|
News Source: autoblog.com
|
On a recent jaunt to Australia, we got behind the wheel of a Holden Commodore SS-V Redline. We've been looking forward to driving not a Holden, but the Holden, the Commodore, ever since we visited Australia for the first time in 1994 and saw a Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) Commodore parked like a magazine-spread model in a driveway next to a house on a bluff. It was an indifferent, unavailable and previously unknown exotic. We like the look of the VF-Series Commodore. With so many vintage Commodores on Australia's roads to use as archaeological examples – they're as common as Camrys or Accords in the US – its progression into the current bruising and toothsome evolution of the line is easy to trace, and our eye is generally pleased by the kind of deep-sided, billet-faced presentation that one also finds on sports sedans like the BMW M5 and Jaguar XFR. Even the rear wing works for us, which is not the norm. The only thing that doesn't work to our eyes: all that sparkling, polished trim, including the aforementioned 19-inch wheels. GM global product boss Mark Reuss has called the Chevrolet SS a "four-door Corvette." Well, the Corvette gets by well enough without glitter, and we believe the Commodore SS-V Redline could, too. Nobody thinks the Silverback gorilla is less majestic for not being a Chromeback. The pageantry continues on the inside, with lustrous bezels gleaming from every quadrant of a pleasant interior. We have to be honest – after coming to this interior from the triple-black-hole of a Hyundai i40 Tourer cabin, anything brighter than a couple of lumens was like staring into the sun. Still, over ten days with the Holden we couldn't stop thinking, "Why so shiny?" Elsewhere, the seats are more comfortable than supportive, the leather around the giant, hard steering wheel feels, at best, like leatherette, the chunky surround for the head-up display is mirrored in the windshield, the faux carbon-fiber-like-patterned trim on the instrument panel and steering wheel is just... no. So why do we call it pleasant? Because it's a cushy place to work and you can tell Holden made an effort, even if it is a touch homespun La-Z-Boy. You won't have to worry about what it comes with, though – the leather, head-up display, sunroof, rain-sensing wipers, forward collision alert, lane departure warning, blind spot alert, parking assistance, reverse traffic alert, nav with eight-inch touchscreen are all baked in. The substantive options list runs to exactly three items: metallic paint ($550) and spoiler ($500) and automatic transmission (at $2,200 it was an option our car thankfully eschewed). Our six-speed manual rapture was tempered slightly by a clutch pedal whose travel was too long and whose action was too light. The Competition Mode launch control, activated by pushing the stability control button twice, is also standard fitment. Press the clutch and the accelerator, watch the revs bounce up to 5,000 rpm, dump the clutch and you're off. With something like 3,885 pounds to pull, you won't be off in a screaming hurry, but it's still plenty brisk; Holden says mid-fives for the 0-62 mile per hour run. We had a terrific time blasting away from lights and revving to the 6,000-rpm redline because of the relative novelty of a manual sedan and the sound – that's what you have to do to get the normally sedate V8 to roar. The SS-V Redline shades the non-Redline SS-V model below it with the addition of larger Brembo brakes in front, a two-stage traction control with that Comp mode, a unique tune to its FE3 sport suspension with larger anti-roll bars and upgraded dampers and, for the first time ever on a Holden, staggered wheels. Sitting on 19-inch forged alloys all around, this Commodore's back tires are an inch wider than those in front. |
|
| Copyright © 2026 • www.showcar.com.au • Showcar Pty. Ltd. • Contact info@showcar.com.au | sydney web design & development by Webski |