XA5800

Quick out line this is the story of my driving impression of the BF Cobra , when driven from Melbourne to Perth. Having a prevoius BA GT That the ususal minor bolt ons & ran a best of 13.1 @ 107 mph.

I travelled with my 13 year old son & I dictated whilst he typed, The title is all his.

Feel free to ask questions at the end of each day. If nnot into reading scroll down to driving impression.


SNAKE BITE

DAY 1:
Our trip begins at Melbourne, Friday morning crack of dawn we check the bags and I decide I should check the bag that contained the car bra that my better half.. packed. Only to find not one to suit a certain BA GT but to match her BMW M3

So I made a quick phone call to car Bra Australia in Melbourne to ask for them to make us a custom made cobra car bra!.. I decided it should have big thick blue stripes like the cobra itself to match, and also some blue writing that says COBRA on the sides of it.

So we arrive at Ethridge Ford, To be welcomed by the team! First priority was of course THE CAR : anyway to have a look at THE BEAST we met the PD crew. There it was sitting right in front of my eyes our new BF GT Cobra.

Some things look better up close in the flesh… so we closely studied all areas when asked my opinion on the white wheels. I simply said “the jury is still out” All paper work and details where handled rapidly as they knew I wanted to get going on the road in my new Toy.

The sales Manager Andrew, made a special trip in on his day off... and the service I received was definitely appreciated.



Andrew has copped a lot of flack on this forum recently.

Due to the pricing policy he was forced to implement.

But why should he be any different to anyone else in business and price according to the market forces?

People that got in early got the cherry, The WA dealers I contacted wanted 20 k on top of RRP , weeks out from the release date.

He treated me very fairly & I have nothing but praise for the amount of customer service I have received.


Any way enough said.


DRIVING IMPRESSIONS

Starting the Cobra it has a nice subdued note, ( some may think 2 quiet) when first driven it felt a little bit doughy down low and un-responsive. Similar to my previous BA GT when new.
Clutch felt light. Gear shift felt firm but a little bit clunky
Brakes required further bending in to reach there total potential. I’m sure the 3500km trip to Perth should sort those matters out.

We made our way off to have the car bra fitted, fantastic team great fit great job and service. Couldn’t recommend them more highly ever.

Finally got to hit the road to Adelaide at around 1:30pm as we worked our way too Adelaide we passed into the Victoria hills & started to work harder bedding the engine components and brakes. Suspension felt firm and the steering was very good and responsive. Half way through this trip we got showered in stones from the truck in front.
The car bra paid for itself!

End of day one we had done 720km and my son was happy to inform me that phase one of engine running in had been completed.

End of day 1 @ Murray Bridge SA.

perthxr6t

Couldn't think of a better way to run the car in and what a great state to drive to.

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BlueTooth
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Air Box Mod
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Waiting for the Edit to come
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5.4 GT

One very important question i've got.... What does it rev to?

By the way they did a great job on that car-bra!!

DABOSS

Man only phase 1 complete ,, redline is not till phase 4 LOL...

XA5800

You will have to wait for tomorrow's instalment, as day two is the big day & we are trying to get to Ecula in WA,about 1400 KLMS from Murray Bridge.

Polyal

Mate nice work, and the misses drives a M3!

Come on..im hanging...next day!

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FOR SALE
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http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11281122

phoonfan

I believe the German cab is for sale and going cheap!

30k wasn't it Brett???

5.4 GT

Damn, ok im really looking forward to hearing about it!!

XA5800

Hey Phoon........German Cab owner here............you still got that golf club under your bed??????

BionicGT

But does it say in the owners manual? We've all hanging out to know how different this engine really is.

XA5800 is a "boldly going where no man has gone before........"

FPV8U

LOL, sounds like an awesome way to get to know your new car...

I loved every minute of my trip from Perth to Melb in my XR8, as for the running in, don't pussy it man, make sure she knows she is a Cobra...

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03' XR8 | Black on Black | Manual | Premium Sound | GT 18's | SL/SSL Springs
BPR CAI | HMS U/D | HMS Full Exhaust
Bluepower Racing Developments

Stefan

What was the damage on the Carbra...my Cobra comes in 3 weeks and
i will need a carbra for the xmas road trip......are you happy with it?

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BF Cobra GT 6-speed manual
XA GT Hardtop Bechtel Yellow...the cruiser
XY GT Quicksilver 4-speed...the bruiser

Green X

Lucky ya driving a V8 then, make it sing LOL

Nice looking car the Cobra's as well, ya must be stocked with it

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XA5800

The intake sound is certainly different above 4000 RPM, It really has a throaty growl.

Different headers & fully stainless smooth cats.

The heders no longer have the o2 sensor in them.

Interesting.

FPV8U

LOL, with myself and Dad playing co-driver to eachother we drove from Norseman to Home (2 hours SE of melb) in one stint.

The Boss loved it too.

__________________
03' XR8 | Black on Black | Manual | Premium Sound | GT 18's | SL/SSL Springs
BPR CAI | HMS U/D | HMS Full Exhaust
Bluepower Racing Developments

BionicGT

I know you're asking XA5800 but I've got a genuine Carbra from Car-bra Australia on my BF MkII and it has saved my GT from stones and even a unexpected scrape on the bottom of the front bar when I dipped into an unseen small ditch. Carbra took the scrape on the lowered edge with absolutely no mark on the paintwork underneath. Carbra's are very well made and easy to fit each time after you do the initial fitting.

XA5800

Bra was a bit over $500......from CARBRA AUSTRALIA!

Stefan

Cheers for that ..it certainly looks good!

I will order tomorrow in anticipation, good to know they have the stripe dimensions too...

Enjoy the trip

Oh and don't give too much away I want to make my own discoveries

Maybe I will have to just not read this thread anymore...

__________________
BF Cobra GT 6-speed manual
XA GT Hardtop Bechtel Yellow...the cruiser
XY GT Quicksilver 4-speed...the bruiser

1970galaxie

Hey Brett, why didn't ya ask me to come with ya?

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1963 1/2 Galaxie Fastback. 427/4 speed.
1970 Galaxie Sportsroof. 460/C6 Matt black/purple scallops.
XA GT Sedan. Monza Red. 351C/4 speed.
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Please visit my website www.xr8ute.com

pitpal

Good luck on your trip and dont forget to vary the revs on your trip home. Not easy on such a long trip

XA5800

5:30AM day 2

After a few heart starter coffees where on the road with the Cobra fully loaded. White wheels are starting to grow on me . I have the trusty radar detector locked & loaded . We let all fluid levels warm up and everything normalize.

We by-pass Adelaide and have breakfast at Port Kennedy. Our intension to catch the ferry from Walleroo to Cowen. The Cobra attracted a lot of attention with the locals . As we came out of the restaurant, we are asked is there something different about the engine in the Cobra , this guy wanted to know all about the Cobra & when asked about the road from Cowan the answer was “WAS AS ROUGH AS GUTS MATE”.


New plan , we better get going as we now have 300 more km added to today’s trip .

Cruising at 140, with Radar detector protection , we came up to a wide load with a police escort. We were waved past. As we went past the police car , he suddenly starting accelerating quickly because he had taken sights on our trusty radar detector on the dash I accelerated gently past the wide load . Leaving the police car stuck with his escort duties and my son quickly pulled the radar detector of the dash and stowed it out of sight in the glove box. When we reached the front escort his partner had a close look.

2hrs up the road whilst cruising at 140 radar detector goes off. ON THE BREMBO’S, applied to 110 and son quickly puts the radar detector in glove box. Police car comes over the all lights blazing flashing and then pulls us over. I get out of the car to meet the officer he says to me “don’t worry you weren’t speeding” and explained that his collogue with the wide load , had a radar detector, detector and could & suspected we had a radar detector on the dash. Could he please have a look at the device on the dash, ( only the GPS was now on the dash.) I got the GPS out of the car and demonstrated the operation to the officer. Only to say that my son was only trying to hook up my phone using blue tooth for hand’s free option , perhaps that’s what set of the detector.




The officer took down the license details and number plate. We spoke for a few more minutes when suddenly, the wide load crested a hill. I explained I wanted to leave , to avoid being stuck behind the wide load & we made a hasty exit.

We drove for about 50km before re-installing the detector onto the dash.

I then performed an under the bonnet check at Port Augusta before hitting the high way and starting to put the pace up yet again to the 130-150km/h range. But at this stage we weren’t sitting on constant speeds but just working the throttle. By the time we had clocked 1500km we had the cruise set on 150 and where starting to cover some ground. (Note to anyone doing this trip, fill up with 98 at port Augusta)

The Cobra Ran hard for the Rest of the day & as night fell we crossed the boarder into WA. The female Boarder Guard was really impressed with the Cobra & made sure we did not intend to drive in the dark as this was too good a car to run into a Roo.

We had traveled 1486 KLM & arrived in Ecula WA .
After such a long trip I got out of the car with out any aches or Pains & Thought to myself BF Cobra the great Australian Road car.

End of day 2 Total distance Traveled 2206 klm.





Hard cut rev limit is 6000 RPM , though my son is convinced 6200, I will have to recheck.

Boss 302 has different headers & cats & a BMC AIR FILTER.
Please feel free to ask questions

WILS_88

I was behind this car in kalamunda today!

BionicGT

That's a shame....6,000rpm is the Boss 290 hard limit. So much for the new 302 engine developing peak kW at 6,000 !!

Wonder if the BMC filter is standard or the Ford dealer put it in? No wonder you thought it had a throaty roar.

anton1503

how was your fuel consumption on jaunt across the country? By the way i love the car!

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