Read previous letters to the Carsales Network here

Send your submissions to Editor@CarPoint.com.au

Large cars "too little..." (more here)
As good as the new Ford Falcon may be, it's too little too late. Small cars are the way of the future, and both the Ford Falcon and the Holden Commodore will disappear.
Malcolm

More Carsales Network reader feedback on the Ford FG Falcon here

Reader shock: Skaife not promoting Falcon (more here)
"Expect our friends at Wheels and Motor to now engage in relentless Aussie v Aussie v Euro comparisons at various trim levels. We'll read the results with as much interest as you."
Hang on -- you guys virtually are Wheels, aren't you?
Ford clearly didn't buy Wheel's publicity as much as Holden did in '06. Notice leading up to the FG release there have been no Ford FG "bonus calendars", no Ford FG "bonus DVD" by Mark Skaife no Ford FG "special edition" coffee table books authored by "Robbo" etc?
It's pretty clear who will win Wheel's VE/FG comparisons.
Ross
CN says: Ross, the DVD and the TV program, et al, were paid for by Holden as specific marketing and promotional freebies. They weren't the specific views of the blokes at Wheels. If Ford wants to spend big on marketing the FG, that's an option open to them also.

Who will review the review system? (more here)
I think you need a new review system because they seem to be a bit biased. I also think that it's wrong how you rate a Mercedes a lot higher than a Ford or Holden just because it costs a lot more.
If that's the case then the ratings should be between cars in the same price range.
Matt
CN says: Matt, we have never claimed to compare a Falcon or Commodore against a Mercedes. They're in different market segments.

Visionary, sustainable...expensive (more here)
The Honda Insight is possibly one of the most significant cars ever produced. Unfortunately slammed by misguided petrol head car reviewers, the vehicle is visionary and sustainable. My 2001 model returns 2.1 L/100 KM (134 MPG) in a smart, dynamic and interesting package. It is a pity that most Australians are brainwashed into 4wd V6 + V8's to go shopping. The CR-Z will be a fantastic revelation if it can achieve what the Insight did in terms of efficiency 10 years ago.
John

The prayer for power -- and price (more here)
Please Holden deliver us this car; at SS money or thereabouts. Special request - make it a five-seater this time. Think of us with families.
Stephen Thompson

Strut flaws (more here)
In fact the camber change (or gain) is seen as a weakness with MacPherson struts.  The MacPherson strut has a decaying camber gain with compression travel which means that as the car rolls into a corner the tyre will achieve more positive camber with respect to the road surface. 
Short and long arm is considered superior to strut from a camber gain POV because it can achieve higher gain and is also more linear in its gain behaviour.  Hence tyre can maintain a more perpendicular relationship with road surface (perpendicular is the ideal).
Struts are superior in terms of steering friction; they can enable better steering character and feel.
Anonymous

Point of reference (more here)
Just a thought here...but maybe you should put up the ratings of other cars in that segment in the same article.
It would give it some point of reference, rather than looking back to a car tested a year ago getting 4.5 stars.
This would remove the confusion from the end user seeing a brand new car getting worse ratings than an older car.
Anonymous

Demanding a recount (more here)
It would appear that the only fair way to resolve the argument would be to re-do the comparison with the Ford FG, Holden VE and Toyota Aurion. Then we are, in fact, comparing the current issue of each vehicle.
Ron R

A good review for Falcon outweighs side impact safety (more here)
Whilst I agree with your overall rating methodology, the one area that still doesn't make sense is safety.
Within their class (i.e. large family sedans, designed for Australian conditions) these cars are going to be at the pointy end of what is possible for this price.
I must say that I support Holden and Ford's point of view that it's better to have a car designed to survive real crashes (as provided by the crash data they use) rather than a single car crashed in a lab test.
I would then say that the Holden and Ford probably would rate four rather than just above average. Compared to other cars on the road these cars will have massively safer structures and active safety. Until very recently ABS/EBD/EBA/DSC/Six bag were only on luxury cars. The fixation on a $300 bag option on a fleet hack driven by one person is just plain hilarious. Compared to the middle seat belt arguments over the last couple of years, this is just rubbish.
I've driven rental cars in Australia recently in which no amount of airbags will save you from an accident, due to the lack of passive safety. Yet these cars are not only ADR-approved, but also some of the biggest selling small-medium cars on our roads.
It's about time our motoring press get their act together and determine what they should be rating when they assess a car. There's too much leeway to have guys make massive comments about something that could be negotiated freely in a purchase and ultimately make only a tiny difference. Many of the side-on crashes we see on the news are at speeds that will kill the rear passengers with any amount of bags.
Paul Vandenberg

Sad to say; I think you people whinge and nit pick over the trivial.
The Ford Falcon XT is intended for fleet sales -- get over it!
Everyone else in Australia gets it, except you journalists!
John D

Carsales...I think that your marking system is technically accurate. I can see how the relevant scores equate, but I think to avoid all this heartache you should apply a real world filter to it so people will understand it so much better.
The Ford Falcon is obviously a 4 to 4.5 star performer judging by the reviews. You really need to let go of this very accurate current scoring system because it's just not in line with our society's marking systems.
A good movie gets 4 stars -- an average one gets 3. An average restaurant gets 3 stars -- a good one, 4. See my point?
Andre

Why is everyone so biased towards the Holden VE Commodore? Seriously, when the VE Commodore first came out 18 months ago, did it have standard curtain airbags across the range? I don't think so.
So why is it that when Ford doesn't have standard curtain airbags across the range that everybody suddenly pounces on them and criticises them for not making them standard?
When if you think about it, $300 is a VERY reasonable price. We are sadly going to kill off the legendary Falcon if we keep going the way we are going.
Sam

The 'journalists' at CarPoint (ninemsn) should work for the Public Service after trying to defend their amateur points awarding system. Unlike you, I, like a lot of your readers either own the cars you review, or have owned many cars over the years and can, without the diatribe experienced in a lot of your recent articles, could assess cars sensibly.
I don't care which brand you have allegiance to, the fact remains that any car that achieves a 5 star rating in any official tests in the world, should be awarded 5 stars in your ratings. A smallish IQ should be enough to ascertain that.
As for performance, any car that can achieve 5.1 seconds to 100km/h and 13.4 seconds over 400 m with official fuel consumption of 11.7 l/100 km with auto transmission, should get six stars.
If I was a local vehicle manufacturer/importer, I would bar you from future car releases as your knowledge would be embarrassed by my 11 year old son.
To anyone reading this; tune in to intelligent car review sites where people who love and know about cars, can give us a sensible review.
Peter Tansey
CN says: All the editorial staff at the Carsales Network own cars and three out of the four permanent staff own vehicles under three years old, purchased from new.
We have no confidence you could judge a vehicle objectively in the slightest, given your own literary vomit.
You've missed the whole point that our scale doesn't match that of ANCAP and that ANCAP hasn't even announced officially that the Falcon will be a five-star car.
Do you even know the meaning of a "smallish IQ"? You don't seem to be aware that the limit of a five-point scale is five, not six.

You're scared that the FORD IS BETTER!!!
Dale Hartnett

I largely agree with the feedback from others -- your rating system is flawed, no matter how you defend it. 3 out of 5 is only average to the majority of readers and it gives a false impression.
Why round it up or down at all?
Peter

Your maths seems a little astray. The overall average on the XR6 turbo gives 3.8 -- isn't that closer to four than 3.5 overall?
Safety for the cars is only three out of five - what's the basis for this comment? There seems to be no evidence as to why it isn't higher. Having commented highly on the car's dynamics etc and bearing in mind the claim that it might well be the first five-star crash-rated car, a score of three out of five is a little underdone. Is this a case of motoring journalists being a little miffed because they can only see the number of airbags as being relevant?
James Brook

Reading the article, you rave about how good the vehicle is. Looking at the raw scoring of the vehicle says otherwise. I'd suggest you update the scores to reflect the views expressed by the testers.
My reasoning is that some people will just look at the numbers and not read the article in full.
You've written "We'd suggest that as a group, in terms of affordability, they are now the best of their type in the world. That is if we were afraid of being referred to as "gushing"..."
The Ford FG Falcon clearly sounds like a 4.5/5.0 score.
Phil C.

3.0 / 5.0 for safety, when this car has already been announced as a five-star rated car as far as safety is concerned. I am wondering how you come up with such a low figure?
Do you expect cars to be in a giant bubble nowadays to achieve this sort of rating? Considering the amount of standard features as standard nowadays, I really think you should review this once again.
Ben

How come you give the Ford XR6 a safety rating of 3/5 stars? The old BF XR6 model topped the latest Wheels Active Safety Test. And the current model is expected to get a five star rating (unlike the Aurion and the Commodore).

What a joke. How can the new Ford Falcon rate only 3/5 for safety when it is going to be the first Aussie five-star car?
Yes, it doesn't have curtain air bags standard but it does have head/thorax bags. Even without the extra bags it is safer than the other Aussies. They must rate 2/5 then.
Naddis01

Just need some clarification on the scoring system. I'm assuming on a scale of 1-5, a three means average? My major niggle isn’t the system that makes the Ford XR6 and XR8 'average' cars (I thought that's what a Camry would score). The fact that you've rated the safety of the car a three out of five, when supposedly the Falcon is looking at a possible five-star ANCAP rating doesn't entirely make a lot of sense to me? Its 'average' safety is the equivalent of an ANCAP five-star rating? Confusing
Tim

An extremely poor article. How are you going to justify only giving the six cylinder drive train only 3.5/5? The article praised the engine as world class, and the new five-speed auto box is very good. So, why 3.5 out of five for drive train? That is stupidity.
Then there's the XR6T powerplant, which you only give 4/5 yet rave on about how good it is. In fact, as a point in the list of things that you 'liked' about the new Falcon was the XR6T powerplant.
So why not give it 5/5? What the hell is stopping it, especially with the ZF box or Tremec manual??
3/5 and 3.5/5 for the Ford Falcon XR6 and XR6T respectively is ridiculous. I have driven the Ford FG myself and can confirm that all models except the XR8 score at least 4/5 in today's market.
This review was awful. I cannot put into words my irritation. While every other review from respectable sources has hailed the FG as excellence, the XR6T in particular, the highest you rate the FG is 3.5/5, or barely 70 per cent.
The bias is obvious. Either that or the reviewer is very much a novice when it comes to reviewing cars. I pity the readers of this site, having to put up with such a rubbish and inaccurate read. Poor effort, poor article, I will not be visiting CarPoint again.
David

Why does the Falcon only score three out of five for safety, when we all know that it will score a min of four stars on the crash tests? Can someone please elaborate?
Danny

I find it amazing that a test of a standard Holden Omega Ute is rated at four stars (6cyl auto: 4.5 stars for driveline and 3.5 for safety), yet the new Ford Falcon XR6 turbo is a 3.5 star car (four for driveline and three for safety).
Where are the consistencies in these two reviews?
Colin Atkinson

I am a little bemused! You rate the new Falcon 3.0/5.0, but you rave about the vehicle in the test.
So what will it be?
Stephen Lipshus

Thanks for the clarification of your scoring system. It's the first time I have looked at your site.  Of course, it begs the question -- the majority of people can understand the concept of an overall average of 3.8 out of 5, so why not try it?
To round down to 3.5 is just a very simplistic approach. 
The reality is this would at least nuance results -- rather than homogenising them.  Why cater for the lowest common denominator?  You are not reviewing movies.
As for the airbag issue you have already answered that one yourself - a $300 option is a cheap one to have. 
James Brook
CN says: If we rated the Falcon 3.8 stars, Ford fans would still be whining that it isn't a 'four-star' car. Some will only be happy with a five-star score for this car. The Falcon is a worthy car, but as we've said previously, it's not far and away ahead of the Commodore in the same way that the HiLux is ahead of the Mahindra Pik-Up.
For our further responses to the hate mail generated by our FG Falcon reviews, click here.

Brand new BMW? (more here)
I have previously bagged BMW about anticipated pricing on the new 1 Series coupe but perhaps it is time to trade in my BMW M5 E34?
Nah! How could I...?
Paul

Mitsubishi for mums and dads (more here)
Stop abusing Mitsubishi models! This is a very large car segment, specifically one that workers with families are often looking at.
If you want to discuss this market segment, do it in another article....not when you are supposed to be evaluating a car on what it was designed to do and for whom.
Anonymous

Could you share? (more here)
How about the F1s and V8s share the infrastructure at Homebush?
The V8s could run in the day and the F1s could run at night. The V8s could then have the option of running their race as a stand-alone or championship round. If the latter, the costs would be lower to set up twice a year.
How about it?
Peter Kemp
CN says: We think running the F1 at night is ridiculous, any way you look at it.

Fuddled Ford reader (more here)
Ouch... my head is starting to hurt after reading that Ford article. Sounds like you're overanalysing things.
David Zyk

Fire up FPV! (more here)
I work with a guy whose daily drive is a modded Ford Falcon XR6T making 400kW at the wheels, on 98 pump gas, just from boost, better plumbing and toughened internals.
FPV is deliberately holding the F6 back for the sake of the V8 legacy. The Hero FPV should be a 350kw F6. Do it FPV!
Mike

Harsh on the Holden? (more here)
I think you guys are being a bit harsh on the Holden Commodore, now that Ford has released its new but old Falcon. I mean like what has Ford done and what has it spent to come to the level of the Commodore? It's done bananas!
Jack
Reviewer, Joe Kenwright says: From VZ to VE, Holden had to leave behind a stretched and discontinued medium car from Europe with suspension going back to the 1960s to an all new large car platform. For the FG, Ford was coming off the BA platform which had already been re-engineered at great cost ready for the Territory.

Overpriced extras? (more here)
Gee whiz, Cadillac-inspired V badging and not much else...especially no extra performance. How any one can see that's good value for $5k, I don't know.
Sounds like an overpriced marketing ploy to me, one that really doesn't cost Holden much more to include.
paul milligan

XR extras (more here)
A great summation of the spec lists. It's true that you should get some badging for the luxury pack on the Ford XR but I think way too much is being made over the curtain airbags. $300 is a bugger-all cost option and I would rather have a robust car with no airbags than a shoddy one with 10. The across the board stability control more than makes up for this and you can always just tick the option box if it worries you that much.
Alabaster

Cut it with the curtain airbags! (more here)
Too much emphasis is placed on the lack of the curtain airbags on the Ford Falcon. Be reasonable, they're a $300 option which puts prices on par with the Holden Commodore.
Glen
CN says: And that being the case, why didn't Ford raise the price $300 and fit them as standard?

Car dealers' extra cut (more here)
I wonder what the mark up on the current new car is? I was in the trade for over 30 years, and we had a mark up of around $1500 to $2000 on a base on-the-floor car (this is over 10 years ago now). We then had a huge mark up on top of that for every extra sold with the car at the sale deal point. You could make a good thing out of an enthusiastic purchaser in bonus.
I bought a car recently, and the Dealer wanted $1500 Delivery Fee. I told him, I am buying it from your show room, I know what Pre-Delivery you have done, and with a long face he settled for $500.00 which was about his across-the-Bass-Strait Fee.
Watch the Extras Deal and remember it also is added to your total purchase price on your new car stamp duty.
Dave

Slower but not delayed?! (more here)
About time, and slot it into Ford Falcon while you're at it! I cannot believe how far behind out two local car makers are. Don't bother complaining about slower sales if you're too pig-headed to do anything about it.
Brett

Rural recommendation (more here)
Ford needs to get off its hands with a Ford Territory Diesel and it needs to be available in both the 2WD and 4WD mated to both a six-speed auto and a six-speed manual box.
Toyota has 4WD and 2WD (Front Wheel Drive) models hard on Ford’s tail. I think Toyota is mad just to have FWD in its offerings as it may be a simple manufacturing package to produce. But if you get in the bush, a rear wheel drive is the best, even better on up hill work.
Come On Ford, "get into it"!
How about a Rural Edition with the Diesel out of the Defender? How about a simple Rural Territory for the Blokes on the land with 4WD and RWD? Good on you Ford, give the others a caning!
David

Towing for the Big Trip (more here)
This article is great, in depth for all but my main concern.
I own a 1600kg caravan, with intentions of the big trip around Oz in a few years. Towing capacity in terms of kg is a useless rating.
The HP and torque are a guide also, and no one has developed a standard by which you can judge one vehicle to the next in towing prowess. The van weight climbing Cunningham's Gap, or speed versus hill incline vs. fuel usage. Many baby boomers are very concerned about fuel economy, especially when planning for the "Big Trip" and the thought of insufficient information at decision time is daunting.
One dealer said that I could take an X-TRAIL for a spin with my caravan in tow to see if it's suitable, but without the braking controller fitted, I would be concerned.
I am also keen to hear of any updates on an X-TRAIL diesel.
Phillip Dunn

Ford blue to fight back? (more here)
Good summary of current positioning.
The bottom line is Ford does have Brand awareness but not Brand acceptance amongst current Australian buyers.
Tony Robinson

French five-speed? (more here)
The Ford five-speed gearbox is not sourced from France. It is sourced from the USA, as per media release.
Jeremy
CN says: Check again, Jeremy. It's from France. The press information we have to hand from Ford reads: "The 5R55S five-speed is a new rear-wheel drive (RWD) automatic transmission, which has been designed in conjunction with Ford engineers in the USA and is produced in Bordeaux, France, for use in the new FG Falcon."

SP23 performance times (more here)
Do you guy's know what the 0-100 km/h time is for the current 5-speed auto Mazda 3 SP23?
Is its performance mediocre or good?
BJ

Bill's brilliant vision (more here)
Bill Osborne is exactly the type of leader that Ford Australia needs to have. He is inspiring and has great vision. Bill is also honest and knows that the image of Ford needs to improve to at least match the quality of the high calibre cars it now has in every segment.
With significant and ongoing investment tied to further integration within the Ford world, makes it a very exciting time for Australia.
Phil C.

Ford for USA (more here)
Ford needs to create a left-hand drive Falcon to export to the US. It is a far better car by miles than anything the Yanks have to this day, particularly our beloved GT Falcon...
Rob Elliott

MR2 manual? (more here)
Thank you, very useful if not excellent. Are there any conventional manual models available?
Jo Boehm

Ford T6 (more here)
Question on the Ford T6 project: When will this light commercial actually go on sale?
DAZZA65
CN says: It's years away yet.

Captiva Fuel Figures (more here)
You need to research the fuel consumption figures yourself, rather than rely on Holden. I have a Holden Captiva LX Diesel, which has done 3000km, and I cannot achieve anything better that 15 to 16L/100km. I have talked to the ACCC, the dealer and to Holden. No one is interested, hence my option is to dump the car and buy something else.
Joanna
CN says:Joanna, that sounds poor for a diesel Captiva, but you haven't told us what sort of driving you're doing in it.

CN Confidential(more here)
Must say that these “Weekend confidential” pieces are always a great read and they add something that our local industry media lacks.
Well done.
Chris

Different Tests (more here)
Regarding the Ford Crown Victoria, you state "Amazingly this car has a Five Star National Highway Traffic Safety Administration frontal impact rating, and front airbags".
Well, so does the Chevy Aveo (a.k.a. Holden Barina) and we all know how well it did in the Euro NCAP/ANCAP frontal offset test (2 stars was it?).
The media must not compare US NCAP and Euro NCAP/ANCAP scores. They are a totally different test, and put completely different demands on a vehicle's structure and restraint system.
Greg Sievert

Tacky Taxis (more here)
This article is a poor and flawed overview of taxis around the world. Australia's taxis are complete rubbish. They consume a lot more than the quoted figure and they aren't even roomy.
The Ford Falcons look terrible after a couple of hundred thousand k's. Then most of the taxis go to 700,000 before they them sell them off cheaply to some idiot.
LPG-fuelled taxis are no good for the city either as they have extremely poor consumption.
We need taxis with hybrids or with small diesel engines.
Some examples are the US Toyota Camry Hybrid or the tall-boy VW Caddy TDI. The other day I saw a Volkswagen TDI Passat Wagon dressed up as a Victorian cab.
Good Move!!!
Nicholas
CN says: It's a bit of fun, not to be taken too seriously Nicholas. However, we would say that few cars would withstand the day-in, day-out abuse that most Falcon taxis suffer. In our experience, they vary according to how badly they're neglected or -- conversely -- how well they're maintained.

Porsche Power?! (more here)
"A road-going race car, the Porshe 911 GT2 has few direct competitors. Indeed, Porsche would say it faces stiffer competition from within its own stable."
Joke of the decade! The new Nissan GT-R V-Spec will eat this car for breakfast (not even, as the normal spec GTR already did).
J
CN says: "Few" doesn't mean "none". Furthermore, we just can't see typical Porsche buyers fancying a GT-R.

Aston Arrivals (more here)
The concept Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS is confirmed to be going into production, but not the V8 model; most likely the DB9 replacement.
It might be only a two-seater like the Aston Martin DBS and the V8 Vantage model. The four-seater will only be the Rapide Limo to be released in 2010.
Coolio Hunt

Volkswagen...New class Of Vehicle (more here)
C'mon VW, leave the rest even further in your dust with a 4 motion version.
Maybe then I may trade in the Subaru Forester.
Jeff

Fender Bender (more here)
Please tell me what is a fender?
Could it be a mudguard?
B Hodge
CN says: For you, it's a guitar...

Holden vs Ford? I don't think so? (more here)
When Ford realises that they need to improve on their vehicles and come up to spec, maybe then they should start a real comparison.
I own a Holden HSV and the best vehicle I feel they came up with was a Ford TE Cortina. With a cross-flow 250, which I owned, it left the V8 cowboys for dead in their day.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Fords and Holden but they both really need to come up to spec with their European counterparts.
Go Holden! Ford, come on... Stop playing; you do have more to offer.
Michael
CN says: You lost us at the TE Cortina...

Will Subaru's Sales Soar? (more here)
Subaru expects sales for the new Forester will grow by 10 per cent. It's a big dream without a diesel engine.
That 10 per cent increase will probably be given away to the new Volkswagen Tiguan which offers Diesel Engine.
Wake up Subaru HQ in Japan!
Don

Can you say Tiida? (more here)
Why didn't Nissan call the Tiida the Versa over here?
At least we could all pronounce it.
Darryl Paterson

Holden...no Ford...no Holden?? (more here)
I have a Holden VE Commodore now and have been considering a Falcon again. After owning a Ford Fairmont BF series 2 and having the front steering creak, the traction control operating sporadically and the horribly build quality (sagging doors at 30k!) I don't think I will take the risk again.
The new Ford Falcon FG looks, at first glance, too similar to the ageing BA-BF range. After all, you still have to look at the car every day.
With Holden offering colour coded mirrors, alloys, curtain airbags and a more unique shaped body that I am not sick of yet, I will put up with its less superior gearbox, road/engine noise issues and annoying mid-range power lag. I simply don't trust the Ford built quality and don't like the styling.
Oh...not to mention the better resale!!!
Deano
CN says: So you're not really considering a Falcon at all -- just had to sound reasonable and objective to get published. Regular readers will know by now that you don't have to be reasonable or objective to have your waffle published here...

VE Vison? (more here)
I was going to buy a Holden VE wagon until I spent some time in a Holden VE Calais sedan.
The massive A-pillars are twice the size of my VY. The driver's side is like looking at a brick wall. I would have thought good forward and side vision are an essential requirement.
At least 'Wheels' looked at active safety in their March issue.
ANCAP should also take this into account. If they did The VE would get only 2 or 3 stars as it would score a big fat zero for driver visibility.
Brad

Read previous letters to the Carsales Network here