no i live in America most the time and the engine thats in the xr8 is the american 5.4, and i see them tunned every day and they car blow the doors off you little st without even thinking about it, even if they have the same mods don't to both vehicle, problem is the normal english forum member thinks the ford whatever 4pot or 5pot now is the fastest thing since sliced bread, when in reallity they are mass prodution basic engines that have to be work on big time to get any real power from, the only advantage your st or cossie has over the falcon would be weight, so the falcon would need a little more power to compete, but out on the open road, my money would be on the v8 or 4.0 I6 in real every day use, not a wizz pop bang blow little baby engine