- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
5.6i, 8 cyl.
- Engine Power
250kW, 500Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (95) 11.9L/100KM
- Manufacturer
RWD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
Lose some, Windsor some
Tickford at last has the engine and the car to take the battle to HSV.
Good: Can walk the walk with HSV. Windsor V8 is surprisingly well behaved, but when let off the chain is suitably mean and loud. Works well with four-speed auto. Great handling and roadholding. Sharp, accurate steering. Powerful, progressive brakes. Comfortable driver's seat. Bright lights.
Bad: Ride is pretty punishing. Thirsty. Rear seat access and head restraints. Shallow boot. Styling not for everyone. Expensive insurance, uncertain resale value.
Verdict: Belted by HSV for years, the T Series climbs off the canvas and lands one back.
Stars: 4 (out of 5).
In the home-grown V8 muscle car market, only two things count: winning V8 Supercar races and, in the road context, a killer Watt quotient.
In the Supercar series, Ford still finds it difficult to beat Mark Skaife's Holden unless he fails to show up for work but – at last – its latest T Series, based on AU III Falcons, has the underbonnet poke to match HSV's Clubsport Commodores.
The T Series sedans use a longer-stroke crankshaft to lift the capacity of Ford's Windsor V8 from 5.0 litres to 5.6 and raise peak power from 220kW to 250 – just 5kW shy of HSV's 5.7-litre Gen III Chevrolet engine.
The Windsor now holds the torque honours: 500Nm at 4250rpm against the Gen III's 475Nm at 4000.
The T Series range starts with the TE50, at $57,350 for the five-speed manual or $58,350 with a four-speed automatic. HSVs Clubsport equivalents cost $1100 more.
The TS50, at $66,950 with manual or four-speed sequential automatic, has a $1000 price advantage over the Clubsport R8. The Fairlane Ghia-based TL50 is $84,500.
Longer piston travel necessitates upgraded hardware and increased crankshaft rigidity. Tickford has installed interconnected main bearing caps, H-section conrods machined from a solid billet and lightweight, short-skirt pistons.
A higher-volume air cleaner, large-diameter throttle body and alloy intake manifold feed the cylinders; on the other side are free flowing ceramic coated headers, catalysts and exhausts.
A reprofiled camshaft keeps the inlet valves open longer, so the V8 can suck in a full 250kW worth of air. Premium unleaded is recommended.
An old-tech V8 like the Windsor, cranked up to deliver this much power, should in theory be a pretty cantankerous, lumpy device in everyday use. Not so in this case.
The TE50 auto idles around town smoothly and quietly, rarely seeing the high side of 2500rpm. On the highway, it does the same, loafing along at just under 2000rpm in fourth.
Its power delivery is more linear than the HSV engine, with no pauses or dips anywhere in the curve. There's a gentle tremble as it spins up near the 5500rpm redline, accompanied by a tremendous guttural roar.
It launches the automatic TE50 off the line to 100kmh in a rapid 6.4 seconds.
However acceleration from a rolling start is its most impressive feature. When you put your foot down at 80kmh and the auto kicks the revs up to 4000 or so, the Windsor delivers stunning performance. Few cars at any price can match the TE50's overtaking speed – you spend the absolute minimum time and distance on the wrong side of the road.
When you consider there's 500Nm of torque surging through the four-speed BTR automatic, its shifts are also remarkably smooth.
Performance is enhanced by gearing which is not too tall. Under hard acceleration each ratio hooks up quickly, maintaining the TE's relentless momentum. Adaptive programming is a bit superfluous – the auto responds quickly when asked and, no matter where it shifts to, there's abundant grunt and power available.
The test TE50's independent double wishbone layout at both ends was supplemented with the optional TL50 "sports/luxury" package: Koni dampers and progressively wound rear springs, which drop ride height by 7mm, plus a fractionally thinner front stabiliser bar.
Dunlop SP Sport 9000 tyres (245/40ZR) on 18-inch alloy wheels are standard.
The TL50 gear is supposed to provide a more comfortable ride. Perhaps it does, but there's still precious little "luxury" and a lot of "sport". It's just compliant enough to live with on a long drive; whatever the surface or speed, though, "luxury" is the wrong word.
The TE50 has superior dynamics to its HSV rivals. It is more agile and responsive, with a fine balance that belies its size and bulk. In contrast to Holden's pronounced tendency to run wide, the TE's relatively neutral character gets it into and around a corner more cleanly, with greater speed and less work.
The Ford's steering is also sharper and more accurate, with terrific feel and progression in its weighting. The Dunlops stick like a weld; despite the absence of traction control, they need plenty of provocation to break traction, and when they do so it is easily controllable.
Drive's TE50 also had a premium brake system – another option – with four-piston Brembo calipers and large diameter cross-drilled ventilated discs at both ends.
Brembos are designed for hard use, and can sometimes lack power and pedal feel at moderate speeds. The test car probably had a soft set of pads, because their bite when cold and with light pedal pressures was fine.
When full stopping power is required, the Brembos are also extremely effective, threatening to eject your eyeballs from their sockets.
The TE's leather upholstered driver's seat is luxuriously comfortable and proportioned for big blokes. Its generous padding takes some of the sting out of the ride, and there's good lumbar adjustability. It could use more bolstering on the backrest for proper support when cornering.
You sit quite high, looking through the low screen. Two height adjusters are provided on the cushion. The dash is basic Falcon with coloured instruments (blue in the test car, along with the seat inserts and door trims), a bit of fake metal sprinkled about, and a beautifully contoured, leather-wrapped Momo wheel, also adjustable for height and reach.
Some drivers might find it a bit of a reach to the air-conditioning and audio head units. The instrument lighting has only two increments, both of which are too bright.
The headlights are brilliant – some Japanese high beams do not have the penetrating power of the Falcon's low.
A single in-dash CD player, air-conditioning, power windows and mirrors, cruise control (the easiest to use in the business, with three buttons on the wheel), and Momo leather auto lever are also standard.
Security is beefed up with Data Dots, the spray-on identification process.
Quality is typical Falcon, with better fit and finish inside than the Commodore but a few chirps here and there, in particular from the driver's door seal on rough roads.
The rear seat is contoured for two, with a deep, firm cushion that's also very comfortable. Leg room is not an issue in the Falcon, though you have to duck under the steeply curved roofline to climb into the back. There are three lap-sash belts and two useless integrated head restraints.
The Falcon boot has plenty of floor area but is shallow, so carrying bulky loads can be difficult. The rear seat back is split 60-40 for extra capacity, and a full-sized spare (on an alloy wheel) is under the floor.
Given that the test car had nearly $8000 worth of optional brakes, suspension and audio equipment – taking its price to about $65,000 – it's impossible to accurately call it a stock TE50 except for the V8.
No worries here – the 5.6-litre Windsor is potent enough to give the HSV-treated Chev 5.7 a run for its money. Ford has thus far been wasting its time with the T Series – it should have taken on HSV three years ago, when the Gen III arrived, with this engine.
The optioned-up TE50 is also the best handling Australian-built performance car we've tested. If the extra-cost gear was standard, it would be an HSV beater for sure.
Vital signs
Tickford TE50 Engine: 5.6-litre 16-valve fuel-injected V8.
Power: 250kW at 5250rpm (average).
Performance: 0-100kmh in 6.4 seconds (quick).
Brakes: Optional Brembo calipers/cross drilled discs (excellent).
Economy: 12.4 litres/100km highway; 22.2 city (thirsty).
Prices: Recommended retail – $57,350; automatic $58,350; as tested $66,305. Street price – about $1000 off.
Main options: Brembo brakes $5350; Koni suspension $1500; six-stack CD player/11-speaker audio $1105; sunroof $2500.
Warranty: Three years/100,000km (average).
Residual value: 68 percent after two years (HSV Clubsport: 71 percent).
Safety rating: Four stars out of five (Falcon; ANCAP tests).
Alternatives:
HSV Clubsport 5.7 V8 – $58,250
Prices correct at publication date.