Just Drove Ve Ss 6speed Auto

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by SSBUB

i agree the red/orange dash is shocking - apparently its an option though, so if its black you want, its black you get

I think its only on the SS V and is an option.

Still not a fan of the SS / SS V wheels with those black centre caps, its like holdens tried to make em look like a V8 Supercar wheel, not cool at all.

I however like the 20inch option on them, they certainly have that over Ford.

[SSBUB]

20' yeah great looking - hell to replace $$ wise...not sure on ride comfort im sittin on 17's heehee...and your right the shockin dash only comes on the ssv and is an option with it

[SpoolMan]

I seen a VE today at Heathcote, for me the VE looked better in the pics, the spoiler didn't seem to look right on the boot.
I suppose we will get used to the new look in time.

[xr8ted]

I was down at Phillip Island watching the cams racing championship, and they had a red VE SS on display. I think that it the front and side angles look good, but the view from the rear is but ugly...only thing that saves it is the quad pipes

[SSBUB]

mmm quads

[Full Spectrum]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

Rear seat head room is a worry, but so is BA / BF rear seat head room. : Thats why you buy a Territory, which has more head/leg room then anything else built in Australia. :

Yes it is a issue from as far back as the AU. But the VE i didn't have a problem with in the rear, And not in the front as i like to sit lower in the seat, It does have a coupe look inside that at first scares you into thinking my head will be toast first hard left.
I don't think the Terra has more leg room i think it has better seat positions, You feel like you in a higher seat so your legs don't cramp up, More like a PC chair in height great for long trips.

[DOC]

Originally Posted by SSBUB

mmm quads

I do like the quads on the new VE, looks hot, got me thinking fords would look alright with these as well. : (JK)

Havn't seen one in the flesh yet but hope to soon, i think they will sell well.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by SlickHolden

Yes it is a issue from as far back as the AU. But the VE i didn't have a problem with in the rear, And not in the front as i like to sit lower in the seat, It does have a coupe look inside that at first scares you into thinking my head will be toast first hard left.
I don't think the Terra has more leg room i think it has better seat positions, You feel like you in a higher seat so your legs don't cramp up, More like a PC chair in height great for long trips.

Yeh your right about the Territory.

I still think the VE is a great car and would seriously buy one if i was in the position to do so, even a 6.0 Calais would do me. They feel more euro then the Falcon, i think this was Holdens main objective. It certainly raises the bar for the Australian industry.

[Kryton]

Originally Posted by Bucknaked

He had no other details other than holden are releasing a LPG model. He couldn't tell me whether it was dual or straight LPG.

its a vapour injection set up i believe. ($3000-4000 option on some models)
it starts on petrol then changes automatically to gas. apparently you dont even notice the change over when it happens. this will be out soon on the VZ ute as well (since the VZ ute will still be made for a while till the VE ute model comes in).
there was a bit of a write up about it in last fridays (yesterdays) Car Guide in the Herald Sun.

[Gabbs]

Went and had a look at a ssv at the dealer today. Had pretty much all the options and I must say that it finally has a nice v8 sound that you can hear. Flick key is nice touch so you don't get that damn big **** key ripping holes in your pockets. One thing that did stand out was that the handbrake and the gear stick looked cheap and nasty looking. Oh and the damn holden badge gets bigger and bigger with every release what is with that. Overall a nice car but i'll be hanging onto my cash for a little while longer.

[Full Spectrum]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

Yeh your right about the Territory.

I still think the VE is a great car and would seriously buy one if i was in the position to do so, even a 6.0 Calais would do me. They feel more euro then the Falcon, i think this was Holdens main objective. It certainly raises the bar for the Australian industry.

The Terra is that good my brother only had to be a passenger to want one, I wouldn't mind one didn't have many complaints with it at all.
Holden had to raise the bar on themselves and in the market, In the end it's better competition and we all win.

[Bucknaked]

I'm definatley going in for another look when the LPG model is released.

Over all, i think it looks ok. Black is definatley the colour to go. I was looking at the Crewman they had on the lot. I didn't mind the silver either.

[chich]

Originally Posted by Bucknaked

I'm definatley going in for another look when the LPG model is released.

There won't be an LPG model - it'll just be a Holden by Design option.

[Bobman]

I've seen 6 VE's on the road now, all registered, different parts of Melbourne,

Statesman
SV6
SS
SS V
Berlina
Omega (which looks like a VZ acclaim with those hubcaps).

[Full Spectrum]

VE Omega LPG is just a option when buying your car like transmission A/C leather trim etc.

[VSSII]

It suprises me how many people comment on the VE mimicking the BF. We are a VERY small automotive market in Australia and when designing interiors/exteriors both Holden and Ford look much further than Australia when planning and designing etc. Mind you I wonder how many people that post here are potential customers.. Sure everyone is entitled to an opinion. But I do remember a loooong time ago when I sold new motor vehicles (European marques) when a new model arrived the tyre kickers would emerge to pass opinion after a 30 sec drive around the block. It's these 30 sec drives that bring out comments like, "the plastic on the handbrake looks a bit cheap!". Suer this may be a very valid comment but you just can't appreciate the couple of hundred mill invested into the product with an opinion like that or such a short driving experience. And everyone knows there are more GM and Ford tyre kickers than every one else put together!

[whynot]

Has anyone been quotes fleet / lease prices yet? It is early days in the product’s cycle and GMH will by trying to avoid the deep discounts. But, I have been hearing rumours that the GMH fleet discounts of the past are not going to be as generous. Any comments?

[Eaturbo]

Fleet discounts are either none exsisitant or very small i have found out

[Bucknaked]

Originally Posted by SlickHolden

VE Omega LPG is just a option when buying your car like transmission A/C leather trim etc.

Ok so it won't be dedicated. The salesman had no details other than a model was being released. If its SVI like most people say, then the dual fuel option should be worth a thought. They will offer warranty. Once I put SVI onto the falcon, I'm sure I can kiss the warranty good bye

[Kachow]

Originally Posted by Phoon Hoon

Well I'm not biased, but I think anything Holden produce is a piece of shyte, worthy only of collecting used tog turds.

LOL..fantastic !!
Aggghh, the brand loyaty in Aus is a unique animal.

You may claim to to unbiased, but you've got stuff-all taste....you drive a radio active green car.

[GT290]

Originally Posted by charles_wif_xf

I went in after work yesterday arvo for a gander at the General's latest offering. I was there all of 5 minutes and one of the sales dudes approached me and says "wanna drive?" Who was I to turn down a drive.

He tossed me the keys to an SV6 manual and away we went. It's VERY quiet inside and thankfully, the gearbox shift feel has improved heaps from anything before it and clutch action was quite good too. The dashboard looked okay but some of the plastics used felt cheap. The seats weren't anything special (nowhere near the quality of the BF items).

The car handled quite well. I put it through the local chicane and it put a smile on my dial. The steering has WAAAAY more life in it than VZ or anything else carrying the Commodore badge. It has a good weight to it and the wheel itself is quite good.

For a car nudging 1700-1800kg, it is quite quick (not BA/BF quick but better than VZ, thats for sure). The engine doesn't mind a rev and sounds more like a DOHC engine should sound.

Overall, it is light years ahead of the VZ it replaced. In my opinion, it has caught up to BF mechanically, but visually, that can be debated (I don't mind the look of the Commodore for one).

I drove a mates VZ six speed manual Thunder ute. I was very impressed with the shift on the box. Much better than My 04 GT five speed. I assume they could only be better. Might drift down to a dealer and take one for a spin my self tomorrow.

[SpoolMan]

Lets keep the the posts about the cars, bagging out either manufacturers product well only lead to flaming.

some posts have been edited.

[Full Spectrum]

Originally Posted by Bucknaked

Ok so it won't be dedicated. The salesman had no details other than a model was being released. If its SVI like most people say, then the dual fuel option should be worth a thought. They will offer warranty. Once I put SVI onto the falcon, I'm sure I can kiss the warranty good bye

The only thing i have herd from a dealer is price and I'll do anything to sell you a car.

[MRJUCY]

All the VEs that I've seen have had very poor paint match between the plastic parts (bumpers,guards etc) & metal hopefully it's just an early build glitch for their sake but it was some of the worst I've seen.

[GT290]

Originally Posted by MRJUCY

All the VEs that I've seen have had very poor paint match between the plastic parts (bumpers,guards etc) & metal hopefully it's just an early build glitch for their sake but it was some of the worst I've seen.

I am no expert but from my experiance with owning 2 BA falcons I never noticed it but when I got my xr6 blood red orange dinged from behind and had the bootlid and rear bar replaced I took it back to the pannel shop and it did not matter what he did but it still had two tones. He said its the plastic. My blue print blue GT is the same certain light and you can see it stick out like dogs balls.

[Bobman]

Mercury silver is notorious for colour variations too, out of the factory.

[xr8man83]

i cant belive that they r ripping of our stripes that is crap

[henry 351]

Originally Posted by xr8man83

i cant belive that they r ripping of our stripes that is crap

I don't think they are, HQ's had decent bonnet stripes on Monaro/GTS on them if I recall.

I remember some peanut from Holden taking the pi$$ out of the FPV "racing" stripe package when the GT/P's were released.

I wonder how his humble pie tastes?

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

Just finished driving a new VE SS 6speed auto and have to say was not that impressed, yes it was a great car but not any better than any other new car that i have driven recently. The roof has not much head room especially in the back where a 6foot person would have head touching roof. It doesnt feel that fast but i suppose its only 270kw and quite heavy, the auto was nice very fast on down shifts but slow and slurred on upshifts.The car was nice in every way but has no wow factor. What i mean with wow factor is when VT come out or when BA came out or AU with wow that looks like *****, it looks and drives like what you would expect and in heavy traffic or saw a VE SV6 in black at the lights coming the other way and now i see the BA look to the headlights that i havn't been able to see before. The manual selection on the auto is very good and holds at all revs. It sits on the road at 100 very nicely and with little effort at 1500rpm. It still has that gay Cruise control on the blinker stalk and the wiper and blinker stalk are carry over from VZ. I think it is probably 10% better than BF in areas and 5% worse than BF in other areas. No turbo, No new V8's, one new transmission, old blinker and wiper stalks, one very weird looking diff housing, a poor V6 engine with only 5 ratios or 4 in base model with no SSS $3600 for LPG Vs $1500 for BF. I'm left thinking where did all that $1.2 billion go. Ford only need spend $700 million as we have 6 speed boxes already, turbo engines and good rear suspension, only need new shape and alloy V8 block and where ahead. One thing that you will laugh at is you can now get a stripe package for SV6 SS SSV but they go on bonnet roof and boot like cobra stripes like on Limited edition HSV GTO

Maybe I was lucky then, because I drove a SS-V on Monday when they were released to the public and rate it as faster, a noticably stronger body and better riding then my BA GT Mark II. The exhaust is quiet, but sounds the goods just the same.

Brakes were my major concern as they just didnt feel up to the task. They worked, but I would personally upgrade them.

The car is great value when you look at what is standard fitment in it too. I agree that the car needs some more presence as it is easy to overlook at first in the yard as being another VZ. Again no real surpise, as this first new model has to sell alongside carryover VZ offerings and provide a transition to the current Commodore drivers. Remember that the AU was such a sales disaster that Ford had no choice, but to make a radical change in styling direction, or at least as much as they could while keeping the AU shell. That said the silver SS-V I drove had a real presence when it zoomed up behind my GT, after the road test and heading home.

It's a good car as it should be. Holden have had nine years to study the competition (including Ford), and it should come as no surprise they are able to match or better a Falcon that is now going into its final facelift, before being pensioned off. Remember the BA can trace it's roots back to 1998. There are signs in the car, that Holden have held back on some things, equipment, styling etc and again, that should come as no surprise, given the length of time this car must stay "fresh" in the marketplace.

In the end if they keep the quality control up on the VE, they stand to win a lot of sales of Ford. Hopefully that will happen and it will put the wind up Ford, to raise the bar on quality control and customer service. Something that is loosing them far more sales then a new Commodore ever will.

Regards,
Daniel

[TheSneakiness]

I headed over to my local Holden dealer on the weekend to have a look at the range. I was disappointed that they didn't have any of the LWB models on display.

However, in saying that, what I did see impressed me somewhat. The only bad thing I can say about the car is those pumped guards really, really dwarf any wheel the factory comes out with. Even the 19s on the SS looked small.

My favourite car there though was the Calais. Looked really sleek, like the interior.

I just need to drive one now...