VF Commodore revealed - Official details and pics - Part 4

[evil_ss]

Had a bit of a play with a SSV wagon today, the look is fantastic and the new touchscreen works very well. I was a little dissapointed with the steering wheel controls and dash above cluster, as a little but of tugging got them separating quite a few mm

[super coach]

so is that cream suede standard on a SSV? I cant find any info on it on the webiste or in the specs. is it only available with certain colours? I really like the cream with the red stitching

[evil_ss]

so is that cream suede standard on a SSV? I cant find any info on it on the webiste or in the specs. is it only available with certain colours? I really like the cream with the red stitching

I believe it is a standard option, as i think I saw it on another SS online. There's stitching makes a huge difference to the otherwise bleak black leather seats. I'm a little surprised with the parts pulling away quite so easily. I can only imagine how it would be after a few years

[jaykay]

I was down at my dealer earlier to check out some of the VF's there, mainly a Calais press car that was there for the day..

I also drove a black SV6 and was very impressed with the drive. The interior is very impressive for a mid 30's large sedan...seats are leather / suede combination, very comfortable and look great.

The lane departure warning gizmo on the side mirrors is cool. Stereo is OK, maybe slightly better than VE. The Calais shares the same stereo as the SV6 so didn't get to hear the Bose upgrade system yet. Their first Calais V is coming in next wek so will go and check it out.....

Tried the reverse park gizmo but it wouldn't work because they havd the dealers plate hung over the camera. Tried out the front parking sensors and it just showed how much room there is left compared to how much I the driver thought there was.

Electric steering is impressive and very precise when I think back to my VE SSV and E3 GTS days...

Pretty overwhelming when you first get in with all the gizmos but this is a winner in my eyes !!!!!

[jaykay]

Oh and you don't realise how high the bonnet hump is until you sit in the drivers seat and see it from that angle.....deceiving when you have only seen it from the front.

[Marco]

Just had the opportunity to look over a VE SSV sedan. It’s impressive; far better in real life than it is in the photos.

I’ll start outside – it looks far better in the metal than it does in the pictures, although the styling changes have had the unfortunate effect of making it look bigger – both from the side, and at the front end especially where it’s taller, wider and generally bulkier. People who are put off by Commodores being too big are not going to be won over. But the styling works. The integration of the new front and rear with the old sides works much better in the metal; even the mess around the base of the A pillar is not as prevalent in that you don’t tend to focus on it as much. I think the SS has lost some of the ‘toughness’ it had in the VE but it still looks pretty good front and rear. I think that I’d be ordering the rear wing though, it does look a little too Calais without it. One interesting point is that where the VE had lots of openings and corners for air to get lost in at the front end, the VF front end is very smoothed out and clearly designed with the focus on aerodynamics as much as anything else.

Inside – yes, it is a big improvement on the VE. The VE interior looked fine to me in SV6/SS trim as they weren’t trying to be luxury models; they did a good job of being functional if a bit austere, without unnecessary bling and trinkets. But the VE interior failed in Calais form where it just looked like a base model with leather. The VF SSV interior felt like it would make a great Calais with lots of silver trim and suede and generally nicer materials all round. Where the VE interior was particularly bad, which was around the centre console and lower half of the dash, the VF is much better. The upper part of the dash and door trims are probably on a par, but the suede trim across the dash does look quite good in the SSV. The interior does feel a bit bigger, even though it’s not; I put that down to the change to a light coloured headlining as opposed to VE black, and the dash design drawing your eyes horizontally rather than vertically as in the VE. The new seats are a bit softer than the VE SS seats and have bigger side bolsters on the base, and I suspected that my old 120kg self might have had some issues (even if they were quite soft and probably had plenty of give); needless to say, current 100kg me thought they were fine. If anything, maybe the SSV interior could stand to be a little less Calais and a little more SS but buyers should be very happy with it.

Would I buy one? Yeah. Will I trade my VE SS in for one? No; but that’s only because I didn’t see enough to make me want to fork out for a $30k changeover. Let me put it this way: if I was buying today, and I had a choice between a new VF and a runout VE I’d take the VF, unless the VE turned out to be more than $5k or so cheaper to drive away today.

It should do well; people will have to think of new excuses not to look at one and I think the only one that really carries any weight now is that the Commodore might be too big for their needs.

[mac06]

I had a drive and play with an SV6 Sportwagon and found, like others, that you sit in the seats rather than on them. It's a much more comfortable seating arrangement. The vehicle is a lot quieter on the road, good use of sound deadening materials. The drive is markedly better, suspension and handling a big improvement over VE. Even the auto gearbox shift is an improvement, with quicker shifts. One thing I found about the auto park assist is that it's designed to sense single parking bays rather than double bays. I guess the system needs to sense cars on both sides of the vehicle to work, plus if there's two empty bays together then you should be able to park the car without assistance (for those that need assistance in the first place). Overall I've been very impressed with the effort Holden have put into the VF. It's not just a facelift, it's way more than that. I can't wait to see a Sedan in the metal to have a good look at the rear, photos don't do justice in most cases.

Incidentally did anyone see the "30 things you didn't know about the VF Commodore"? See the link below. For those that were asking the Calais V stereo head unit is Panasonic, since Bose don't make head units.

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor...529-2nblt.html

[jaykay]

I had a drive and play with an SV6 Sportwagon and found, like others, that you sit in the seats rather than on them. It's a much more comfortable seating arrangement. The vehicle is a lot quieter on the road, good use of sound deadening materials. The drive is markedly better, suspension and handling a big improvement over VE. Even the auto gearbox shift is an improvement, with quicker shifts. One thing I found about the auto park assist is that it's designed to sense single parking bays rather than double bays. I guess the system needs to sense cars on both sides of the vehicle to work, plus if there's two empty bays together then you should be able to park the car without assistance (for those that need assistance in the first place). Overall I've been very impressed with the effort Holden have put into the VF. It's not just a facelift, it's way more than that. I can't wait to see a Sedan in the metal to have a good look at the rear, photos don't do justice in most cases.

Incidentally did anyone see the "30 things you didn't know about the VF Commodore"? See the link below. For those that were asking the Calais V stereo head unit is Panasonic, since Bose don't make head units.

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor...529-2nblt.html

The VF Commodore's voice recognition system has been specifically calibrated for an Australian accent. This is the first vehicle to have such a feature. - Get ****ed you usless piece of ****en co**sucking crap

I drove a SV6 sedan today in black Andrew......I don't mind the ass end!!!!

Thr front end looks mint in the flesh......especially the Calais

[mac06]

The VF Commodore's voice recognition system has been specifically calibrated for an Australian accent. This is the first vehicle to have such a feature. - Get ****ed you usless piece of ****en co**sucking crap

I drove a SV6 sedan today in black Andrew......I don't mind the ass end!!!!

Voice recognition in general leaves me underwhelmed. I didn't try it on the Sportwagon I drove. BTW you have to like the rear John, you're getting the Sedan

[Marco]

Thr front end looks mint in the flesh......especially the Calais

The Calais is very good indeed. I maintain my view that the VF is best as a Calais whereas the VE was best as an SS.

[jaykay]

Voice recognition in general leaves me underwhelmed. I didn't try it on the Sportwagon I drove. BTW you have to like the rear John, you're getting the Sedan

True......

I also tried the self parking feature but it wouldn't work...... LENS CAP WAS ON .....the dealer plate was covering the camera so it must have sent an error code

[jaykay]

Interesting place to put the rear door knobs...

[mac06]

Interesting place to put the rear door knobs...

It's out of the way there, right above the actual door locking mechanism. If anyone wants to get out of the car in a hurry when it's locked, just pull on the internal door latch as per normal. The door will unlock. Then let the latch go and do it again and the door will open. "Simpilz"

[BLACK 346]

True......

I also tried the self parking feature but it wouldn't work...... LENS CAP WAS ON .....the dealer plate was covering the camera so it must have sent an error code

Maybe it would work better without a human in the car, like this Audi for instance.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/rgN8MOrss40?rel=0

[cjf]