Something to think about.............

[Pub247]

You ask many a ford fan and they say AU styling was ahead of the times and they'll say that's why it failed

 

[c2105026]

An AUII Fairmont Ghia with lower suspension, glitz and bling, and bigger wheels looks ok.......however.......resale would be just awful......AU1 Forte just looked plain odd.

That being said, VT/VX of same period easily trumps it in terms of refinement, styling, dynamics etc.

 

[Calaber]

The guy who was responsible for the AU styling was Ian Park. I can recall in a motor magazine, just after the VT Commodore was released, Park was interviewed about the forthcoming AU Falcon. He said he admired the VT shape but couldn't wait to see the market reaction when the AU was released. The impression he gave was that the AU was going to belt the Commodore with its New Edge styling.

Umm, not quite, Ian......

 

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

You ask many a ford fan and they say AU styling was ahead of the times and they'll say that's why it failed

And they'd be right. The proof is in the OP.

 

[MasterOfReality]

I think the VT Exec is just as ugly.

 

[BOOST666]

Say what you will about the AU, my old man has owned taxis for 28 years, he is a Holden man but has always run Falcons as cabs, he had 2 AU's that had anywhere from 700,000 to 1,000,000 kms on them before he replaced them, those things gave him very minimal trouble over the years. I do agree they are ugly as sin, every Falcon between XE and FG was a hideous piece of poo imo.

 

[markbaja]

They were a disaster. Had an au Fairmont ghia. Problem after problem. Sold it with 90k because we were sick of it living at the dealer.

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Tapatalk 4

 

[Pollushon]

Say what you will about the AU, my old man has owned taxis for 28 years, he is a Holden man but has always run Falcons as cabs, he had 2 AU's that had anywhere from 700,000 to 1,000,000 kms on them before he replaced them, those things gave him very minimal trouble over the years. I do agree they are ugly as sin, every Falcon between XE and FG was a hideous piece of poo imo.

Lucky man. Most of the cab companies I did work for in the late 90's (Radelaide), stuck with the EF/L until the BA because of the issues they had with the AU. Some even switched over to the VT.

 

[Troy711]

I reckon the AU Series 3 XRs looked pretty sweet.

 

[someguy360]

I reckon the AU Series 3 XRs looked pretty sweet.

Agreed, they were a good looking car.

As said above, they were too ahead of their time.....that was the demise of the AU