Australia's Obsession With Falcodores.

[Justlikemusic]

Guys at work give me crap about driving a RICER. With new ones, then yes, they are great value for money for what you get compared to newer performance cars. However they are still big pieces of crap which weigh too much! I think I've really found the car of my choice in the R33 GTS-T. Braking and handling is beautiful and only upgrades I'd want is about 400hp, manual, seats/harness and suspension.

I just finished rebuilding a EB Falcon with EL internals ready to turbo... bought an R33 and realized I was wasting my time with the EB... now dunno what to do with the EB... thinking about taking it to the motorplex to do burnouts with until the engine dies.

[Galois]

I love this thread.

I was actually briefly looking at aussie v8s for my next car. Found a 98 xr8 with extractors and twin 3" exhaust felt, and was, quite slow after getting out of the gtt. But it was almost worth that sacrifice given the beautiful sound. What really pissed me off was how often I'd hear "it's a common problem on these" about different components. I guess that's why as mad said to me once "as long as most of the cylinders are firing it's all good". I never drove an ss, but not for lack of wanting.

On the euro comparison, it's not really a comparison. Every commadore and falcon I've been in has had a far from lovely interior (and I'm no expert, just to clarify), but every eurobox I've been in has been holding up well.

The fact is you can pick up an xr8 in decent nic for 6k, and that is quite a bit of car for the cash. I love the sound of a pushrod v8, despite the fact the cheaper ones (non hsv and fpv) make a lot more sound than they do go. But they're still a quicker car than that dumbass in his kia sh!tbox with a 3" cannon (plenty of them where I've been living lately), has aircon, cruise control, and comfort.

Comparing top of the line aussie v8s to an m5 is a bit of a farce. You're buying an m5 because it's been in the top echelon of family car motoring for decades, and because there are thousands of things you can customise, and because clarkson reckons it's handling in "m mode" is as good as a ferrari 430. The newer aussie v8s, like the r8, are simpler and hence cheaper. And here in aus they're cheaper cos they're local compared to markups on imported euro-beasts.