Will the Holden brand survive? - Page 19

prydey · 15-02-2019, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

No they aren't a bad car at all, but they are not in anyway a Commodore.

I'm sure some of the dyed in the wool buyers think that way also, but many clearly don't. Disregarding Commodore nameplate sales history, and disregarding Camry, it is actually selling quite well compared to the rest of the mid size cars.

arronm · 15-02-2019, 11:55 PM

Saw a silver calais today. looked good.

BENT_8 · 16-02-2019, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arronm

Saw a silver calais today. looked good.

A mate has a Calais and he loves it, been a Holden man his whole life, retired Cop from SA so he's driven a few over the years and said it's the best built Commodore hes ever driven.
Only negative was being as sedan as at his age and coming from a Captiva he forgot how hard it was to get in and out of them.

csv8 · 16-02-2019, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

A mate has a Calais and he loves it, been a Holden man his whole life, retired Cop from SA so he's driven a few over the years and said it's the best built Commodore hes ever driven.
Only negative was being as sedan as at his age and coming from a Captiva he forgot how hard it was to get in and out of them.

Should have got the Tourer?

prydey · 16-02-2019, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

and said it's the best built Commodore hes ever driven.
.

Well, it's not made at 'lizbef is it

BENT_8 · 16-02-2019, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

Well, it's not made at 'lizbef is it

I'll give you $50 if you'll stand in front of the Cetrals members down at The Ponderosa and suggest that...

Dr Terry · 16-02-2019, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I'll give you $50 if you'll stand in front of the Cetrals members down at The Ponderosa and suggest that...

Please explain ! What is "Cetrals members down at The Ponderosa" ?

Dr Terry

Bill M · 16-02-2019, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

A mate has a Calais and he loves it, been a Holden man his whole life, retired Cop from SA so he's driven a few over the years and said it's the best built Commodore hes ever driven.
Only negative was being as sedan as at his age and coming from a Captiva he forgot how hard it was to get in and out of them.

My cousin has a ZB as a work car. he loves it and says it is the best Commode he has driven as well.

lra · 16-02-2019, 05:27 PM

^^^^ Maybe I took your post the wrong way. Holden ceased to be on 21 Oct 2017.
It is now in the same category as Leyland, Rambler, Pontiac, Studebaker etc etc…. just a memory of what was.
Even if GM sells it to Inchcape, or Geely, or Mahindra, or whoever, the badge and the name mean nothing now, except as a point of amusement to Australian Fordophiles.
But, again, if I was in the market for a new vehicle, there is nothing in the Aus Ford range either that makes me want to walk inside a dealership and take a test drive.

roddy1960 · 16-02-2019, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lra

^^^^ Maybe I took your post the wrong way. Holden ceased to be on 21 Oct 2017.
It is now in the same category as Leyland, Rambler, Pontiac, Studebaker etc etc…. just a memory of what was.
Even if GM sells it to Inchcape, or Geely, or Mahindra, or whoever, the badge and the name mean nothing now, except as a point of amusement to Australian Fordophiles.
But, again, if I was in the market for a new vehicle, there is nothing in the Aus Ford range either that makes me want to walk inside a dealership and take a test drive.

Maybe you did but that's okay. Totally agree with you on your comments here though...Holden is a shadow of what it used to be . Even though I've had almost exclusively Fords I've often enjoyed looking at , admiring some beaut Holden cars over the past few decades but not anymore .

Ford too doesn't hold quite the same fascination either since Falcon ceased in 2016 . Looks like Ford will be focussing (no pun intended) more on the SUV and sport/work utility market now and that's not for me , although a Mustang might be on the cards when i finish work in about 6 years time .

The Holden fans must be disappointed by a lot of the current fare and other than the HSV Camaro the V8 crew have been wiped like a dirty bum if you want a GM sporty orientated car that's a little different to the stock vehicles.

Ford have made some mistakes or decisions that some of us don't like but at least the RHD factory Mustang at a decently affordable price is not one of them .

I bet there's a lot of SS's , Clubsports , GTS's ,later model Monaro's etc etc...that'll be kept on the road a lot longer and cherished and even some other Aussie built Holdens across decades . You're right , Holden really ceased as we knew it in 2017 when manufacturing did . The recent past sales falls have proven that beyond doubt . Really sad .

UTXR8 · 16-02-2019, 07:04 PM

Ford, nor Holden, have a single new vehicle i would spend my money on...ill keep my FG xr6 T and my 300c for a few more years yet....when i do sell, ill go FGX and/or newer 300C....absolutely cant stand the mustang....well, not enough to buy one anyway....In my mind, Ford and Holden dont really exist anymore....

Junkyard-Dog · 16-02-2019, 07:10 PM

I live near the old Elizabeth plant. Its pretty sad to drive past it.

The general feeling around here is that the pampered workforce didn't do themselves any favours. I don't know what really happened but the holden sign is gone and now the place looks weird.

Sprintey · 16-02-2019, 09:08 PM

Also looking at either brand, nothing really appeals to make me want to buy it new.
Used cars however, there is some great Aussie metal at appealing prices still out there for now.

xr8territory · 16-02-2019, 10:44 PM

I have been a solid Ford person for many many years. Grew up in a Ford family and loved the motorsport rivalry with Holden and hated them like an opposing footy team. However, that love for Ford was based on passion for sport and entertainment or family and friends interest.
No true Ford or Holden fan would actually wish the demise of the other company.
Every Australian had a vested interest once in the success of our car companies.
Those days are gone.
It seems childish to argue whether the Holden name will disappear, Ford Australia has disappeared as well. It is just semantics.

BENT_8 · 16-02-2019, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xr8territory

I have been a solid Ford person for many many years. Grew up in a Ford family and loved the motorsport rivalry with Holden and hated them like an opposing footy team. However, that love for Ford was based on passion for sport and entertainment or family and friends interest.
No true Ford or Holden fan would actually wish the demise of the other company.
Every Australian had a vested interest once in the success of our car companies.
Those days are gone.
It seems childish to argue whether the Holden name will disappear, Ford Australia has disappeared as well. It is just semantics.

Whats this...common sense

hackney · 17-02-2019, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xr8territory

I have been a solid Ford person for many many years. Grew up in a Ford family and loved the motorsport rivalry with Holden and hated them like an opposing footy team. However, that love for Ford was based on passion for sport and entertainment or family and friends interest.
No true Ford or Holden fan would actually wish the demise of the other company.
Every Australian had a vested interest once in the success of our car companies.
Those days are gone.
It seems childish to argue whether the Holden name will disappear, Ford Australia has disappeared as well. It is just semantics.

Spot on! Ford is just a lonely outpost.Just another importer,drawing vehicles from around the globe.Holden the same,just have not got the range to draw buyers in unfortunately.

roddy1960 · 17-02-2019, 09:48 AM

What do you make of this from 45 years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaI0BjaFoTI

Ol' Pete is rather scathing on this and some points on lack of genuine effort might well be true ..

Maybe it contributed to a degree to the demise of Holden and Ford in Australia . There were a bunch of reasons I guess but when he said that it's the car that Holden told us we needed , rather than the car that the buyers demanded it probably rings true , especially in the latter years of manufacturing here in OZ.

Holden and Ford were always beholdin' to big brother I guess and relied on the good will of the parent company to shell out R&D but maybe a certain laziness in using the money to build vehicles that were more to the global trend or fashion was a contribution to closure of us building our own . That and dozens of other internal and external reasons ...Moot point now .

roddy1960 · 17-02-2019, 10:22 AM

Here's one of Holden's better offerings from the mid 70's ..

LH Torana ...A friend owned one of these . I travelled with him a few times to golf and such and it was a nice car . It was also about 10 years old at the time in the mid 80's..He had it for years and sold it to buy a VH Commodore but he always loved his LH. It was a mint green colour with a vinyl white roof.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKu9ID8231w ..

anybody here owned one of these ..

4stanger · 17-02-2019, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Here's one of Holden's better offerings from the mid 70's ..

LH Torana ...A friend owned one of these . I travelled with him a few times to golf and such and it was a nice car . It was also about 10 years old at the time in the mid 80's..He had it for years and sold it to buy a VH Commodore but he always loved his LH. It was a mint green colour with a vinyl white roof.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKu9ID8231w ..

anybody here owned one of these ..

Yep, my first car was a 173ci, LH torana S, Durham Beige in colour. ex Orange city council car, 3 on the tree, bench seat 6 seater, drum brakes all round, practically an EH holden, a black mark on 4stanger's car ownership :( , but I was an apprentice at the time at the local holden dealership, the car was a good deal at the time through our used car trade in lot, and being young & silly that car did well with the things I did to it and with it!

Back on topic, My recent trip to NZ, the car market there is a lot smaller than ours, yet all brands survive in that tiny market, holden's drop in sales have caught them out with their early predictions of life after producing their own car/s, the footprint in the market has suffered, they need to downsize their own management and dealerships to survive, but by the looks of recent media speculation, could be all too late.

BENT_8 · 17-02-2019, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddy1960

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKu9ID8231w ..

anybody here owned one of these ..

Many, LC, TA, LH, LX and UC and in 4, 6 and 8cyl form.

Had to laugh when he suggested the 253 V8 was too much performance for the car when in the HJ review he claimed the 253 was underwhelming, theres like 200kg difference

BENT_8 · 17-02-2019, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddy1960

What do you make of this from 45 years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaI0BjaFoTI

Ol' Pete is rather scathing on this and some points on lack of genuine effort might well be true ..

What do i think of it, i think the bloke was full of **** to be honest.

There were so many deliberate flaws with it that its more of a comedy than an actual review and he waits until the last minute of the review to admit that Holden had already given up on the large bodied sedans in favour of the Torana and with hindsight we know that within 4 years Holden had released the Commodore which had addressed any of the 'issues' he had.

hayseed · 17-02-2019, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddy1960

What do you make of this from 45 years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaI0BjaFoTI

Ol' Pete is rather scathing on this and some points on lack of genuine effort might well be true ..

.

The Radial Tuned Suspension a couple of years later addressed some of Peter's criticisms..

roKWiz · 17-02-2019, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hackney

Spot on! Ford is just a lonely outpost.Just another importer,drawing vehicles from around the globe.Holden the same,just have not got the range to draw buyers in unfortunately.

Yep agree. as well.

csv8 · 17-02-2019, 05:48 PM

I had a Cortina TD XLE in Gold with black vinyl roof and ginger upholstery. With the 4.1 and it could move !!

roddy1960 · 17-02-2019, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csv8

I had a Cortina TD XLE in Gold with black vinyl roof and ginger upholstery. With the 4.1 and it could move !!

So could my 84 XE ..not probably as quick as a Corty with the same engine but that dear old donk is often forgotten but torque to burn . My XE was the 4 speed and if I wanted she'd wind up the St Marys Pass in 4th without too much bother..

Much , much better than the wheezy constricted old Blue 202 I had in the VC Commodore prior to that . The 202 went bang at 118,000 kms one Friday afternoon breaking a piston piddling home from work. A few weeks after the new engine went in the gearbox mount let go and the dash failed and she rusted out the door sills over a couple of troublesome years ..I was jinxed with that car. Absolutely no warning either with the disintegrating piston..Repco long replacement engine wasn't much better but Dad had a HX Kingswood at the time with the red 202 and it was heaps better to drive . The Commodore was the only Holden I've ever owned.

hayseed · 17-02-2019, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddy1960

The 202 went bang at 118,000 kms one Friday afternoon breaking a piston piddling home from work..

A very common fault with the 202...the 186 seemed to go forever & ever..

ozrunner · 18-02-2019, 06:28 PM

Also could be one of two scenarios

a) Typical Holden lies

b) Inchcape have completed their due diligence and advised GM a resounding NO thanks.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/727737/..._campaign=news

lra · 18-02-2019, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozrunner

Also could be one of two scenarios

a) Typical Holden lies
b) Inchcape have completed their due diligence and advised GM a resounding NO thanks.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/727737/..._campaign=news

I hope you are not suggesting that Holden have lost their credibility as a result of past promises.

roKWiz · 19-02-2019, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hayseed

A very common fault with the 202...the 186 seemed to go forever & ever..

Had three modded 202 powered panels vans when I was a courier, driven hard put away wet and never had one go bang. Even the smog drowned WB was reliable apart from the melting tail light bezels.

BENT_8 · 19-02-2019, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Had three modded 202 powered panels vans when I was a courier, driven hard put away wet and never had one go bang. Even the smog drowned WB was reliable apart from the melting tail light bezels.

Agreed never had trouble with a red 202, those 12 port blues and the blacks were another story though.