My(company) VZ Crummydore!!!

[DougM]

Hi guys.

I thought I would do a quick review of my new VZ Crummydore company vehicle. This is the first Commodore I have driven over a longer period since the VN. I know the VE is the new thing on the block but let me say that having the same running gear(V6 4spd auto) it must be a piece of CRUD!!!

I know I may sound harsh, but as my Holden mates(?????) are so proud of their sales and racing achievements(????) I'm going to pick it to bits......It doesn't help the commodore's case after stepping out of my previous BA XR6t!!!!

Most of my complaints are basic but I feel relevant for someone buying an average family/company car......As that is where the volume is......

1/ Fuel consumption in the suburbs is no better than my Edited XR6t!!!!! I average 14-14.5 litres!!! I checked with the fleet manager as we have 15 of them and he said they are all similar!!!! And your talking 185kw against 300kw for my XR. How the hell Holden claims better for the V8 is a mystery??

2/ Auto is atrocious!!!! There is a lot of slip between gears . My borgwarner in the XP is honestly better.......My wife's AU drives much better.....Again, I've asked the manager and he says that's normal and that I'm too fussy...I said no, just a Ford driver!!! I keep it in performance mode so that it's not as bad

3/ Torque(lack of)....When I first drove it, it felt like we were moving along quickly, until the next set of lights and an old camry stayed along beside me....No bull.......The engine revs to redine easily but the car isn't going as fast as the engine seems to be.....Again, under normal driving(not racing) our humble AU has more bottom end is much easier to drive quickly .....

4/ Noise.........Alloy tech sounds like a bucket of bolts just like that VN did way back when!!!! What does help it is the better NVH of the newer car.....

5/ Quality.......5 of the cars I've been in all have rattles in the doors,window glass,suspension, exhaust, boot etc.

6/ Trip meter(distance to empty) jumps up and down by 10-20km increments.....Not good if fuel is low......I've seen it go from 10km to go to 50km and then back down to 5km in the space of 6km's of driving.....Again the other fleet cars do the same....Neither my AU or BA do this....

7/ Fuel Cap(Pedantic I know)....The fuel cap has nowhere to clip on while refuelling so you have to put it on the roof or the ground......

8/ ABS. Comes on too easily and it sounds and feels like gravel in between the disc and rotor......

9/ Smell.......When you drive it a little bit hard(not racing) it gets Fumey....The brakes smell and the auto smells.....Let me add that the XR6t copped a hiding and it never was this bad.......

As you can see I'm having a right royal ***** about "Australia's" favourite car!!! How the hell Holden sells so many is beyond me.....On a positive note, my company has 5 BF's on trial and we are slowly replacing the Crummydore's with Fords!!!!!!! I get mine in 2 months.........

I hope I haven't bored you all with my whinge.....I don't pretend that Ford's are perfect......I had some warranty issue's with my BA....But they were all fixed and the thing is a pleasure to drive......My Ford's may not be perfect but they are much better than the Holdens we have in our fleet that's for certain!!!!!

See ya's