1988 Holden Commodore Executive 3.0 six cylinder Nissan from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

The VL Commodore is an excellent first car and it has plenty of areas where you can personalize it

Faults:

My universal joint needed replacing. Minor problem only, and only $80 to fix.

General Comments:

A good car, but I would like it to be a bit quicker. Handles well in my opinion (it's my first car) although it does feel as if it is floating around sometimes.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th September, 2001

1988 Holden Commodore VL 3.0 L straight 6 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Very kick ass model. I love my car!

Faults:

Crank angle sensor... hasn't everyones?

Apart from that, nothing has gone wrong with it except the other day when my mate backed into it in his 4x4.

General Comments:

Very kick ass car! I loved my Gemi for its rallying ability, but the Commodore has it all over the road! Bloody brilliant handling, bloody fast acceleration and I don't have to push it to get to 90km/h like the Gemi!

So far I have wound it out to 160, but I wanna hit the 200 mark! Keep running out of road!

It is red, has 18% tint, is lowered and has 16 inch mags! More to do soon though like the side trim, bumpers and a rampod. Also wanna stick an exhaust on it that is loud!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 8th August, 2001

30th Oct 2001, 05:27

Try using a freeway at midnight for top speed trails!

27th Jul 2004, 20:57

I've got a vl like yours what I did to make it hit the 200k mark was retard the timing a bit and took off the filter box. now it goes like a bat out of hell!!!

1988 Holden Commodore Wagon 3.0 EFI from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

It kicks ass!!! The VL is the best Commodore ever made!!!

Faults:

Rust below the windscreen and rear window.

The windscreen sprayer water tanks have corroded severely at the edge of the bonnet as has the radiator overflow tank.

The old person who owned this car before me had brushed something and had cracked the front and rear bumpers... so I replaced them.

And somehow the button on the handbrake came out!? So I replaced that.

General Comments:

At the rear of the wagon the interior is made of some poorly made cardboard material, which is easily damaged so I replaced it with Chequer plate.

When I bought it there was tint on all windows including the windscreen, I'm still trying to find out if this is illegal or not? Can someone help me out, it would be much appreciated.

Current mods to car:-

15 inch MAGS.

2 inch sports exhaust.

Black tint.

Lowered.

Removed air intake funnel to get greater air flow into the engine.

KENWOOD head deck and KENWOOD 7x10 KEVLAR/POLYPROPOLYNE injected 260 watt speakers in rear facing each other (OOH BABY, THE BASS!!!)

Chequer plate rear interior.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 15th July, 2001

16th Jul 2001, 09:04

Geesh, I need my car to be at least 90 somewhat percent better than that. To have to replace items like that and fine dint and dirty looking particles is not my idea of a wonderful brand of car.

18th Jul 2001, 03:26

Dude that doesn't even make sense?

10th Apr 2003, 08:30

How much did the front bumper set you back? I'm in need of a new one for my VL. Some idiot reversed into me.

1988 Holden Commodore VL 3.0 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Grunty rear-wheel-drive Bogan-mobile

Faults:

Power steering servo needed replacing.

Gearbox is worn and rattly.

General Comments:

The Nissan engine makes for great performance when combined with the manual transmission.

Suspension sucks though. It's all wobbly and soft and you don't get any feeling for what the car is doing.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 18th June, 2001

1988 Holden Commodore SL Executive 3.0L Inline 6 Fuel Injected from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

An all round car, Excellent!

Faults:

Pinstripe starting to wear away, crank angle sensor replaced, injectors replaced, new boot carpet. Everything else is original.

General Comments:

*Its fast compared to my 83 corolla.

*No traction in the wet with standard tyres.

*Handles well around corners.

*Can tow a fully loaded 800kg trailer with five occupants in the car, and still accelerate reasonably well.

*Cruises well.

*Excellent mileage for a car of its year.

*Brake discs too small.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 15th June, 2001

1988 Holden Commodore VL 3.0 injected 6 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

A rough diamond that was too flawed for my liking

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

I thought the VL was too flawed for my liking. It has some very good points, but some bad points as well.

Its performance is good. The nissan 6 is the best thing about the car - smooth, flexible, and it sounds like a Jag when you give it some welly.

However the rest of the package lets it all down. The handling (unmodified) is terrible. Driving it on a windy road - particularly one with a lot of slow corners - is just plain boring. It suffers from bad plow understeer that eventually gets your teeth grinding in sympathy with the front tyres.

The rear end of the car has a tendency to become a real handful in anything less than perfectly smooth dry bitumen. Dirt roads - no thanks! And then there's the lumpy, over-sensitive steering, and the tendency to wander all over the road at high speeds.

The chassis of this car bends and flexes when you punt it through a high speed corner. You can hear squeaking around the windscreen and door frames.

The automatic gearbox is a bit of a pain as well. On hilly roads it continually changes between 3rd and 4th. Under heavy acceleration there is a strong vibration from somewhere in the driveline.

However there are good points. Its a comfortable, quick car that has good fuel economy in the country. Also it is quite a good looking car, and has loads of interior room.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 13th June, 2001

1st Aug 2002, 20:47

You fool, the VL does have a fourth gear. The VK didn't maybe that it what you are thinking of. Get your facts straight before you bag the VL.

2nd Oct 2002, 03:44

Ummm...My VK has 4 gears.

23rd Oct 2002, 02:08

None of you have a clue. The VL 3 litre has a four speed auto and the 5 litre auto has a three. You need to get your facts right. By the way, I just wanna say that id be embarrassed to own a VK, mainly because the front and back of them suck compared to the VL's.

4th Nov 2002, 05:53

I tend to agree with the steering in the VL's, they are quite sensitive. The car also has a serious problem with rolling, but minor mods can fix these.. the VL I believe was a turnaround for holden with performance. And yes the VK was a disgusting car...

26th Nov 2003, 06:05

VL is an ugly try hard rice burner, VK is an ugly plastic screw up, Get a vh they look awesome have a strong fast motor 3.3L with the smallest dollars spent on induction and exhaust they fly.

29th Oct 2005, 22:32

Who cares about how many gears they got, they would only need one to rip on ford, ford spelt backwards, driver returns on foot!!!. Vl's are mad, up the VL!!

6th Nov 2005, 20:58

The VL is aw-some I have one and it would kill any ford and any VN. Ill hunt down all the fords and kill them because i am Luke