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Auto Loud - August 2009

A bank job for a Bentley

August 25th 2009 12:39
My new lotto car has arrived

Bentley Mulsanne


The new Bentley Mulsanne is due to arrive early next year, which at least gives me a sporting chance to save up (NOT!) or at least pull a couple of bank jobs !

Bentley were inspired by the 1930’s Bentley 8 litre, an example of which shared the stage at the Pebble Beach release, it just happened to belong to Walter Owen Bentley – now that’s a heritage!


This new limo shares a family resemblance with the GT and Flying Spur which is not a bad thing for a luxury car, it does however look substantially classier. That front is not as distinctive as the Rolls Royce Phantom but it is miles ahead of any pimped out Maybach. I now have to wash out my mouth!

The Mulsanne will continue with the 6.75 litre V8 under the long bonnet. It has been upgraded and in an attempt to establish some green cred it may even be able to run on biofuels in some markets. Call me fussy but can I have one with the GT Speed W12?

Wonder if the local Bentley dealer does layby?
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Four cylinder Falcon?

August 2nd 2009 11:37
Ford Australia has suffered a bout of automotive amnesia!

In the rush to save the Ford Falcon, or at least get car buyers interested in it, they have announced that they will fit the Falcon with a four cylinder engine! Seems that history is repeating itself as this concept was tried once before in the form of the unloved Commodore Four!

four cylinder Falcon



Now admittedly the technology is a lot more modern than the sawn off six cylinder that the Commodore had to endure but is a turbocharged two litre engine (ecoboost in Fordspeak) enough to tow the heavyweight Falcon around?

Ford has already announced that the engine will be available on the base model Falcon and the Fairmont Ghia or whatever the hell they are calling it this week (G6E?) so it will be interesting to see what the fuel consumption of this 230hp engine will be!

The spin doctors at Ford have burned the midnight oil on this one as according to them, this size car has had four cylinder engines in Europe for ages! Kinda sort of true, as most European countries tax on engine capacity in varying classes. This is why vehicles such as the BMW 518i existed; they were there to beat the legislation, nothing more. Normal folks normally buy diesel!

This is the road that Ford should have taken, a diesel powered Falcon. Sales of diesel cars in the land of OZ have sky rocketed and rightly so. With heaps of power and fantastic fuel economy, they have finally gained acceptance with Mum and Dad car buyers. No consolation but apparently the Territory will get the just superseded 2.7 V6 turbo-diesel utilised in the Jaguar XJ and XKF, so we know that it will fit the Falcon engine bay.

So, words of advice from Autoloud, if you really want a four cylinder petrol powered, reasonably sized luxury car, buy a Honda Accord!
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