Holden Commodore SS 2006 Review

This is the size that Holden's lastest V8 has grown to with commensurate increases in power and torque.

Mainly the move to the larger engine is about meeting Euro 3 emission regulations which the old engine did not, but the extra get up and go comes as a welcome bonus.

The 6.0-litre engine is manufactured in Mexico and is also set to appear in some US models.

• 6.0-litre L76 Gen 4 V8 delivers 260kW of power at 5600rpm and 510Nm of torque from 4400rpm. It's Holden's most powerful V8 yet.
• Previous 5.7-litre Gen III engine was good for 250kW at 5600rpm and 470Nm at 4800rpm.
• Features new aluminium cylinder block casting, with revised high-flow cylinder heads, a higher compression ratio of 10.4:1 and larger 90mm single-blade throttle body. A revised and more powerful engine controller incorpor- ates electronic throttle control and there are external knock sensors.
• The 6.0-litre engine misses out on variable cam phasing which apparently would have made the block too long to fit under the hood of Commodore.
• GM has also been working on cylinder deactivation technology, which it has intro- duced with some V8s overseas, but Holden says significant testing and calibration devel- opment is required.
• This is the same fuel saving system that Chrysler employs in the 300C to automatically shutdown half the engine when full power is not required.
• Fuel economy for the larger engine is a claimed 14.6L/100km for the manual and 14.0L/100km for the auto. This compares to 14.8L/100km for the previous manual and 13.9L/100km for the auto.
• Our test car was fitted with the standard six- speed manual. In the absence of a five or six- speed auto we'd go the manual every time. It's not the sharpest instrument in the pack, but it does the job.
• The Tremec T56 six-speed manual trans- mission has a revised clutch plate and pressure plate to cope with the increased torque.
• The extra 40Nm of torque, delivered 400rpm earlier in the rev range at 4400rpm, makes the car more responsive down low and in theory should produce faster acceleration times. We haven't seen any figures, but we'd expect that it would be a few tenths of a second better.
• The car certainly feels smoother and is more enjoyable to drive. It sounds and looks the goods and is for many people an aspirational model.
• To match in the increase in power and torque SS sedan and ute receive front and rear performance brakes standard. SS Crewman meanwhile gets only performance front brakes.
• Front rotor is 320x32mm vented compared with 296x28mm vented on the previous standard system. The rear rotor is 286x18mm vented compared with 286x16mm solid.
• Wheels are from the outgoing VZ CV8 Monaro.

VERDICT:

Gets our vote. Although we look forward to the implementation of cylinder deactivation. SS model is priced from $51,790 before on-road costs. Price includes leather.