![]() Around Mount Panorama – limited to 60km/h during our drive – the GT F powers comfortably out of the slow third gear corner at The Cutting. It’s second, third and fourth gears that are most useful, with a delicious surge of torque that makes light work of hills. Even modest throttle in first gear will have the traction control working overtime to save from smoking the rear tyres. The extra Dunlop rubber helps contain the V8 grunt, although you still don’t have to try hard to overstep the limits of adhesion. The biggest change with the GT F is the rear tyres, which are 275mm wide – 30mm wider than those up front. ![]() It’s a shame the clutch still lacks bite and the gearbox is notchy while the purists are gravitating towards the traditional manual it’s the automatic that is the pick – in performance and its effortless nature – with the GT. There’s 351kW of power, although FPV engineers admit that’s a conservative figure and that in the right conditions – cool weather, for example – it can produce up to 404kW. The V8’s generous 570Nm gives a potent shove and ensures brilliant acceleration in the middle gears. The supercharged V8 may be more powerful, but we’re talking degrees. The FPV also doesn’t feel wildly different to drive from the Falcon GTs that have been around for years, either. The whole push button start thing was fairly new when Ford first put it in the GT, but they’re now commonplace and the double movement is thorougly noughties. It starts with the frustrating starting procedure, which requires you to turn a key with your right hand before pressing a button in the centre stack with your left hand. And it's a long way from the born-again GTHO that FPV promised years ago. Yet many believe the GT F could follow the traditional path of depreciating rather than getting better with age.įor Ford (or the soon-to-go FPV brand) it’s all about the occasion rather than the drive, because the GT F isn’t markedly different from what’s come before. The dream is that one day those cars will be worth much more, although market forces will dictate that. Demand has meant some owners will pay up to $110,000 once the car is registered – and the dealer banks a tidy profit. Little wonder buyers are queuing to own a GT F, the fullstop in the history of the most iconic Australian muscle car. But a neat version of those originals can now approach the price of the new model, while the later GTHO models have previously sold at auction for about $1 million. Inside, too, the designers have had their say, with “GT Orange” highlights in the instrument cluster, lashings of orange stitching and the all-important numbered plaque that stipulates the build number of the car (just 500 GT Fs are being sold in Australia, with another 50 for New Zealand).Īt $77,900 the GT F is almost 20 times the price of the $3890 XR GT from 1967. It’s topped off by a 351 badge just behind each front wheel, arguably the most unique and cherished component on the last of a legend. Throw in unique stripes, black detailing (wheels, door handles and rear spoiler) and it gives the final version of the GT (hence the F) more visual clout. It's a modest 5 per cent increase over the same engine that’s been around since 2010, but the power number tugs at the heartstrings of the Ford faithful, mimicking the cubic capacity of the legendary 5.8-litre V8. The supercharged V8 has been tweaked to produce 351kW of power, more than double the 168kW of the original. In the red corner it’s the mighty Holden Special Vehicles' GTS.Įach is the most powerful from their respective manufacturer – and, while they're not direct rivals, they are the two fastest cars Australia has produced.įor Ford it’s the last of the GT breed. In the blue corner is Ford Performance Vehicles’ Falcon GT F. At its debut Bathurst race in 1967 the iconic XR Falcon GT stormed to victory in what was then a 500-mile enduro but is now a 1000km sprint that is Australia’s most famous motor race.īack then, the 4.7-litre V8 in the road-going Falcon GT heralded the arrival of the Australian muscle car, kick-starting half a century of heated bar room discussions, thousands of backyard tuners, racers and the classic Ford-versus-Holden rivalry that still beats strongly today.įast forward to 2014 and the tweaking, tuning and updating has culminated in the best of the breed. Since the first Falcon GT raced across the top of Mount Panorama Ford was on to a winner.
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