Aussie taxis without Falcon

[96falcon2]

Originally Posted by Struggo

I'm in Melbourne at present and 90% of taxis are Falcons. Most times a taxi rank has nothing but Falcons.

Yep, Sat night at 10pm...sea of yellow FGs

[Franco Cozzo]

Buy a transit and stuff 25 people in the back like a Japanese train.

Tullamarine freeway around 6am in the morning there is a massive amount of Yellow FGs coming and going on both sides of the freeway.

[Halfmo Rocks]

a few mondeo diesel wagons as taxis in my area, seem to work well enough right now

[bublik]

Seen heaps of hybrids around town. A big move towards them maybe?

[whynot]

I was chatting to a Camry Hybrid taxi driver in Canberra last week. He picked it up for $14K second hand. He reckoned that Camry’s fuel bill was around $6K lower per year than the LPG Falcon (scratch head on that statement). He said it was a good car to drive, but his biggest whinge was the price of spare parts. A simple ding to the front cost him nearly $1000, were as the same in a Falcon would be a few hundred. He also said that it was very complicated to fix and every little fault required a technician. Didn’t get much more technical info after that, the rest of the trip was the driver whinging no stop about insurance costs.

There a lots of Toyota Camry and Prius starting to circulate around Brisbane. From chatting to them, they are all generally happy with them. Quite few months back, I caught a Maxi Taxi that was a Toyota HiAce diesel. The vehicle had nearly 900K on the clock and close to being forced off the road, only due to its age. The owner-driver stated that we was rapped with it and would never go back to a Falcon again. It was the most trouble free taxi that he had owned.

Somehow, I think the taxi industry is going to survive.

[Frdnut07]

I know of a mob in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne that is fitting lpg to toyota hybrids for taxi fleets apparently theyve found thats the cheapest way

[Ford17]

They will hopefully suffer from their lack of custom.

Good luck finding anything as tough and as durable as the Falcon has been over the years.

No doubt taxi customers will be every bit happy jumping into their imported cab when it arrives to collect them. "Ohhh its so much better because it's imported", they will say.
"it just feels better becuase it's imported" they will say again.

Let's just hope they don't get stuck in traffic with a dead battery pack, broken rear suspension, collapsing chassis sag, etc.

Then again, let's hope they do.

[mick_bris]

Have been in heaps of Prius taxi's.

Every one of them pings/detonates when going up a hill but they still keep chugging along.

Also plenty of VW passat wagon's (diesel) but the gearbox's rarely last more than 100k without some sort of greif.

[JG34JA]

Having seen the odd VW taxi and heard of quite a few, I've wondered how the industry will go with the DSG...

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by FNQracing

Most peoples experience with a Falcon is when they ride in a Taxi. And its generally not a good one.

The Taxi image has been a big problem for Ford for many years now, and shares its role in the Falcon's unpopularity. When most of your potential market's experience with your product is riding in the back of a smelly, dirty cab that creaks and groans - you have a problem.

The feeling potential customers get is generally one of disgust. You're hardly going to lust after one.

I know what you mean about creaks and groans...last time I was in a taxi was in Brisbane, and it was a Falcon...it had some of the most "interesting" mechanical noises I've ever heard, including a sound every time he slowed down and came to a stop that was under my feet somewhere that went "crunch crunch crunch...crunch.....crunch" followed by a "thump!" felt through the floor panel as it stopped. Not entirely sure what it was, but I really wanted to get to my destination and out of the damn thing...

Interesting that in the cities it seems Falcons are the majority...outside the capitals it's the other way around.

Not entirely sure "replacing the drivetrain" is how they deal with worn out taxis either...

[chevypower]

Transit Connect 1.6 diesel would make sense

[pottery beige]

taxi drivers are fairly resilient.. beaded seatcovers and body odour is easily transferable..

[stace650]

Lots of Falcons in Perth. I'm such a Ford tragic that I'm disappointed if I get a taxi and it's not a Falcon. And they don't creak and groan as suggested in an earlier post. The last one I took was as tight as a drum and I chatted to the driver about his Falcon. It had more than 700,000 k's on it. He had replaced the diff though.

[Mr Hardware]

Yeah, whynot has the good oil. Yep, the hybrids really do save thousands on fuel per year, i've seen the fuel bills with my own eyes. Believe me I'm an LPG Falcon man through and through, but even I can't escape these facts.

And yes, body work is going to become an issue. I heard about a VW Passat that got smashed and they had to wait for 3 weeks for a part to come from germany. Now in a falcon if you couldn't have a new bumper, guard and door on the thing that same day then something is going very wrong.

There are more positives about running a falcon than just LPG.

[Jastel]

Agree with Mr Hardware

I have seen Prius waiting 8 weeks for a bumper bar, the old one held on by duct tape, nice look. This was after the Tsunami, I don't think it quite that bad now. Friend only had to wait 3 weeks for a power window switch...

Panel beaters hate them as parts take so long and they clog up the workshop for weeks, but they are normally written off with anything but a small ding as if the chassis bends the batteries cant be removed. There are many Prius driving around with old stuffed batteries where the engine never turns off...they are not so efficient then.

[GREGL]

Originally Posted by stace650

Lots of Falcons in Perth. I'm such a Ford tragic that I'm disappointed if I get a taxi and it's not a FalconAnd th. ey don't creak and groan as suggested in an earlier post. The last one I took was as tight as a drum and I chatted to the driver about his Falcon. It had more than 700,000 k's on it. He had replaced the diff though.

I'm stoked whatever cab I get if they can speak English and have some idea where there going !