Even in the dry the Falcon is not impossible to launch cleanly, but it might as well be. There’s so much torque that it simply lights up the bags in first as the tach passes about 4000 rpm. And because the throttle-by-wire set-up of the standard Falc is short travel and deader than disco, it’s all but impossible to flex the foot and back it off a fraction to quell the wheelspin.

So you hang on grimly and bang it through to second as the crank spins the engine management into the rev limiter zone. That takes the edge off the smack in the chops as the clutch bangs home because revs have fallen back further than they should (because wheel speed before the shift was way in front of road speed).

The other big prob is the crap gearshift inherent in manual turbo Falcons. Missing the two-three shift is a good bet, but even if it slots home it takes vastly more time than it ought to. Hopeless.

But hell, whaddaya want from a factory-looking five-seater?

And once again we can’t help thinking that if you’ve got an XR6 and aren’t tempted to try this for yourself, maybe you’re reading the wrong mag.

Either way, at $5,650 fitted and fully tuned, you can’t grizzle about the bang for your buck. You gotta have it. You know it makes sense.

Body - Four-door sedan
Drive - Rear-wheel
Engine - Front-mounted 4.0 litre DOHC 24-valve turbo six
Power - 330 kW @ 5500 rpm (est)
Compression Ratio - 9.0:1
Bore X Stroke - 92.3mm 99.3mm
Weight - 1685 kg
Weight/Power - 5.11 kg/kW
Specific Power - 82.5 kW/litre
Transmission - Five-speed manual
Suspension - Double wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar (f); Control blade IRS, coil springs, anti-roll bar (r)
Length/Width/Height - 4944/1864/1444 mm
Wheelbase - 2829 mm
Track - 1553 mm (f);1571 mm (r)
Brakes - 325 mm ventilated discs, two-piston calipers (f); 303 mm solid discs, single-piston calipers (r), ABS
Wheels - 17 x 8 inch (f & r), alloy
Tyres - Dunlop SP Sport, 235/45 ZR17 (f & r)
Fuel - 68 litres, PULP
Price - $50,735 (inc kit)

So a 330 kW turbo Falcon has you wanting more? Peter Luxon seems to agree with you.

The Phase III kit ups the ante from Phase II with an APS DR Series intercooler. The bar and plate unit (as opposed to tube and fin) is a massive 4.5 times bigger than the factory cooler. APS also adds a bypass valve to the standard wastegate to ensure accurate boost pressure control.

The kit is presently undergoing durability testing and will be complied by March 2004.

Phase III is officially good for 390 kW and around 700 Nm, but some dyno tests have peaked just shy of 400 kW.

And the kit walks the walk. Back in December last year at Calder Park Raceway, a Phase III XR6T ute blasted out four quarter mile passes in the 11-second bracket with a best of 11.63. Terminal speed? A staggering 196 km/h!

And for those really off their trolley, there’s now a Phase IV kit. It’s still under development, but this grey mule recently cracked 511 horsepower at the rear treads on an independent dyno. That’s 381 kW at the back wheels, or around 420 kW at the flywheel.