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There has never been a Commodore as costly or as quick as the W427 Photo Gallery
It's hard to know where to start with the HSV W427.
The obvious and easy way is with the best set of numbers in Australian motoring.
That means 427 cubic inches, 375 kiloWatts, 620 Newton-metres, 250km/h, and 4.7 seconds for a 0-100km/h blast.
The thumping combination qualifies the car as Australia's first genuine supercar — at least since the GTHO Falcon and Torana A9X from the 1970s — with performance to punish a Porsche and frighten a Ferrari.
But there is no way to escape the biggest number of all — $155,500.
That is a powerful pile of cash for a Commodore, even one which now qualifies comfortably as the top dog in Australian motoring.
There has never been a Commodore as costly or as quick as the W427, which has picked up the seven-litre V8 engine from America's king-of-the-hill Corvette as part of a final 20th birthday celebration by Holden Special Vehicles. The rest of the package is just as impressive, from 20-inch alloys and brilliant Brembo brakes to re-calibrated electronic dampers and even an active exhaust with big-bore three-inch pipes.
The body bits are also new, including a carbon fibre blade across the boot, but the cabin is strangely subdued and lets the car down badly. It does not even have a build plate to remind the driver that they have made the right choice in splashing their $155k on the commemorative Commodore.
And the top dog also has a thirst — officially 17.1 litres/100km — which will make it costly to run.
Still, 90 people have already made their decision on the W427 and will get a car sometime between now and the end of the year. Another 110 were originally expected to follow, but HSV is not sure where demand will settle and only plans to limit production at 427 cars — if it can eventually move that many.
"We can build as many or as few as the market genuinely wants. We are literally only building cars against a confirmed customer order," says Scott Grant, managing director of Holden Special Vehicles.
He reacts sharply to any complaints about the car, and particularly its price.
“We reject that it's a Commodore, to start with. When you drive the car it's quite a different proposition,” he says.
“For that price tag it's a good value proposition. It's a hell of a lot of car for that money.”
But the same money, or less, will also buy a BMW M3 or Mercedes C63 and those are pedigreed performance cars from two of the world's top brands.
The story of the W427 began more than two years ago when HSV management was planning the 20th birthday party for the hot Holden shop. The idea was to create a car with as much — or more — impact than the very first 'batmobile' HSV VL Commodore in 1988.
“This is the car that HSV has always wanted to build,” says Grant bluntly.
Planning quickly zeroed-in on the Corvette in the USA, and its monster LS7 motor, with the same top-dog approach to every component and the ultimate result.
“The development program has been very extensive. It's got every safety system we could throw at it. This car had to have HSV's best-ever braking package . . . it had to have the best handling,” says engineering boss Joel Stoddart.
And W427? The name is a nod to HSV boss Tom Walkinshaw and the capacity of the 7-litre V8 in old-fashioned cubic inches.
The price was originally forecast in the $125,000 range when the car was previewed at the Melbourne Motor Show in March, but has blown out after final costings — partly because of a luxury car tax hike — to the final figure at $155,500.
“A lot of money has been spent in specific performance parts, but also in the engineering and testing. That's what makes the W427 unique and iconic,” says Grant.
So the W427 has a full three-year, 100,000km warranty and each will be virtually hand-built in a special section of the HSV factory at Clayton in Melbourne. Owners will be invited to watch their car being assembled. DRIVING:
“Mate, it wasn't too long ago that a V8 Supercar went like this,” says Mark Skaife as we thunder towards turn one at Calder Park raceway.
The speedo needle is twisting rapidly towards 200km/h — from a standing start at the bottom end of the pitlane — and Holden's big man waits way, way late before stomping the brakes and hustling the car into the first tight right-hander. The W427 just stops, turns, then erupts again.
It proves in a handful of seconds that it is a new benchmark for Aussie muscle, not just in the engine room but also in brakes which do a fantastic job and suspension which can put 375 kiloWatts onto the road.
Skaife makes a difference, but the W427 is supercar fast. It's not as nimble as a pedigreed Euro like the M3, that's for certain, but it more than compensates with brash and brutal brilliance.
Rain clouds are closing fast on Calder so there is too little time for me to push right to the limits, but the W427 is surprisingly easy to punt along very, very quickly. The engine is absolutely brilliant, pulling like a locomotive to the 7000 redline, and the brakes are easilly the best on anything which has ever worn an HSV badge. Thankfully.
The gearshift is also nicely light and direct — the best in any hot Commodore in memory, including the original Brock-mobiles — and the steering is direct and responsive. The car rides tight with good body control.
On the track, the W427 is brutally quick but could cope with more race-style suspension control in the MRC dampers. It also triggers the traction control too early and there would be more cornering grip and drive with better support for the body.
Out on the road the W427 is surprisingly docile. It thunders at start-up but the idle is quiet and it will easily pull away in fourth grear.
The real worry is drifting past the speed limit without doing anything more than tickling the gas pedal. The lungs are so big in the 7-litre that it always seems to have plenty in reserve.
The gearbox is a delight in traffic, the brakes are great and — despite some crash-through at the back over bumps — the suspension control is good.
The car is clearly held back at the top end, almost reaching its 250km/h limiter at Calder, and HSV insiders believe it would probably run to 300-plus in the right conditions. They are also talking about tackling the Nurburgring in Germany to measure their big banger against the world's best.
But, any way you want to go, the W427 already sets a new benchmark for Aussie muscle.
Even so, the cabin is a major letdown and barely different from an SS Commodore. Where are the W427 logos, and the build plate, and something different in either colouring or stitching or equipment or seat shape? It needs more to be truly memorable.
The fuel consumption could also set a new benchmark, for the wrong reasons.
Neither shortcoming is likely to have the slightest effect on people who want to park a W427 in their garage, either as a piece of collectable automotive indulgence or for some great days of muscle car mania.
The top dog is best in show and we cannot help loving it. And counting the days to another romp . . . BREAK-OUT:
Creating the W427 took more than just an engine transplant from the Chevrolet Corvette.
The heart of the car arrives in a crate from Detroit — engines are shipped across the Pacific, 20 at a time — but the real work is in the installation and adaptation from the HSV GTS.
For a start, the radiator is tilted back to clear a straight path for the air intake to the motor. And the engine room is re-organised to make space for an oil catch tank, an essential piece of the engine's dry-sump lubrication system.
The transmission is a new six-speeder, the TR6060, with the same ratios as the existing HSV manual but with wider gears and bigger input shafts. A lot of work has also gone into the operation of the clutch and clutch pedal and there is a beefier limited-slip differential.
The suspension is set 30 per cent stiffer than the GTS, sits 20 millimetres lower and is fitted with stiffer rear-suspension bushes. The calibration of the Magnetic Ride Suspension system is new.
The brakes are six-piston Brembo units on the front and have 50 per cent greater pad area, as well as pads with more bite.
The exhaust is a marvel, starting with ceramic-coated extractors feeding three-inch pipes and active bi-modal rear mufflers. The system is tuned to bark at start-up, run quieter from idle and in traffic, but turn noisy and nasty again at full throttle.
In the end it takes 165 unique parts to create the W427, as well as an estimated three days of hand assembly in the final finishing bays created for the car at HSV headquarters in Clayton.
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