Australians have long shown a preference for large cars, especially those living in the bush - those designed to suit the harsh Australian outback as well as to cope with long commuting trips in the city.
They like decent handling and these big Fords satisfy that well. Ride comfort is good, all the more so for cars with a leaning towards sports in their suspension.
These days, Fairlanes are not quite as soft as in previous generations, but it's unlikely that many passengers will notice any loss in quality.
Ford didn't give its Fairlane and LTD a facelift at the same time as the BF II Falcon, which has hurt sales as there are too many styling similarities to the Falcon.
The introduction of a sophisticated six-speed automatic transmission to the luxury Fords in 2006 really transformed them.
The automatic offers significantly better economy, is refined and gives the engine more chance to use the best torque almost all of the time. Ford puts a lot of focus on the sporting nature of the big cars.
There has been some falling off in large car sales as many buyers move across to 4WDs, but Fairlane continues to do reasonably well in the market place. The LTD, however, really is struggling to meet its volumes.
