advice and feedback on FG F6 ute

[raised by monkeys]

Hi,

Looking at a possible F6 ute 6spd man purchase. The one i have in mind has 50thou kms, is black and front what i can tell from the photos 4 piston fronts and single (twin??) rears with an aftermarket exhaust and a tune. Looks neat.

I wanted something 60's and V8. But theres an opportunity to salary sacrifice a vehicle with www.salaray.com.au and using their calculator, based on a 30k vehicle (car is actually for sale at $35k private), driving 10,000kms per year, inclusive of all maintenance and servicing, roadside assist, insurance, tyres and fuel, im looking at < $470 fn and up to me to refinance after a 3 years lease. Depreciation (on a rough guess) would be about 10k after 3 years, so ill be up for purchasing a 20k vehicle in 3 years. I already salary sacrifice my mortgage too.

I currently have a work car, so would only use it on weekends and the odd cruise up the coast or city, hence only < 10,000kms per year. I can mod which will affect payments, and like insurance, as long as its legal.

What i want to know is your thoughts based on this car re: preformance, reliability, comfort etc etc.
Also thoughts on the financing and depreciation??

Thanks in advance

[FORCED F6]

Shaun, I will try and answer your questions to the best of my knowledge...

Performance: Well you have looked in the direction of the FPV F6's so you should already know this answer...

Reliability: Just like many, there is a common problem with every make, model and type of car. As long as the history is good and well looked after, it will be reliable. There has not been any recalls on the F6's yet and the other thing with the ute's in comparison to the sedan's is that they have a solid diff.

Comfort; They are definately comfy, IMO the seats are much more comfortable then the GT's (Bucket type seats). drive is smooth and steering is much better then the BA-BF range.

I can't comment on financing but with depreciation, well I think these things have depreciated in value as far as they go, maybe another $5-10k at most (depending on condition and other factors of course) but now the end has come, they may climb back up in the future.

Overall, what you need to know is they are great value for what it delivers and won't regret it mate, goodluck.

[raised by monkeys]

Thanks for the reply.

I know im only talking about a 4/5 year old car, but are there any issues, or any signs of something that may happen that i should be looking out for?

[PridenJoy]

ZF auto heat exchangers are a time bomb waiting to happen, rebuild is anywhere from $4k to $6k, depending who you speak to.

[blackf6]

Originally Posted by PridenJoy

ZF auto heat exchangers are a time bomb waiting to happen, rebuild is anywhere from $4k to $6k, depending who you speak to.

He is looking for a manual.

[PridenJoy]

Originally Posted by teak81

He is looking for a manual.

Ok cool.

[FORCED F6]

Being 50,000kms, pads and rotors should be fine for the moment, they will be due to change in approx 10-20,000kms, this depends on how it was driven. If mostly highway kms, then can last a lot longer (best I have seen was 120,000kms unchanged from factory).
It might be worth getting the bushes checked and find out when it was last changed.

As for the work done on it, I would find out who it was tuned by,
what work was exactly carried out,
what power is it pushing, try and get a dyno sheet to see what boost it is running, how long ago these mods were carried out,
service books and check the intervals between service times,
check for your usual noises and rattles when test driving, also make sure the engine is cold (not driven for at least a few hours) before checking it out,
would be important to check the shaft play on the turbo and hear it from close when starting the car (just so it has a smooth sound to it, important to check this when you turn the car off and hear it turbo wind down also for approx 1min).
There is probably a lot more you can check but this would be your usual check. Go check it out and see how you, if you suspect anything or unsure of it, post away and we'll try and work it out.

Goodluck

[raised by monkeys]

Thanks heaps, that gives me some ideas and direction. Much appreciated.

[FORCED F6]

How did you go mate, any luck with the purchase?

[raised by monkeys]

Originally Posted by NFORCD

How did you go mate, any luck with the purchase?

hey mate, not yet. Still Just looking around. Unless i find one that im just set on before, i probably wont make a purchase until October. I have another thread here. Was previously looking at leasing a vehicle hence an FG F6, but now thinking of cash + finance which now means i looking at possibly BF mkII Tornado. But the more i think about my dilemma (as per other thread) and its factors between P250 vs F6... F6 looks like its coming on top. Id rather a late series BF mkII but did make an enquiry about an 06 Tornado yesterday and waiting to hear from the dealer.

Will keep you in the loop. If i end up with an F6 in my driveway look out for my queries ha

[raised by monkeys]

Ended up sourcing a BF tornado. Price was too good to pass up. Payment has been made and the car is in transport. I'll start a build thread soon enough and post some current photos. No real information about the car at this stage, but just to see a before and after TLC and mods. As you see most of the issues are cosmetic, besides the power steering hose which needs replacing.

Not in the photos is a small patch of surface rust under the brake booster.
I will pick the car up from the transport depot approx 7.10.14, rego it and take it straight to Heinrich's Performance and Tuning, then to extensive restorations for some paint and panel TLC.

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[FORCED F6]

Going by your first post, I thought you were looking at the FG series.

Congrats on the purchase mate. As you mentioned above and going by those photos, I don't doubt that you would have picked this up for a cheap price.

If you have spare time, start a build thread in the Show n Shine thread...

Cheers.

[raised by monkeys]

Originally Posted by NFORCD

Going by your first post, I thought you were looking at the FG series.

Congrats on the purchase mate. As you mentioned above and going by those photos, I don't doubt that you would have picked this up for a cheap price.

If you have spare time, start a build thread in the Show n Shine thread...

Cheers.

I was originally looking at an FG, but I found this quite cheap and many of the FG's I were looking at were well above the 65000kms on this (not that kms are reflective of the life the car has had). This is one owner, bought, driven and a little neglected. That with the economy in some areas of QLD and someone looking to get out of a bad financial situation let me grab this for a steal. After a few $$ in TLC considering what it cost me still it'd still owe me well under the market value.

[XRQTR]

Nice find, the repairs should be easy enough and not too expensive just make sure to shop around for prices, the paint/dent repair guys might be a better option these days as they can usually do these things in a day and you're not taking up their shop space.
Give the engine bay a good degrease and steam clean and it should come good, unless of course you get it fully detailed in/out/under/over lol.
Enjoy and let us know how it all goes.

Cheers
Stef

[raised by monkeys]

Started a build thread. Same photos though. Hopefully pick the car up in a week

[raised by monkeys]

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11426644

[XRQTR]

Get on over to Vic for the AFD in Geelong, we'll be holding another F6 club site next year at this stage.