1989 Holden Calais VN 3.8 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Awesome daily cruiser/ thrasher / dominator

Faults:

Major rust in the back windscreen of the car and the rear pillars.

Battery box rusted out and replaced. Spare tire well rusted out and replaced.

Frost plugs in the engine block rusted out and replaced.

Should I go on hahaha?

General Comments:

Interior is not too bad for its age; 22 years old. Now have replaced the hood lining, and the seats are comfy, as I have fallen asleep many times in them.

The handling sucks unless you get some good suspension in them.

The power is good for getting a wheel going. Has no problem getting off the clock, and the good thing is there are plenty of spare parts around.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 12th December, 2011

15th Dec 2011, 03:46

A big thing with the VNs, was when owners didn't use the right coolant for engines with alloy heads, leading to those welch plugs rusting out. I'm surprised with it rusting so soon, but I guess that all depends on where the car is stored etc. I had an 86 Daihatsu that had no signs of major rusting (just a little spot of surface rust here and there) when I sold it in 2007, nor had the roof liner sagged.

They do seem to keep going, but they are pretty agricultural in how they run. I drove a couple of VNs in the early 90's; gearboxes were pretty sledge hammer like, lots of torque down low though, but even when new, the handling just ploughed.

1989 Holden Calais VN 3.8 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

The car has reliable and goes well, but has a few minor problems, but in time they will be fixed

Faults:

The leather seats have cracked pretty badly.

Engine is really noisy on the passenger side.

Boot lining has began to fall off.

Metallic paint has faded.

Alarm does not work after new battery was put in.

In Automatic, from first gear to second is a rough change.

Seat belt retractors are very poor now.

Power windows in back do not work very well and need a bit of extra help to go up and down.

Door seals have all come off.

Boot leaks into spare tire place (that is because they made a few thousand VN commodores with that problem, the back left quarter window is the cause of that and will cost you about $30-$40 to get fixed)

General Comments:

Car has a lot of power and is quick to respond to a bit of gas.

Very roomy and comfortable.

Looks good when lowered and has alloys on it like mine.

I am hopefully going to get extractors and a 2.5 inch system put on it, but I'm not sure if it is worth the money.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 19th August, 2003