MT joins the Darkside

[Big_Richard]

My current daily driver, for a while anyway.

Holden VE SV6



How do i like it?

day 1, first impressions, atrocious vehicle.

Zero steering feel, heavy steering, clunky 6 speed auto that never knows what gear to be in, interior full of crappy plastic, front windscreen angle ensures sunlight directly in my eyes at all times. rattly blower fan, seats as hard as hell, door arm rests as hard as hell and no where to rest your right arm.

day 2.

start to get used to the vehicle.

Start to drive it aggressively, start to smile, start enjoying vehicle. Turn off stability control and throw it around corners where ever possible. Shift manually, and hell, start to have a hell of a lot of fun.

day 3,

love the vehicle, start to over look its numerous issues. Look forward to driving it when ever possible.

[Tony66_au]

They do bring out the hoon in people.....................

Awful things but they love a good flogging, reminds me of a girl i knew.

[TJ 450]

It sounds like the "hoon grade" performance brain-washes the driver into thinking that it is the best car in the universe.

Mind you, it can't be all bad. If I heard correctly, GMH has even made a reasonable profit of late.

Tim

[WGB]

Me and G-M Holden - I always break them.

VK 5.0 litre V8 - 5 transmissions plus a head gasket in first 28,000 km.

VN - modified suspension to FE2 to  try to get it to stay on the road and travel in a straight line.

Gave up and sold it at 12 months old and 12,000km for a Mercedes  in 1989.

Stayed with Mercedes - Happiness.

Bill

[TJ 450]

My father used to break them as well... His new VS (V6) suffered big end bearing failure a few weeks after delivery! Not to mention the multitude of problems with the VN cooling system, and AC condensate dripping (pouring) all over the floor when the cars were near new. In his experience, the VL was the only one that was actually reliable.

The VB four cylinder wouldn't even go up a steep incline with the AC on, all in the name of "economy".

Tim

[Big_Richard]

I now have my permanent daily driver.

a falcon bf something or other.

smooth ride, comfortable seats. Nice and boring.

handles like a boat in comparison but at least i do the speed limit 

[WGB]

I have had a BA Falcon for the past Five years - purchased it as a 1 year old ex-Herz Rental with 15,000 Km on it.

It now has 61,000 km and has never had a major problem except the standard Ford wobbly front discs and diff noise.

Handling is presentable and improves with bigger tyres if you feel so inclined.

Bill

[TJ 450]

I've never been into the age old Holden vs. Ford debate, but I have always thought that the basic Falcons were built to do the job and not try to be anything other than what they were. More comfortable interiors too, in my opinion.

It's always a reality check for when you hop back in a Mercedes.

Tim

[Big_Richard]

Its a company car so not overly concerned.

its comfortable to drive so thats the main thing really.

[oscar]

Ford v Holden, fords win, they have had thicker door cards for years which make it more comfortable to rest your right arm on. 

I drove a colleague's year old SS V something or other a couple weeks back which has had a few grand spent on chipping, extractors and full SS exhaust with remote silencer valve and wider throttle body and CAI.  Dyno showed another 25killawasps gain so it's around 300 or 305kw.  Definitely brings out the hoon in you and the exhaust sounds were awsome.  Didn't like the steering but I'd soon get used to it but the one thing I hated the most when talking ergonomics and design is the handbrake lever.  A hunk of plastic designed to sit flush at the ends when resting in the console and doesn't fit the hand at all.  When in hoon mode you reach down and have to do a double take to make sure you've grabbed hold of it and not a piece of fixed interior moulding.  Even in driving Miss Daisy mode and going to park you reach down at this thing and screw your face up.  Feels very tacky.

[Big_Richard]

Indeed, seems like a common complaint.

At my last job where i test drove a heap of cars for potential fleet purchase I had a very hard time convincing anyone to choose the commodore.

I liked the commodore wagon versus anything else simply because it had heaps of room.

No one else liked it, with comments like "its a piece of sh!t" "the interior is cheap plastic" and "it drives like a piece of sh!t"

My choice was vetoed and the car chosen was jap crap much to my disgust.

[Tony66_au]

Design complaints aside, Im gobsmacked at how many Aussies are so polarised by the holden versus ford thing.

My Stock answer when someone asks if I had to choose a Holden or a Ford is Chrysler lol

But so many of us get sucked into the motor racing hype, Bathurst 1000/V8 Supercars spin along with merchandising and yet the V8 Supercars bear no resemblance other than shape.

I was in Big W in Morwell before Christmas just gone and I had a well worn Mercedes cap on my head, this cap was given to me when I was driving Coaches for a mob who had all Benz Coaches and is a Benz trucks cap.

So this bloke in a HSV jacket and cap (HSV is Holden Special vehicles) says to his young son "Check out the wanker in the merc hat", I heard the comment and turned and pointed at him and said "Pot...Kettle.... Black mate".

His son laughed, he scratched his head and looked annoyed.

I was wearing the cap because I was having a baaad hair day, he was wearing the jacket and cap because he worships at the Altar of Holden.

Wanker.....  :-)

[Tony66_au]

Anyway, A subject near and dear to my heart is how Australian car makers have been fooling the motoring public and short changing them in technology while charging a premium price for their cars when they were clearly technologically inferior.

And because Ive owned a lot of different cars in my life I tend to see the differences, some small and some huge.

I dont know about Mercedes Benz cars before the W116 so some help would be great here and I'll start with the cars I do know about.

Mid to late 60's, Renault 10 had 4 wheel disc brakes and independent coil over suspension as Did the Mark 10/420G Jaguar.
Holdens had 4 wheel drum with boosters as an option, Ford Ditto, Chrysler Ditto. Ford and Holden had coil shock front ends and Chrysler had Torsion bar sprung/Shock front ends.
Heaters were optional on the Big 3 Aussie cars (Valiants not heater optioned had a blow thru heat system in the passenger forced duct), heaters were Standard in Euro cars.

4 wheel disc brakes as standard on Fords and Holdens (Chrysler disappeared in 82 in Oz) in the Mid to late 80's, early 60's as standard in Euro cars.

Airbags as standard in Oz from the late 90's, I believe Benz had em as an option in the early 80's and i know my 760 Volvo wagon had em standard in the late 80's as did Benz even on their pov models.

ABS.... Awful dangerous 3 channel (2 front, 1 rear) ALBS in early 90's Fords and Holdens, these systems were scary on a loose surface and snow driving with Aussie ABS was a nightmare.
Euro cars got ABS as standard when? Late 80's I think, was it 4 channel or 3? Id think 4.

Traction control, Late 90's for Oz.
I know my Volvo had a mechanical system in the differential that would lock the diff to 15 kph if it initially slipped on takeoff and Mercedes 4 speed auto's start in 2nd gear to prevent slippage on snow/ice/mud automatically.

So what did i miss?

BTW I was told by a relative years ago that German car makers used to crash test their product in the 60's and 70's using human cadavers as test dummies and then performing autopsies (Necropsyies?) to determine the damage.

If its true then it shows a level of dedication that goes well beyond most.


Tony

[thysonsacclaim]

I've not ever had the experience of driving a Holden. Only saw one here several years back (so in other words, speaking in complete naivete as to).

But... I did kind of like the way the Monaro looks. It reminds me of early 2000s Mustangs (for some weird reason), though there are some distinct differences between them:


Monaro


Mustang




And I was stumped on 'Hoon' haha. Most of English Slang I can pick up in context, but that got me. Thank goodness for Wikipedia  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoon

[oscar]

So this bloke in a HSV jacket and cap (HSV is Holden Special vehicles) says to his young son "Check out the wanker in the merc hat", I heard the comment and turned and pointed at him and said "Pot...Kettle.... Black mate".

His son laughed, he scratched his head and looked annoyed.

I was wearing the cap because I was having a baaad hair day, he was wearing the jacket and cap because he worships at the Altar of Holden.

Wanker.....  :-)

LOL, well said Tony. 

I honestly reckon the Ford V Holden thing has diminished somewhat.  So much more choice out there and value for money that there's less chest beating "I'm a Ford man" or "I'm a Holden man."  Reminds me of a story from the late 80s where my parents were visiting my mum's relatives where my cousins' mullet headed husbands got into a fist fight at a BBQ over the subject of Ford v Holden.

Agreed with the short changing comments too.

thysonsacclaim, I thought "hoon" was universal, had no idea it was an aussie/kiwi term.