VE SS arrived - I can't stop driving it (or smiling...)

[Marco]

Let me just start by saying this: OMG what a car. It's everything I hoped it would be when I placed my order, and after only 2 days and about 250km, I can already say I think this is the best use for my money I've ever come up with :)

Picked it up about 5:30 yesterday afternoon and did a bit of driving around Canberra with my wife afterwards, and then went out again myself this evening just to get a feel for the car and just because I'm enjoying driving it so much. Tomorrow when I get home from work I'll get my collection of Meguiar's products out, do the paint cleaner and wax routine, and then...more driving!

I thought I'd be having trouble keeping things down to sensible speeds and being flung across the scenery with only a hint of throttle, but Holden's actually set the car up so that it's very easy to drive IMHO. You can just potter around like a granny, or if you want the performance it's there for the taking. I'm now no longer concerned about my wife driving this car at all.

I particularly love the way it sounds - I've barely tried the sound system at all - glorious V8 noise in every gear that sounds very, very nice inside the car. Just as a car like this should be.

It looks hot - plenty of stares from other drivers and pedestrians - and the interior is fantastic, especially with the leather SS seats. It's so nice to finally also have a car that fits my 6'4" frame comfortably. I haven't really explored the handling yet, but just from driving around the suburbs it feels very sure footed, barely any body roll, and doesn't make for an uncomfortable ride either.

Kids seem to like it too - when filling it last night at the servo, the pair of under-10s in the car next to it were yelling out 'go Holden!', which was gratifying. More of that please :)

My only complaints so far is that the plastic panel under the windscreen that has the little bubble thing (what is that?) is out of alignment with the two plastic panels either side of it, the door lock buttons are a bit loose and rattly, the left scroll wheel doesn't always change radio stations (but maybe there's something about it that I don't know because it works fine doing everything else), and the quality of the paint job isn't up to the standard of my previous Astra. I'll get a good look at it tomorrow when I wax, but there seemed to be a lot of orange peel. Hey, it's an orange car, I guess that makes sense.

As you can probably guess, so far I'm extremely pleased with this car. Yesterday was a great day with finally picking up the V8 I'd wanted to own since I was a kid, in a sense the fulfilment of a dream that started when I wsa a little fella watching Brock at Bathurst with my Dad in the 80s.

I can see myself keeping this car for a very long time - I'm planning on 10 years or so as a daily driver and then keep it as a weekend car - and enjoying every minute of it. And I think after this, nothing else I drive is ever going to stack up.

[L30N]

Congrats mate!
Glad to hear your enjoying your car!

After all that money, you'd hope your enjoying it aye! :p

[vt350phantom]

He'll be happy for a few months then the mod bug will bite!!! Look out wallet!!!!

[Glenn@Autowerks]

He'll be happy for a few months then the mod bug will bite!!! Look out wallet!!!!

Agree there 100%

[Lloyd1986]

Have to say it :worthless:

[SV99]

Pics or ban !!! jokes !!!

Hope you enjoy it and whens the Twin Turbos go on.

[chillicatqld]

Have to say it :worthless:

Ummm, my guess is it looks like any other Ignition SS Holden.... :wave:

(not that that is a bad thing at all - but come on you dont need to see pix of a stock item do you?)

[HazzaHSV]

Congrats Marco!! Awesome stuff.. :yahoo:

Yeah post some pics. Each car has its own personality and so does each photographer!

PS - Ditto on the brock/V8 thing. That's what got me into my first V8, I loved that one, and every V8 I have had since.

[ABG]

Congratulations Marco and welcome to the club. The VE is a sweet ride, but I'm afraid that Glenn is right. I can't wait to scratch up enough pennies to get a CAI and replace the exhaust.

By the way, a mate of mine who owns a smash repair centre advised me not to wax my car straight away. He said it's best to allow the paint to cure fully which will take about 6 weeks. I'm no expert on the matter and I'd love to hear what the gurus on the forum say, but that's what I did.

[GN3GTO]

Glad to see your fully enjoying not only the car(asthetically speaking, comments on looks etc) but the driving experience it gives you:thumbsup:

I think thats what its all about as I feel the same with my car.

Enjoy :driving:

P.S. I agree the mod bug will get to you sooner or later:up2sum:

[Danv8]

And about time too Marco. :)

Even with the piddly complaints mate enjoy ya new beast. :)

Best thing too it aint a bloody camry. ;)

[EddieVE06]

The little thing on the top of the dash is the light sensor for the interior light and head lights to turn on and off.

Enjoy the car

[EXCESSV]

great review and well done.

aarrgghh the wait for mine is killing me... :cussing:

anyway...keep enjoying the car! :driving:

[stew297]

Hope it was inside during the storms in Canberra last night!!

[lowriding]

congrats! :thumbsup:

[Marco]

He'll be happy for a few months then the mod bug will bite!!! Look out wallet!!!!

At the moment, having tapped maybe 1/4 of the performance, I reckon you guys who supercharge and TT these cars are insane :)


Have to say it :worthless:

I don't really want to post pics until it's waxed and looking up to my appearance standard for my cars (I'm a fussy bastard), but I should have something to show in the next few days, if I can find the cable that connects my camera to the computer...

[BLACK 346]

I thought I'd be having trouble keeping things down to sensible speeds and being flung across the scenery with only a hint of throttle, but Holden's actually set the car up so that it's very easy to drive IMHO. You can just potter around like a granny, or if you want the performance it's there for the taking. I'm now no longer concerned about my wife driving this car at all

I have to ask, what did you have before that was too scary for your
wife to drive?

[Marco]

I have to ask, what did you have before that was too scary for your
wife to drive?

Nah, the car it replaced was a TS Astra that wasn't scary at all, I was more worried about the idea of handing her the keys to a big-power, big-torque RWD car.



By the way, a mate of mine who owns a smash repair centre advised me not to wax my car straight away. He said it's best to allow the paint to cure fully which will take about 6 weeks. I'm no expert on the matter and I'd love to hear what the gurus on the forum say, but that's what I did.

The Meguiar's site reckons you don't need to worry for new cars as the paint is baked at high temps at the factory, which your local smash repairer can't do, and is pretty well cured straight away. I guess that wouldn't include the plastic parts though as they couldn't really use high temps or they'd melt.


And about time too Marco. :)

Even with the piddly complaints mate enjoy ya new beast. :)

Best thing too it aint a bloody camry. ;)

Yeah, the complaints are absolutely minor, and I'm not worried about them at all. I'm just picky!

[Fridgy]

Marco - sounds like your head over heels in love. :love:

Congrats and enjoy.

Fridgy :wave:

[Marco]

I am mate, I am. Only reason I'm not out driving tonight as well is that I'm a bit tired tonight and don't want to risk it :)

[Belzey]

I am mate, I am. Only reason I'm not out driving tonight as well is that I'm a bit tired tonight and don't want to risk it :)

It is a bit of a problem with the new E series, I have put over 6000ks on mine in nearly 5 months.. :thumbsup: but that is what they are for :driving:

[Marco]

Exactly. I'm not going to worry about how many km I put on, because I bought it to drive, not to sit in my garage and look at!

[Mojo]

Good onya Marco....

So what extra's do you have and how long were you waiting all up ?

[dracer]

aweet ride mate, i looked at a few but i was more into the maloo or clubsport atm.
only thing that let it down is the difference between ssv and ss, remember when the ss was the best well now its the s and the ssv is the ss!!

anyway, have fun and enjoy opening her up
DR

[Marco]

In terms of extras, I got the leather/curtain airbags bundle and full size spare. All up wait of five weeks from order to delivery.

I looked long and hard at the difference between the SS and SS V, and decided that the extra $4500 (after optioning up the SS) wasn't worth it. In my mind, an SS is an SS and an SS V is simply the luxo version of the SS - it doesn't go any harder or handle any better. Both are the genuine article IMHO.

[Mojo]

Agreed - cheers mate and enjoy

[Pilbara SSV]

Well done, glad you love it.
I've had my SSV since17th of feb and done 3000k's already, (long drive home!)
Only grizzles are: Console lid sounds nasty when you close it.
Very impressed. I expected a lot more problems with a new car after having bought VX Berlina Gen III and WH Statesman. Sorted out radiator cover with dealer today so engine bay will look finished soon.
Best $58k i've ever spent on a car. ENJOY!!!:yahoo:

[Marco]

Yeah, had a look tonight and I don't have the radiator cover either. No big deal, but Holden should have gone all the way and flicked the engine cover too :)

Planning a day tomorrow driving through the Kosciuszko National Park, weather permitting, so that will be the first real opportunity to stretch its legs.

[Goggles]

Planning a day tomorrow driving through the Kosciuszko National Park, weather permitting, so that will be the first real opportunity to stretch its legs.

on the Snowy Mountains Hwy?

I did that last Sat, and it is a lot of fun.

did not see any cops, and parts of the road are very smooth.

blasting out of 2nd gear corners on a 100kmh limit road is a lot of fun - there is little danger of seriously exceeding the speed limit before the next corner comes up.

just remember to wind down the windows and turn off any music.

[Fridgy]

Cool!!!!!!

[Marco]

Yeah, looking at Snowy Mountains Highway or the loop through Jindabyne, Thredbo, Khancoban and then coming out near Mt Selwyn. My first thought wsa the full length of the Snowy Mountains Hwy, but that would have meant coming back to Canberra along the Hume which means constant speed running - a no no, the car only has 600km on the odometer so far. So I'm leaning towards the mountain loop idea.

[Goggles]

Yeah, looking at Snowy Mountains Highway or the loop through Jindabyne, Thredbo, Khancoban and then coming out near Mt Selwyn. My first thought wsa the full length of the Snowy Mountains Hwy, but that would have meant coming back to Canberra along the Hume which means constant speed running - a no no, the car only has 600km on the odometer so far. So I'm leaning towards the mountain loop idea.

well for what it is worth, from the Caltex at Calwell to the end of the Snowy Highway in Tumut was 240k for me, and therefore you should be up to around 900km by then. a bit of constant speed running shouldn't really be a problem then. never was a problem for me, and I have now done 23500k with no issues.

however, let us know how the mountain loop idea goes - I will probably still have to do another trip before the end of march to ensure no fbt penalty.

[Tyre biter]

Marco,

You lucky bugger :yahoo:

I've still got perhaps 25 days to go until mine arrives.:banghead:

FYI, there are heaps of twisy (quiet) back roads just out of town, out Sutton, Murrumbateman, Gunning, Tarago and Bredalbane way if you don't want to go too far.

Congratulations and cheers, Craig

[Marco]

I probably wouldn't do the mountain loop road again - it's a bit too narrow to be truly enjoyable in a big car like the VE, and has too many blind corners with 4WDs coming the other way. In a small, quick car it would be great - there seemed to be some sort of Mini club outing coming the other way at one point and no doubt they had a great time - but it was just too slow to be truly enjoyable thanks to the restrictions.

The best part of the whole day was the Snowy Mountains Highway section from Mt Selwyn back to Cooma - now that is fun :)

Incidentally, over about 590km of driving all up, the average fuel consumption was 11.5l/100km. It dipped into the 10s on the Monaro Highway section between Canberra and Cooma, but climbed again as most of the mountain road was 3rd gear stuff.

Craig - I know some of the roads you mean, sometimes in the Astra I came back from Sydney via Tarago/Bungendore and that was always good fun, so I'll have to try out some of the others you mentioned.