FPV's New Cobras

[grimreefer]

The iconic Cobra name has returned to Australian motoring, with Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) today unveiling its new special edition GT Cobra and Cobra Ute. The new Boss 302 engine powering both the sedan and Ute variants produces 302 kW (~405 hp) of power and 540 Nm (~390 ft. lbs.) of torque.

Link to article

 

[thomas91169]

I love all of FPV's offerings. i wish they could throw on a set of catalytics, a charcoal canister and bring them stateside. better than anything ford has to offer here.

 

[snake134]

WHY CANT THEY DO THIS HERE? I WANT A 302 engine in a stang
dammit....i was just about to post this

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/07/australians-get-404-hp-398-lb-ft-fpv-cobra/

 

[grimreefer]

I'd definitely check the deck lid spoiler delete box on the order form. Yuk.

WHY CANT THEY DO THIS HERE? I WANT A 302 engine in a stang
dammit....i was just about to post this

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/07/australians-get-404-hp-398-lb-ft-fpv-cobra/

I don't know wether to laugh or cry over this quote:

"In other news, US customers have the new Focus to look forward to, which looks almost as cool as this Aussie Cobra, assuming you're wearing a blindfold."

 

[XyX]

kinda reminds me of a gto

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

^^^^^^ same here about the GTO, and the headlights and most of the front end looks like its straight from a RSX, if you dont believe me go look

 

[Jroc]

Nice!

 

[C O B R A]

Hell yea the SVT Cobra needs to make a come back. The gt500 in my own eyes is a sad excuse to have the Cobra badges on it. I say make it a little more agressive looking , make it a 2 door coupe, and get rid of the wing and it will be perfect. I bet right now this will be trigger the comeback...if the svt cobra makes it a comeback here in the us , I will say screw buying an 09 camaro ss.

 

[OZ Dude]

We just had our annual Bathurst 1000 car race and one of the Ford factory backed cars was in the Cobra livery.

History repeating itself - the original "iconic" Aussie Cobra of 1977 was a project dreamed up to move the last 300 2 door coupe shells Ford had cluttering up their factory. They painted em white, added the stripes, and called em a hero car. Truth was only 30 of the 300 were the red hot versions, the rest were various configurations of lesser spec right down to a 4.9L 3 speed auto. Funnily enough, the new Ford Falcon is due early next year and here they are finding ways to "clear the decks".

It's not a rocketship - more of a good cruiser. The Termi would kick it from one end of the paddock to the other...

And as for those who think it lookd like the GTO - of course it does! They're direct competitorsin the same market and we have a history of Ford & Holden (GM) making "same-same".

Oh well, I guess it looks pretty

Oz

 

[ChiSVT]

Ford's version of the GTO.

 

[wvmystichrome]

We just had our annual Bathurst 1000 car race and one of the Ford factory backed cars was in the Cobra livery.

History repeating itself - the original "iconic" Aussie Cobra of 1977 was a project dreamed up to move the last 300 2 door coupe shells Ford had cluttering up their factory. They painted em white, added the stripes, and called em a hero car. Truth was only 30 of the 300 were the red hot versions, the rest were various configurations of lesser spec right down to a 4.9L 3 speed auto. Funnily enough, the new Ford Falcon is due early next year and here they are finding ways to "clear the decks".

It's not a rocketship - more of a good cruiser. The Termi would kick it from one end of the paddock to the other...

And as for those who think it lookd like the GTO - of course it does! They're direct competitorsin the same market and we have a history of Ford & Holden (GM) making "same-same".

Oh well, I guess it looks pretty

Oz

I still think my wife would love to have that car to drive everyday. I know I would not mind taking it out for a spin every chance I could. Ford really needs something like that over here besides the Stang.

 

[Steve@TF]

I love all of FPV's offerings. i wish they could throw on a set of catalytics, a charcoal canister and bring them stateside. better than anything ford has to offer here.

austrailia will soon be going to Euro emissions standards. next year i think. not as bad as the US, but no longer "anything goes" as it has been down under.

i hope they bring the FPV falcon here and not juse the mundane fleet versions.

 

[Jersey Vics]

www.svtregistry.com/FPV




--russ

 

[Zorabot]

I like the sound of that new ZF 6 speed semi-auto.

 

[twista]

www.svtregistry.com/FPV




--russ

perfect looking car to rice out... :burn:

 

[03_SVT_Freak]

ford are idiots. those would sell like crazy over here

 

[capnkirk52]

ford are idiots. those would sell like crazy over here

Just like the GTO did? If everyone thinks it looks like a goat why would they buy it when nobody bought the goat? :shrug:

 

[theDRIVER]

.

 

[theDRIVER]

Just like the GTO did? If everyone thinks it looks like a goat why would they buy it when nobody bought the goat? :shrug:

i think it's SOME people's opinion on the similarities to the gto. i have no idea what they're talking about, when they say it looks like a gto. to me it looks like a car that's evolved over the years. nothing close to a gto.


i think the reason some manufacturer's screw up when they bring over a car from other countries, is because of the badging and pricing. seriously. when honda brought over the integra type r. NO ONE thought about that honda was going to rebadge it as an acura. some actually thought that it was going to be badged as a honda. from what i've heard, it was one of the reasons the car ended back on lots in the early stages. and also, some cry babies realizing that they bought a car that was TO LOUD in the cabin. because, of the sound deadening that was removed. it's race car for the road, geez. i think the reason for the gto failing here stateside was because of the pontiac badge and price. seriously, do you take pontiac serious now days? they had some nice cars back in the day, but what do they have now? g6? and the solstice? that and the price of course. the price was too high.

i have a feeling if they bring over these cars, they're going to be ridiculously priced and cut and hacked to death (4 catalytic converters, adding bullshit parts for smog, cut back on horsepower, etc...). making them not worth a buy. leading to poor sales, and no more european and other country cars being brought over again. which i believe they'll never bring them over for that very reason. ****ing idiots will probably badge it as a taurus or a 500. what will the fpv badge be replaced with? svt? no, because svt has no hand in these cars. i wouldn't know the politics of bringing an fpv product over here. much less how they would badge them. it'll never happen with those cars. maybe the el camino(the aussies ute). that's very plausible...

 

[OZ Dude]

It's true that all Oz cars will be subject to Euro IV standards from next year and yes, we are seeing some changes to which cars are being imported as well as subtle changes to local offerings.

Several weeks ago Tom Gorman (Oz Ford CEO) stated that the loaac engine plant will close because it would cost far too much to change the Inline 6 to meet the new standards. In place of the I6 will be a fully imported V6 which has caused some packaging issues, primarily in the Territory SUV, but nothing that won't be overcome. One of the positives to come from the Territory change is maybe they'll then offer a V8 as opposed to the I6 & I6T versions of current. I wouldn't give up my Explorer for a Territory first and foremost because of that fact... Also, the V8 has been dropped in all Falcons except the XR and FPV ranges (DOHC motors) due to emmissions.

I know you guys seem to constantly cry out for the Falcon but as has already been pointed out, GM took the Monaro (GTO) over there because it was gonna be the next best thing and it just didn't take. The question is why.

From what I can see in the USA if it's not a muscle car then it is either big and soft or small and compact. You guys don't have the same vision of a family car that has developed here primarily because our market traditionally survived on locally produced full size cars and after our "supercar" scare in the early 70's that killed off genuine performance cars, our scene has been several levels of mediocre up to what manufacturers got away with calling a "performance" car when in fact they were comfortable, semi-quick family sedans. Proof of this is Ford's FPV cars in V8 form have rarely cracked a 13.XX quarter rather than running mid 14's. Admit it, if Ford tried to sell you guys a "red hot" performance car that couldn't pull a 13 or better, it would be labelled a pig and tomatoes would be hurled...

Further to this is the fact that the Turbo I6 is being accepted in greater numbers by tuners because they can actually do something with it. Also there was an article in one of the Oz motoring mags that explained the little things that were now being altered in the 5.4 V8 motor to allow it to rev (current spec has several weaknesses that will result in failure if the motor sees heavy duty above 6,000rpm). If it can rev without breaking, it will be allowed to. Also, if they want to keep up with the LS2 and LS3 motors they have to do something...

Now on to the good news for those of you who beg for this car - the new "Orion" Falcon due early 2008 has been engineered from the ground up as a dual drive vehicle. By that I mean that the DNA of the shell allows it to be built as either RHD or LHD. Both GM and Toyota have made their cases locally to stay open through exporting at least 50% of production to LHD O/S markets and it would appear that Ford are now following suit, albeit dragging their heels.

That's how GM was able to bring the GTO to the USA - their car already was designed for it. Take it from someone who drives a LHD-converted-to-RHD Cobra, you make certain concessions when the car was never originally designed to be in that configuration so the current Falcon was never going to be exported no matter how many people jump up and down about it.

Oh, and for those who have noticed, yes the local car now comes with a superb 6 speed auto that gives little away in performance to the manual (partly because the manual is sloppy to use). It also looks the part in the cabin. I've even wondered a couple of times what it would take to put one in the Cobra for peak hour traffic

IF they do bring it to market the obvious question is badging. FPV is not a US brand and outside of performance enthusiasts who know it, there is no recognition OR value in having that badge there. Would SVT put their moniker on the back of it? The only way I can see that happening is if they are allowed input into the vehicle otherwise the public would cry "fake". The one thing that has been overlooked however is the fact that the "Falcon" nameplate was originally American and if it was going to be brought online, then why not use the existing badging and bring a Falcon GT to the USA market?? No baggage (like calling it Taurus) and a nice historical link to revive the name with the added bonus of the familiarity via Mustang of the GT designation.

As you basically only have the Crown Vic to fall back on, the Falcon would make a handy addition to the USA lineup for the family who want a car with a bit of go but can't justify a Mustang due to impracticality. I'm guessing most would be sold as autos once again due to the whole performance angle being reserved for the Mustang GT500.

It would make for a nice comfortable family "performance" car with all the creature comforts.

Oz