Guys on the forum who don't have their Fords yet

[davenl5l]

kesh if your in year 12 next year do the defence technical scholarship its easy no commitment to defence required $3000 tax free or year 11 $2000 tax free also consider the air force they will put you through uni and pay good money whilst you train

[Jack960]

Don't go all out on ur first car is all I can say. I spent bout 5k on my first car, none turbo. Got a bit more power and looked good but I'm off my p's soon looking at turbos and wish I had that 5k.

[Kesh]

Originally Posted by Donny

There is another alternative here that's a bit outside the box, but well worth considering.. Get your dads AU and go to town on that.

It will cost heaps less to do a lot of the things you want as parts are cheap as chips for them, it just gives you a wider scope for changing bits.

The AU's are ultra reliable if looked after, AU's don't have those stupid ICC screen setups, so you can insert whatever single or dual din stereo system you please in there instead of having to put up with adding onto or modifying the OEM garbage that cannot be removed in the B and F series..

The AU's are a real drivers car and from what others have said re AU vs FG in ride and handling etc, they are virtually on an even par there. Sure the FG may have more power and the G series ones will be more plush inside, but it's a 5-10k car vs a 45k car for a start.

Also, if you do anything silly in it or have a crash or it gets knocked around at work or uni etc, you wont be stressing out so bad on the cheaper ride, or havin to make up a BS story to your dad why you bent yours and his shared car.

Lastly, your dad can get whatever he wants then as his own car and you can have his AU all to yourself without sharing it.

I don't want to sound arrogant or dismissive in any way, but I'm more or less settled on getting a car such as an FG, though I understand it is quite expensive and probably not ideal for P'Platers in general..

And as dumb as this may sound coming from me, the safety features are also what pulled me in.
Once I was in the car with my dad, it was wet and he was exiting from a court onto a two way (single each lane) street. He wasn't accelerating hard but half way through the corner, something went wrong (oil patch, deep spot) and he lost control. The car spun from the correct side of the road, then jumped over a traffic island onto the wrong side of the road and we were stuck there for a second exposed to on coming traffic, which luckily there was none.

We were going no more than 25-30 km/h. I'm 100 percent certain that TCS and ASC would have avoided that incident. We found that the tyres were at fault (our negligence though)

Hopefully you can understand though! I just really like the look of the FG in and out as well.

[Donny]

It's your call mate, your the one who has to live with what your going to get, not me. I was just offering some different advise..

Safety features wise, yes the FG has a few more, but don't go relying on them solely to save your butt in a crisis..
Back before all these new fangled safety gadgets came in people learned to drive and survive without them. There is no substitute for driver experience.

ABS,TCS, Stability control etc wont save you from out n out stupidity or brain fade.. Either way good luck in whatever you choose.

[Kesh]

Originally Posted by Donny

It's your call mate, your the one who has to live with what your going to get, not me. I was just offering some different advise..

Safety features wise, yes the FG has a few more, but don't go relying on them solely to save your butt in a crisis..
Back before all these new fangled safety gadgets came in people learned to drive and survive without them. There is no substitute for driver experience.

ABS,TCS, Stability control etc wont save you from out n out stupidity or brain fade.. Either way good luck in whatever you choose.

Yeah fully aware of that, I plan to do some driver training before I get my P's anyway.

Safety is really not a big aspect for me, still is one though. I just like the FG for what it is, but thanks for your opinion. My mindset may change later on so I'll be keeping my options open.

[OffRoadFalcon]

Lucky guy!
Too bad my parent's can't afford to do anything like that ha-ha!

Sat in FG Falcons while I did work experience at the local Ford dealer, from XTs to a GS 315 sedan. Nice cars! Especially like G6E/T's with the cream coloured leather, very nice. Theyre good cars! No wagons though (proper ones, not sportwagons) so I'm not interested. Design is nice too.
Over all though, I'm aiming for an AU! Plenty enough power for a while, and makes a fantastic almost superchargey sound at high revs, awesome engines. Comfortable, extremely reliable, and drives fantastically. Our BAII XT just isn't quite as good. The sport mode the gearbox has is great, and the power, but the car as a whole just isn't as enjoyable to drive. The AUII looks better too :P
More specifically I'm aiming for the famil AUII Futura wagon, if my parents can afford to buy a bigger load lugger and sell it to me.

Safety is the only downside I can see with the AU... it's good but these newer cars are better and aways will be. But it's got ABS and a good bullbar and hopefully that's all I need! If something goes wrong, parts are easy to get and even a replacement car for not too much.

Look forward to seeing your car, whatever it ends up being.

[OffRoadFalcon]

As for driver training, maybe you should have me around, I seem to attract hazards! People coming atcha head on, corner cutters, scooters moving into my lane too quickly while I'm accelorating and being half a metre from being minced.......... list goes on!
Spent 4 hours avoiding lots of tree debris and entire trees on the road on to way to a holiday destination after the SW of WA had a a 141km/h winded storm!

[Silver Ghia]

I agree with Donny regarding having the AU as your first car. As you gain experience its a car where it doesnt matter so much if you do scratch or dint it which is inevitable, you can more readily maintain it yourself, and insurance will be a lot cheaper especially being a student.

[Kesh]

Originally Posted by Mr. Grinzy

Lucky guy!
Too bad my parent's can't afford to do anything like that ha-ha!

Sat in FG Falcons while I did work experience at the local Ford dealer, from XTs to a GS 315 sedan. Nice cars! Especially like G6E/T's with the cream coloured leather, very nice. Theyre good cars! No wagons though (proper ones, not sportwagons) so I'm not interested. Design is nice too.
Over all though, I'm aiming for an AU! Plenty enough power for a while, and makes a fantastic almost superchargey sound at high revs, awesome engines. Comfortable, extremely reliable, and drives fantastically. Our BAII XT just isn't quite as good. The sport mode the gearbox has is great, and the power, but the car as a whole just isn't as enjoyable to drive. The AUII looks better too :P
More specifically I'm aiming for the famil AUII Futura wagon, if my parents can afford to buy a bigger load lugger and sell it to me.

Safety is the only downside I can see with the AU... it's good but these newer cars are better and aways will be. But it's got ABS and a good bullbar and hopefully that's all I need! If something goes wrong, parts are easy to get and even a replacement car for not too much.

Look forward to seeing your car, whatever it ends up being.

Hopefully the prices go down and I can fetch a G6E in black with cashmere interior.

There's one on carsales now for 20,500 in VIC! Pity I still have a year though.

Originally Posted by Mr. Grinzy

As for driver training, maybe you should have me around, I seem to attract hazards! People coming atcha head on, corner cutters, scooters moving into my lane too quickly while I'm accelorating and being half a metre from being minced.......... list goes on!
Spent 4 hours avoiding lots of tree debris and entire trees on the road on to way to a holiday destination after the SW of WA had a a 141km/h winded storm!

Haha for sure!! That's what I get when I drive in the city.

[BAFrod]

I understand the boat you're in.

I had an AU2, lost control in the wet and wrote it off. Yes it was due to my negligence, but it taught me a lesson. Now driving a BA1 Futura, I have the same problems per safety, but I'm a far more careful driver. I'm also not going to pour money into a workhorse sedan (which is fantastic for what it is) that's over 200k's already.

I've got another year left of P's, so i'm saving my pennies for mods on an fg2 turbo, and like you, i'm already planning my mods wishlist!

Looking back though, I am glad my dream car wasn't my first (or second) car.

[max_torq]

I agree with Donny! much more fun mucking around with an AU than having to look after something new on warranty etc.

[Ben73]

If I owned a G6 I would change the wheels if I could find some decent ones. That's about it.

Slightly lowering a car can make it look good. I would like to do that, but my stock standard height car almost gets beached in my driveway.

[Kesh]

Originally Posted by Ben73

If I owned a G6 I would change the wheels if I could find some decent ones. That's about it.

Slightly lowering a car can make it look good. I would like to do that, but my stock standard height car almost gets beached in my driveway.

I thought the 17's on the G6E might look too small, but on the way back from school I saw the same rims on an XR6 and I reckon if they were powder coated and some tyre shine was used, it would look sweet!!

I'd probably be spending big bucks on audio really, a lot of things I may learn to fabricate myself or mod myself, like painting the chrome grill matt black or something and so on...

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by Donny

Back before all these new fangled safety gadgets came in people learned to drive and survive without them.

Did they?

"Back in the day" when everyone was so experienced and such good drivers there was a LOT more serious accidents and deaths on the roads.

[Kesh]

I'd say most drivers are starting to become dependant on safety features, rather than using them as a precaution. Things like reverse cameras, some people don't bother looking back at all.. (Perhaps that's the point? I think it's wrong)

There are certain features like blindspot checkers, which are borderline. But I find it ridiculous that people now can expect a car to remind them to take a break.

[Donny]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

Did they?

"Back in the day" when everyone was so experienced and such good drivers there was a LOT more serious accidents and deaths on the roads.

Back in the day there was also a hell of a lot more freedom and latitude regarding speed limits, blood alcohol levels and not to mention much poorer quality roads.

No safety armcos, no center divider barriers, no big wide multi lane expressways, cars that didn't have crumple zones or very good cabin integrity in a collision, non collapsible steering columns, hard steel dashboards, cross ply tires and early steel belted radials, brakes and suspension were all far more inferior.

[Kesh]

Originally Posted by davenl5l

kesh if your in year 12 next year do the defence technical scholarship its easy no commitment to defence required $3000 tax free or year 11 $2000 tax free also consider the air force they will put you through uni and pay good money whilst you train

I think this may take too much time unfortunately.

[AU Mont]

Originally Posted by Kesh

Hopefully the prices go down and I can fetch a G6E in black with cashmere interior.

There's one on carsales now for 20,500 in VIC! Pity I still have a year though

in a year, your whole life could be turned upside down, priorities change, money may be less abundant. I think your getting a little too excited hunting for workshop manuals for a car you may or may not own in the distant future.

also i dont see any sense in a FG G6E being your first car wtf. The humble Ghia is what every man had aspired to after years of hard work & good luck. Not something that should be handed on a platter to a boy

start of with something like an AU which are reliable, cheap, and easy to work on.

[Kesh]

Originally Posted by AU Mont

in a year, your whole life could be turned upside down, priorities change, money may be less abundant. I think your getting a little too excited hunting for workshop manuals for a car you may or may not own in the distant future.

Yeah I understand, I find it's also a good way for me to learn about certain cars too. I've done research for a variety of cars, and seeing the feasibility of owning one too. R34's (Cop magnet), 330i e46 (servicing/insurance), MR2 (found next car better), RX8 (Ridiculous running costs, reliability).. Finally an FG falcon, reliable, and if like our current falcon, has heaps of space and is therefore practical, cheap to run and hopefully has improved vastly on quality...

With regards to buying a g6e, I don't see anything wrong with it? If prices go down to around 15-17k for around 150k km, it is expensive but I think my dad would like it too.

I understand some people look for status when buying a car however I really don't care about the prestigious status that may come with the G6E, the (primary) purpose of the car is not to impress everyone going by.. The car I may get will be used, XT's are about 4k less than the G6. For the amount of features the G6 has as well the better look of it, the 4k is easily justified. The G6E is about 2-4k on top of that and I don't mind extra k's as well.

(again, apologies if I sound dissmissive), also a reminder that this isn't MY car, my mum and dad will use it as they wish to.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by AU Mont

also i dont see any sense in a FG G6E being your first car wtf. The humble Ghia is what every man had aspired to after years of hard work & good luck. Not something that should be handed on a platter to a boy

What's wrong with that? Everyone's different. There's absolutely no reason why someone can't have a nice car as their first car, regardless of whether they had to fork out for it themselves or if it was gifted.

It's just jealousy, I think ...

[AU Mont]

Originally Posted by NX74205

What's wrong with that? Everyone's different. There's absolutely no reason why someone can't have a nice car as their first car, regardless of whether they had to fork out for it themselves or if it was gifted.

It's just jealousy, I think ...

yeah i would be jealous if i were one of his friends.

a car means so much more when youve saved the hard earned and paid for it. You look at it differently, you treat it differently, you keep it cleaner.

my parents bought me my first car, worth 5k, and i flogged the crap out of it, of course im not saying the OP will do the same.

having older cars before the flash new one lets you appreciate them more imo. But as the OP has said, his parents will merely let him drive it not own it, so my post was pretty non-relevant

[Kesh]

Originally Posted by AU Mont

yeah i would be jealous if i were one of his friends.

a car means so much more when youve saved the hard earned and paid for it. You look at it differently, you treat it differently, you keep it cleaner.

my parents bought me my first car, worth 5k, and i flogged the crap out of it, of course im not saying the OP will do the same.

having older cars before the flash new one lets you appreciate them more imo. But as the OP has said, his parents will merely let him drive it not own it, so my post was pretty non-relevant

I can understand where you are coming from, I don't work so I don't have much in savings, and I bought $600 worth of audio gear for the AU and appreciate it more because it was my hard earned dough.

I pretty much am doing the same thing with the AU that I will with the FG.. I take care of it pretty much. I mod it, clean it and am learning to maintain it. Dad drives it to and from work and so on.

With the FG, I'll have my P's so I can drive it after school and on the weekend myself, but I think gradually, dad will pretty much let me own it (given that I'm responsible, so who knows ) and use he'll use the AU. He doesn't care about what he drives, so long as it works.

[Silver Ghia]

I do remember one thing when younger when I was a uni student, having my own car, compared to borrowing my parents or older sister's car, far more freedom. The AU will suit you to a tee, especially if it has your own audio in it.

I had a FB wagon rust bucket that was bought from my neighbour for $200 back in the mid 1970's. It never let me down and lasted until after completion of my course. I remember seeing a big dent/scratch near the back and didnt give it a second thought at the time, how it got there etc.

[Kesh]

I know that buying a car like that for a first car may not be everyones cup of tea but I'd really like to change the subject to what I originally intended.

I can understand that everyone is in a different position and all have different views on first cars but it really isn't what I'm after at the moment. Perhaps I'll bring this up closer to my birthday next year.It seems like I'm defending and trying to justify why I'm getting a such a car for my birthday.

I'm 90% sure I won't be working next year during school as I'll be all out studying so what ever my savings are now + a few hundred will be it, it won't buy me a decent working car to drive.
I'd say we leave it at that.

To modify/reinstate the original question I had.. What can I learn in the AU (which dad uses for work) to better prepare for owning and maintaining my own car? Where are some resources I can look up?

Are there any things I can practice for modifying (ie working with fiberglass)?