This thread is over 2 yrs old.

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*sigh* I guess this might have been relevant 2 years ago :/

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Well I made exactly that trade and I don't regret it in the least. But it's probably not for everyone.

I had an XF van a while ago, after a couple of major problems (warped head and then the replacement motor had a couple of stuck valves) I was talked into buying a "more reliable car".

I got an EF Fairmont, sure it was reasonably reliable. Maintenance costs went up (didn't have the equipment to go lowering the transmission so I could top up the fluid, so I had to pay someone else to do it) but fuel costs went down.

After I got a new job where I no longer need a "reliable car" I decided to get a cheap van and fix it up. About 12 months later, I'm out $350 for the car, about $1000 for fixing, $1500 for tools and I now have a (slightly rough) van that I can maintain myself, better tools and a better understanding of how it all works.

If I was picking a car to drive through the city everyday, I would go with the EF, its nicer to drive when you are doing start stop and it doesn't matter that you can't do everything on it yourself (at least not easily).

If I was touring the country, I would go the XF, its a solid car that is easy to look after yourself (parts are a dime a dozen and you can perform pretty much any repair using only basic tools), and its nice to drive on the open road (even if the road noise is a bit loud at times).

Driving the XF around, I occasionally miss the power and handling (and aircon) of the EF, but I wouldn't swap back.

yeah man, i sold my xf ute to buy my ef fairmont for my daily, plans are to get an xe ute for a project.

If you get an XF, Be prepared to replace the door handles on a regular basis.

It makes me feel a little better that I'm not the only one replying to ancient threads

It doesn't matter when the thread was made as it's still in the system. I read the old post and put my idea's up and i couldn't care less how old the post is. It's an interesting topic, as for the door handle problem, you need to replace the latching mechanism and not just the door handle. EF's have plenty of dramas with all things expensive, eg - air bag light on, abs, central locking, bem modules, transmissions, head gaskets etc, just to name a few. XF didn't have all this crap so they don't those type's of issues.

go the good old xf love em, got a xf sedan work bus and its gota be the most comfy car ive ever owned, its like driving in a lounge chair and the old girl puts up with everything i can throw at it. i dont know what the go with the door handles is as ive only broken 1 in almost 4 years

does anyone know the possibility of grafting the sleek nice door handles of the ef onto the xf???

if u want a car with sole go a x series, e series are a better car but not a better project. i jsut find them boring,


iv had a number of x series, 2 stocko xf's, a modified xe, an xf van daily and now a 351 very nice zk/zl

the thing is to not jsut buy your everyday xf that sittign out there for a 1000 dollars.


look at spending around 3000 for an imaculate stockos or 4-5000 for something in mint condition thats been modified.

i spent 6 and got a 160,00km worked 351, stage1 c4, lsd, 4 wheel disks, resprayed narooma blue, immaculate everything zk fairlane with zl front end and mags.

or fo rthe same money u can buy a pos e series with double the k's

buying an xf was the best thing i did...and the dropkick that said they dont hold value should look at the prices of em atm