get a clue, and i have no idea??? comming from 1 whos an 18 year old and has about 1 year of driving experience up your belt.thats a dumb thing to say to me when i have owned both these model cars, im pretty damn sure i have a clue.

however, i may mention that both have been auto.

You are the same age as me you fool .

Whoever said it, the AU3 VCT XR6 _has_ IRS, it's the HP that doesn't.
And, Cameron, if you read what i said in the first place, manual go for au, auto go for BA.

yer i knwo that, i was talkin about the other lad who wanted to be a hero, cant say ive driven a manual au all that much, but i know the auto ones take it up the.... i think when buying any 2nd hand car u know that a manual is rare and they will hold their value and when they do get age they are cheaper to replace parts in the gearbox rather than the auto.

Most people haven't mentioned IRS because in VCT XR6's (which most have assumed it is) IRS is standard. It is an option on the HP XR6, but again if you're looking at an HP XR6 vs a BA its apples and oranges...


What are you basing your "the BA is better quality car through and through" comment on mate? A BA XT's seats alone are horrible compared to an AU XR6, and if your lucky, you may even be able to find one with leather in your price range. Add to that the fact you can actually remove the s**t stock stereo and replace it with a decent one in the AU, the AU will have more options in it than a stock XT, and the figures most people are quoting for 1/4 mile times are most likely auto v auto, which of course the semi-auto BA box making the better time. My uncle has a manual AU XR6 VCT ute, my cousin has a manual VT SS ute, and the AU keeps up quite easily until they hit about 100 km/h...


Go the AU mate, people dont the AU's cos they are different, the BA's look boring as s**t in their stock form, its only when they get a kit on it that they start looking good...


Don't forget too mate, that a lot of the BA's floating around are ex-company cars, and after looking after a car-fleet for a NSW govt dept for 12 months, they get the absolute guts flogged out of them, gotta wonder how long they will last before you start having to worry about them...

obviously the vtss ute is a 5.0 not a 5.7. keeping up with a 5.0 is no big deal as they are only about 7kw more than a vct. my man ef xr6 could drill a holden 5.0.

you don't have to replace the sound system in ba's as they are already above average. then again people that drive around so that everyone else can hear their music really annoy me anyway.

performance is not going to be one way or the other to any great degree. not all cars are created equal so some ba's will do an au xr and vice versa. vct's were not that quick. once again i could account for them in my ef xr6 (minor mods 130rwkw).

i think the layout and looks of the ba interior are a cut above. too much taurus about the au.

ba's are also a lot easier to extract extra power from. stock for stock there's not much in it but ba's will respond a hell of a lot better. exhaust and edit and it's mid to high 14's.

just hunt around and get a ba xt 5.4.

the only problem i see with the BA XT is they have the crappy drive by wire throttle pedal whcih doesn't seem to work very good. Hard to feed power through and out of a corner.

Also they chew fuel like you wouldn't beleive.

I have driven a heap of BA XT's at work and my honest opinion is i wouldn't buy one. My EL is quicker, i can easliy get it sideways through corners and it feels alot more nimble & lighter on the road. The throttrle pedal response on my EL is sooooo much better than a BA XT.

my 2c anyway.

Alrite... Since nobody wants to say it. Why not go all out and buy a car that has the lot? Say something like an EL FBT on here? As everyone with at least 1% brain activity should know, this is the best of everything. Plus Daniel is keen to sell it and you won't find a better deal than his car.

depends on cost which one you pic.

id keep looking

easily fix........ compile a comparison list between the two models, advantages & disadvantage, road test report by those motor web site like drive.com & the rest. then make your mind up.
Do you own valuation by taking the two out for a test drive, don't just drive it. flogged the guts out of both but with in the speed limit. brake & cornering test.

you'll find the AU will come on top overall. but its up to you.

I always hope when I get a cab that its a BA cause the AU's are always falling apart!!

ok. for no other reason than the fact i am always looking at the market place, i did a little research on my own, something the original poster should also do if he is serious. these two links are for similarly priced vehicles and i know which one i'd prefer. the first is a ba xr6. the 2nd is an au3 xr6vct. i was originally going to look up ba xt's like this thread is about but was quite surprised at the price of the au3's.

in case you are thinking its the dearest au3 and the cheapest ba xr6 then you are mistaken.

this is case closed i reckon.

http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales ... &make_id=6

http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales ... &make_id=6

I'm pretty sure i read the opposite somewhere, that the majority of cab drivers prefer the AU's to the BA's and say the BA's are POS....

prydey, the BA needs a service, new tyres and rwc, so that accounts for a bit of a price difference, but yes you make a valid point, the two xr6's ar very similar in price, i would say however the au would be more negotiable as it's an older car and the guy would be keener to get rid of it.
and smiley, the interior of the AU cabs is often falling apart as they've mostly done a lot of k's, but 99% of taxi drivers will tell you mechanically and for drivability they prefer the AUs.

they were just the 2 cars i selected. was merely pointing out that for the price of an au3 xr6 vct you could just about get a ba xr6.

or you could get your ba xt and have a couple of grand left over to improve the looks/performance etc.

all these people on here that say they prefer their 5 - 10 year old cars over the ba..... thats just silly and quite often you compare cars you have modified. so your e series xr handles better than a ba xt. what if you compared a stock ef gli to a ba xt. that would be a more fair comparison. or you could modify the ba like you have your e/au series to even it up.

every motoring journo on the planet will tell you the ba is the best ford yet bar none. they may be paid to say that but they are not wrong.

anything that looks like a holden, you can forget about it!

On countless times I've thought of upgrading the AU for a BAII or III but pull away from it. reason was, interior design, braking & handling.
comfort & straight line performance, the BA XR6 leads by a margin.

look at the market today, the BA has drop in prise compare to a AU III XR6 VCT.