Supercharged HSV? - Part 2

[GTS LSA]

As already said, i think we need to look deeper than 0 - 100

As per motor report

How do we sum up the HSV GTS? Well, while we’ve driven faster cars, most of them wear pricetags two, three or even four times more than what this HSV is asking for.

It’s a performance bargain, but unlike any previous GTS, this one is far more than a brutish straight-line dragster.

It’s a GTS with smarts. With sophistication to match its savagery. A four-door family car, but a bona-fide V8 supercar at the same time - and one that you can park in your garage for less than a hundred grand.

No wonder so many Australians (and a few Brits) have fallen over themselves to get one. This is truly a special machine, and one that every Australian car enthusiast can be proud of.

[XUV]

As already said, i think we need to look deeper than 0 - 100

As per motor report

How do we sum up the HSV GTS? Well, while we’ve driven faster cars, most of them wear pricetags two, three or even four times more than what this HSV is asking for.

It’s a performance bargain, but unlike any previous GTS, this one is far more than a brutish straight-line dragster.

It’s a GTS with smarts. With sophistication to match its savagery. A four-door family car, but a bona-fide V8 supercar at the same time - and one that you can park in your garage for less than a hundred grand.

No wonder so many Australians (and a few Brits) have fallen over themselves to get one. This is truly a special machine, and one that every Australian car enthusiast can be proud of.

and it's not going to be upstaged by a tuned/otr'd/cammed R8.

[Pickles]

As already said, i think we need to look deeper than 0 - 100

As per motor report

How do we sum up the HSV GTS? Well, while we’ve driven faster cars, most of them wear pricetags two, three or even four times more than what this HSV is asking for.

It’s a performance bargain, but unlike any previous GTS, this one is far more than a brutish straight-line dragster.

It’s a GTS with smarts. With sophistication to match its savagery. A four-door family car, but a bona-fide V8 supercar at the same time - and one that you can park in your garage for less than a hundred grand.

No wonder so many Australians (and a few Brits) have fallen over themselves to get one. This is truly a special machine, and one that every Australian car enthusiast can be proud of.

Spot on.
There is no doubt at all that this is a Landmark machine , no doubt at all.
0-100?....will it be "respectable"....of course it will. But hey, there's a lot more to this car than that...a lot more. If that's all ya want, simply put a puffer on any LS3 engined car.
And like I've said before, yep...there'll be the knockers, who knock it even if it did 0-100 in TWO secs.....they'd never be happy.
Anyway, just wait till the first owners get on here with their "real world" opinions....I predict, as Cameron MCconville said, with a grin on his face, " You guys are gonna be really happy with this car"!
If this car was available when we bought our C63, it's a no brainer we'd have bought this car......for HALF THE PRICE, why on earth wouldn't you.....and I reckon that's probably part of what HSV hope will happen with this car....as Phil Harding controversially said a year or so ago, that they will get a few AMG & Audi buyers?
Cheers, Pickles.

[Drizt]

Well the first independent test confirms your thoughts on this matter. Fastest 0-100 time is 4.7 with constant 4.8s using launch control according to the Telegraph on Friday August 2. Very disappointing really, Wheels quotes the R spec GT at 4.6 sec, oh well there's another over statement from HSV. Something really wrong with the HSV figures, the Camaro LT1 and Cadillac CTS both similar in weight and with the same engine are way quicker. Methinks something like 370 kw is more realistic for the GTS.

Doesn't matter about lap time or handling, at the end of the day it looks like the conservatively quoted GT R spec holds the title as Oz's fastest car, and it's way cheaper.

Like many, I thought this GTS would be a land mark vehicle and blow away the Ford GT challenge and be something that would really stand up to the imports. Sadly I think HSV's renowned marketing spin has once again hoodwinked us and this is not as good as it has been touted. Don't be fooled by all the gizmo's, the 2005 model Bimmer M5 had HUD and all sorts of techno stuff, and quotes 373kw from it's 5.00 litre V10 with a time of 4.7 for 0-100. I was looking at the GTS to replace my current GTS but I think a second hand M5 is more of the real deal.

Why blow a gasket over a single review? Doesn't make sense.

[csv rulz]

Why blow a gasket over a single review? Doesn't make sense.

That's what I thought. To completley dismiss a car on a 0-100km time in a review seems to be jumping the gun a bit.

[Vulture]

^ when is it due?

I haven't been given an exact date but last call to the dealer I was told on track for early September, possibly even very late August if I'm lucky.

I was looking at the GTS to replace my current GTS but I think a second hand M5 is more of the real deal.

Have you priced how much a replacement gearbox on one of those things is?
It is now an ageing high tech drive-line. There are risks! My father's E46 M3, which is looked after very well, did the hydraulic gearbox pump. A replacement pump was thousands, let alone the gearbox...

I think the people here who have ordered a GTS want a complete package. I'd say most, if not all of us have modified cars in the past to be almost as quick but have now moved on to buying something smooth, quiet and comfortable when needed but with rarefied performance when the mood strikes. I think the GTS nails this 40yo+ market perfectly. Blow an LS3 and run a few laps around a track and the risk of something going wrong or over-heating is going to be a lot higher than with this new GTS if the claims are to be believed.

I'm sick of modifying cars beyond wheels or a tint these days (must be the 40s) and want to buy something off the shelf that is fast and reliable. Even the F*****g Tein coilovers in my 370z are knocking and crashing over bumps...I could have bought a GTS with the money I spent on my old VZSS with mods but it remains just another modified SS, as good as it might be. Never again. From now on, if I want something fast, I am going to buy it like that.

[planetdavo]

Why blow a gasket over a single review? Doesn't make sense.

Most people grow out of that sort of thinking where the world revolves around 0-100km/h times.
For around 100K for a BRAND NEW car of this performance, it's a bargain. HSV will surely have more customers than cars. If some people are prepared to buy a second-hand BMW instead of this, well, maybe they weren't really in the market for a new GTS anyway. I suspect most buyers will rarely ever get right up them anyway. People will buy the new GTS because they can, not because they want to drag every dumb sh!t loser off every traffic light in their tuner modified second hand bucket of fully sick mobile...
I suspect that the biggest "problem" with the new GTS to 100km/h is the need to lean heavily on the artificial nannies if you give it all. In-gear times, though, are likely to be far more informative...

[bouka]

Anyone who sais 0-100 times are not relevant or important is fooling themselves. As I have said before, every manufacturer uses this as a yardstick for measuring the performance of their vehicles, as does every motoring related mag etc.

It's relevance to an overall car is for an individual to determine but it's relevance to performance is industry benchmark (amongst other parameters).

It's relevance to the gts is, given the market (performance vehicle), very important. Does it make or otherwise the validity or success of it? You decide!

Is it a great car? Fark yes. The engineering, R&D, validation etc is exceptional on the world stage, let alone for a low volume manufacturer in a very small market. The fact it exists is a testimony to the people at hsv. They fought tooth and nail for it. We are the envy of the gm world because of it. And let's not forget the humble ls3. The 340kw version is the highest spec ls3 anywhere in the gm world.

Should it be faster 0-100? Probably! As I have said, I'll wait for private 1/4 mile times. I also want to see mph at 400m and 80-120 times.

The handling is exceptional and a car that big should not handle as well as it does, this is from personal experience not some comment from someone else.

If you bought one, you will be very happy. Very!

I didn't and the wife still asks if I'm sure (scary as that is). Yes I am, but I have my strategy.

[Plenty]

Well the first independent test confirms your thoughts on this matter. Fastest 0-100 time is 4.7 with constant 4.8s using launch control according to the Telegraph on Friday August 2. Very disappointing really, Wheels quotes the R spec GT at 4.6 sec, oh well there's another over statement from HSV. Something really wrong with the HSV figures, the Camaro LT1 and Cadillac CTS both similar in weight and with the same engine are way quicker. Methinks something like 370 kw is more realistic for the GTS.

Doesn't matter about lap time or handling, at the end of the day it looks like the conservatively quoted GT R spec holds the title as Oz's fastest car, and it's way cheaper.

Like many, I thought this GTS would be a land mark vehicle and blow away the Ford GT challenge and be something that would really stand up to the imports. Sadly I think HSV's renowned marketing spin has once again hoodwinked us and this is not as good as it has been touted. Don't be fooled by all the gizmo's, the 2005 model Bimmer M5 had HUD and all sorts of techno stuff, and quotes 373kw from it's 5.00 litre V10 with a time of 4.7 for 0-100. I was looking at the GTS to replace my current GTS but I think a second hand M5 is more of the real deal.

I find it hard to believe that the first independent test was done by a bloody newspaper, no one else has released official test times and as far as i know only the one media test at Phillip island was conducted.

I think it will be a lot quicker than that in good conditions, let's face it the R-Spec pulled the 4.6 once and ever since has been no faster that the standard GT.

[bouka]

I find it hard to believe that the first independent test was done by a bloody newspaper, no one else has released official test times and as far as i know only the one media test at Phillip island was conducted.

I think it will be a lot quicker than that in good conditions, let's face it the R-Spec pulled the 4.6 once and ever since has been no faster that the standard GT.

The gt struggles for traction. Big time. They very, very fast.

If we assume the gts has the same issues, then any mag test on a non prepped surface is somewhat irrelevant for getting the best possible times.

Both are heavily torque tagged as well and although the gts should get better traction than the gt (theoretically), it still has to cope with all the torque. 700 odd nm of torque laughs at most size tyres.

[planetdavo]

Anyone who sais 0-100 times are not relevant or important is fooling themselves. As I have said before, every manufacturer uses this as a yardstick for measuring the performance of their vehicles, as does every motoring related mag etc.
.

Bouka, you need to be careful that you don't speak as the representative of "everyone" because it means a lot to YOU. All sorts of parameters make up the abilities of a car. 0-100 is just one of them.
Magazines use it because they know it sells more copy to the pimply faced dumb sh!ts that will never be able to afford whatever it is they are testing...

[GTS LSA]

Anyone who sais 0-100 times are not relevant or important is fooling themselves. As I have said before, every manufacturer uses this as a yardstick for measuring the performance of their vehicles, as does every motoring related mag etc.

It's relevance to an overall car is for an individual to determine but it's relevance to performance is industry benchmark (amongst other parameters).
L
It's relevance to the gts is, given the market (performance vehicle), very important. Does it make or otherwise the validity or success of it? You decide!

Is it a great car? Fark yes. The engineering, R&D, validation etc is exceptional on the world stage, let alone for a low volume manufacturer in a very small market. The fact it exists is a testimony to the people at hsv. They fought tooth and nail for it. We are the envy of the gm world because of it. And let's not forget the humble ls3. The 340kw version is the highest spec ls3 anywhere in the gm world.

Should it be faster 0-100? Probably! As I have said, I'll wait for private 1/4 mile times. I also want to see mph at 400m and 80-120 times.

The handling is exceptional and a car that big should not handle as well as it does, this is from personal experience not some comment from someone else.

If you bought one, you will be very happy. Very!

I didn't and the wife still asks if I'm sure (scary as that is). Yes I am, but I have my strategy.

I agree with the relevance as a magazine / review benchmark, same as a few others you mentioned - simply apples to apples. all this data is what helps people form their own opinions, its just isnt a deal breaker in my world and I would never consider an GT on the basis of it. Dont quote me but i think these days a GTR will crack 3 seconds or something, I wouldnt mind one of them , but its double my money and 1 seat short for a family car... So similar i have a strategy and the GTS suits me perfectly.... Just cant stand the wait

[bouka]

Bouka, you need to be careful that you don't speak as the representative of "everyone" because it means a lot to YOU. All sorts of parameters make up the abilities of a car. 0-100 is just one of them.
Magazines use it because they know it sells more copy to the pimply faced dumb sh!ts that will never be able to afford whatever it is they are testing...

It is not about me dave. It is not my opinion. It is the standard by which every manufacturer measures and markets their vehicles and the most easily identified and relevant parameter used by many buyers (as a general rule of thumb).

This is the case for Audi, mb, BMW etc etc. it has been around longer than motor magazine!

As for other parameters? I have always said this so agree. Re read my post.

[bouka]

I agree with the relevance as a magazine / review benchmark, same as a few others you mentioned - simply apples to apples. all this data is what helps people form their own opinions, its just isnt a deal breaker in my world and I would never consider an GT on the basis of it. Dont quote me but i think these days a GTR will crack 3 seconds or something, I wouldnt mind one of them , but its double my money and 1 seat short for a family car... So similar i have a strategy and the GTS suits me perfectly.... Just cant stand the wait

Will be worth it.

I went for an r8 SV with the intention of buying the last of, either gt or gts.

I should hopefully have my r8 over the next few weeks (all going well).

[adr8]

The GTS's 4.7s 0-100 is for the manual, in the article they go on to say the auto will be faster, which when compared to the GT R-Spec's manual time of 4.9s, (the 4.6s was auto) seems about right. Shouldn't we be comparing apples with apples and wait till they test the GTS with an auto?