26th Nov 2001, 00:48

Hi I own a 2000 VT S pac and brought it brand new. It is a great car and I have not had one single problem with it. It's a great Commodore that is very reliable. Have you ever considered that you got a bad run of the mill car? I'm going to do some modifications on mine such as a new chip, cold air induction and maybe the exhaust. I love my VT S pac and it's a great cruiser.

8th Dec 2001, 21:47

I read with interest your immense dissatisfaction with your purchase. I have driven 4 VT Commodores & 1VX variant.

Two VT's that I have had experience with are the Calais Supercharged & the 50th Anniversary Edition. The others were brand new & did not show up any defects...yet!

The Calais Supercharged had diff whine, (the diff was replaced), oil leaks out of seals from engine, transmission & tailshaft, door vibrations from body flex (the doors were rehung), power steering leaks (the more things change, the more they stay the same), steering wheel audio control surrounds that fell off, various squeaks & rattles from the dash & one side of the centre console trimmed in plastic, the other side in suede (that's a nice touch!)

The 50th Anniversary edition was even better- front suspension collapse, driveline shunt, oil leaks, dash rattles, 6 air conditioner compressors (six, count them!), water leaks in both front doors, 50th Anniversary badges had fallen off in the first heavy rain, 5 replacement body computers, complete power steering failure, & wait for it... an electric rocking drivers seat! All this on a car that had covered a lot of mileage at the time these problems had surfaced...25000km!

19th Jan 2002, 19:41

I own a VX Commodore Executive Series One.

The airbag light keeps coming on and there are rattles in the back windscreen area which the dealer won't fix.

There are rattles on the passenger door which the dealer cannot fix.

The boot keeps on scraping off the plastic trim on the window, which is really annoying.

The fuel cap will not shut half the time.

Should have gone with a Magna...

10th Feb 2002, 17:19

Stick to Japanese and Euro makes, you won't have the same problems. I worked at a Toyota dealer for 3 years and the Camry rarely or never had the problems of non quality Commodores or Falcons. Would recommend Subaru, Honda, Toyota, Mazda or new model Vectras, Astras, Beemers, VWs, Audis, Peugeots etc, many people buy local Holdens and Fords out of habit, ignorance or both.

There is a whole world of charismatic, quality cars for the price of a boring cheap plasticy Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon, but people don't think about it. VW would make THE highest quality car for around $55K (it's really an Audi A6 sharing nearly all mech. components) but many people still insist on buying crap like Calais, Fairmont Ghia, Statesmans, Fairlanes, and HSV's (good for straight line speed and little else) and wonder why their car is cheap 'n nasty. Talk to many people in the street and the mention of a VW will make them laugh as they will think about a Beetle or even the New Beetle, not knowing the awesome German precision and engineering inherent in those cars. However times are changing

& people are starting to realise there are more to cars than Holden and Ford.

2nd Mar 2002, 05:39

After seeing two of my friends (both 18 when they got their brand new VT series one's) put up with their commodores, there's no way I'd ever buy a Holden.

Why people think they are the best thing since slice bread I have no idea. My TH Magna Solara has had no problems whatsoever, yet all the VT sedans I've driven (about 4 or 5) have all had gear whine from the rear and scarey tyre wear. At least Holden sort of got the Camber angles right on the IRS this time for the VX.

25th Jun 2002, 21:33

Two years ago I spent $30,000 (incl. $5000 worth of engine/exhaust maintenance as recommended in pre-purchase inspection report) for a 5 litre 1983 Mercedes coupe (500SEC) - a private import to Oz in 1984. It is reviewed on this website. Nothing "goes wrong" with it. Once you get over the psychological resistance to owning a Merc, you realise that S Class MB's from the 1980's really were made to last forever, and are cheaper than new Jap cars or Holdens to maintain and insure. And an SEC (a genuine 4 seater) makes the new Monaro look pretty ordinary!

1st Jul 2002, 10:02

I have viewed all the above comments and would have to agree that the VT has major issues.

Mine is a 1999 VT V8 Manual Exec fully fitted out with all options. I purchased it for $35,000.00 with 54,000ks - it's a top looking unit, but I have experienced major problems and incurred substantial cost even while the car was under warranty.

The two dealers that have services the vehicle seem either unable or unwilling to rectify the problems. Now that its out of warranty they find all sorts of problems that need immediate repair.

I have been searching the WEB for months to see if I can gain a true picture of what general problems exist - it would seem that the problems I have experienced where not limited to my VT and trying to get a dealer to agree that these are known manufacturing faults is impossible.

Major front end issues - Vibration, Creaking noise, shudder under braking - power window collapse while under warranty not covered ($700.00+) - Power steering repaired ($500.00) - Noisy Water Pump ($400.00) - Paint peeling off air-dam and spoiler (these where factory fitted by Holden) - Engine management warning light comes on intermittently (they look at this one about every 5,000k and charge me between $80.00 and $100.00 - brake globes blowing on a regular basis (Informed by one dealer that this is a known fault fix due in Sept 2002 - my dealer says its faulty globes)

Note: Just had the car in to the dealer for rego check - passed - two weeks later in for 130,000k service $754.00 for service, fix the water pump, steering noise and engine management light problem - again. Guess what - I drove away from the dealer travelled about 10k and on came the engine management light so I went to pull over and it went off. I stopped the car and went to go back to the dealer - the steering noise was back - I suppose I would be expected (by the dealer) to think myself lucky that the water pump was not making a noise. When I got back to the dealer I was told I'd have to book the car in again - I cannot state here what took place after that.

I no longer intend to be Mr Nice Guy and allow these guys to rip me off any further. I have owned many Holden models over the 33 years I have been driving and assure you that I will never purchase another one.

I have written direct to Holden and await a reply and no I am not holding me breath for the reply.