Beautiful Holden Commodore VS SS Review* This Is What Happened! 

Hold down the two out side buttons on the speed alert , start the car and let your fingers off the buttons and it turns the speed alert into a digital speedo

In my eye its one of the best looking cas Australia ever made. And the 304 is the best way to turn petrol into noise

165kw standard, 185kw HSV Enhanced. Or 215kw in GTS guise. I think!

VS SS with 5.O V8 has *168kw* and *385Nm* from factory. Solid numbers in the mid 9Os. Great review Johnny 💯👍👍 Edit...all the Power button does is hold the gears out longer, it doesn't actually make it anymore powerful. 💯

Great memories as a kid in the back holding on for dear life as my older cousins thrashed their VR,VS Commodores around Melbourne....was definitely too young to be out that late ....best times!! 🤘😂

Love the VS SS in this colour, they look awesome in black too.

The colour on that one is Botanica Mica. Had a white VS SS years ago. Was a 5 speed one with twin 2 1/2 exhaust and changed diff to 3.7 centre. Made it so much better to drive. Was a fun car to drive. Great review👍

One of the best looking Commodores ever made!! I used to have the VR Senator 215i and it had really good torque and pretty decent power bump over the standard 5.0. Except the Hydratrak diff was a bit dodgy.

Can’t beat that 304 sound ❤

As much as I love having the LS3 in my VF Redline. The note of a good Aussie 5ltr really is something else❤️

They were good times, I had a series 2 EL XR8 and it was always nice to get that feeling in your gut when you went alongside a VS SS. Both great cars, really wish I still had that XR8. Was just such a lovely car. Glad I got to experience those days, when each brand dropped a new model or variant. Was cool, thanks for taking us down the nostalgic road brother!

hahahah when you did the 0-100 you can actually watch the fuel gauge drop. Good stuff Ross. Truly an incredible bit of Aussie engineering.

I believe the colour is Botanica Mica, Excellent colour on VR/VS Statesmans

Easy One of the nicest models made by Holden. Iove that shape

The 5 litre came standard with 165kw but could be ordered with the HSV enhancement pack, giving 185kw. This pack was available on all trim level as an option and was standard on HSV-badged cars. The standard wheels were only 16” too

I purchased a mint Holden VS ute last month. It is going into the shed as an investment and piece of Australian motoring history.

Old school🤘I got VR 93 ute with 5.0lt V8 modifier cold air, 2 1/2 inch exhaust, chip, enlarge manifold pumping out 220kw. I choose automatic over manual because I have mate doing clutches all time. Weak point is rear main seal on the V8.

What a legend for reviewing this

I own an original condition April 95 (one of the first VS's off the line) VS Executive 5.0 manual. Originally owned by a Holden factory employee in Adelaide, was optioned with a/c, ABS, 80 litre fuel tank and LSD. Is a joy to drive (I owned a VR SS manual for 10 years) that I bought new from City Motors in Perth in August 1994. I've spent the last 2 years restoring the VS to mechanically as new as possible, replacing suspension, clutch, rear main seal, belts, hoses, gaskets, radiator rebuilt, new a/c compressor and power steering rack. Paint and interior are original. SS's of the era are becoming rare, V8 Executives even more so.

One of my favourite shapes

I had the old VS 3.8L NA V6. 1996 model. Miss the ol girl

How did I miss this video?! man soon as I saw this car it put a smile on my face. Can't believe I used to think these were ugly in my younger days 😂

The 308, will always have a special place in my heart, it was truly special and building 1 is even more beautiful, i learnt to drive a 308 carbi fed 1985 vk commodore and it was just truly special to me to be able to drive pieces of history,

EFFFFF YESSSS ! up the VS and long live the GM Holdens Especially all the Iron Lion's ! cant wait to complete my VS one more thing to do Stroked, Cammed and RAMMED !

The VS is my favourite commo ever. Have owned quite a number of them. Have a ute and a calais now. Great cars

Beautiful car. I have had a couple of 5L commodores & always great sounding & reliable except the 4speed. Best thing I did was convert one to a manual 👍

A guy that used with to work with one of my mates back in the day used to have a VS ute with a nasty 355 stoker, it was one of the best naturally aspirated V8's I have ever heard

Ah man you make the best vids on Aussie cars be it the ordinary to the muscle variety.

I had one exactly the same back in the day but shift kitted box with a small stall and set of 3.9 diff gears went mint spewing I sold it sounded epic

You could get a hsv enhanced vs ss with 185kw. Botanica mica-best colour. The one you want has the power windows and the 5 speed. My cousin had one back in the early 2000’s

Great review Ross. The colour is Botanica Mica. This was my dream car back in 2002. I couldn’t find a decent one as I wanted it in this colour. I ended up settling for a exec ex chaser with 5L.

Colour is Botanica Mica (pearl). I had a brand new S pack in that colour in 1996. The Eco-tech V6 went almost as hard.

Love your attitude to all makes and models.. enthusiasm is awesome mate..

I had a brand new 96 v8 calais, the car has 168kw and 395Nm of torque. 395Nm was nothing to be sneezed at back in 1996 compared to the v6 that had 147kw but only 304Nm of torque

Ross Gang checking in. Liked. Awesome vid bro

Owned a Ve Ssv Ute and loved it. But I always looked at VS SS and Stateman VS V8 and really liked them.

Depending on if it has HSV enhancements, it's either 168 kw or 185 kw

great to see an older commodore looking so good. also interesting to see all the roads near work at the airport. for your filming locations in vic.

Great review Jonno. Mint

That's why I love my 5.0ltr VQ not fast ,just sounds good as a cruiser 😁

VS Series II were 168 kw 5.0 litre motors. Great review and love the condition of the car.

I had a factory manual one and it drove so clean the only thing I done on mine was headers

Yes!!! Been hanging for you to do a VS! I have a 96 Calais II with 153k km. Same colour as this SS too. Beautiful cars ❤❤

I remember my Dad coming home with a brand new Calais V8 in 1989. The leather seats, the power. And the sound. I thought my Dad was the king! We were the envy of our street. It wasn't much by today's standards, but in 1989, it was the quickest sedan on the planet.

165 KW was standard for VR-VS. 185 KW was standard on HSV 5L

Per some other comments 185kw is HSV enhanced - extractors, modified exhaust, cold air intake. Stocko is 168kw. If it's HSV enhanced it should have a badge I think?

Just seen this video, I have a 1997 VS SS same colour 5 Litre V8, great video took my car out today

THEY were super nice. I owned a VR Calais and it drove nice. You have to try and get a ride in a 5litre VH SLE or VL Walky

I cannot believe how good condition it is in, perfect cruiser yes but i wouldnt want to drive that unless im going to car shows, the owner needs a few pats on the back, well bloody done! Also sounds 👌

In 1996 there were 2 options of power from the 5ltr 185kw for the one's like your in and the hsv enhanced had 195kw

Botanica mica is the colour of the vs, I had the exact same vs ss 20 years ago, mine was a series 2, had power windows and a cd stacker in the boot

I got a vtss with a 5.0 and 5speed manual sounds great bit slow and run down nowadays that vs is clean 🙂👍

Now we're talking. I've got a 95' VS and it's one of the more sleek beautiful body designs, part Aussie muscle part European cruiser. It's ultimate form was the HSV VS-GTS-R (lol). It's the most common Holden for learner drivers in V6 format being that they are simple cars to work on and cheap being 30yrs old. Gorgeous damn car, they got real ugly in design after the VR/VS until VE. 🤘

The 0-100 was respectable considering the era of the engine. The engine essentially started life in 1969 with just subtle updates along the way, even the EFI system was hugely primative. 165kw for a base engine and 185kw for a HSV from an emissions compliant 80s and 90s engine was a big deal back in the day.

That's the exact car that I want when I start driving manual 5 L V8

I love the sound of that 5LTR

I use to own a 1997 VS series 2 Executive factory optioned with the 5litre V8 5speed manual and FE2 sports suspension with a open differential. That was very rare. That was fun and sounded great but not fast. I think my best was around 8 seconds! Now a Hybrid Camry would easily beat that! Crazy how far we have come in terms of technology… Nice review mate!

I didn't like this era of Holden's until I went and looked at the manual vr commodore I have now. It was a sunday so all the banks were closed which meant I couldn't get enough money out to buy it that day. I fell inlove and put a deposit on it on the spot aftet the test drive then paid the rest and picked it up the next morning. It's only a little buick v6 but I'll never sell it. It's such an analog old car to drive with its 5 speed manual and cable clutch, i love it. Brings me back to a more simple time of when I was a kid with no bills and the family car was a vp commodore lol.

Great review and these 304's sound awesome, though you should also review a Supercharged V6 Commodore and/or a VN Commodore, the AU Falcon of 10 years ago IMO... Another thing to add, the VS Commodore was the last to have a Toyota version, it will be cool to see that being reviewed too lol

Great review mate. The 5.0s from both Holden and Ford were sweet sounding engines. I've still got that GTS for ya here to drive. 6 speed manual is a bit more fun 👍

I remember how the EF/EL XR6s rose to popularity in the 90s for beating these 5.0 litre V8s in 0-100 (Mid 7s for that Tickford tweaked inline 6).

I’ve had a few 308/5lt cars but my favourite was definitely a VS Clubby I had for a few years. That was 185kw but it had a Ken I’Anson exhaust which he said would make it around 200kw. Dunno, never dynoed it. But I loved the big Aussie V8. King of the hill. ..sometimes.

There's a bus that parks at the back of the Airport at the observation area, they make some awesome 👌🏽 Kebabs! Love the reviews Ross, keep it coming from Melbourne

My favourite colour of the vs ss‼️🔥

VS SS great review, bring back the old skool 👏

Hey Ross, I'm finishing up a full rebuild with sauce and supercharger combo on my VS S2 Manual ute. If you're after one to review soon

Nice review man, do a vn ss next 👌🏽

Great content as usual mate! What are the chances of getting your hands on a TRD Aurion? 🤔

168kw / 395nm base 304 spec $43,980 in 1996, which is $79,000 in todays money.

Just bought a 1996 vs ss same colour in auto so happy with it dream car ever since young

The club rego plates look so weird. I remember when these were brand new.

I loved these things it was my first car back in 2010 they used to be as common as VE commos. Sad that I sold it considering the prices they are going for now.

"Back when dad used to say V8s are fast"😅

I always wanted one very cool 5litre my uncle had one

Nice!... Wish my VR Commo had a 5 litre😀

Makes me feel old seeing a vs with historical club plates on it as my mum had one when I was a kid and have photos of it taking me to kindergarten

That is one special car Johnny & it's like brand new what a beautiful VS SS,it's a perfect cruiser & sounds mint also who cares that it's not the quickest car around it wasn't meant to be,hats off to the owner for looking after the old girl & keeping her in showroom condition,I really loved this thanks again bro you nailed it.

First of all thanks for bringing these cool cars up! Ok so my data shows that there was Commodore SS Enhanced Pkg. that had the 185kw compared to the 168kw in the normal SS. Torque only slightly different 400Nm vs 395Nm. Enhanced Pkg. had a slightly higher revving engine (compression ration the same 8.4:1). Also the Enhanced Pkg. was a lighter car 1633kg vs 1699kg. The automatic gearbox is the same in both cars (GM Turbo Hydramatic 4L60-E), same gear ratios and same diff ratio of 3.08. Factory numbers are 0-100kmh 7.5s for the Enhanced Pkg. vs 8.0s. But I’m not Australian, never even seen this car in flesh, this is just data that might not be 100% correct. How could you tell if it’s Enhanced Pkg.? Was there some badging? While doing the acceleration test it revved out to 5k rpm which suggests it’s the Enhanced Pkg. since the normal SS is not supposed to rev that high. Anyway, great car!

Gotta love a old school v8, always like the VN SS gun metal grey 👍🇦🇺🍻

Factory HSV 5ltrs were 185kw. These were 165 or 168 from factory. The Botanica Mica colour is gorgeous. Can't wait to finish the refurb on my VS Senator. Beautiful cars.

Pretty sure 185kw was the claim of the 96 hsv clubsport. The sticker on the back of those said 185i.

Best ever 5 litre made was the vn 5 litre because of the heads think vn-vp was 185i and vr-vt was 195i

What a gem. Love it. 👍

Honestly reckon vr/Vs commodores are the best models built from Holden. Also when people say 5ltr. Most people assume 308 or 304 holdens!

So yea the vs ss 5L made the 165 kw and all the hsv in the vs where 185kw then when you stepped up to the top hsv vs gtsr you where at 215kw or even 220kw. I grew up with these car's and it's still funny to think of a vr/vs commodore as a old school car lol

I had 2 manual VS SS, both Botanica Green... I got the first one for 11k in 03 and sold it for 13k in 04. Paid about 5k for the next in 07 and and sold it for about a grand more in 08... The 5L were very torquey motors and 4th gear could take you from 20km/hr to 200km/hr, so you didn't need to change the gears too often... Would I buy one again? Probably not for today's money. I now have an LS1 which has WAY more top end and almost double the power.... The stock SS was 168kw and the HSV option was 185kw (exhaust, air intake and chip changes)

VR and VS SS were 165kw (edit VS could be 168kw but I've never heard of that but it's 3kw omg 😱) VS HSV range were 185kw except the GTS as that gets the factory 355ci stroker 215kw (215i) standard . I'm pretty sure Senator had the 215 as a option and of course the infamous GTSR got the 215 as well The series 3 ute up to 1999/2000 gets the series 1 VT roller cam block 5 litre pushing 179kw in Holden's and 195kw in HSV form. The stroker for the VT S1 now is pushing 220kw. Not sure if the series 3 got a maloo which would of had the 220kw stroker option, all this info is off memory.

Either 165kw or 168kw stock unless its HSV enhanced then it 185kw

This era was, in my opinion, the start of the Commodore and Falcons reign at the top of the Australian motoring industry over all else until we got consumed by the overseas market.

Stock 5000i had 165kw and 380nm, you could get a hsv enhanced package that increased power to 180kw and 400nm - hsv enhanced was essentially a retune and a baby cam

I brought one of these last year for 200$ great car

I had one of them Ross . Panther mirco in colour with exactly with the same interior. I should have never sold. 👍🇦🇺🆒

love every Commodore model from VC to VF especially SS/SSV's and VK, VX, and VE i wish GM stayed in OZ

Not sure of the size of the wheels but they look pretty good big. The VS SS was only standard with 16”, bigger wheels will slow down the cars 0-100 speed.

Hi ross will you be doing any more reviews around this model ie. Vs calais vs statesman caprice?

also that speed alert could be used as a digital speedo if you knew how to set it ;)

Love a V8 that uses more fuel than oil, not the case with the LS1.

great cars besides the hoodlining and them passenger airbags always come away from the dash ,tip top review bud

Now i miss mine😞95 vs ss enhanced 185kw panther mica t5 Manuel was nice to drive👍

Aussie 5ltr 👊