A Falcon, but not as we know it

The open road is the FPV's best friend, with power that stretches engineering boundaries. Photo / Alastair Ritchie

It looks like a Falcon, albeit quite a tarty one, but the latest fire-breathing tuner taxi out of the Ford Performance Vehicles secret laboratory is far, far from your average Blue Oval sedan.

Ford's Australian operation has given us some savage machinery over the years, including stroppy bent eights like the legendary XY GTs and the "whale rider" XB and XC 351s - but it has never quite stretched the engineering boundaries like it has with these new V8s.

FPV has taken the fight to HSV in recent years, with a range focused around the weighty 5.4-litre Boss and a few turbocharged sixes - but for the first time the range-topping V8s have literally blown Holden's offerings off the road.

The engine project is said to have cost more than A$30million ($40 million) to complete. The heavy 5.4 has been binned and replaced by an impressive supercharged version of Ford's Coyote V8 from the Mustang.

Massive internal reworking has allowed some room to safely be pushed - courtesy of a Harrop-developed supercharger with Eaton innards - to the upper reaches, without creating a hand-grenade and staying warranty-friendly enough to keep Ford happy.

There are two versions of this new mill - one making 315kW (the same as the last Boss) and the wild 335kW engine in the GT, GT-P and GT-E sedans. The car tested here had three runs on a rolling road dyno, clocking up 306kW at the massive rear wheels - which would indicate power output closer to 360kW at the flywheel.

Granted, at well over 1800kg, the FPV does need a good spoonful of power to get it moving - but these are serious, serious numbers in anyone's language.

By wedging this blower deep into the five-litre's V, the GT has improved its on-road behaviour significantly. It still employs the tried-and-true MacPherson struts at the front and multi-link rear, but the engine swap itself saved nearly 45kg under the beefy bonnet and with the supercharger's position it has developed more positive turn-in than anything in the Falcon whanau's living memory.

On Kiwi roads, with traction control on or off, it is a handful. At 2200 rpm, a walloping 570Nm of torque is unleashed and hangs on until the 5500 rpm red line.

The six-speed Tremac gearbox handled it well - easy changes with a reasonably light clutch that only gets hard on the left leg after lengthy spells in city traffic - and makes for a far more involved experience than the ZF automatic option.

The open road is the FPV's best friend - long, open corners are gobbled up with ease, and it's only when exiting tight corners or hairpins at pace that it becomes unsettled. Keep pushing and it'll hunker down and get out of there, lift off and you're swinging around in the breeze, feeling like a learner.

When idiots pull out in front of you - as they invariably do - there's solid Brembo four pots at the front and two pots at the rear that pull up the Ford's fatness pronto. These are stock on the GT-E and GT-P versions, and an option on the $86,990 GT - a box definitely worth ticking.

As gas prices are heading towards their own red line, buyers of these highly motivated machines aren't going to get away lightly - a combination of boring town driving and quick country jaunts sat the fuel consumption between 14 and 15 litres per 100kms.

On the inside of the third-to-top GT model it's pure Falcon - aside from a bit of FPV badging and comfortable, deep, leather seats and sportier steering wheel - with Ford's entertainment system that includes Bluetooth phone link and an input that lets it play nice with your iPod.

The exterior is all about the bling with a deep-dammed front and swollen bonnet, tidy side skirts, a beefy rear wing and four exhaust pipes to show off to the competition. "Hockey stick" decals recall old Mustangs, but they might be a bit over the top for some owners.

The whole package sits on tasteful 19-inch rims wrapped in 245 rubber - not quite enough to tame 335kW when it's slammed to the ground.