hey cmon now...better a commodore with a yank engine then no commodore at all.
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I was drivivng behind a VK calais 5.0 to work this morning. It has been a while since ive seen any old commo's on the road.
I was blown away by how tiny the car was in comparison to todays 'small' cars.....
People who say i wont own anything other than a Holden need to brush the mullet hair do & actually see what else is on the market, what if holden did a rebaged i-30, would you buy it. Some people are stuck in the 80's.
Commodore was based on the Opel Royale and while a "big" car in Europe it was mid sized here when compared to the Kingswooods/Falcons of the day (78/79)
For some reason Holden decided to ditch the IRS of the Opel and put a live axle in (think they failed at the Wilpena Pound test ground from memory) it's since bloated to the Full Size whale we all love today :)
(I miss my old VB)
Reading wheels the new Mazda 6 is only a smidgen smaller than the VE. Its amazing how quickly cars get bigger in size.
Holy crap.. that is big.
The difference in running costs on fuel only would be like 10lt/400km. Or approx ~ $15 per tank of fuel.
I guess this is enough to sway people into the 'smaller' car. Lol, i spend that much on ciggy's a day.
The mazda is what, a 4cyl 2.xx litre engine vs VE's 3.0 V6. I would think the difference in fuel consumption would be less.
Whats the difference in vehicle weight of the base models?
i believe the commodore should only be around the size of a 3-series BMW (e46) or C63 Merc.
(we need a poll, to see what view everyone here has on the size necessity)
Can a car of that size(e46 3series) be built from the zeta platform?
Also, does the commodre after the VF need an all 'new' engeenered from the ground up chassis?
WHy can't they just use the current platform, just modified, with all new styling? I mean it is a
damn good chassis, so why the need to re'engeener for the next commodore? How much better can
a chassis get (excluding fit and finish etc) before they decide its not good enough anymore?
Look at the olf VB-BL, VN-VS and VT-VZ. I believ they used the same chassis, just extensively
modified (progress) before teh all 'new' VE. How come all of a sudden the 'zeta' platform is not good
enough after such a short (relatively) life-span????
You could build such a car on GM's Alpha platform. Question is will the market want a RWD mid sizer with less interior space than its competitors, or will Mr and Mrs Average look at it, look at how much more space they get in a FWD mid sizer or an SUV, and decide they don't want one?
I think the only way we will see a car - of whatever description - with anything more than a brief once-over by local engineers and stylists is if that car can do 80-100k units per year like the good old days. When we are now looking at 30k Commodores a year, and maybe 40 or even 50 if the market gets excited about VF - we will have to make do with a modified Malibu, Impala or Captiva five years from now.
Do thank your SUV owning friends next time you see them...
lol, i do... and everyone that has an import of any kind...well lately anyway lol
I agree with what you say as well. Also back in the 100K a year days, the govement/business used
a very large propotion of these as fleet vehicles.
I think this is it. Last chance is for the VF to be popular in the US, and hopefully we would get an
imported RWD V6/V8 sedan badged as commodore. (Possibly also built here along with the cruze).
Now we just wait and see how it plays out.