found this on another forum.

The latest issue of WHEELS arrived today and there’s a few reviews of interest. First is the first drive of the BF and the next is a comparo between the BF XR6, VZ SV6 and the 380 VRX. For those who can’t be bothered reading through everything I’m going to say, put simply, the BF thrashes both and the 380 appears to be a huge disappointment.
Author: Nathan Ponchard.
Styling:
"First impressions don’t bode well. Outwardly the 380 VRX resembles Mitsubishi’s take on a Camry… American-esque blandness and bulbous behind."
They give the SV6 the OK, nothing flash but it’s far from ugly, and they describe the BF as remaining "universally attractive and unisexually appealing"
Inside:
"Slide into the 380 driver’s seat and initial disappointment prevails again. The steering wheel is unattractive…" While they describe the dash top as "funky" the plastic is "hard and doesn’t match any of the other equally hard interior plastics." They go on to say that the speakers look cheap and there’s no "surprise-and-delight features." While they’re on bagging out the 380, they mention that the air-vents can’t be turned off, the steering wheel can’t be adjusted for reach, p/window buttons and stalks are from the Lancer.
"The Commodore’s controls are actually more tactile, clunky ventilation dials apart, while the Falcon interior is in another league again. The Ford’s classy ambience and impressive attention to detail make the Holden’s cabin look dated and flair free."
Steering and ride:
The 380’s steering "impresses for both its accuracy and well-weighted progressiveness when turning away from straight ahead." "For such a big front-driver, the 380 displays excellent poise and even feels noticeably more wieldy than the decent-handling Magna." They praise the refinement and ride quality along with the seats. It’s remains competitive with the "class leading" BF while being well ahead of the VZ. "The Falcon has a firmer ride than the 380, but it’s impressively damped, has better body control, and is far more polished than the stiff Commodore." The only negative with the Falcon is the steering which is "too sensitive in it’s off-centre response" Nothing new with the VZ, it’s acceptable but not class leading.
Engine and transmission:
The Commodores 3.6L and 5-speed auto are OK, although behind the BFs. "The BF six feels smoother, sounds sweeter and mates superbly with the virtually flawless (optional) transmission." The 380’s V6 wasn’t bad either, although nothing to get excited about.
They go on to say that the Falcon has the best rear seat and the most useable interior room. The Falcon is again praised for having the largest boot.
In closing, the Falcon wins easily and they even suggest that it warrants a genuine comparison with European sedans worth several times more.
Falcon XR6: 4.5/5 stars
380 VRX: 3.5/5
Commodore SV6: 2.5/5
Fuel:
XR6: 13.2L per 100km
380: 13.5L per 100km
SV6: 13.0L per 100km

Performance times
XR6: 7.2 seconds and 15.3 @ 151km/h
380: 8.5 seconds and 16.2 @142km/h
SV6: 7.7 seconds and 15.6 @ 149km/h

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Last edited by blackjack_original on Fri Jun 06, 2014 7:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

nice to see the pov' XR6 beats the commie bout time i say.

wounder how the other ones go guess have to wait till next issue.

Good to hear...keep it comin ford...just need to see how the new instqallments from FPV compare and the XR6T and XR8 BF range

Finally have it over holden in all departments, Now on to be No.1. I heard that they are dumping the tray back utes. Can anyone confirm this, I think its because they can fix them I mean they go thru diffs and gearboxes like they are going out of fashion.

Did we epect anythign else?

Pity about the 380, i was really hoping for something nice and well refined for a good price out of mitsubishi. Would have considered buying one as my next car if it recieved enough praise.

nice to hear that the falcon is still ontop of the crapadore, also that we are no longer last in fuel economy and best in performance. this means that your average XT is a better performer than your average Commodore Executive, as the base Commos only get the 175kw engine, wwhile our XT's retain the XR6 driveline and that...

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=45935

The LS1 response

Lol that vzSv6 got a bit touchy touchy.


What a noob. Obviously he ahsnt seen how many covers holden/hsv have scored.

But richo told him how it is.
Bloody good to see that the BF is getting good wraps from magazines. Well done to all involved i say, now i have something to lean back on in the ford vs. holden argument.
Lol a kid at school told me holden are getting a six speed manual, making a huge deal of it, when ford have had it for ages, then he started rambling about exotic cars.

err other way around

What do you mean frank. He was saying holden are getting one, and saying its heaps new when ford have had the six speed manual for a while now.

Hows is the BF going to compare to the VE. Probably s**t all over it.

Holden have had 6 Speed Manuals for a while, however, the 6 Speed Auto they are getting with the VE upgrade (sourced from GM America I heard) will be new to them. The kid at school probably got confused! Do Commos at the moment come with 5 Speed Auto or 4?

Last edited by twr7cx on Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I dunno. If the rumours going around about the VE are true then it's either gunna be a supercar (e.g. 300kw SS, etc. heard heaps or rumours about how great it's gunna be) or it's gunna be be a flop (heard rumours that they've over shot budget and that, so the range is being cut down - no more Monaro, 1-Tonner, etc.).