1990 Holden Commodore Executive 3.8 petrol from Australia and New Zealand
Summary:
Powerful, but lumbering
Faults:
Big problems with the power steering fluid leaking, we have to keep a spare bottle of it in the boot for emergencies.
Lots of the plastic panels from the interior have fallen off e.g. the underside of the wheel, covering of the radio, outside of glovebox.
Latch on the hood has broken so it is a huge mission to open it, requires 3 people.
The metal bar thing that held the boot up snapped off one day and made a hell of a noise, irreplaceable and makes the boot extremely heavy to hold up.
General Comments:
Suspension is very soft, good over judder bars, but a bit scary around corners.
Car is too powerful for the chassis, it has the power there, but has no way of putting it on the road (can be fun in the wet)
Kick-down switch doesn't seem to work very well anymore, since it's my dad's car and he has honestly never used it because he is obsessed with not wasting petrol. But I give it a damn good thrashing occasionally and it seems to come right.
It is the least luxurious car ever made all it has is air conditioning and a radio. The transmission has no light on it to tell you what gear you're in; there is no beeping to tell you that you've left the lights on; seats are bad quality, has no cupholders, etc etc.
It's a good car for an easy going, softly slung family saloon, but the attention to detail is quite underwhelming. And it corners like a truck.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 29th November, 2005
21st May 2006, 07:57
Hey, I love my VN! I have very few problems, except for the nasty fuel consumption. They are a very reliable car, and respond pretty well to minor modifications. They are dirt cheap to repair, as parts are locally available.
13th Aug 2006, 08:03
Hi Guys, my best friends family has 2 VN model commodores which they have owned from when they were brand new. Both of them have the exact same problems as listed before. Most of the plastic panels on the interior of the car are either warped or have fallen off at some stage. The plastic panel that is underneath the steering wheel of both cars has fallen off. This is not because they have been tampered with, but because the build quality of the car is very average. The ventilation system on the VN commodore is rubbish and all of the windows fog up with more than 2 poeple inside the car. As for the handling, the car is extremely dangerous in the wet especially if there is an inexperienced driver behind the wheel. All in all the car really is very average.
6th May 2006, 00:20
Don't be so haRSH ON HOLDENS WHAT DO U GET PAID by holden to say things like that. you must realise that every body is entitled to there opinion. open your mind a little there are plenty of other cars on the market out there apart from holdens. and plenty of them are far better made.