Opinions on new car options - Australia

megakid

megakid

megakid

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So I'm feeling a little case of itchy feet to swap cars coming on.

I've been over in Sydney for 18 months and I've had my 2004 Holden Commodore SS for a little over a year now, done about 16,000km in it and although I love it, I have a little more cash to spend now and as such, a bigger budget.

In case anyone wasn't aware, a Commodore SS is basically a V8 RWD Mondeo - it has the same engine as a Monaro (5.7l N/A V8 pushrod) and my particular version cranks 329 bhp with bags of V8 lazy torque at the low end.

I'm pretty open to different cars:

* I value motorway smoothness/comfort over twisty performance. (i.e. Firm suspension but not so stiff that motorways are a nuisance).
* Fast - 6 secs or less to 100kph/60mph.
* Manual or semi-auto.
* 2+2 or 4 seats.
* Cars with high revs needed for motorway cruising is a no-no.
** I've ruled out Impreza & Evos because of this - haven't even checked the prices of these. But is this a valid concern?
* Newer than 2002.
* Mileage & running costs are essentially non issues.

My budget is $40,000 (AUD) maximum - including what I can get for my existing car (I estimated $16,000 but could be more).

So this brings me onto some options I've considered from http://www.carsales.com.au:

* Ford Falcon XR8 or XR6 Turbo. Basically the Ford version of my current car. Both meant to be very good cars but perhaps a little bit *too* similar to my existing car.
* HSV R8 - Basically a Vauxhall VXR8 - a little more racing pedigree than my existing car - plenty around within my budget. Just a newer, racier version of my current car.
* 300C SRT-8 - Wildcard? Not 100% sold on looks (too bling?) but the performance is stonking.
* BMW e60 545i - Probably not an option since only a few fall within my stretch budget.

Some smaller cars:

* Nissan Skyline V35 (Infiniti Q35). I like the look of these and they fall within my budget - much smaller but not many good examples out there. Long distance driving in these? They're meant to be targetted towards luxury sports rather than racer sports (see next)
* Nissan 350Z - same chassis as the V35. Even more racier than the V35.
 
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Falcon XR6 Turbo for me in your list provided its the current shape model. I absolutely loved the XR6 nasp I hired - it was worryingly close to a BMW 330i for a Ford, thats for sure!

The N/A was 37kish driveaway when I was there, maybe you can get a new Turbo for your budget?

I hate you btw.
 
[TW]Fox;17362136 said:
Falcon XR6 Turbo for me in your list provided its the current shape model. I absolutely loved the XR6 nasp I hired - it was worryingly close to a BMW 330i for a Ford, thats for sure!

The N/A was 37kish driveaway when I was there, maybe you can get a new Turbo for your budget?

I hate you btw.
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Thanks :cool:

Did you have the semi-auto or the manual in the nasp? If the semi-auto is good enough I might consider it, especially since it doubles the amount of cars available in my budget.

Just looking at the carsales.com.au I can get a 2010 nearly-new model for just a smidge under $40k. Maybe I can investigate new-with-discount as an alternative.
 
New shape XR6 Turbo. It's what we're looking at to replace one of our cars with.

Not to get into the whole Commodore vs Ford thing but I think you'll find it an improvement on the SS, which is still a very capable car. It'll be a marginal improvement as many recent reviews have suggested but still one that you'll notice.

webwombat said:
We cruised, we charged, we steered and we poked. Then we prodded, we cursed, we took some photos, and finally we argued. At the end of the day, the comparison bore witness to an astonishingly tight race, but the burning question can finally be answered: Ford's cult hero, the XR6 Turbo is the better car.

For purveyors of performance, the XR6 Turbo is a true Aussie sports car, hitting the mark expected of it in all areas – acceleration, braking, steering and feel. The SS V - whether by design or perchance - has all the ingredients for the performance segment but leans towards the luxury side of the scale, and as a result will definitely catch the eye of buyers who would be more likely to inspect imported sports cars.

With a rip-snorting V8 engine, show-car looks and a much improved chassis, the Holden Commodore SS V was the runner up here, albeit by a small margin. The SS V has the definite edge in the style stakes, but the crisp handling dynamics and scintillating engine of the Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo and it's well balanced overall design ensure that it's still the best Aussie performance car on the market.
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drive.com.au said:
Verdict

Having been reacquainted with the Falcon XR8, we can see why Ford invested heavily in the XR6 Turbo all those years ago.

We suspect Ford knew the V8 wasn't going to cut it against the big V8s Holden had up its sleeve and so embarked on a turbo six-cylinder engine program. It was a bold but wise move as the XR6 Turbo is now the highlight of the Falcon range and has finally knocked off the king of Australian muscle cars for 12 years, the Commodore SS.

The XR6 Turbo is quicker, more fuel-efficient and is good to drive. And at $46,990 in six-speed auto guise it's a relative bargain. V8 fans will cling to the Commodore, which is no bad thing. But it can't match the XR6 Turbo for overall performance.

This version of the XR6 Turbo is only going to be around for another three years before it's replaced by a turbocharged V6 that's not likely to have as much grunt. It's a cliche we rarely use but this XR6 Turbo could well become a future classic.
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As a counter point, I don't think either of the Nissans will give you what you're looking for. I haven't test-driven them (as I have the SS and XR6) so I may be way off, though :)
 
So today I had a test drive in a new Commodore SS 6.0 VE Series II (it's got a nice touch screen console computer standard) and the XR6 Turbo 4.0 FG.

First up, the Commodore SS VE Series II.

holdensssedan1600600x40.jpg


Given I already own a Commodore SS, the Commodore didn't blow me away. When we first got in the car, the dash, apart from the big touch screen in the centre, didn't scream quality and the plastic finishes to a lot of the interior panels left a lot to be desired. However, I didn't dwell on that - We set off from the garage and the salesman gave me the hot seat a few corners down the road - the driving position felt a little higher (perhaps due to stock suspension), the clutch was super light compared to what I was used to and the gearbox was a lot tighter but I felt it still lacked feel when changing gear. I was set to go but I couldn't get the handbrake off - it's such a strange design that lef
t me feeling for the release button and then I caught my finger when I dropped it down - a painful start to the drive! The engine was awesome as I expected, plenty of raw power from anywhere in the rev range - you can accelerate from any gear - awesome but you pay in fuel economy - my car does 21 mpg on a run, you could probably get that up to 24 mpg if you really tried. I could feel the slight increase in power in the 6.0 versus my measly 5.7 :D and it was certainly more refined over the bumps and more composed in the bends than my older VY Series II model.
I was a little unimpressed with the steering feel - it felt a little wollowy and I didn't feel connected to the front wheel half the time. Sure it would handle the Sydney potholes just fine but would I enjoy it when I get out to the national parks for a bit of twisty action - probably not and since this is a pleasure car, not a commuter, I think I'd rather a firmer ride.
I came away feeling a bit under whelmed to be honest, I certainly couldn't justify the extra cash on top of my current motor to get this one - it just wasn't special enough, or maybe it just wasn't different enough.

Next up was the Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo.

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I was excited by this one, I've heard a lot of good things about it (Not least by none other than the resident Fox) and I hadn't driven a Falcon before. The showroom had a nice 50th Anniversary special edition version. I sat in this whilst I was waiting for the car and it became apparent that the latest XR6 has a far nicer interior then the Holden I drove earlier that day. The seats were part leather part cloth and I actually didn't mind them (I usually go for full leather). The steering wheel was solid, soft leather coated and had a good chunky feel to it only to be badly let down by the wheel stalks. These things seemed like they were from my 1989 Peugeot 205 Junior - they were oddly shaped and had a distintly plasticy look and feel to them. The centre console was braced with a large LCD display that looked to have customisable options for everything - I haven't played with iDrive yet but I imagine it to be something similar.
When the guy returned I climbed in and adjusted my seat I felt myself aware of how much more visibility there was from the drivers position versus the Commodore. Solely from the driving position, the car felt a little more driver orientated, the center console seemed higher and felt like it hugged you more - nothing like a true sports car mind you - just a little bit more than the Commodore. We set off.

First thing I noticed when driving was the gearbox was far better than the Commodore gearbox I drove earlier on that day. It was more precise and had a tighter shift pattern. In the Commodore I found myself hunting for the gears once I was in neutral, in the Falcon I was instantly at home going through all gears to 6th. Once we cleared Sydney city traffic, we hit the southbound Eastern Distributor which is a 3 lane highway from the city to the airport, I span up 2nd gear on the sliproad and wow - this thing doesn't sound bad! I expected to be disappointed coming from a V8 rumble but actually the power and the noise of the 4.0 inline 6 wasn't half bad. The power delivery was fantastic too. Under 2k rpm you have yourself a sedate cruiser - stick it in 6th on the highway, wack cruise control on and you could sit at 1.5k rpm and I imagine, compared to a big V8, be pretty frugal - once you hit 2k rpm, the turbo is at full chat with it delivering peak torque here, you get a kick in the back and you really feel it start pulling. You do feel the on/off'ness (digitalness?) of the turbo power delivery but I think I enjoy it over the more lazy power delivery of a V8 - time will tell what I like most.
Apart from that the steering seemed direct and I felt more in tune with the car after the same distance test drive as I did the Commodore - maybe it was the gearbox, maybe the steering, maybe the power delivery, I don't know but it certainly left with a better feeling than I did with the Commodore.

So what's next?

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I test drive a HSV Clubsport R8 6.2 V8 tomorrow - that belts out 425bhp and I *cannot* wait to drive it. If the interior doesn't put me off, I may just end up with one of these - albeit a couple of years old versus a brand new XR6 Turbo. Lets see!
 
Its a pretty tough choice between the XR6 and the HSV CS. The HSV is so popular in WA, Ive not been in one but I can listen to them all day long, and they really shift. I prefer the look of them to the XR6 too, but the Falcon has a nicer interior. I heard an XR6 with an aftermarket exhaust the other day and it sounded like an RB26 engined Skyline, it was immense :cool:
 
Ok so I drove the HSV Clubsport today and I can't help but be impressed. It really shifted and the overrun when you lift off was awesome. The brakes took me by surprise as well, they looked the part and boy did they stop the thing quickly. This car is a little more than I wanted to pay and I want one so badly I'm just not sure I can justify the additional cost (especially given the extra insurance, fuel etc I'd be fronting too).

This might all be redundant because I just heard from a friend down in Melbourne - he works for Ford and is trading in his 7 month old 15,000km XR6 Turbo in the next week or two. He said it would cost $27,500 which is way below market price. However, it is dark green (not great...), it has slight damage on the rear which apparently will cost less than $1,000 to repair and it doesn't have many options. Having said that, I could probably enjoy this car for a year and sell it for the same as I bought it - not to be sniffed at.

Decisions decisions.
 
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HSV clubsport, just blow the budget on something you really want, instead of a car that isnt the colour you want and has panel damage.
 
If I had the money then it'd be an XR6 Turbo...

My old company had a couple of shared XR6 Utes that were great fun around town. The director had a modified XR8 which I took out of town for a few days - while it was gorgeous and made your hair stand on end when it purred I couldn't justify the extras. Especially given our enthusiastic speed enforcement officers (which I hear is much worse on your side of the pond - or is that just NSW?).

Oh, and this is from a red fan when it comes to Bathurst :D
 
Going down to the dealer with the HSV tomorrow.

Looking to get a good bit of haggling going on - along with getting the most out of my trade-in valuation. It's a 6sp manual LS3 (6.2) Clubsport, not many of these around since the LS3 was only introduced towards the end of R8 Series 1, Series 2 is too pricey and looks a bit tacky (imo). The more common LS2 (6.0) is nice but trying to stretch the extra for an LS3.

I'm fully prepared to walk away empty handed if he doesn't budge on price so just got to stick to my guns.
 
megakid said:
Going down to the dealer with the HSV tomorrow.

Looking to get a good bit of haggling going on - along with getting the most out of my trade-in valuation. It's a 6sp manual LS3 (6.2) Clubsport, not many of these around since the LS3 was only introduced towards the end of R8 Series 1, Series 2 is too pricey and looks a bit tacky (imo). The more common LS2 (6.0) is nice but trying to stretch the extra for an LS3.

I'm fully prepared to walk away empty handed if he doesn't budge on price so just got to stick to my guns.
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I hope he moves on the price a little :) I would love a car with an LS3 engine.
 
The deal is done. Pick up the car next Thursday.

Got a good price (with a trade-in) so I'm more than happy. I cannot wait!
 
Sorry Fox :)

The R8 was such a better occasion to drive - and that's what I'm looking for - a car that's an occasion everytime I drive it. The XR6T was great car but the R8 took it when it comes to road presence and occasion.

If I was buying a car for anything other than weekend driving/pleasure I would have got the XR6T.

EDIT: This is now mine: http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars...home&__Nne=15&trecs=3&Cr=0&__sid=1278CF769FFD
 
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