What makes the AU model Falcon ute of 1999 so different to the previous XH model, which was directly descended from the XD of 20 years ago, is its approach to the challenge of being truly multi-purpose.

In a way it’s almost as if Ford’s designers had gone back to the basics of 1934, when a full chassis and light bodywork was the only way to go.

The accommodation has to be up to scratch of course, and that’s taken care of by a cabin that has an identity crisis - it thinks it’s a sedan. But more on that later.

An innovation is the rear bodywork offered by Ford, from trayback to styleside, or you can build your own on the bare chassis. And the floorpan of the styleside module is made of recycled plastic, supported by steel struts. Inclusion of thermos and cup holders in the tailgate is a nice touch for the tradesman.

The lightness of the modules raises the possibility of being able to change from rough-hewn labourer to sophisticated man about town. No-one at Ford could tell me anything more detailed about swapping the modules than "Well, it’s only a few bolts…" but it’s something to think about.

My first experience of this new variation on an old theme was to have been a six cylinder XLS trayback, which is likely to take the biggest share of sales. But then the call came to advise a booking mistake and it would not be available till later, so would I mind taking the XR8 version instead? I protested, of course, but a man is only human after all…

First indelible impression is of space everywhere – shoulder room, headroom, elbowroom, legroom, stuffroom – stuffroom? That’s a place behind the seats to put all your stuff.

Ford calls it Supercab, and it offers useability unseen before in a Falcon ute, or its arch-rival Holden Commodore for that matter. Tilt the driver’s seat forward and a week’s groceries for two can be safely stowed away, or it can provide greater convenience on a long trip. A pity that the passenger’s seat is not tiltable as well, though.

Thanks to that small area of space beside and behind your head when seated, at times you’d almost swear you were in a sedan. It’s quite a convincing sensation, curtailed only if you turn your head sufficiently to glimpse the rear window.

The general feel is of being at the wheel of an AU sedan, but that resemblance begins and ends at the front as the ute’s rear end is riding on semi-elliptic leaf springs. Necessary for the sake of it being a one-tonner, yet not as harsh as might be expected.

It also differs from the sedan in having notably higher NVH levels from the rear of the cabin, a mix of wind rustle and road roar.

By this time we are not so much aware of being in a ute as we are of being in an XR8 which, let’s face it, has always been something pretty special.

Adolescence in the wheatbelt of Western Australia meant growing up in a ute or surrounded by them, but we never imagined anything like this in our wildest dreams. Low-slung firm sport seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel, 5-speed gearshift, take-no-prisoners low-profile tyres on big alloy wheels, lowered suspension and ground-hugging stance.

It also gets good equipment levels with power windows and mirrors, air conditioning, cruise control, CD stereo with four speakers and controls on the steering wheels…and one fairly excitable 5.0 litre V8 (which you can even see – no plastic engine cover!).

Launched with any sort of enthusiasm, there’s a purposeful growl from under the hood as 185kW and 412Nm are applied to getting mobile, and getting the adrenalin pumping.

But if you told yourself "it’s quicker because a ute is lighter than a sedan", you’d be wrong. With a kerb mass of 1670 kgs the ute is 140 kilos heavier than the equivalent sedan, yet the performance still matches its low-slung appearance in many ways.

Running unloaded, this thing is absolute magic in corners and twisties.

The front suspension, tweaked by Tickford for its XR designation, has near-as-dammit to the same handling characteristics as an XR sedan. It turns into corners on command, settles its nose onto line and waits for something to happen at the rear wheels…

Which is where another side of its personality emerges. It’s not so light that it is going to spit sideways on bitumen when 412Nm of grunt kicks in, and the fuel tank is now located ahead of the rear axle. So with two occupants and a few belongings behind the seats, there’s a pretty good weight distribution.

All that, coupled with Tickford’s calibration of the leaf springs (the XR8 has a payload of 770kgs instead of one tonne), allows the big ute to skip through corners with an ease that belies its dimensions. At 5077 mm long and 1870.5 wide it is slightly longer and wider than its predecessor, yet handles like something much smaller.

Good enough, in fact, to make an enthusiast’s drive along their favourite road as enjoyable as ever, which led milady to dub it `the mature sportscar’.

And she’s right. If you can only afford one car and the kids have left home, this could be anything from two-seater sports ute to shopping trolley to holiday cruiser, with the added bonus of heavyweight transport when needed.