2009 FPV F6 310 Road Test Review

IN A COUNTRY OBSESSED with V8 performance cars, you might think that a car like the F6, with its blown six, would have a hard time establishing its credentials.

Sure, FPV still sells a lot more V8s than they do sixes and HSV doesn’t even bother to go there. But being a volume seller in the muscle sedan category isn’t a true measure of the F6’s success.

The real measure is respect.

If there was a Fight Club for cars, the F6 would be the darkly brooding contender, waiting in the shadows for the competition to get serious. The one that all the competitors fear most.

Legend has it that the F6 will out-run the fancy V8s and that even more power is just a cheeky tweak away. School kids stare in awe, middle-aged men admire, but most telling of all, V8 drivers avoid eye contact.

It’s a bona fide urban myth in the metal.

Styling

There is no going past the Dash Green of our test vehicle. This particular F6 didn’t attract attention, it demanded it.

Hunkered down over a set of optional graphite 19-inch wheels, the chiseled F6 looks menacing.

There are no flared guards, no bonnet scoops or bulges, no overt body kit. The F6 doesn’t need the Tupperware to look tough.

To further accentuate that ‘minimalist toughness’, FPV has removed the grille on the lower air intake, putting the beefed up intercooler on display. Not great for stone protection on the open road, but raunchy nonetheless.

FPV badges take pride of place on both the front grille and rear bootlid, with unique F6 310 badges positioned on the sides and rear of the vehicle.

New graphite headlight accents now match the standard 19 inch machine faced alloy wheels with Graphite accents, and the optional F6 Graphite wheel as fitted to the car we drove.

Sure, there has been plenty of online debate concerning the FG’s styling. Some appreciate the clean, sharp and almost minimalist look (that has some competitors looking like cartoon characters), while others simply don’t think it has evolved enough from the BF.

We like it, especially in F6 and GT guise.

Mechanical Package

The F6 is all about that syrupy smooth, boosted 4.0-litre straight six.

The 4.0 litre turbo-charged DOHC 24 valve in-line six now produces maximum power of 310kW at 5500 rpm, and maximum torque of 565Nm across the range from 1950 to 5200 rpm. That’s enough to have FPV claiming (and it’s not hard to believe) that the F6 sedan is one of the best performing six-cylinder vehicles on the Australian market.

It’s also a 40kW and 15Nm increase over the previous BF model.

To achieve such a significant increase, FPV’s engineers strengthened the piston and conrod design, dropped the compression ratio (from 8.7.1 to 8.5.1), re-profiled the camshafts, fitted a larger intercooler and improved turbo, recalibrated the engine management and turned up the boost to 0.91 bar (13.3 psi).

A new intake system has improved airflow from the air intake to the engine head inlet. The result is not only more power but much improved driveability.

FPV says you can expect to achieve an average of 12.1L/100km for the ZF auto-equipped F6 (12.3L/100km for the six speed manual).

Our average over the course of the week that the F6 was in our care was 14.8 L/100km, but we expect that ‘normal’ driving will result in a significant improvement to the figure.

The F6 buyer has a choice of the either the ‘performance’ TR6060 six-speed manual transmission (replaces the BF’s T56) or the excellent ZF six-speed automatic transmission with Sequential Sports Shift at no extra cost (yes, you read that correctly).

The auto has a cylinder cut feature during wide-open throttle gear changes, which shortens the torque off, torque-back-on time between gear changes. In-gear acceleration is best described as brutal.

Power aside, one of the defining features of the F6 on test, was its ability to stop… quickly.

Braking duties in standard form are handled by the premium FPV Brembo performance brake package, which features 335x32mm front rotors with four-piston calipers and 328x26mm rear rotors with single-piston calipers.

Our test car on the other hand was fitted with the excellent optional Brembo brake package which includes larger 355 x 32mm cross drilled and ventilated front rotors with 6 piston calipers up front and 330 x 28mm cross drilled and ventilated rear rotors with 4 piston calipers in the rear.

Underneath the F6 are the same ZF Sachs dampers that are standard on the XR6T, however FPV has recalibrated the valving and revised the XR6T’s spring rates to offer what it says is a performance suspension system that suits both road and track driving.

For those concerned about the reliability of previous turbo-charged FPVs, then it will be comforting to know that the FG F6 has seen more than 23,000 hours spent in design and validation, with durability testing and calibration conducted across Australia and track testing performed at Winton Raceway in regional Victoria.