VF Commodore revealed - Official details and pics - Part 3

[jaykay]

It is very strange. I'm assuming that they are doing a last ditch effort to get rid of all the VE Stock, so perhaps its a ploy By Holden HQ to get the sales teams to sale what they have rather then push the new product?

FFS....they were unveiled in Febraury..they have had plenty of time to move the VE stock....the VF's will be hitting show room floors in the next week or so.......and you can't get a straight answer from anyone.

Something is very STRANGE with this release....

[falcom]

I know the media were road testing the VF last week. When is the embargo lifted so we can see the results?

[mustanger]

I personally think that Holden are not quite prepared for the launch of the new VF. They usually release a new model a lot later in the calender year but for some reason or another , The VF has been launched earlier.

Maybe it has to do with the release of the New VF Chevy SS in the States ,as they wanted the new model to compete in that catogory.
By doing that , everyone knew what the new model was going to look like , and that brought the release of the VF earlier than Holden would have liked.

[MARRA]

Was in the local dealership yesterday (Ralph DSilva Preston) to price up an SSV Ute and found it very bizarre that the salesman was using sheets printed off the net from a 3rd party website (can't remember which one) to price it up. Also asked if can option with 20's and the reply was "not sure".

Asked the question on Holdens Facebook site as to why the dealer was giving pricing from a 3rd party web page and the official response was "We are yet to officially launch the Holden VF and make it available to the dealers, we will announce more closer to the launch which is very soon" is it just me or Holden lost the plot with the VF release?

[SCiFiRE]

I've read on another forum the embargo is on 30th of May (from someone who went on a media drive in Canberra).

I feel like they may have been forced to unveil early for the NASCAR/Chev SS thing. It's obviously been painful since then with the VE sales plummeting. I dunno if they've dropped the ball as such, launches are planned well ahead of time, i don't think it's that easy that they can just drop all the info weeks earlier than originally planned... In sure there are mag and premium motor-journo exclusives and such to work around - and they'd want them driving full production cars rather than pre-production stuff too.

[redvxr8clubby]

I personally think that Holden are not quite prepared for the launch of the new VF. They usually release a new model a lot later in the calender year but for some reason or another , The VF has been launched earlier.

Maybe it has to do with the release of the New VF Chevy SS in the States ,as they wanted the new model to compete in that catogory.
By doing that , everyone knew what the new model was going to look like , and that brought the release of the VF earlier than Holden would have liked.

Agree, normally it's more like August/ September for the new releases. But as the last VE has come off the assembly line and they are building VF's it's just a matter of time to get some stocks out to the dealers, and I guess info out to the dealers also. The actual date I guess could be determined to some degree by the amount of VE stock still to be sold. You would think within two weeks they would be showing up in the dealers, maybe sooner.

[jaykay]

A fellow member told me this tonight for the SSV Redline ute buyers ..... No Bose audio option :-(

The SSV Redline Ute can't be optioned up with the Bose sound system. The factory standard options are-
 Brembo® brakes
 Forged 19 inch alloy wheels (4)
 Colour Head-up Display
 Forward Collision Alert
 Lane Departure Warning
 Updated FE3 ultra sports tuned suspension

[brasher]

us ute owners always get dicked

no reverse camera in the car that needs it most with the VE series 2, now no bose.

Makes the redline less enticing now.

Wheels, most likely get replaced with aftermarket.
brakes are $800 through Holden
FE3..... c'mon

some electronic gizmo's here and there not going to sway me I think.

[EddieVE06]

http://ninem.sn/aH93rKW

Some info on the first drive,not much but better than nothing. Hope the link works.

[jaykay]

http://ninem.sn/aH93rKW

Some info on the first drive,not much but better than nothing. Hope the link works.

It's VF good indeed.

[Wonky]

http://ninem.sn/aH93rKW

Some info on the first drive,not much but better than nothing. Hope the link works.

Didn't work for me.

Sorry, the page you are trying to view may no longer exist
Or the page is temporarily unavailable.

[EddieVE06]

Didn't work for me.

Sorry, the page you are trying to view may no longer exist
Or the page is temporarily unavailable.

Yep I cant bring it up anymore either.

[falcom]

http://ninem.sn/aH93rKW

Some info on the first drive,not much but better than nothing. Hope the link works.

Story is gone. What did it say?

[jaykay]

Story is gone. What did it say?

Read my post above...that was the last sentence and summed it up

[EddieVE06]

Driven! Holden's new VF Commodore

Does it matter how good the new VF Commodore is to drive?

That's the question Holden staff are forced to confront in their contemplative moments, because the latest and probably last big rear-drive Aussie sedan could be the greatest, and best value, car ever made, but if the local market has decided that it prefers SUVs, hatches and even mid-sized sedans, it just won't matter.

Remember the Mitsubishi 380? Apparently it was a pretty good car, but all it did was hasten the demise of local manufacturing.

Another car that's pretty damn good is the outgoing VE Commodore, indeed Wheels recently voted it the greatest Australian car of all time, yet buyers have been not buying it in droves.

They may, of course, have been waiting for the VF and the good news is that they will have been wise to do so.

I've been driving our long-term VE for two months now – and I love it – but it takes less than 10 minutes in the new car to recognise that it is a significant step forward.

The wheel you hold feels classier, more expensive and is covered in buttons for functions the old car never had, like a voice recognition system that actually works, and can read incoming text messages to you.

On up spec models you're also faced with a head-up display that can show you everything from speed limits to tacho, satnav directions and even a cornering-G meter.

The dash and centre screen look almost Euro classy and there are even soft touch fabrics and furry stuff on some models.

To your left is an electronic park brake and a button that operates the clever self-parking system.

Even the base Evoke gets it, in an effort to tackle a point of market Commodore resistance – big cars are too hard to park.

The overall sense is that this is a far more expensive feeling car than VE, which is impressive when you consider it's actually up to $10k cheaper.

Throw in the extra gear on the new car and the value proposition can see you being $15k better off.

What really matters, though, is that it's a noticeably better car to drive.

The sleepiness in the steering at the straight ahead is gone and the new electronic power steering, which shaves 0.2 of a litre per 100km off fuel economy, also provides better weighted feedback and sharper turn in.

The new Commodore feels smaller, because it's lighter and sharper in its handling, while noise suppression and handling are also improved.

This is a truly world class car, not something I've personally been tempted to write about Commodores before so enthusiastically.

It feels like one hell of a lot of car for the money, and in the case of the SS models, a hell of a lot of fun for that money too.

Whether this will be enough to achieve the kinds of sales Holden needs to keep the dream alive is yet to be seen, but we're pretty sure anyone who test drives a VF against similarly priced competition will be sold.

It's VF good indeed.

For full coverage of the new VF, and a comparison test between the new Calais and competitors from Ford, Audi and Chrysler, see the July issue of Wheels magazine, on sale and in the Apple Newsstand, from June 15.