Holden Commodore 2001 News

The Holden Commodore could be replaced by a four-cylinder front-drive sedan similar to the Toyota Camry beyond 2017 – putting the jobs of 320 workers that make the Commodore’s V6 engine in jeopardy.

General Motors says the V8 won over heavy support for a bi-turbo V6. But Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter told Automotive News that the V8  “could deliver better power with improved fuel economy by improving the iconic small block V8 with new technologies that allow it to run more efficiently”. He says that swapping the small-block V8 for a V6 “probably would have been a tough sell to the Corvette's rabid fans”. “When you talk to Corvette customers, the most important part of the car for them is the engine,” Juechter says. “They want their Corvette to have a V8.” This is the fifth generation of the small block that was introduced in 1955 on the first Corvette. The new engine - which will dribble down the GM range including models for Holden - will feature several firsts for Corvette including direct fuel injection, continuously variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation to shut down four of the eight cylinders when idling or coasting. GM engineers say the new engine will deliver better power and responsiveness when it is running at lower speeds. The torque on the standard 2014 Corvette at less than 4000rpm will be comparable to the current Corvette Z06, which has a higher-displacement 7-litre engine. The overhead valve engine, which GM has named LT1, was under development for five years. It replaces the fourth-generation small block, which has been produced since 2005, and will be made at GM's engine facility in Tonawanda, New York State. GM admits that the LT1 is 210kg - about 14kg heavier than the outgoing engine - but says the new efficiency technologies more than offset the fuel economy penalty. Versions of the new engine will be used in GM's next generation of pickups and SUVs, including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, to be launched mid next year. Holden says it will not comment on if or when the engine will arrive in Australia.  

The annual RACQ Vehicle Running Costs Survey has found that the first electric car available in Australia - Mitsubishi's iMiEV - costs between $246.46 to $265.23 a week to run, spokesman Steve Spalding said. This compares with $256.50 for a Holden Commodore while the Toyota Prius C hybrid costs $159.79 a week. However, charging the electric Mitsubishi costs only 3.07c/km while the Prius C costs 6.78c/km. Spalding says their survey also takes into account other owner costs such as the purchase price, interest payments, registration, insurance, servicing and depreciation. "The main reasons for the higher total running cost for an electric vehicle is the higher purchase price which means higher interest payments, and the as yet unknown depreciation factor," he said. The Mitsubishi costs $48,000 while the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle has just hit the showroom floor at $51,000. "Before electric cars become viable there needs to be good demand on the second-hand market so there is a higher resale value," he said. "Plus over time manufacturers will reduce prices." It is the first time the survey has included an electric vehicle. The survey found the cheapest car to run is again the Suzuki Alto at $116.70, down $2.77 since last year, and the most expensive is again the Toyota LandCruiser GLX at $398.16 up $9.44. Spalding said that instead of buying an electric car, families could save thousands of dollars annually by choosing a lighter, smaller car. "You could save around $32 per week, or $1,707.92 a year by purchasing a medium-size car instead of a large car,” he said. “Downsizing from an all-terrain 4WD to a compact SUV could save you $111.67 per week, or $5,807 every year." Mr Spalding added that even switching between engine sizes in the same class could mean good savings on running costs - without sacrificing performance.  “High fuel prices are forcing many owners away from large vehicles into medium or smaller cars to save money. But Ford's four-cylinder turbo petrol 2.0 litre Falcon EcoBoost and the 4.0 litre LPG Falcon could help those looking to buck that trend,” Spalding said. “The EcoBoost has all the features and performance of a large car, but it will cost motorists $240.25 per week, compared to the Ford Falcon 4.0 litre petrol at $253.26 per week. That‟s a saving of almost $700 per year. “Meantime, Ford's 4.0 litre LPI Falcon, which runs on LPG, will cost motorists $232.42 per week, which is $400 a year cheaper than the EcoBoost and $1,100 a year less than the petrol 4.0 litre Falcon,” he said.     (source RACQ Vehicle Running Costs Survey)  

SEVENTEEN of the top 20 cars stolen in Australia in the past year are early model Holden Commodores that can be started with a dipstick. The other three cars in the top 20 are the 1997 and '98 Hyundai Excel (eighth and 17th) and the 1991 Toyota Camry (20th), according to National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction figures. Executive director Ray Carroll says Commodores are over-represented because there are so many on the road and the early models lack adequate security. ``In some of the early models you only need a key vaguely of the same make and model; the locks are so worn anything with a similar profile will start them. Some even start with a dipstick,'' he says. ``Holden introduced immobilisers to Commodores in 2001 but the early versions were pretty poor quality in terms of effectiveness.'' The Commodore has been Australia's most popular-selling car for more than 10 years and the models which top the theft council's ``most-stolen'' list range from 1989 to 2003. Most stolen is the 1992 Commodore with 393 going missing in the past year. Of these, 332 are short-term thefts for joyriding, vandalism, transport or to commit a crime while the other 61 are classed as ``profit-motivated thefts'' where the cars are ``rebirthed'' and sold, usually interstate, or broken up and sold as parts. Carroll says V8 and six-cylinder Commodores are an attractive target for joyriders because they are ``good for doing wheelies and donuts''. They are also targeted by thieves for their value as parts on the black market, he says. Theft council figures show car thefts have plummeted 65 per cent in the past 10 years from a peak of 129,923 in 2000-01 to 53,588 last financial year. ``There is a lot of speculation about the reasons for this trend,'' Carroll says. ``One is that the fleet is becoming more immobilised, but there are still something like five million unsecured non-immobilised cars in the country. ``Also, as the theft rate comes down, there are less offenders doing it which means police can concentrate on more intelligence-led policing of high-rate offenders. ``There is a small number of offenders committing a large percentage of car theft, so police can have a big impact on theft rates if they take these criminals out of action.'' Carroll says another major contributing factor to the drop in car theft is the increasing vigilance of motorists. ``When we started 10 years ago the typical old-fashioned statement was `no one would ever want to steal my old bomb','' he says. ``There has been a lot of work done by us, the police and others to educate people that it's the older cars - or bombs - that get stolen the most. ``People are more security conscious now.'' MOST STOLEN CARS 1992 Commodore 393 1990 Commodore 343 1991 Commodore 330 1998 Commodore 323 1989 Commodore 319 1995 Commodore 295 1999 Commodore 294 1997 Hyundai Excel 282 1997 Commodore 282 1996 Commodore 275 2000 Commodore 266 2002 Commodore 261 1993 Commodore 257 1987 Commodore 245 1994 Commodore 240 2001 Commodore 229 1998 Hyundai Excel 229 2003 Commodore 220 1986 Commodore 219 1991 Toyota Camry 215 (2010-11 National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council) CAR THEFTS Fin Year     Short term    For profit 2000/01      114,766          15,157 2005/06       55,995           12,231 2010/11       34,155           11,659 BIKE THEFTS Fin Year     Short term    For profit 2000/01        2295              3863 2005/06        2392              4263 2010/11        3036              4738

Don't you love the way Holden's PR machine handles bad news - namely the possible end of a locally designed Commodore - by preceding it with good news the day before. In this case it was a feel good yarn about the restoration of the first 48-215 Holden, built in 1948 and owned by legendary BHP boss Essington Lewis. Clever, but we saw straight through it. Cynics might suggest Holden is simply kite flying to see how much heat a possible end of local large car production might bring. And there's been plenty already from all quarters, including government and unions. Is it pure chance that Ford is hinting at something similar in a similar time frame - canning local production of Aussie designed (and built) six cylinder rear wheel drive sedans to be replaced by rejigged front wheel drive American imports. In Holden's case the donor country could even be Korea. After Mitsubishi's "death by a thousand cuts'' withdrawal from local production, could we be seeing the start of a protracted strategic withdrawal from Ford and Holden - a PR campaign aimed at letting us down slowly (but surely). Or is it a case of sabre rattling to scare up more subsidies. Neither Holden nor Ford would be happy with the Federal Government when the Green Car Fund was boned. It was essentially a bribe paid to the Australian car industry to maintain car production in this country. The Green Car sweetener cost tax payers tens of millions of dollars for which they get Aussie jobs. Naturally, all profits are repatriated to parent companies in the US and Japan.

The battery-powered Commodore is the first of seven being built by EV Engineering in Melbourne. Chief engineer Tim Olding, who spent 19 years with Holden, says the first test car is completed and would conclude validation testing by February. It will be joined in June by six more test cars built as a "proof of concept project to demonstrate technical viability". The eight-year project is a partnership with companies specialising in electronics, charging infrastructure and fleet vehicles and has been partly funded by a $3.5m government grant under the now-axed Green Car Innovation Fun. Olding says they have also received assistance from Holden but "no promises". "Holden gave us all the CAD (computer-aided design) for the base vehicle, access with their engineers to make the car function in the same way and access to their proving ground at Lang Lang," he says. "But there have been no promises from Holden about building an electric car. This is a feasibility project to look at all the components. No promises are guaranteed." Olding also said their conversion architecture could effectively be transferred to a Ford Falcon but refused to comment on approaches to, or from, Ford or any other manufacturers. For the first time, Olding provided details of the electric car concept and the reasons for choosing the Commodore. He says the Australian car industry's strength is in large rear-wheel-drive cars and the ability to build a variety of different models from the same architecture such as sedans, wagons and utes. "It (the EV) should be able to be built on an existing production line alongside ICE (internal combustion engine) models," he says. "Rear-wheel drive is perfect for balance and for the placement of the electric powertrain." Their EV Commodore concept replaces the Commodore's engine and transmission tunnel with 210 40amp-hour cells from Bosch; the same as used in BMW's electric concept cars. Olding says the modules can be built into the unusual engine/transmission tunnel shape. The fuel tank is replaced by the power electrics module and the differential is replaced by the electric motor and gearbox between the rear suspension. "Even the upcoming Tesla Model S has a similar configuration," he says. "There should be no major change to the engineering; that's the key component. This is the most cost-effective way to make an EV in Australia. "They should cost about the same as an ICE car, plus the cost of the battery." Olding says the battery is anchored with quick-release connections so it can be swapped easily to alleviate anxiety over the estimated 160km range. The car would also be chargeable from a home mains output. EV Engineering's consortium includes Bosch, Continental, Futuris, Better Place, Air International and GE, one of the largest owners of feet vehicles in Australia. The consortium is headed by Rob McEniry, former CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Australia. Olding says GE will help conduct testing over the next two years. However, he says it is also feasible that an EV car could be produced for public sale before the official end of testing. While Holden has no current plans for an EV Commodore, it will release the Volt next year which has an electric motor with a small petrol-powered "range extender" motor.

... as the Australian car industry returned to normality last month. The official Vfacts figures for July are released tomorrow and are expected to show that the Japanese-based carmakers have finally shaken off the production delays arising from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami earlier this year. That was evident in June when the mid-sized Mazda3 led sales on the back of orders taken after the natural disasters that the company hadn’t been able to deliver. That spike dropped in July but the Mazda3 was only just beaten into top spot by the Commodore and the duo are battling for bragging rights as the best-selling model of 2011. The Commodore is about 120 vehicles ahead in the year-to-date sales race but should get another shot of sales when the LPG versions go on sale later this year. Ford’s new turbodiesel Territory outsold the petrol model for the second consecutive month since its launch. The result proves both the pent-up demand for a diesel in the big SUV and that Australian buyers are accepting diesel as a smart alternative to petrol. Diesels are an increasingly popular choice, BMW's diesel-engined vehicles are outselling petrol versions for the first time this year. See this week's Carsguide for the full Vfacts details and a rundown on the diesel v petrol debate.

The company last week announced plans to suspend production of the car for two weeks in July and August to run out the current model and make way for a refreshed Commodore. Apart from engine tweaks and an E85 model, the Commodore is set to get a new interior. But the next Commodore’s crown as best could be overtaken by the rising star in the GM-Holden ranks. New GM-Holden chairman and managing director, Mike Devereux, says the chance of the Cruze small car knocking off the Commodore as the nation's best-seller will be decided by buyers. "It really comes down to consumer preferences," he says. "You have to follow what people want. People want great style, value and quality and fuel efficiency is obviously becoming important. Our SIDI engines in Commodore are critical to that, we've got ethanol Commodores coming... but Cruze versus Commodore, that's going to be up to the marketplace." In recent years the Commodore sedan has often been beaten by the Toyota Corolla in the monthly sales race. By contrast, the Korean-built version of the Cruze has been a strong seller since its introduction last June with the company regularly selling more than 2000 a month. Devereux, who has just taken over from Alan Batey, says Holden is on track to launch the locally-built four-cylinder Cruze early next year. After the Cruze was launched, Batey was bullish about the small car's potential. "I can see a time when Cruze will be eating Epica's lunch," Batey said. Since then it has consistently outsold the Epica. The Cruze is currently imported from Korea but GM-Holden is on track to start local production early next year. Apart from the sedan, it is well advanced with a hatch version to compete in the hotly contested small car segment, which is traditionally a strong hatch market. However, Devereux is not too worried about the Cruze ending the Commodore's 14-year reign as the country's best selling car. "If folks want to buy more Cruzes than Commodores then I guess that's okay but it will be up to the marketplace," he says. Last month, Holden sold 2125 Cruzes, about half the number of Commodores retailed. The Commodore still remains overwhelmingly the most popular Holden. So far this year 11,364 Commodores have been sold versus 6418 Cruzes.

Last year, the Commodore retained its title of Australia’s best selling car for the 13th year in a row, albeit by a diminishing margin.

Strongly built and engineered for country roads as well as city streets, the King of the new car market; Holden Commodore, has an excellent reputation for being able to stand up to daily running on bush roads, as well as the equally tough city commuting.The current Commodore body began in August 1997 with the VT series. It received a minor facelift and mechanical changes to become the VT Series II in June 1999. The Commodore VX of August 2000 had more appearance changes and the VX Series II arrived just 12 months later. The real changes to the VX II were to the suspension, especially the rear, further improving stability and handling.Holden introduced the VY Commodore in October 2002 with substantial styling changes. The VY was facelifted to become the VY II in August 2003. Finally, the VZ arrived in September 2004.The big news with the introduction of the VZ was a new six-cylinder engine. A forerunner of the unit fitted to the current VE Commodore, it was an all-new twin-cam V6 of 3.6 litres. This powerplant is sold in two formats, one with variable valve and intake timing for a greater spread of torque and improved power, the other a more basic unit.As fitted to the VZ, this engine is not as smooth or quiet as it should be.Ride comfort is very good, even on rough roads, and this is a genuine five-seater car. Boot space is good in the sedan and excellent in the wagon.The model range is large: Commodore Executive, Acclaim and Berlina. The most expensive of the lot isn't called a Commodore, simply a Calais, and has almost invariably belonged to a private buyer, while there's a risk the cheaper variants may have been company cars.On the sporting side are the Commodore S and SS with firmer suspension, tauter steering and revamped seats and body kits. Not as hot as the HSV Commodores, these models do provide a lot of driving pleasure at a moderate price.Holden frequently does runs of special editions. The best value of them is arguably the oft-recurring Vacationer series.Under the bonnetMost Commodores prior to the VZ range have a pushrod V6 engine of 3.8 litres. There's also a supercharged 3.8-litre V6 with added torque, but it never found any real adherents and was discontinued in 2004. From the VZ range, all-new twin-cam V6s of 3.6 litres replaced the ageing 3.8-litre engine. It's a modern engine but not as smooth or quiet as many of its competitors.There were two V8s in the pre-VZ Commodores, one an old Australian design of 5.0 litres, the other a 5.7-litre Chevrolet unit adapted to Holden specifications. This Generation III Chev V8 is much better than the old Holden one, and resale values of the Holden 5.0-litre suffer in comparison.Gen III has recently been replaced by a Gen IV with 6.0 litres, but it is still too new to have had any effect on the used-car scene at this time.Almost all Commodores come with a four-speed automatic transmission; the five-speed manuals are on the crude side by today's standards, so they are rare. Manuals could be difficult to resell, so unless you do a lot of country running or really enjoy that extra bit of control, they are possibly best bypassed.These are easy cars to work on, with plenty of access to most mechanical components. Good amateur mechanics can do most of their own repairs, although it's best to leave safety-related items to professionals. There are numerous electronic components that also require specialist knowledge and/or diagnostic equipment.Spare parts are generally reasonably priced and we hear very few complaints about availability from Holden's widespread dealer network, as prevalent in the bush as in the 'burbs.Insurance is pretty cheap for a car of this size and performance, though there can be a significant extra slug for the sportier models, especially if they have supercharged or V8 engines.Danger SignsBe wary of a Commodore that has been a taxi. Look for where signs and meters have been removed and for paint respraying. Severe wear in the cabin and boot is another pointer to an ex-taxi or a hard-working commercial car.Check for brake fade by doing a succession of hard stops and feeling for a pedal that gradually has more and more travel.Look for oil leaks at the rear of the engine sump and check the dipstick level as some early units had high oil consumption problems.Automatic transmissions are generally OK, but one that is slow to go into gear and/or noisy and harsh in operation should be treated with caution.Rust is seldom a problem in later model Commodores. But look at the lower areas of the body — doors, tailgate and rear windscreen surround — to be sure. Rust is more likely to be caused by poor quality panel repairs than anything else.Check for previous body repairs by running your eye over the panels, looking for a slightly uneven finish. Watch for paint that doesn't match exactly from one panel to another. Another sign is minute spots of paint on areas normally unpainted.