The Ultimate Driving Machine.

Ah, finally we reach peak ReDriven. Just re-upload this every week and you'll get to a million subscribers within a year. - owner of 4 AUs

Ex Ford service employee here. I saw the brand new AU come through and then the BA. You guys really have nailed everything about the AU! It's a real testament to how thorough your channel is. Great work guys. Fun facts- the AU was literally designed to be a taxi. They called it 'AU' as this is the periodic symbol for gold. It cost ford 14k to make an AU from start to finish.

As a Malaysian that studied in Melbourne and drove an FG Falcon XR6 for 4.5 years, it is a bloody awesome car ! Thanks to the Falcon I've been hooked to Ford ever since

Inherited mums AU. Running on 5 cylinders, exhaust stuffed, brake shedder etc. Brakes 200 bucks, coil pack 150, new muffler 300, found a fairmont ghia interior for 400. Drives beautiful now. These things are indestructable!!

Coming up on 6 months ago, I was given a bargain basement crap example of one of these for a long term loan; after my "more reliable" Nissan catastrophically failed. It's actually infuriating how reliable its been, given the deficit in love it receives compared to the rest of the cars in the stable. One of the wheel bearings got a little squeaky and I was able to fix it just by turning the stereo up.

When I started working as a Taxi mechanic the entire fleet was AU 2 and 3 Falcons with the occasional Avalon. Man these cars always bring back memories. Some good, some bad. Preferred these with all there faults over the BAs (Rear diff bushes ugh). Actually bought an ex taxi and rebuilt it when I worked there. Awesome cars and great for road trips. I was also the only guy there with long and skinny enough arms to reach the coil pack and bolts without removing anything lol. Still kinda get the urge to buy one every now and then.

My dad bought a Fairmont Ghia new back in the day. He used it to tow his large boat. He did over 300,000 km with it without a single problem. The thing just wouldn't die, and he ended up selling it to his fishing buddy and bought a BF Falcon, which was just as impressive.

I've got an xr8 and I love it. I had the clutch pedal cage bend from the firewall flexing so had to weld the whole thing up. Other than that, had no real issues. Can't wait for an xr8 review, lots of people in the au club would love to lend you one. Keep up the good work.

Nostalgia is the reason i think a lot of young adults will buy these. Their parents drove them. Falcons, Commodores, Avalons, Camrys, they were the 6 cylinder family car weapons.

Give that some Hellyeah! i drive a 2001 AU fairlane with the VCT. Super comfy and Ridiculous Powerful AF and can fit all my guitars, amps, slabs of beer, work stuff, whatever in the boot. have had the car for 15 years now and it's great, i can fix it myself if something goes awry because it it so easy to troubleshoot and work on. if i had to get a new car i would get another one. nothing does it better than the AU

This car will be immortal. We need to start making them again

Dude if you hate ovals, be thankful you never had to deal with a late 1990s Taurus. Those interiors made the one in the Falcon look absolutely crisp by comparison.

I myself had a AU one ton ute, 7n years of absolutely zero problems, have bought two more Falcons since and again only one problem , seal on power steering failed on the second, I've had the current car 7 years FGX zero any major problems, one minor, chimes dont function, needs dash printed circuit looked at. I have loved every Falcon I've owned.

I am a bit of a ford and motorsport nerd. And if memory serves, Geoff Polites commissioned the AU, specifically for V8 Supercars. He wanted a car that would destroy Holden and win the championship. The chassis was tuned by ford motorsport in Michigan. What was its downfall was that when teams got the car, they couldn’t tune the chassis. Don’t forget no project blue print or car of the future yet so no jig for these cars. Ford teams like Stone Brothers, DJR and Brad Jones Racing, yes he raced Fords, were unable to get the thing to turn in and under steer was a nightmare on track. As a road car though the race tuned chassis was a dream and drove like it was a much more expensive car. The AU was a dud on the track bit a huge success for the punter driving around town.

I miss my AUII XR8 red ute. Great car. Only upgraded because of family. My mother in law drive's a AU Fairmont V8.

I've got the flagship. A 99 5.0L LTD in black. What a beautiful car to drive. Just beautiful

I am one of the few weirdos who has always liked the looks of the AU both inside and out. 😄 In fact it is my favourite of all the Falcons. Sadly I have never owned one. I had one of the last EL sedans ever made which was awesome and currently own a BF RTV ute. I have never understood the low esteem that many people have for Falcons. As you state in this review they are very well suited to Australian conditions being comfortable long distance cruisers while also being very durable and generally cheap and easy to fix. That low esteem has been good for me though as it has meant that Falcons have been ridiculously good value on the used market.

I've had 3 NU (AU) fairlanes , 2 of which were ex silver service cabs , one had 1.2 million kms on it and neither of them mist a beat . I've now got a decease estate, series 2 NU (AU) 270,000 kms and it's a super nice and reliable car. Ive had it 4 years now and you know, I really don't want to update lol

Don't bother watching this. The answer is always yes.

I have the AU Fairlane Ghia tickford engine with VCT & tickford wheels. It has been very reliable. I think the mechanic was a bit harsh. Its also very reasonable to fix (cost wise parts are cheap). Comfort is good especially for tall drivers.

In the mid to late 20teens every AU at Pickles salvage was $200 or less, and there were heaps of them up every week. Sadly, most went to the scrappies on auto bid at minimum price, and you knew they'd just get crushed as is. I bought a few to part out, and a couple to fix and reuse, just to save good parts from being squashed really. Some were in really good condition and had ridiculously minor damage but were just written off by the insurers. But at the time it seemed like the supply was infinite, so no-one valued them.

Ive owned three AU Falcons.Two utes and one sedan.Two sixes and one manuel V8 in the ute.All the issues described in the review l have never had with any of my AUs.And you will probably find the ones that do have issues are the ones that have been flogged to within an inch of there life(which is probably a lot of them)not the ones that have full service histories,one owner,allways garaged and under 100k.If you get one like that most of the problems mentioned in the review can be completely avoided.

Definitely an iconic car and one I wouldn't complain about having in my garage if I had the money lol. For a 20 year old car they still look good even today compared to most other cars out there today. Something tells me that Hullsy isn't a fan of drifters lol 😂 Great work as always guys and look forward to seeing what you have in store for us Sunday so keep up the good work 👍.

Without watching a single minute of the video, No, you should not buy one, as most of them as thrashed, and even the ones that are still in good condition are generally in need of thousands of dollars of work.

I live old beaters. When HQs were cheap I drove them. Now I drive a WH statesman cos they’re cheap and fun. Long live the Aussie beater!

I inherited an AU III SR through the family and its was my favourite car ever. Beautiful and rewarding to drive. Comfortable and practical and it was super reliable. Fuel economy definitely didn't age well into the $2 per litre era. As much as the looks were hated on at the time and for some models, deservedly so, i feel it still looked contemporary today and i enjoy the shape of it.

That was the longest "what goes wrong section I've ever watched" and the loosest Jim has been to date :) Love you work.

I would love to see the ba’s getting reviewed.

What a great video guys. My first car was an AU2 Fairlane. You guys nailed the points here! The nicest interior by far though (materials wise) was the Howe Leather Interior that was an option on Fairlanes but standard on the Sportsman. Super supple and soft and didn't heat up us much in the sun. A common issue you guys missed on the VCT is the O Ring in the VCT Solenoid Leaking and stopping the VCT from working. I remember changing mine every 40k KM or so. That premium sound system in the AU2 is also one of the best sounding stereos in it's time. Keep up the good work guys! P.S. Thanks for the Wipertech link. I've used it twice now on my wife's car and on mine

My 15 year old son has sprouted a mullet and wants an AU ute as his first car. I was hoping you'd say not to buy one. He'll probably start wearing Stubbies next.

I just finished sealing up my timing chain tensioner as well haha. Also one the bolts holding the power steering bracket on goes through the timing cover and can often cause a leak. You’ll have to remove this to fix the tensioner anyway. You can use a shorter bolt (or shorten the original by 16mm the width of the bush in the bracket) with a copper washer and punch out the bush in the bracket. Much better than removing the sump and timing cover to do it properly which is a lot more money and time. 😊

Nothing an AU falcon can't do. Im sold

I like how this car is memed to being such an ironic status symbol within the last few years now lmao

Here to help the algorithm. Video is actually 100% spot on. Au SR iii for the past 14years/ 300,000kms on lpg. Still going strong for a beater sh!tbox.

Had a manual AU1 XR6. This thing was pretty quick. Did the full exhaust, snuck in a hotter cam then had the firewall split during a run at WSID. It was a great car, comfy, plenty of punch when you needed it. Nothing else that wasn't self inflicted broke on it either. Was really reliable.

The 3rd option of the time... Magna/380

Hope you do more aussie cars in the future like the EL Falcon and the VT and VY Commodores

After owning a 4 speed AU Forte and now a 5 speed AU XR6 VCT, this review is very accurate. Great to see the car is getting serious attention and not just a meme/skid car appeal. Hope you get to feature an AU XR manual too. The quad headlights, bodykit, and lower ride height on bigger wheels all but solved the looks issue. You could get a smaller/thicker Momo steering wheel. And the 5 speed combined with the 3:45 LSD really makes the most of the modest power on the street!

My daily driver is a AU S2 ute " Marlin" edition, not a bad car, rust in the sills, over heating problems and wobbly front end, I'm taking it off the road soon for a full rebuild.

Some of the best drivers cars from that era- (late 90s early 00s) And (except for the Magna) fairly collectable. AU3 Falcon XR8 manual Magna VRX manual Magna VR AWD Tickford TE50 5.6lt VX/VY HSV GTS

I had a Ford Taurus which was way uglier than the AU and was rubbish in just about every way. The big Aussie car was so much better than the US equivalent.

I remember these being absolutely shit canned for their, let’s say unique design on launch. Apparently a bit too weird looking, but design wise had a very low coefficient. Yet within maybe a couple of years Mercedes Benz launched I think a C Class which was scarily similar & received fantastic reviews for its design.😵‍💫

Sheer driving pleasure. For real though. The AU is actually a very well built and engineered car. The styling took a dive though. The rear IRS is so much better than the BA-FGX. No idea what happened to the later series and the arse end wanting to drop out.

My 1st was a '67 HR Special I purchased for $600 in 1978. It was a heap of junk, full of rust, drums all round, generator and 3 speed crash box. From then on ive been a Ford fan and my favourite was the Ford Fairlane Ghia AUII six. Three months ago I bought a dirt cheap 2005 WL Caprice 5.7L LS1 with 330,000km on the clock and I must say Holden had moved on just a tad from 1967. Not a spot of rust anywhere, no leaks, squeaks or rattles, interior like new, brales pull up smooth and straight, suspension is still tight and steering is straight. All I've needed to do is replace both headlights (crumbling cases) and the A/C expansion valve and condenser. Now my loyalty is split. Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Toyota, Renault, Jaguar have done little to convince me that it was the quality of lical manufacturing that brought down Ford and Holden in Australia.

"Vehicle Make Model | ReDriven used car review" 👍

That safety tech voiceover is GOLD! 👍😁

Fantastic! More Australian content please. A long term ownership of Commodore, Falcon, Magna and Camry would be great.

Got myself a 1999 AU forte sedan. It had 135,000 KMS. Picked it up for $1900. Love it

Used to have one driving Kal-Perth for years. Hands down the best long haul bitumen road vehicle ever. Shat all over the commodores. Best ride ever made.

imo the AU is the automotive equivalent of the old couch that's been in the family for ever. It's comfortable, reliable and cheap. yes it'll degrade its life away but an absolute unit until it rusts to pieces

My dad has an AU series 3 wagon he bought from our local Ford dealer as a demonstrator early in 2003, he saved a few thousand dollars, the car already had 2.000 kilometres up. Apart from a sagging roof lining in places, a quote of $400 made by an upholsterer to get it glued back up, dad hasn't bothered yet has used thumb tacks, and a couple of seals needing replacing under warranty, and the CD player stopping working years ago, and the coil pack needing replacing a few months ago no major problems and driving with a light right foot on the highway using around 8.3 litres/100 kilometres is pretty good. Keeping gunk from gathering around the seals at the top of the doors with a fine nozzled vacuum cleaner so that rain water can get away is important otherwise rust!

Idk what others think, but I think the au falcon has a very happy face. With the little smile on the bottom.

I had an AU XR6 brand new in 1999 for 18 months and it's still a car I would love to own again. One of those things that at the time you wish you knew more and never sold.

Great review , please do a review on the escort on the hoist in the background.

Had an AU2 Fairmont wagon as a company vehicle and what a bloody good thing that was to drive, company bought a few BF wagons when Ford announced that they were discontinuing the wagons and they were O.K but I still preferred driving the AU. I don't understand why everyone puts the Barra engine on a pedestal, yes they were more powerful then the intech & vct sixes that AU had but they were also heavier and the light, nimble steering of the AU was lost forever in favour of something that steered like a barge in comparison. Jim the mechanic seems to go on forever about the mechanical issues with the Falcon but as mentioned they are now 20 years old and a lot of the issues are just annoying reoccurring things. Some years ago I had a mate who upgraded from a used Falcon to a newer (but second hand) Subaru and at the time he kept going on about the build quality of the Subaru being so much better than the Falcon blah blah, but here's the thing, all cars wear out eventually as did the Subaru and the cost of repairs and maintenance spent on the Subaru was all but the same as the total cost of repairs to the Falcon during his ownership of it. That's the comparison, yes you'll be constantly spending smaller amounts of money fixing annoying reoccurring issues with the Falcon or a single larger lump of money on the Subaru when eventually it needs repairs, but of course it's the Falcon that gets lumped with the expression "I'm always throwing money at it".

I wish Ford, Mitsubishi, and Holden kept their factories in Australia. They didn’t need to churn out many cars; all they needed to do was to churn out low volume unique bonkers cars. This Falcon is an excellent example of Australian engineering.

Yes! The episode we’ve been waiting for!! Of course buy an AU!

Yeh, I had an AU Forte. Don't know what happened to it after I left it on the side of Pioneer drive near Dalton park Towradgi and walked away from the bloody thing. Was going around the bends and all of a sudden I saw a fireworks show coming from the front wheel somewhere. Two hundred metres later the front started bouncing me into the gutter, the bloody whole wheel and hub had collapsed and the wheel was at 45° to what it should be. Knew I should have checked to see what that grinding noise was for the last few months.

I've never seen Jim talk so much before 😅😅😅

If I remember correctly, the first few 1000 of these delivered to fleet purchasers were plagued with problems… the companies threatened to return them if Ford didn’t rectify all the issues.

Dave needs to do safety tech for every review!! Had an AU with the whale tooth grill....ugly af but ripper car. Only issue I ever had was a solenoid on the trans needing replacing to stop jerky shifts.

my dad has an eaII fairmont since 1991. He still drives it a few times a week. amazing thing

Had an AU series 1 as a work car Year's ago it was an ex Taxi from Country NSW nearly 700,000 on the clock & it was the most reliable car , couldn't kill it , everything was worn out on it but it just kept going & everything worked on it Aircon was ice cold , it had oil leaks & all the usual stuff but it never stopped it , amazing old car it was such a shit box but so good at the same time 👍

Owned a Ford Fairmont Ghia 1999. Travelled 235,000ks. Independent rear suspension made the ride so smooth.

I’ve had an AU series 3 Marlin Ute since the start of the year and it’s been absolutely amazing so far. Definitely great cars

Title is foookee mate

Man that mechanic report was scarily accurate.

Lol, the way the curve of the windscreen bent light, used to hurt my friggin eyes. What a classic 🫡🍾

The early series 1 also had problems with air-conditioning. The lines were too small and particles often got stuck in them. Series 2 they fixed this problem. My AC never lasted more than 6 months before having to have it fixed. They AC place (Red Devil) said it's very common and they had to fix many taxi's and government cars by replacing the lines. I never bothered and eventually lived without having AC. As you mentioned the rotors would warp but this can be fixed with better discs. I asked around for what the best were and got them at SuperCheap and Ford fitted them. No other problems than that. Mine had an external gearbox oil cooler as it had the heavy duty towing package. Yes it was basic (Forte), with optional ABS which is really needed in such a big heavy car. Couple months later they came with front power windows, mine had crank windows. Handling was OK, eventually I upgraded the front shocks as mine were done and very bouncy. They are very nose heavy and tend to nose dive on landing so take it easy going over sharp crests on dirt roads.

Loved my EF wagon work car. Lovely to drive. Rock solid. Peak Falcon.

Yall really have upped your production quality loved the newer style intro!

the solid rear diffs never die, dailyd a welded diff wagon for ages, ruined heaps of tires not a single axle or diff was ruined for that little horsepower it ironically went faster than open diff did because u could use the grip better

had one for uni driving frequently between canberra and sydney. great cruiser, still miss that 4L. had lots of fun working on the car, replacing belt, water pump, radiator, window motor, whole exhaust all bought off ebay. It is just such a simple car to work on.

It's always been a case of - If you want a large sedan for day-to-day to the shops/school run/work, you get a Commodore. If you are doing any kind of SERIOUS milage and/or towing, particularly on the highway, you get a Falcon. Think about how many Commodores you ever saw as a cab, versus how many Falcons you saw doing it. I currently drive a 2005 BA Mk II ute with over 400k on it and she's never skipped a beat. One of my sons has AUs and is mad about them (yes he has a wicked bad mullet).

My favorite quote from the time of it's release regarding it's looks - "I wouldn't drive one to a dogfight"

I got my first Ford in 1980, ZD Fairlane 351 an fell in love with Fords ..... now dack to the AU, got my first AU in sep 1998 Fairmont with the 4L Tickford, that was my wifes car, I got myself a 2000 AU Fairlane 4L, my wifes car was hit hard by a Nissan Patrol, I gave her my Fairlane and got a New AUll Fairlane 4L, 22 years later the wife is gone, the house is gone, my money is gone, I'm stuck with a 22 year old car and I love it. I do miss my 1 and only LTD 1977 P6.

My bf07 lpg ute still going strong at 300k. Recenlty, replaced ignition switch, steering pump, pulleys & tensioner, harmonic balancer, ball joints but still a good truck to use. Paint going but its lived outside for many years.

My au wagon was a beast and it was a sad day when it went to the farm.

Ive got a series II forte Xpac with only 63,000kms might be worth a bit in the future👀

I drove a Duel-Fuel AU Falcon... From 285,000km to 400,000km. It was a great car and absolutely wasted on me being 17-20. I still miss it now 14 years later

I've had tons of cars: turbo rotaries, V8s, high revving 4 bangers, hot hatches, turbo 6s. I inadvertently obtained an AU XLS V8 Ute in a partial trade for my XR6 Turbo. I cannot explain why, but I bloody loved the AU. I honestly can't put my finger on it, buy the driving and ownership experience was just.... Awesome for some reason.

mine has nearly 400k on the clock, runs smooth as, never had the head off just the manifold gasket replaced (factory issue). Doesn't burn oil either, it's crazy how well built the engine and drive train is on these. ask any old taxi driver and most will tell you the ford inline 6's, even back to the old crossflows were the king of km's.

beAUtiful 👌

Have had 3 of these over the last 15 years and have never had an issue with any of them. One did 500,000 KMs. One did 350,000 and the last one did 300,000. Best Aussie car ever built.

I've always loved the Tickford XR series. I had a AU XR8 Ute all black, it wasn't super fast but man did it sound so good in the manual. It did great burnouts and went through so clutches towing 1.5t for work everyday as well. It did so well for the life it had.

I remember reading a Ford guy commenting about the looks of the AU and he said it was designed so that its looks will grow on you over time unlike most cars that are good looking when first released but don't age well. After 26 years the AU is still fugly. How in the hell did the AU design get signed off? After the AU was released that was the end for Falcon taking top spot in the sales chart and I put that down to the AU being poorly designed. That being said I didn't know the AU suffered so many problems. I knew about the transmission cooler and the brake problems but the rust, engine and suspension problems I didn't know about.

Always worth watching for your unbiased opinion and it’s entertaining 😎

Had an au2 ute and traded it at 520000klms.Was dedicated LPG only from factory. When I bought it LPG was 30c a litre compared to 105c for e10 so even though used 15l/100 city was very cheap to run. Highway under 10l/100klms. Replaced rear wheel bearings once , brake discs twice alround, alternator because of leaking power steering hose connector, power steering pump worn bearing, auto transmission rear seal and thermo fans. When I sold it didn't blow smoke or use oil over 10000klm service interval.only used 5w30 mineral oil. Four kids all learnt to drive in it.

Right on time for another redriven video 🎉🎉

This was what I was waiting for

People take the piss for their appearance which cost a lot of sales back in the day. Truth is they are a bloody good car and even 20+ years later still more reliable than the dual cab ute crap we get today! I'd tour around Australia in a Falcon more than anything else.

I bought a 1996 model falcon.drove it for 220,000 kms without problems.only had to change tyres and brakes. Traded it in for Volvo 2 litre turbo .turbo blew twice in100,000 kms .went back to a ford

Mine has 530000km Still love it. Rust will kill it, has been extremely reliable and get incredibly good fuel consumption on the highway! I'd buy another before any new car.

Such a brilliant car! I love the AU I have had a few😅 they handle like a cruise boat but they are practical. I have also owned, FG Falcons and VF commdores, I they loved both for different reasons. There are only a handful of CARS that aren't equipped with diesel light truck engines that can do up a 1 million kms. The AU is one, anything with barra, one or two models of older Honda accords. I don't recall too many VT commodores getting up they're but I could be wrong. The Avalon's/SV20 camry 1MZ-FE would do half a million easily but they suffered too much from sludge build up I doubt too many would of made it to the million. The AU and VT had such impact on the market. Such a shame they're going extinct.

Window switches cheaply available on Ebay. IRS is expensive to repair if you get problems. Also the fan belt tensioner is more prone to break on the VCT models due to the extra idler pulley and longer belt. Another problem with AU2 & 3 front brakes is the twin caliper pistons are plastic and will sieze up over time, I've replaced mine and my daughter's with steel pistons

i love mine, i'm turning it into the ultimate OEM+ au falcon, started as a Fairmont, put a fairlane/ghia interior in it, XR front end with patrol aftermarket halo outer and motorbike halo inner headlights, sits on a set of 14 inch staggered ROH hotwires on some MEAT tyres, low profile spoiler, s3 fairmont rear garnish, clear side indicators, big ol' exhaust and the best bit....??? a N/A+t barra ready to be swapped in. my bogan rocketship is nearly done

ask and you shall receive! love this upload thank you 😎 BTW i have an AU and cant think about getting rid of it!

My series II has done 450,000 on engine replaced- engine, shockies, springs bushes. balancer uni joints lower ball joints axle bearings, pinion bearings/seals, front seal compressor, rocker gasket timing gasket. Control arm bushes. Coil/plugs Front wheel bearings two engine mounts rear mount, swaybar bushes and muffler, tail light loom. And steering rack sensor/boots/ends power steering pump, Head gasket/bolts intake gaskets. 🙂 $3000 later

Firewalls in all the E Falcons used to flex with a manual. BTR trans whine is as Australian as a Kookaburra’s laugh. Trans cooler is a must for the auto. Can still remember a brand new Series I AU taxi pulling up to a nightclub taxi rank and everyone going ‘no effing way are we getting in that!’ I think the echoes of dealers going ‘wtf!’ when the international ‘edge’ design language AU Falcon, under Jacq Nasser was in full swing (remember the Ka?), was revealed with the waterfall grille, are still haunting old Ford dealerships