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Too many sad cars made by the same manufacturer previously! In any case the Australian bogan progressed from the huge Commodore/ Ford falcon to an even bigger 4wd!!!!
Just stepped up from VY Ute that was the most reliable car I’ve ever had to a MINT condition VE series 2 SV6. Factory option double hump hard lid and interior that looks like the day it was built and an underbody so clean you could eat your dinner of it. Full service history. It’s a beautiful car to drive and goes extremely hard. I’ve had over 30 cars mostly holdens VK VL VY VS but this car is in another league. DEFINITELY a keeper. And to all the FLOPS on here talking timing chains the series 2 used upgraded chain kits and I’ve had ZERO issues. It’s all about maintenance and oil changes. If you treat ANY car like shit it’ll repay you by being unreliable. And fords outdated shit boxes had PLENTY of issues.
I scored a VE SSV Z Series Ute. Turns out it came with Redline suspension. FE3, the best performance suspension Holden ever offered. And she had her radiator filled at Elizabeth on my birthday. I'll never sell her. Ever.
Riddle me this 1 billion spent on development and on multiple v6 engines with stretched timing chains thanks GM for designing them to fail. The sky is the limit, my my how far we can fall thanks Mary Barra (GM CEO)
Was a great show, shame it came to an end. Though was at its best when Eddie, Sam & Trevor were on it. I was not impressed when Trevor was no longer on the show, as did not watch it as much after that
I have mine a 2012 HDT Gtoup 3 based on a fully optioned SSV and i have no plans of selling it anytime soon its a pleasure to drive and I've never driven it when someone doesn't come up to me raving over it, peter Brock may have been killed in 2006 but he is still alive and kicking in every holden guy in Australia 18 years later
This was good engineering but a commercial failure as GM decided to sideline the platform early. To be frank big thirsty low riding cars were already on the way out so this was not going to end well.
Im pissed that the legacy doesnt live on.. thanks gm for killing Pontiac and Holden. Such a super diving experience .. what a useless sub-perfomance marketing by gm here in the states..
There should be a show america about nfl that has a similar format to the afl footy show called primetime football with jimmy fallon as host peyton manning as co host and kevin hart as comedian behind the bar
I had a silver VE 6.0 Calais with the white leather interior and 18" wheels. Absolutely beautiful car to drive and cruise around in. Wasn't going to win any land speed records but turned heads on more than one occasion because the sound of the 6 litre was quite biblical with a good exhaust. I was heart broken about 6 months in to ownership when a junky in a Range Rover Sport ran in to the back of me while I was stationary at traffic lights. I was the 4th car in queue but still ended up in the middle of the intersection after ploughing through the 3 cars in front of me. The RR was going about 70km/hr and I was completely stationary but received no injuries whatsoever. The rear number plate was pushed up against the back seats, and the front of the car was all but gone, but the passenger compartment was 100% intact, all 4 doors still opened perfectly and you could see how the energy had transferred around the cabin instead of in to the cabin. Remarkable engineering in terms of safety. I sent photos and a thank you letter to Holden at the time, I attribute the fact I can still walk to the fine work their engineering team delivered in this vehicle. I work as an electronic, electrical and software engineer myself, currently designing weapon systems for naval warships and other military hardware for the MoD and DoD so I understand the amount of work that must have gone in to such an epic cabin design that would withstand such an enormous amount of force. I miss my VE dearly, and while my M3 is arguably better in terms of performance, there was something special about owning a piece of Australia when I lived there and it will remain one of my favourite cars of all time.
Wow thanks for sharing your story. Really unfortunate what happened, but a great testament to Aussie engineering that you were able to walk away from it with no injuries - really happy for you as it sounds like it was pretty bad. Did Holden ever reply to you ?
Yes that was the early ones addressed from late 2007 onwards. I have. 2013 Vf sv6 with a LFX v6 with 185,000km on the clock yes always had a slight metallic chain rustle since new at idle but top quality oils and 7.5 to 10,000km oil changes this engine has performed faultlessly. I know of someone with a VE Series 2 with an LFX that has cracked 390,000km and is still going strong. Treat it right and it will look after you!
Holden should have produced a SUV car based on the ve platform from what i read it was in the works but GM did not give it the green light which is a shame because it might have saved holden. Also they could have made the commodore a smaller car and the statesman the bigger car
And just like that all of this engineering ability, production capacity and good design sense was thrown to the wolves and killed outright. Over 90 years of Holden in Australia let go up in smoke because of hard nosed stupid right wing politicians, General Motors problems with the GFC and their lady CEO wanting out of Right Hand Drive markets. "Australia's Own Car" left to wither on the vine and die, the proud lion...it's paw resting on the rolling stone of progress...euthanized because of tory politics and stupid decisions in Detroit. So sad...so bloody sad.
I clearly see you’ve owned one (not). I have a 2013 VF Sv6 with 185,000km on it nothing has gone wrong and still drives like a new car. Could you say the same about a BMW or Mercedes of the same era without deep pockets? Nah don’t think so.
The VE/VF was really a good car but about 10 years too late. Also needed an AWD, twin turbo option. Bogan V8 hoons are a dying breed. Why make a new car only designed for them. Australians want more sophisticated cars that Holden were only just starting to realise.
To be frank, this car was way behind in both performance and technology compared to it's German rivals. The Yanks basically just dumped the left overs on Australia when they were down with the Lumina.
That's nonsense. In many ways the VE was equal to their German counterparts, cost being the factor in limiting the luxury bits you get in the big German brands. The driving experience, in the other hand, is one which shows that Holden got the equations right.
Nope it was cheaper and was no slouch in handling and ride quality and its gm drivetrain shits on anything European, go to a drag strip and tell me what engines are getting used 😂
wow... SO inaccurate.... i just moved back to Aus after 5 years driving these 'better performing european supercars'. bought myself a ve calais only a few months ago, if only i had this to drive on the autobahn, or through Italian and Greek coastal roads or in Sweden in Winter... the volvos, mercs and bmws i did drive there are damn lame and boring next to this 13 year old VE.. ive never had so much pleasure driving wish i could have bought one new.
Man, it's just a Chev, a Chevrolet Lumina, nothing Australian about it, GM does the same thing in Europe with the Vauxhall brand. Your just esambling a Chevrolet. Holden started to exist as a horse saddle making company in Australia. The only thing Ausie about it is the name Commodore, that is an Ausie name for the model, bit it's still a Chevrolet Lumina, same as a Vauxhall VXR8, they all part of General Motors, even Opel and Isuzu Holden never had it's own cars, it's always been assembling debatched cars from proper car manufacturers.
Designed and built in Australia only, is your only problem that holden is a gm subsidiarie? If so your a moron, small car companies don't exist except for boutique companies, you cant survive unless your part of a bigger fish.
Does anyone really think GM really spent 1Billion on this vehicle?? A reasonable person would assume quite a large amount of this went overseas for possible testing of Australia's so called car . I suspect GM had a big party in America to laugh at how dumb Holden Commodore drivers and Australian tax payers were . Holden was never an Australian car it' was American from there early designs look at American cars at that time Aussie Holden's just smaller versions it not football, meat pies kangaroos and American cars
@@bobolulu7615 Get ya hand off it mate if it wasn't for the yanks and the Europeans this shitbox would of been an even bigger flop than it already was. Aussies couldn't produce crap without the rest of the world contributing.
It doesn't matter where it came from, it's still Australian because it was far Australians. Did they make exact same cars for or in America or Europe, no, in europe almost, but still no. They would be no Commodore for 40 years if not for GMH Australia. It was the best car GM ever made in the world
Yeah but humans are touchy freely spatial creatures that prefer to touch and see something. Seeing something on a 2D screen is not like seeing something in the flesh!
