Around town, the automatic transmission wins out. While both transmission types will happily meander in and out of dense traffic and navigate around obstacles at low speeds (the low-end torque is useful here), the auto is just easier.
While it's not a hassle with the manual, it's more responsive nature means you'll have to be light on the throttle and quick with the shifts.
Parallel, reverse and general parking duties can be daunting with the low ride height of the car and wide assortment of bodykit extras, but the turning circle of 11 metres kerb-to-kerb is pretty good for a car of this magnitude and helps reduce the anguish.
If commuter traffic is a regular part of your driving regime, the automatic gearbox again gets the nod, with its ability to quickly drop gears for overtaking and lane changes. The manual won't protest in heavy traffic, but your left foot will after repeated applications of the fairly well-weighted clutch.
The driving position in both the FPV GT-P is good, but I found that the GT is better suited to hard driving. While the latter doesn't have the GT-P's taller seats, for me the GT offered a more supportive driving position. That said, there's very little difference between the two, and both have multi-direction electrically adjustable drivers seats.
The automatic GT-P we drove also had the adjustable foot pedals. While I personally found the factory setting to be fine, the level of adjustment is impressive, and will be a godsend for those who prefer to driver with the seat pushed back or have short limbs.
Take the time to drive these beasts out of town and their mild-mannered personas fly out the window as the lusty V8 siren song takes over your senses.
The new 5.4-litre V8 engine is a work of art. Sure, it looks good, with numbered FPV build plates, 'Boss 290' badging on the engine cover and the biggest cylinder heads this side of a maritime mill, but it's the crisp sound and physical response of the powerplant that is most pleasing.
While the GT was quicker, due to the manual transmission, the GT-P was no slouch and the sports shift tip-tronic mode works brilliantly with the V8; it's ability to hold gears even at the rev limiter is commendable, giving you more control when firing out of corners.
Approaching corners at speed in the GT and GT-P feels a lot better and safer than you would think for such a huge car, and Ford has really done well getting such a reassuring 'feel' to the way the car sits on the road.
Tickle the brakes (or feather them lightly if you've opted for the rip-snorting Brembo package), set up your line and revel in the way the car grips: The FPV's track wonderfully through even the tightest of corners, and the chassis dynamics are so good that small corrections mid-corner won't upset them.
Once you've reached the apex of the corner and can clearly see your exit, it's time to get back on the loud pedal, and both cars respond predictably, with a hint of oversteer if you push a little hard as the the rear hoops step out, only to be persuaded back to the land of adhesion thanks to the non-intrusive (for Australian cars) traction control.
The FPVs can hold a much higher corner speed than I anticipated their attitude on the road is very confidence inspiring.
While there are limits to the vehicle's grip, you'll have the push the über-sticky Dunlop SPs extremely hard to do so. To be honest, I was surprised at how focussed and planted the car felt around corners - the word 'racecar' springs to mind here.
The FPV engineers have done stellar job tweaking the suspension, with both front and rear ends getting stiffer spring rates, retuned dampers and improved anti-roll bars. There is mild bodyroll during high-gee cornering, but the lardy cars keep most of the weight transfer under control, and you'd be surprised at how quickly and effortlessly these big brutes change direction at speed.
Turn the traction control off and you'll have to have your wits about you, because the way the cars put their power down is frightening. The auto is very much the softer sibling and will suit drivers who like to go fast, but who don't like getting all crossed up with over-ambitious throttle prodding.
With traction control turned off in the five-speed manual however, second gear fishtails are common, such is the sheer grunt available under your right foot. But even when things go a little pear shaped, the brilliant chassis dynamics will talk you through the whole thing in slow motion, allowing you to calmly re-correct and slot back into line.
In manual form, the GT will go from 0-100km/h in about 5.8 seconds in good conditions and though we didn't get to test it on the quarter mile, word on street suggests a sub 14 second pass. We timed the 80-120km/h roll in just under 4.0 seconds in the auto, which indicates how powerful and flexible the powerplant is when cruising.
Deceleration was gob-smacking (literally) in the GT-P, equipped with dinner-plate sized disc brakes of Italian origin. Up front, the GT-P makes use of 355mm cross-drilled, pillar vented discs, clamped with Brembo four-pot calipers that bite harder than a pit-bull at dinner time.
At the rear are 330mm ventilated, cross-drilled discs again shod with four piston calipers, and to top it all off, you get stainless steel brake lines, and the now-obligatory EBD and ABS systems.
The GT gets the 'standard' brake package, though the discs are too big to fit in anything less than a 17-inch wheel.
They're not as fade-free and instantly arresting as the stoppers on the GT-P, but they still do a good job: Up front are 325mm grooved discs with twin piston calipers, while at the rear a large single piston caliper works on 303mm discs, supploed by PBR.
As far as vehicle handling goes, the way the two FPV sedans behave is at odds with their sheer size and weight - they are serious drivers cars with serious potential.
If you want the ultimate V8 sports tourer, you'd be hard pressed to find an Australian car that performs as well as this - and at this price.
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