And now I miss my Falcon ...
In this thread -
https://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11484208 - I relate the saga of repairs to a BF XT Falcon sedan.
It got to the point where I was over fixing it and just wanted some reliability so I bought a one-owner with service history Toyota Aurion Sportivo (12/06 - same age as the BF) with 186k km on it.
And it's okay.
But it's three inches narrower and the wheelbase is three inches shorter.
The suspension is bouncy and choppy (might be dampers but I doubt it).
The cruise control wand is dicky compared to the BF's controls.
The screen dimmer doesn't dim the lights illuminating the stereo controls.
The footbrake is fine but it isn't a handbrake.
The engine has grunt but it doesn't have the same effortless torque as the BF did.
The front wheel drive means I can feel those 24 valves through the steering wheel (and speaking of which, the offset is okay but why on earth is there any at all on any vehicle ??? Ergonomics - hellooo ....).
The rear seat doesn't fold down for when I want to drag home big wide things though there is a tiny ski port.
It's had a radiator a while ago and hopefully it won't need a water pump or alternator for a while if at all.
The dash plastic is melty (and hopefully has outgassed all its VOCs), and the dash is a little rattly on some road surfaces.
Seats are okay.
Radio is brilliant (like my Hilux's radio - it gets AM stations from many miles away whereas the BF's was hopeless).
All in all a good enough bus for the highway (where most of the kays will be driven) but it's not as nice as the old girl was.
Spotted an FG Sprint today. Looked tasty despite the idiotic screen controls for the fan etc. Sigh.