Faults:

Water pump needed replacing.

Timing belt needed replacing.

Alternator packed it in.

Fuel pump was noisy so I replaced it.

Exhaust manifold leaked - Replaced with extractors.

Power steering fluid leaks.

General Comments:

Quick Car and a Head Turner! The motor is reliable as and good on the fuel! I added cold air intake, extractors and a 2.5 inch exhaust and it goes pretty hard! I put some 16 inch 5 spoke rims on it and re-sprayed it with a rear spoiler and it turns heads! If you look after the cooling system on these cars you'll have no problems...

Anyone with any suggestions on how I can make this car go quicker let me know!

Faults:

The front disc's were warped. All they required is to be machined and they are fine.

It had the traditional water leaking in the boot, but I pulled the taillights out on one weekend and filled the gaps with some silicon, and I haven't had a problem since.

Other than those two things, absolutely nothing is wrong with the car.

General Comments:

My car is excellent because of the fact that the engine in it has only done 70,000 kilometres.

The lady that owned it before me cracked a radiator hose, cooked the motor and had to do a full rebuild.

Since I bought it I replaced the original springs with lowered hardened springs which gives it exceptional handling and great looks.

I have 16 inch 5 spoke semi-chrome mags on it at the moment. The tyres are 9 inch wide which helps with traction and handling.

It is a great cruising car and with just a few body adjustments eg. mags, lowering, it looks great and brings in the chicks.

Faults:

Auto transmission slipping - required a rebuild.

Area around the wind-screens rusted - both front and rear needed replacing.

Fuel pump noisy - replaced.

Water pump leaking - replaced.

Air-conditioning has stopped working.

General Comments:

Good straight-line performance.

Has soft suspension and a lot of body roll through the corners.

Nissan 3.0L motor is quick yet smooth and refined.

Faults:

No real serious engine problems except for:

Power transistor module in dizzy kicked the bucket on a hot day leaving me stranded in the Safeway carpark unable to start the car.

Crank angle sensor died right after a service at K-Mart tyre and battery, I was stupid to take my car there.

Replaced dizzy cap and ignition leads.

First muffler replaced.

New brake master cylinder.

Front and rear shocks replaced.

Front brake pads renewed.

Leaky boot.

Water fills up the tail lights causing them to short out occasionally.

Plastic interior parts and bumpers crack at the drop of a hat.

Rear brakes need attention.

A bit of rust here and there.

General Comments:

There is no doubt that the VL Commodore is a great car, the strength and unique smoothness of the motor was really what made the VL special.

But one has to take into consideration that VL's like mine are 15 years old. Although the motor itself has a good reputation and in many cases have been known to run well over 300,000 kms, many other engine sub systems like the distributor and braking systems usually become suspect after 200,000 kms.

But the only real design fault of the car was to have the radiator sitting below the block which directly leads to overheating when the radiator fluid levels are not checked.

For street performance (and great looks) you cannot surpass the VL, especially the turbo model. A mate of mine has spent over 30 grand on his Calais turbo and reckons he can get over 350 kw from the motor and run the quarter mile in ten seconds flat.

The cult that surrrounds the VL is something of a myth, one of the reasons why the VL was replaced by the gruff Buick V6 in the 88 VN model is because the motor was becoming too expensive for Holden to produce.

At the end of the day VL's are only really a cheap Commodore chassis with a killer Japanese motor under the bonnet.