Commodore S Supercharged: comments please?

[Ghostdriver]

I'm not in the market as such but this car has always intrigued me.

It was one of two finalists when I bought my current ride. It's far quicker than you'd expect and I found it a bloody enjoyable thing to drive - nimble and with enough torque to take advantage of it.

In truth, it lost out only on detail to a bloody good car on what was a split decision.

The thing that most confused me about the S Supercharged was its lack of popularity. I mean it was much faster and only a couple of grand more than the "sheep in wolfs clothing" Commodore S which is everywhere.

And how many of those do you see where the owner has spent $1000 optioning up stuff like front fog lamps. As a drive the supercharged car seemed to me a damn side better than the regular S, fog lights blaring or not!

So questions:

If you bought one are you happy?

What, if anything is wrong with the supercharged car?

Have there been any serious reliability issues?

Was its fuel economy significantly worse than the standard Ecotec?

How rough was it at high revs before they put in that "dampolator" in with VY?

Was it any rougher at high revs than standard Ecotec (I suppose it did get to that high rev range much quicker than the standard engine, which was always that 3.8-litre V6's weakest area).

If you bought an optioned up Ecotec S, why didn't you get the supercharger as well? Or instead?

To me supercharger turns the S from a Nothingburger with some fancy salad into something interesting?

Comments?

(Now please settle down SV8 folks. Not everyone wants a V8. I'm deliberately asking about S and S Supercharged.)

[Zero5]

You raise some good questions and your observations of the owners adding a liitle extra is spot on.

I had one prior to owning my last two SS's. Why did I buy it? Because I wanted something more than the standard S and couldn't justify the price difference between it and the SS at the time. I had the fog lights and they put in the SS dash facia (sliver in colour) at the same time.

To answer your questions:
If you bought one are you happy?
Yes, very.
What, if anything is wrong with the supercharged car?
Nothing. It was a great ride for the price
Have there been any serious reliability issues?
Never had an issue in the 2.5 years I owned it.
Was its fuel economy significantly worse than the standard Ecotec?
Hard to say... from memory I think only very slightly.
How rough was it at high revs before they put in that "dampolator" in with VY?
It was certainly harsher, but you could also hear the supercharge whine when you stood on it which was cool.
Was it any rougher at high revs than standard Ecotec (I suppose it did get to that high rev range much quicker than the standard engine, which was always that 3.8-litre V6's weakest area).
Not noticably around town. As I mentioned if you stood on it it was a little, athough I have limited experience in a standard ecotec V6 (or any V6 since...)

[joeboss]

I had a VX supercharged Berlina which I just sold a couple of weeks ago.

Very good car, but they drink heaps around town but very good on the highway.

I didnt have any problems with mine but I wanted a WRX so I sold it.

Saying that I would never buy another super6 again, when I come back to Holdens it will be in a V8 again thats for sure.

[Swordie]

The Supercharged Commodore was a great car for its time. When it first appeared it was a good alternative to standard Ford 5.0 and Holden’s (VS and VT). Holden and Fords standard 5.0s put out around 165Kw and the supercharged motor was rumoured to have nearly 180Kw. The Supercharged was cheaper than a V8 too. Some journalist of the time thought the 5.0 was worth buying if you needed to tow. There were more powerful versions of the 5.0 from Holden this came at extra cost.

At the time car leasing (Novation) was only starting to kick off, having a V8 company car was harder to obtain. Now it’s up to the individual in most case what car to lease.

When the VY came on the market you could pay 3K extra and get the SV8 over S. The 5.7 was a $4,500 option on the VX Exec 3.8.

The 5.7 is quite an economical motor for a V8 and when you consider a supercharged version takes premium unleaded, it will be similar in cost to run as a V8.

[Smitty]

I had a VT Series I Super 6 as a co car
(after trading a perfectly good VS SS)

It was nice (except for the shitty door seals and the wet bootlid syndrome)
everything worked as it should even the LSD :eek:

with FE2 it handled good, probably better than the VS (with a big iron lump
up front, to be expected) brakes ?...were std VT and not as good as the VS
which had a full set of DBA rotors and comp pads.

It went pretty well and yes.. I have heard comments that it had 180kw
or more but it never went as good as the VS (which was a manual)
The COMPULSORY auto stifled it and it never jumped off the line like
the V8 in the VS. My biggest disappointment
Wind it up and it went pretty well, sweeping hispeed corners were its forte

I liked the supercharger whine but hated the fuel bill with its necessary minimum PULP. It hated Opticrap (burnt a set of plugs) but loved the Mobil and BP PULPs.

I had a package offered and handed it back to get the VX SS on a novated lease. Now that really put the shade over the VT ;)

hth

cheers

[Malcolmsp]

I had a VT Series 1 super6 S

As a motor it went surprisingly well and I would prefer it over a 5.0.

Mine was left stock and had a nice amount of acceleration in first gear and at low revs but no comparison to a gen3 further up the rev range.

cheers
Mal

[Ghostdriver]

As I kind of expected. No one really says a bad thing about it (except one or two motoring journos). It's got me beat Holden didn't sell more of the buggers.

[xcapee]

i had the VT Series 1 SS with the supercharged v6... Excellent engine and was definately more responsive than the old aussie 5.0L v8 !

[Smitty]

i had the VT Series 1 SS with the supercharged v6... Excellent engine and was definately more responsive than the old aussie 5.0L v8 !

hmmmm
yours must have a good'n
coz the Super6 in mine never came near the 5.0 in my VS
the VT weighing 200kg more than the VS probably helped :confused:

[VRIIClubby]

friend had a VSII Calais Super6, very nice car...

problems back then when it was first released;
Had to run on PULP (not to many cars back then did)
Idler pulley on my friends kept breaking (every service new one)

Other than that he never had a problem, I think the other big downside was that you could never get a manual behind it, if one had of been supplied I feel more might have been sold,

hint; whack a pod on the things, they sound like a 747 winding up for takeoff....

[peber]

I had a similar pulley issue on my VS... it wasn't s/charged, but it went through pulleys quite quickly.
Re: Transmission... its a shame the calais' only came with auto boxes... being a bit heavier than a standard VS too, i found that vs a friends manual exec. VS, i had no chance...

[vt2000]

Gent's

My honest opinion, 'Sensational', line up all those LS1's, and watch their faces when provoke this suped 6. :confused:

Cheers.

Pete>>VT2000 :lol:

[divjak]

Gent's

My honest opinion, 'Sensational', line up all those LS1's, and watch their faces when provoke this suped 6. :confused:

Cheers.

Pete>>VT2000 :lol:

now that i gota see with my own eyes :stick:


divjak
jim

[spiv]

I had a VS factory super charged Calais for 2 1/2 years. Was a very nice car. Had tons of off the line grunt but ran out of puff @5,000 rpm. Personally I prefer the top end charge of the LS1 over mega botom end grunt. The super 6 is a very strong engine and will motor for years if well serviced.

Good luck :)

[antvt]

I have super6 S and I love it!! Ive added a few little SS and calais bits (foggies, chrome interior bits, chrome grilles) aswell as a exhaust system, upgraded the boost to 10psi, and changed rockers to 1.9:1. goes pretty well i think. since the boost and rockers i havent dynoed it, but will be interesting to see. the amount of upgrades performance wise that are now available for the super6 is great - and is constantly getting more and more. with the new front mount intercooler kit now available, it has been a huge 'boost' for us super6 guys. the sound of one of these things on full boost with the FMIC is absolutely unreal. just lookin forward to gettin my FM.

[Vt2sc]

Picture this....

Me in my standard super6, my brother in his 55k VY2 SS manual with exhaust and cai.

I wanted to race him to 100kph, to see how well my car went compared to a new performance car.

We start off and my bro gets a little wheel spin off the line and i jump him by a cars length. He's at redline in first and he's back at my my boot, so i start thinking it's all over now, but he shifts and falls a little behind again.

I start thinking WTF?
Next thing i know my speed alert is going off...BEEP! BEEP! 100kph!!!
I beat him by half a car length in standard super6. :lol:

Now i know you V8 guys are saying, BS! But i swear this is the truth, and i know if we went to 150kph he would have beat me by a fair bit.

I dont know how hard it is to get a ls1 off the line smoothly but im still in shock. So's my brother.

Wait till i get the boost turned up, roller rockers and exhuast ect ect.
I'll own him. All for 16k :lol:

[wrexed03]

Definetly achievable. I have done it as well when i used to have my VY Super 6. You will notice a nice improvement when you do your pulley, rockers and exhaust. Dont underestimate the super 6. Against a modified LS1 dont even bother off the mark you will have him depending on launch mid range to top end you should be seeing its tail lights. Either way the super 6 has heaps of potential..

[blackjacknz]

with a little bit of work...they are an awesome motor...so far my pb is 13.05 @ 104mph...i still drive it to work every day...and yesterday just mabe a 600km round trip in regional WA...no issues...cept for having to find a BP...but i usually carry a bottle of octane boost just in case.

off the line around town..it hard to beat...and fuel economy is as good if not better than stock...cept when i put the boot in... :D