In 2009 I needed a second practical car.
I had three young kids and was getting around in a two door hilux with no roof. The missus refused to drive it, so if she ever went out she took the "family wagon" and I couldn't take the kids out; stuck at home.
"But I like the hilux!"
Again, I had a look at the new car scene. I _just_ _couldn't_ _do_ _it_. So much money, for just a car! So again I found myself looking at the second hand car scene. "How about just a little runabout?" says the missus.
You know what? With the price of petrol as it is these days, *everybody* wants a little runabout. Which means they hold their price secondhand. But you know what people don't want anymore? Big family sedans. Especially Falcons. Ford had been making less-than-par Falcons for a number of years, but the BA was a great car, and even better the BF was the same great car with the first generation bugs taken out.
I rummaged up $12k(2009) - it was end of financial year and I was up a bit. For that money I could buy a tinny, puny, unfeatured small car, or a three year old falcon that, even as poverty pack has power steering, airconditioning, big comfortable seats and just oozes down the road like a luxobarge. I hit the auctions again.
Since Falcons and Commodores still made up the majority of private and government fleet cars, there were oodles of 3-5year old models available. Interestingly there were a couple of LPG-only falcons - snapped up by taxi drivers looking for new stock for more than the 12k I had in my pocket. However I barely had to wait half an hour before a nice'n'boring silver poverty pack falcon came up that offered little resistance in the bidding, I grabbed it at $11,500(2009). Sure, just add a sign on the roof and it would be mistaken for a taxi - but you are getting a lot of car for your dollar.
In the first two years of driving it I did nothing except a couple of oil and filter changes, and it gave me no dramas other than needing a new battery. Fantastic car, I have once again found my soft spot for the humble Ford Falcon.
...and you know what? The factory standard Barra inline six cylinder engine cranks out 190kW of power! It's like driving a racing car if you let your foot get too heavy! :)