sell it as a Falcon? Mitsubishi went out business in Oz with the Magna/380 because it was FWD so why on earth would you want to follow intheir footsteps?
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Ken Stamper 6:02PM (8/26/2008)
Ford tried selling US-built RHD Tauruses (Tauri?) down under in the late 90's. The press went apopolectic because they were smart enough to know that Ford was essentially testing the waters to see if Australia and New Zealand would accept a FWD US import instead of a domestically sourced RWD sedan (although they denied that this was the intent of course). In part because of that, the Taurus was a total failure in Aussie land.
spngr311 11:09AM (8/26/2008)
I'd take one with a 4 or 6 cylinder and a turbo/twin turbo. But I guess us enthusiasts are the minority...
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Swede 11:09AM (8/26/2008)
FWD FTW!
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tankd0g 11:18AM (8/26/2008)
V8 [not so] Super Car?
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Avinash machado 11:57AM (8/26/2008)
Why not keep the Falcon RWD and sell the European Mondeo in Australia for those looking for a FWD family sedan?
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Lee 6:55PM (8/26/2008)
They already do....
Lichtronamo 12:24PM (8/26/2008)
Ford is probably looking at the not-too-fantastic sales of the G8 and deciding that investing in a RWD platform for limited sales in the US and AU is not worth it when a global Mondeo platform, shared with a US Mazda6 would be much more cost effective.
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Lichtronamo 12:30PM (8/26/2008)
This is why they will likely go with a global front drive product:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24129485-661,00.html
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