It pumps hot air from the engine compartment into the car, right? I remember my mother's 1999 e39 528i had that button, but her 2002 e39 530i did not and living in Queensland, Australia, I doubt it was ever switched on.

Well, if you're quick (say before 2016), if you make the trip to Australia, you can see and feel for yourself (Falcons have nice steering, btw), what 'Murica missed out on. There's a heavily facelifted model coming out next year (a swansong), but for now, I'll just leave this here...

Also, I was dropped home last night by a mid-noughties Falcon taxi with the 4.0 six running on LPG (yuck) and I looked over the cabbie's shoulder to see it had done 760,000-odd kilometres. The worst part of the cab was the smell and the driving skills of the cabbie. Urban American roads are like pool tables compared…

I'm wondering if you've actually in-the-flesh seen a Falcon or better still driven or been in one? I've seen Panthers (not driven one) and been a rear-seat passenger in a Town Car (about as luxury as a donkey cart), so I can make the call somewhat.

We also got the AMC Hornet and Rebel, which was re-engineered into an entry-level prestige car. They were made by AMI, who also produced Toyotas, Triumphs, Standards and even Mercedes-Benz for a while, before being subsumed by Toyota about 30-ish years ago.

Lack of cohesiveness, yet boring? Is that even possible?

I remember our neighbours had one of these (and a Peugeot 504 sedan), in Australia, back in the early '90s. They were loaded, but drove typical old farm-beater cars (Locally-made RHD Yank Tanks and Peugeots) when they could have done better. They were country-hick, evangelical Christians - nerdy, yes, but car nerds,…

Falcon looks ungainly? Compared to a Crown Vic? Huh?

We have a winner!

On a side note, compared to Audi sportbacks, how disappointment are BMW hatches? Why do they make them tall and lumpy, with coupe cues like frameless windows?

Wait until celebrities start driving i3s, they will have a ton of cachet amongst young women. OTOH, a 3er sedan or wagon is the sort of car their parents would have.

BMWs are so cheap in the US compared to Australia. A 328i or 320d is from about $70,000. Because diesels don't like stop-start driving, if I lived in America and was used to crazy money for a BMW, I would buy both of these cars for $80,000 and have my i3 charged with carbon-neutral power for the stop-start…

I just realised it has Queensland plates as well. It's not in Brisbane, is it?

This is just the worst. Especially if it's a V6. I once yelled at a girl in a VS like this 'shouldn't you have a Buick badge'. She had NFI.

Yeah, I think nobody would have complained about the styling if they'd called it something else and it would have been a huge success.

I was going to nominate the BA/BF/FG series Falcons as well;

The P76 sedan was actually copied by the Japanese for the first-gen Toyota Cressida;

I don't know why you'd ever try and put a 44 gallon drum in the boot, but it's very nice to know you can do it.

Ford Australia used a lot of Mazda gadgets in their top-of-the-range Fairmont Ghia and long wheelbase Fairlaine & LTD models from 1984 - 1988. Oscillating centre air vents was one of them. They also had cigarette lighters on every door. Never mind that even back then, they were slow, thirsty and ponderous old…

The drive to Bobbin Head and the Bells Line of Road are good too.