Happy Birthday Barra!

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

I have always wondered what else Ford could have done with the Barra, could it have had a future if all things were conductive to further generations of locally produced cars. In my mind, I have this fantasy idea of a smaller, lighter Barra. Perhaps with an alloy block and a reduced stroke to bring the capacity back a little, say 3.5 liters. Direct and Port injection and a higher redline, maybe 7,000 rpm. Teamed with the ZF 8 Speed or the Ford 10 Speed, I have visions of a lusty, rev happy engine with a lovely intake snarl.

It was planned to have a future, before the closure was announced. It had been engineered to pass the next 2 emissions steps, with and without direct injection. It just needed to be able to pass those tests after the required km, as those next emissions steps require the engines to still pass those tests after a set number of kms. Work that would have happened over the following years, before it was no longer required due to production stopping.

I'd say the 10 speed auto would have been picked up if it continued, being a Ford built trans.

Such a shame we never got to see it.

They did trial a smaller capacity version, 3.2 I think. But it made stuff all difference to economy so there was no point continuing with it. There was also a prototype LPi Turbo ute, which was a rocketship apparently. They just didn't sell enough turbos to justify doing an LPi version though.

I wish they would release all the info they had on future plans, but I reckon they are trying to leave it in the past. Hopefully some day it happens.