2004 Holden Berlina VY 3.8L V6 from Australia and New Zealand
Summary:
Powerful and reliable family sedan
Faults:
Driver's seat adjustment controls broke numerous times.
Buttons on radio got scratched easily.
Mainly interior things like plastic etc. Exterior paint was prone to scratches, but that can't really be helped
Headlights turn off when the car is switched off and locked, but if left on the 'automatic' setting, headlights sometimes stayed on, draining the battery
As car got older (160,000K's+), it tended to go through a bit of oil every now and then for no apparent reason.
General Comments:
Very comfortable, good on long trips.
Power on tap when needed; otherwise very humble.
Good acceleration, but most power was at higher revs.
Despite being a big car, if you drove it well, you could get good fuel economy out of it; we averaged 10-11L/100K.
Superb handling, good feedback through the steering wheel.
Excellent grip, could take sharp corners at fair speed easily, even with traction control off, and was still hard to throw it around.
Plenty of room in the back and the boot.
Sturdily built car; once fairly majorly bumped into the back of another car, yet had no damage to engine bay, only exterior scratching was present
No other real problems, regularly serviced at a Holden dealer, and as a result, there were no major surprise problems with the car, only scheduled replacing/refitting of parts were needed.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 16th December, 2010