FPV GS Road

IT'S A GOOD TIME to be living in Australia.

Good point one: we now have access to many of the same efficient new-age diesels as our European counterparts.

Good point two: we can also choose from an increasing number of alternative drive vehicles coming - or soon to arrive - from Japan.

But, best point: we've still got a healthy choice of home-grown V8s priced well within the reach of the average buyer. We're spoiled for choice, and it's little things like this that make this country great.

Aside from the SS and XR8 offered by Holden and Ford, there's the factory-tuned GT and R8 from FPV and HSV – and now there's another.

The GS is FPV's newest entrant to the Aussie muscle car market. It's aimed squarely at buyers wanting FPV performance without the GT's premium pricing.

The GS nomenclature will be familiar to older muscle car fans who remember the Grand Sport package offered on 1970s-era Falcons. FPV has deliberately revived the name for its new limited-edition budget model.

The GS sits at the bottom of the FPV range, and at $54,950 is only $7960 more than the Ford XR8. Only 250 examples will be built. The question is, of course, is it worth the extra outlay?

Styling

Look familiar? It should. Underneath the stripe package and GS graphics lies the standard body of the XR8, albeit dressed up with new wheels (actually the same 19-inch design used by the rest of the FPV's FG-series models).

The visual presence of the GT's raccoon-eyed bodykit may be absent, but the GS is no shrinking violet.

Attention-grabbing stripes stretch along each flank, and the prominent bonnet hump is accentuated by two strips emblazoned with "Boss 302". (Boss being FPV's pet name for its much-loved V8, and 302 being the power output of the GS in kilowatts.)

The endplates of the rear wing also advertise the kilowattage of the GS's 5.4 litre V8, and stylised "GS" stickers adorn the rear doors and bootlid.

While the bumper mouldings and bonnet stamping are the same as the XR8's, there is one key point of difference. Two chrome tailpipes exit from under the rear bumper, rather than the XR8's single outlet.

For those who take note of such things, it's the same dual exhaust system as that fitted to the GT.