VT Commodore Vs AU Falcon

[Commo64]

Hi guys, I'm asking an age old question here but which car do you think is better... Obviously the VT looks much better but I seem to be seeing more AU's on the road these days... Could it be that the P-Platers and Bogans have destroyed the VT's or are they just less reliable?

 

[Commo64]

Hi guys, I'm asking an age old question here but which car do you think is better... Obviously the VT looks much better but I seem to be seeing more AU's on the road these days... Could it be that the P-Platers and Bogans have destroyed the VT's or are they just less reliable?

View attachment 235150

Don't worry about the attachment, that was a mistake

 

[Astranomical]

Mechanically, while the VT is pretty robust (especially in V6 form), the AU is even moreso, the Intech is pretty hard to kill - one of the reasons it was so popular with taxi operators (along with them being very economical on gas). Plus, AUs seem to be respected these days thanks to the “AU Falcons doing amazing things” meme, whereas VTs are sadly seen as a bit of a joke.

As for what I prefer though, VT all the way.

 

[Commo64]

Mechanically, while the VT is pretty robust (especially in V6 form), the AU is even moreso, the Intech is pretty hard to kill - one of the reasons it was so popular with taxi operators (along with them being very economical on gas). Plus, AUs seem to be respected these days thanks to the “AU Falcons doing amazing things” meme, whereas VTs are sadly seen as a bit of a joke.

As for what I prefer though, VT all the way.

Well said... I think the VT is a bit underrated but this was the best selling commodore and the platform that spawned countless concept and production cars... The “AU Falcons doing amazing things” meme is kind of funny but VT memes mainly consist of bogans blowing up their engines, which gives the Commodore a bad image unfortunately...

 

[Brettly-2008]

Mechanically, while the VT is pretty robust (especially in V6 form), the AU is even moreso, the Intech is pretty hard to kill - one of the reasons it was so popular with taxi operators (along with them being very economical on gas). Plus, AUs seem to be respected these days thanks to the “AU Falcons doing amazing things” meme, whereas VTs are sadly seen as a bit of a joke.

As for what I prefer though, VT all the way.

Dunno about the VT being considered a "joke" By who? What does that even mean? If anything the AU has been a laughing stock due to its ugly duckling image and almost killing off Falcon. It's been disliked for so long that it's become an icon -sorta like the underdog. Truth is, taxi durability aside, VT was/is a better car in pretty much every area, sold more examples, spawned more platforms and won Wheels COTY in 1997.

 

[someguy360]

AU's are having a cult comeback.

They were hated when new but actually starting to become sort of a cult classic icon now and are becoming desirable in the modern/retro classic scene (not really by bogans or p platers, they are getting outpriced out of the market as the cars aren't $500 shitters anymore).

It's becoming one of those, it's so retro ugly it's cool kinda cars.

The VT is better in just about every way but I'd still kill for an AU XR8 ute like this.

I remember seeing a few years ago people barely able to give away V8 manual AU's and now you won't see many clean condition ones under 20k (at least in SA).

Remember the styling of the XD-XE wasn't well recieved after the XA-XC styling when they came out, but look now factory V8 XD's are going for 50k plus.

 

[bluehighway]

Rust seems to be an issue with some of the AU's ,Ive seen a few bottom of the bootlids bubbling and door pillar issues on a few ive looked at... Yep I like the AU XR shape but would be very wary of rust issues...GM whacking the LS1 into later Commodore models sold me ...
This from the ford forums...lol
"I'm going back a few years now. The rust issue in au/ba was discovered in 2004 when a show car in a Brisbane car club was getting some paint work done. It was a 250 pursuit ute from memory, anyway when they unbolted the tub from the cab the rust had eaten its way completely through the cab on one side.

Surface rust issues were found when they unbolted the door hinges and front guards showing bare unpainted steel. Anyway the car owner had some pull with ford and had it repaired and painted through Brisbane dealer. Then the flood gates opened with a fair few club cars having similar repairs done, from memory it was costing Ford roughly 3k per car. The panel shop entrusted by ford to do the repairs was flat out with its workload alone.

I was going to have my first t3 done but I couldn't handle the thought of my brand spanking new car stripped to pieces and the interior filled with panel shop dust. They were removing all four doors, boot, bonnet and front guards on some cars. So that was Ford hq paying for fairly substantial repairs on au/ba xr's and fpv stuff to. Some were brand new. Ford did eventually turned the tap off. I'm sure some ff members who were in the club had their cars repaired. "

 

[Commo64]

Rust seems to be an issue with some of the AU's ,Ive seen a few bottom of the bootlids bubbling and door pillar issues on a few ive looked at...
This from the ford forums...lol
"I'm going back a few years now. The rust issue in au/ba was discovered in 2004 when a show car in a Brisbane car club was getting some paint work done. It was a 250 pursuit ute from memory, anyway when they unbolted the tub from the cab the rust had eaten its way completely through the cab on one side.

Surface rust issues were found when they unbolted the door hinges and front guards showing bare unpainted steel. Anyway the car owner had some pull with ford and had it repaired and painted through Brisbane dealer. Then the flood gates opened with a fair few club cars having similar repairs done, from memory it was costing Ford roughly 3k per car. The panel shop entrusted by ford to do the repairs was flat out with its workload alone.

I was going to have my first t3 done but I couldn't handle the thought of my brand spanking new car stripped to pieces and the interior filled with panel shop dust. They were removing all four doors, boot, bonnet and front guards on some cars. So that was Ford hq paying for fairly substantial repairs on au/ba xr's and fpv stuff to. Some were brand new. Ford did eventually turned the tap off. I'm sure some ff members who were in the club had their cars repaired. "

Does rust also affect the VT's because I haven't really heard any reports of rust like the AU and BA series...

 

[Commo64]

AU's are having a cult comeback.

They were hated when new but actually starting to become sort of a cult classic icon now and are becoming desirable in the modern/retro classic scene (not really by bogans or p platers, they are getting outpriced out of the market as the cars aren't $500 shitters anymore).

It's becoming one of those, it's so retro ugly it's cool kinda cars.

The VT is better in just about every way but I'd still kill for an AU XR8 ute like this.

I remember seeing a few years ago people barely able to give away V8 manual AU's and now you won't see many clean condition ones under 20k (at least in SA).

Remember the styling of the XD-XE wasn't well recieved after the XA-XC styling when they came out, but look now factory V8 XD's are going for 50k plus.

Cheapest AU I found on carsales.com.au

Here's the cheapest XR8 I found on carsales.com.au

They're definitely going up in value and a few days ago, I found an AU for $900 which was already snapped up (Unlike a few years ago when these were dirt cheap)

 

[bluehighway]

Apparently the au3 xr8's are the ones to grab cause they ironed out the kinks and added a few xtra horses..... not sure they made them out of better steel though...Id rather push my Holden than drive a Ford...lol Cheapest VU manual ute/sedan on carsales...(closest to the VT) and a VT2 sedan... 18k each for both the ute and the sedan...the fords are cheap...lol