If you could change ONE thing about the AU

[ayeyew]

What would it be?

Mine would be the God awful exhaust setup. The rear muffler which sits at least 5cm below everything else, which made me put a hole in the standard one t Liverpool shops and which makes me scrape so often i never take my car anywhere i don't know.

I recently took my car to Wollongong and i couldn't park it in the security parking because of the exhaust :(

My car isn't even that LOW!!

[Papa Smurf]

I agree that would be one of the things that could be changed to make things a little better BUT, the front end (body) could have been a lot more inviting.

Having said that, I STILL love my XR6

[LeadFoot81]

Yeah the exhaust sits too low, if I could change one thing, Id make the rear track wider so the guards dont swallow up the rear wheels, and imporve the stance of the car. The rest is mostly peachy!

[F6 R-Spec]

Rear window on the sedans, look like a taurus. :togo:

[Chamelion]

I have an AU3 wagon. If I could change one thing, it would be the front end. I much prefer the front on the BA.

I do prefer the AU3 interior over the B series though, so it evens out OK. ;)

[The Dok]

Originally Posted by Chamelion

I have an AU3 wagon. If I could change one thing, it would be the front end. I much prefer the front on the BA.
I do prefer the AU3 interior over the B series though, so it evens out OK.

I agree, however the Fairmont wagon interior is way better again than B series (which don't have a Fairmont wagon, go figure) + with Tickford duel fuel it's a great package all round, next on the list is the brake upgrade.

[The_Ghost]

The bloody clunking diff (Not prepared to try to rectify at my own expense). But annoying as hell. Specially when wifey drives, get out of the car with a hedache from the clunking LOL






OR





Handbrake

[FGII-XR6]

the b series engine / transmission in the AU body would be the go

[HLC]

make it faster.

[mik]

reflection on the dash cluster at certain times of the day is a bit annoying.

[onfire]

If I could go back in time, the front end of the series one.. why didnt they simply either colour code the grill or give it a colour coded Ute grill from day one.

[FGII-XR6]

Originally Posted by lukey

Not release it?

the thread was looking for intelligent posts only

[The Monty]

AU1's ride height and brakes. It would have sold awesome if not for those, and a few styling cues, which I think look sexy, but others dont agree with.

[galaxy xr8]

It would have to be the rear veiw mirror and the slant off the windscreen, it is very annoying and difficult to see around, it obstruct's the view, I don't know how other's feel but beeing tall it is very annoying to me.

[redxm]

Useless handbrake would be my choice. another two cylinders wouldnt go astray either

[b2tf]

As much as it will rile the purists, i wish the stroker was an option on all XR8 models.

S1 brakes would come to mind as being someting that never should have made it onto any car (far too small).

Otherwise, probably just the power levels, but for their time they were (and still are) more than adequate. And its nothing a bit of modding cant fix anyway.

[T3rminator]

Those lousy freakin squeeky handbrakes!!!

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by redxm

Useless handbrake would be my choice. another two cylinders wouldnt go astray either

Oh yeah that handbrake issue aswell.

[gregsAUII]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Those lousy freakin squeeky handbrakes!!!

Agree with the handbrakes.
If they made it a little sexier in the front end like just thinking about it a bit more, just so it could of been a more loveable car and not just a taxi.
That not saying i dont love my baby cause i do.


Greg

[LeadFoot81]

Another thing to change (even though I love the way it looks on the outside) is the shape of the cabin/rake of the front windscreen.

Regardless of their 'faults' we all still LOVE our AUs right? Fords mistakes just add character

[El Sucio]

There not being a 6Cyl in the T series.

People have been supercharging/turboing I6 falcons since the EA days at least, plus Holden had a S/C V6 since at least the VS as well.

Surely Tickford could have released a turbo/pd blown I6 alongside the TE50,TS50 & TL50.

The big turtle back shaped centre dash bit (what were they thinking seriously!!!). As much as I love almost everything about my interior I will have to do something with that big bulge before I am completely happy modding it. Either a faux carbon fibre look, colour coded Narooma Blue, brushed aluminium or put in a Fairmon dash. If you look at the EL then to the BA it is a big wonder why they did the big round thing on the AU.

[waggaclint]

XR6 & XR8 in wagons would good...even now with the BA/BF they should have.....

[Mitch_]

start the series off with the series 3 :P
series 3 au is what the series one should've been... would've sold a feck load better...

[RG]

Originally Posted by The_Ghost

The bloody clunking diff (Not prepared to try to rectify at my own expense). But annoying as hell. Specially when wifey drives, get out of the car with a hedache from the clunking LOL






OR





Handbrake

I'll send you a PM in a moment on how to fix that easily and cheaply.

One thing I'd change is the fuel tank location, damn not being able to have a twin system with pipes on either side :

[InfernoSR]

One thing not covered is the stupid shaped pockets they used on the stereo's... they may be DIN in size, but being so slanted on the outside meant that some serious re-styling needs to be done to make things look right...

Another thing is the space left between the inlet manifold and the passenger side inner guard... spark plug leads and camber adjustment is difficult for this reason...

Plus dont forget the low series and high series bonnets... should have just stuck with the high series from day one IMO.

[GK]

Originally Posted by waggaclint

XR6 & XR8 in wagons would good...even now with the BA/BF they should have.....

Agree 100%. XR wagons would have sold like hotcakes!

Series 1 Forte grille. Yuck!
Series 1 Brakes. Disgrace!
Series 1 Ride height. Yuck!
Series 1 Round Air/Vent Switch Console! Not the best!
Series 1-3 Squeaky brakes. Annoying as all heck!
Series 1-3 standard diff should have at least been a 3.23! Why, why, why the 3.08! LOL!

I do however really like the swooping S1 bonnet. Much more than my S2 SR actually.
I do like the rear wagon headrests on the S1, deleted from S2-3.
I do like the S1 low coolant sensor, deleted from many S2-3's.
I do like the real S1 Tickford oil pressure gauge, not the fakey job on the S2-3.

There's probably more! LOL!

GK

[Silver Ghia]

As an ex AU1 Fairmont owner:

Awful rear end style. Curved boot and tail lights making the AU a very sad car at the back. :(

Add also the bubble shaped lower centre dash panel. Wouldve sold heaps more if it wasnt for that.

The AU1 Fairmont front end looks was awesome however.

[CAT600]

275's with 9" or 9.5" rims on the rear.

As was posted earlier, the standard rear profile makes them all (Even the mighty T3, with its extra rear rim offset) look like...gulp.....Taxi's

Nothing that cannot be fixed in the aftermarket.

Daniel

[FGII-XR6]

Originally Posted by CAT600

look like...gulp.....Taxi's

you say taxi like it's a bad thing! the reason they made up the vast majority of the taxi fleet is they lasted. they were by far the most reliable car at the time for a cab ( from experience and hearsay) . i can show you 8 AU ex cabs that are in service with 800 000+ Ks and still going strong and these are just the ones i know of out af a fleet of 30 ( quite a few of the 30 are still cabs )

[CAT600]

Relax, the gulp pertains to the perception of a few T-series owners on here that their cars are not even Falcons, let alone "Taxi's". There is no malice or disrespect there.

I love AU's!!!!!!!!!!!