Nothing like a little Force

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Ford New Zealand has been a little busy in the past few months, adding a little Force to its FPV range and releasing details on some money-miser models which may have more appeal to the trade than even Ford could predict.

 


But we’ll talk about the glamour and glitz models first and Ford-most.

 


For those who’ve been hiding under a pile of timber, the FPV range is the performance arm of Ford, based in Australia. It’s from these guys that we get the GT, GT-P and, most recently, the Typhoon.

 


Well, the boffins outside Broadmeadows (where FPV is based) have been doing some number crunching, some engine testing and some serious looking at the performance market place, and the new Force cars are the net result.

 


There are two Force cars – the Force 6 and Force 8 – and, not surprisingly, the power is in the name, or the – name is in the power.

 


The Force 6 shares the same engine as the Typhoon – an inter-cooled F6 270 Turbo in-line six-cylinder that produces 270kW of power at 5250rpm and 550Nm of torque at 2000-4250rpm.

 


The F6 270 power-plant is one of the most powerful production six-cylinder engines in the world.

 

 

Following that, the Force 8 is powered by the quad cam 5.4-litre Boss 290 V8 – built on the only V8 engine production line in Australia – with 290kW of power at 5500rpm and 520Nm of torque at 4500rpm.

 

Both models benefit from the ZF 6HP26 high-torque sixspeed automatic transmission, and feature 4-piston front and single-piston rear Brembo brakes (with the option of 6-piston front and 4-piston rear Brembo brakes), 19-inch chrome shadow alloy wheels, sportstuned suspension, limited slip rear differential and a raft of interior and exterior trimmings.

 


Pricing for the BF FPV Mk II range gives you the Typhoon in manual or automatic at $67,490, the GT in manual or automatic from $71,990, the GT-P, manual or automatic from $79,290, the F6 Tornado ute in manual or automatic from $62,990, Pursuit ute in manual or auto from $65,490, and the Super Pursuit ute in manual or auto from $74,990.

 


The Force 6 – in auto only – is priced from $74,790 and Force 8, again in auto only, is priced from $79,290.

 


But for those looking for something a little more workoriented, try this: Ford has introduced a Focus model in a wagon variant. What’s even cooler is the fact that this tradesman’s friend is a diesel!

 


Actually, Ford has brought in a 2-litre petrol version as well, but the smart money’s on the 1.8 turbo-diesel. The smart money has to stay in the pocket for a little longer though as the cars don’t go on sale until January.

 


To whet the appetite, we can tell you a little about what makes them go – the 1.8 turbo diesel produces 85kW of power at 3700rpm and 300Nm of torque at 1900rpm, while the petrol delivers 107kW at 6000rpm and 185Nm at 4500rpm.

 


And what does this mean in terms of economy? The turbo-diesel returns, according to factory fi gures, 5.7-litres per 100km. The petrol delivers 8 litres per 100km.

 


The diesel is only available with a five-speed manual transmission and the petrol is only available with a four-speed automatic.

 


As far as carrying capacity is concerned, the Focus wagon has a load space length to the back of the rear seats of 1.04m and, when the rear seats are reclined, this increases to 1.67m.

 


The Intelligent Safety System is a key component of every Focus. It includes driver and front passenger air bags, ABS brakes with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution, Beltminder system, crash severity sensor and pyrotechnic seat belt pretensioners.

 


Ford New Zealand’s Richard Matheson says all Focus vehicles in the range feature driver and front passenger, and side curtain airbags as standard, adding to the already excellent safety levels of the vehicle.

 


“As with all of our base-level Focus range, cruise control, front seat side airbags and power exterior mirrors are standard, in addition to air-conditioning, ABS and a CD player,” he says.

 


Pricing for the new Focus wagon in petrol or diesel has been set at $35,290.

 

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