HSV GTS 2009 Review

It has been a great month for Holden and its performance offshoot Holden Special Vehicles. Last weekend's Bathurst 1, 2, 3 result and the favourable response to its new E2 Series is setting the company up for a good year.

HSV sales are tipped to hit around 3000 for the year, just a few hundred shy of last year's result, which HSV chief Phil Harding reckons is pretty damn good in the current economic climate. Since Sunday too, having Bathurst winners Garth Tander and Will Davison on side as HSV ambassadors cannot hurt the brand's status. Both Tander and Davison were involved in developing the new E2 GTS, tweaking the car's ride and handling along with HSV engineers.

The company can rightly claim the GTS has proven race-bred performance, which is important to HSV's heartland.

E2 Drivetrains

But let's get to the grunt. For the E2 cars, HSV has taken the opportunity to lift GTS power by 8kW to 325kW/550Nm for the 6.2-litre V8, while the ClubSport, Maloo, Senator and Grange carry over with 317kW/550Nm.

Fuel economy -- despite HSV research showing it is not being a high priority for owners -- has been improved slightly too. Chief engineer Joel Stoddart says improved economy was one of the goals of the E2 program. "We have achieved up to 4.5 per cent improvement in fuel economy, with an auto ClubSport R8 now returning 13.9 litres per 100km," he said.

Appearance

Apart from the Bathurst brush with fame, the E2 introduces bolder ‘look-at-me’ styling as well as some new driver-oriented gear. All E2 cars get Audi-style daytime LED running lights set into the bumper and a competition setting for motorsport track days that lifts the threshold for the stability control system. Manual models also get a launch-control feature.

The range certainly looks more distinctive as well as more aggressive than the previous E1 models. What buyers did tell HSV is that they wanted greater visual differentiation for the GTS, as befits its status. And if you really want to be noticed though the GTS is the pick of the pack.

The massive wheel and tyre package and ‘shockwave’ hourglass styling graphics of the front bumper and deep rear bumpers lends an air of purpose to the already brash sedan.

Like the rest of the range, the GTS's retina-sizzling daytime running lights let everyone know you're driving HSV's latest and greatest. Borrowing the twin bonnet scoops from Holden's Pontiac G8 export cars for the Clubsport, GTS and Maloo adds an air of menace to the newcomers. The twin scoops and more assertive grille on the sportier models are designed to separate them from the luxury cars in the range.

The Senator and Grange miss out on the scoops and HSV says even if buyers wanted to, the bonnets cannot be interchanged. Apart from being more distinctive, customers also wanted to be able to trick out their cars with more personal touches.

Options

HSV has responded by introducing an upgraded option package called SV Enhanced across the range, which it expects to be very popular. The SV pack includes a freer-flowing ‘bi-modal’ exhaust that produces a meatier sound at higher revs, leather seats and 20-inch wheels on the Clubsport and Maloo.

On the GTS the pack adds six-piston front brake calipers finished in yellow and four-piston rear brakes. The GTS also gets a recalibrated magnetic ride-control suspension that is 20mm lower and 30 per cent stiffer with wider wheels that really fill out the mudguards. All that will set you back $3790 on the GTS while the trick exhaust is $2290 on other models.

Clubsport buyers can add performance suspension for $1850 or opt for the SV Enhanced kit with 20-inch wheels, bi-modal exhaust, performance suspension and leather for $7450. To make sure the neighbours know you're driving something different, buyers ordering the options get special badges to differentiate them from standard E2 models.

Pricing

Prices remain the same, with the Clubsport opener from $65,990 while the GTS and Senator Signature rise $700 to $80,990 and $82,990.

Driving - Paul Gover

It is absolutely impossible to ignore the new GTS. It is one of those cars that just screams for attention. Then I fire the V8 and get an instant reminder, from the loud and proud new active exhaust, of the engineering work that has gone into the Series II update of the HSV VE.

The body bits are in-your-face aggressive, but the real work is in everything from the engine to the suspension and even an F1-style launch control on the six-speed manual gearbox. "We've spent 75 per cent of the money on things you cannot see. I am an engineer and I always want the money to be spent on engineering," says HSV chief, Phil Harding.

"I promise you will not find a car that rides as well on 20-inch rims as this one." The body bits are a love-it-or-hate-it job, and the cabin is not much better than a regular SS Commodore, but it's hard to ignore the work done by Harding and his team.

The car really has a superb ride, the front-end grip and response is exceptional, and the engine has more grunt you can feel from 4000 revs. It is nowhere near the refinement of a Mercedes E63, but it torches the V8s from Ford Performance Vehicles and is way cheaper than the booming new Benz. When you're driving the GTS you need one of two things: a big ego or thick skin. If you like the stares you will love the cars, but otherwise you need to ignore the endless looks and cracks. Oh, some driving talent also helps in a car that now cracks with 325kW.

It's easy to drive the car briskly, just slotting into a high gear and letting the torque do the work, but there are vast reserves of power and brilliant corner grip available on the right road at the right time. Drilling all the way down to GTS bedrock, however, would mean booking a racetrack. Once you hit 4000 revs the engine comes alive and you need to be paying attention, but the GTS has HSV's best brakes and that makes for a well-balanced package. The six-speed shift and clutch are still heavy, but the launch control is brilliant.

It means anyone can do a thunking good job of a 0-100km/h sprint, although I was not able to match the sub-five second run of the HSV engineers. A few ticks more is still pretty good for a car this big and heavy. The fuel economy will run 9.1L/100km on the highway, and averages 13.9 during my test, but will easily slip beyond 16 if you call up all the horses.

I also like the car's supportive seats, and the punchy sound system, and the Bluetooth phone connection, but a car with this price should come with satnav as standard. And with something, anything, to make the cabin more rewarding for the person who has paid big to get HSV's hero.

Lined up against its rivals the GTS is an easy winner over anything from Ford Performance Vehicles, even the turbo I personally prefer over the V8 GT, and is a bargain against the class benchmark from Mercedes-Benz. It is also a car that looks like becoming an instant benchmark for Aussie muscle.

You can love it or hate it, but it is impossible to ignore it. Overall, it’s a knockout car that scare European performance sedans and thrill died-in-wool HSV enthusiasts.

Score 80/100

HSV GTS
Price: $80,990
Engine: 6.2-litre Gen III V8
Power:  325kW at 6000 revs
Torque: 550Nm at 4600 revs
Transmission: Six speed manaul (six-speed sequential automatic)
Economy: 14.8 litres/100km (13.9 litres/100km auto)
CO2 Emissions: 352g/km (329g/km auto)
Rivals
Mercedes-Benz E63: 86/100 (from $234,900)
Ford Falcon FPV GT: 76/100 (from $67,890)
Ford Falcon F6E FPV turbo: 78/100 (from $79,740)
BMW M5: 80/100 (from $291,200)