Why Ford Still Needs a Falcon
In this modern day world of emissions regulations and fuel economy standards, automotive manufacturers are working feverishly to build new vehicles that are greener than ever. For manufacturers like Ford, that means EcoBoosting everything they make.
But there’s a market for a big, powerful, V8 rear-wheel drive sedan. I know this because Dodge makes one, and it’s brilliant. That’s why Ford needs to give us a new Falcon!
The Dodge Charger is the company’s largest family sedan. It comes with a litany of engine options, including a 707 horsepower Hellcat version, but the one that’s really the bargain of the millennium is the 392 cu/in Scat Pack V8. It starts at $39,995 (before destination). That’s within a thousand dollars of the starting price of Ford’s Taurus SHO, but the Scat Pack makes 120 more horsepower. That’s an additional Ford Fiesta’s worth of power!
Unlike the SHO, the Scat Pack sends power to the rear wheels exclusively. For those that experience winter, all-wheel drive would be nice to have. Dodge’s sister company, Jeep, does have the same engine attached to a four-wheel drive Grand Cherokee.
Like the Taurus, the Scat Pack Charger is only available with an automatic transmission. That’s fine though, because it is sourced straight from ZF, and cranks off shifts in 250 milliseconds. It shifts so quickly that the exhaust literally barks as the transmission grabs the next cog.
Stopping power is provided by a set of 4-piston Brembos up front and 2-piston in the rear. They’re perfectly fine for street use, but a recent lap around Road America for the MAMA Spring Rally shows their weakness on the race track. But most people who buy this type of vehicle will never take it to a road course.
Out of the box, the Scat Pack will easily make the run to 60 miles per hour in under 5 seconds. A fully-customizable launch control system allows you to pick the launch RPM. That way you can tweak it for the surface you are on and the conditions of the track.
It also comes with something called Performance Pages which allow you to track all sorts of metrics, including 1/4 time and braking distance. While we’re not sure how accurate they are compared to GPS performance tracking, they are fun to play with.
That brings us back to the Ford Falcon. The next-generation SHO will surely have an all-wheel drive setup like the current version. We speculated recently that it could be in the 450 horsepower range with the 3.5L EcoBoost V6. But Ford still puts a V8 in the Mustang, and we feel they should put it in a big sedan as well.
Dodge has proven that people want a vehicle like this, and Ford shouldn’t leave them all by themselves in the high-horsepower, rear-wheel drive V8 sedan fight. That’s why they need to do a new Falcon sedan, and sell that bad boy here in the United States.
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