Why do P Plater/Teens love Commodores so much?

[RedHotGT]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

actually opel have being making the Commodore since 1967
1970 Opel Commodore

Kinda has a 'monaro' look to it...
Or a cortina!?!?!

[vztrt]

Cortina was the first thing that popped into my head. But I can see Monaro in that.

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by Ford_The_Win

As for the VR ageing well, I beg to differ. It was outdated at release - the underpinnings and powertrain were carried over from VP, bar a revised auto box. Inside, everything except the top half of the dash were carried over from VP, and it shows. It looked awkward with '80s squares and '90s curves, with different grains and colours of plastic everywhere, nothing matched. The auto box is clunky, the V6 sounds like it's made of mecchano, and the steering is so light I can do lock-to-lock turns with a pinky finger. I've had to endure a VR Executive work car for the past couple of months and it's abhorrent. How people could have bought those things back in the day is beyond me. The EF, even the ED, absolutely craps all over it, hence why Ford was number one at the time.

Completely agree. The VR was shaded when new by the ED as well. In styling terms, ED still had masculine edges wheras the VR was a blob with confusing tail lights and strange integration. Move to drivetrain and the 4.0L just killed the horrid ecotech, despite using more fuel. That the timing light sender on Dad's VR kept dying in hot weather (and shutting off the engine and entire power steering and braking while moving!) did not help the Commy. In terms of seating comfort, win for Ford. In terms of ride, ED won. In terms of fanging around roundabouts, win for the GM car. In terms of actually building a wagon to drive rather than haul, win for Holden. Why the Falcon wagon was not developed beyond a load lugger still pains me, especially when you consider how well ED/EF XR6 wagons were tuned...

And there it is: if you wish to fang around urban areas the Commodore does it well. As does rice. The Falcon is more of a highway tourer (and that's what I did on my P's, for my love was 500+ km away...) The family's VY wagon is more pleasant around town than its AUII, but on the highway, the AUII wins. Even going back to early Commodores, this fanging quality is true against both the Kingswood and contemporary Falcons. I loved the Kingswoods, and was deeply disappointed in what they were replaced with. Falcons were naturally more like the HZ in both size and ride/handling. So I went to Ford based on my perception of what a good Australian car is, and let the sheeple go the other way.

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by buggo_gt

Don't know how it started or when, but it's set in now and I really don't see that trend changing.

Um, I think it was the brilliant marketing move by GM-H early '90's in merchandising heavily. My dark side nephews all had Monaro pyjamas and SS doona covers, HSV caps, HDT T-Shirts. Where was the Ford equivalent? It certainly wasn't available at Target! A whole generation was lost wholesale to this move, with the AU cementing this as they reached their teens. George Lucas had pioneered the merchandising crown since 1977 or so and Star Wars, so it certainly wasn't a new phenomenon.

So I have enjoyed schooling the nephews on who actually has more Australian design and content, who has the better drivetrain, who is really more 'Aussie' and the better car. But it's to no avail...

Note to Ford: pyjamas. They work.

[WoodysXR6]

ecotecs where vs to vy only not vr!

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by WoodysXR6

ecotecs where vs to vy only not vr!

That's right, in the Commodore's defence, the Ecotec in the VS was a massive improvement over the old Buick 3800 in the VR. The problem was that the ecotec remained pretty much unchanged as the Commodores got progessively heavier, whereas I'm fairly sure the AU lost weight over the EF/EL, even though power output from the I6 was the same.

[WoodysXR6]

vs ,vt had 147 kw to vx 152kw, vy 155kw. but still a crap box outside of 60km/h plus haha!

[Windsor342ci]

I think theres 2 main factors, a) Ford dropping there V8 range was sheer stupidity! You can not have a Aussie Muscle car not baring a V8 and expect people to remain loyal! and b) sheep. Nothing more then Sheep. I grew up in Sydney's West and it is Holden land over here! This was the main reason why I in the early 2000's jumped ship over to Ford, I love the under dogs and more so loved the Holden nuts hating Falcons!

The majority of these clowns will say because Holden go better, and when you ask why, its either "just coz" or my "mates, uncles, friends, little brother's neighbour has off its head Torana"..... At this point I tend to point at the VS ECOTEC saying is that a Torana??? etc etc etc

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by fte50

Truth is no Holden upto VE was uniquely 'All Australian' in its design as their hype suggests.

Er, should that be "no Commodore up to VE..."?

HQ-WB were Australian. Uniquely. Yes Americans like George Roberts had some say on initial suspension settings, but they were Australian.
LC Torana was Australian, design team were mostly under 30 and Aussie!
HK-G were Australian, probably with some styling oversight. All Aussie V8's introduced.
HD-HR, Australian, styling under Leo Pruneau.
EH - very Australian, the red motors too.

Etc...

Where Holden dropped the ball was replacing HZ and Torana with the Opel sourced VB Commodore in 1980. VE is the only fully Australian Commodore, every single one before it has been a compromise.

At the same time, Ford looked at dropping the Falcon and replacing with European Granada, and decided to continue all Australian. In 1980 with XD. Wheels called this car, which would own the 1980's, "The Last of the Dinosaurs" on release. The severe doubt over where the next Falcon would come from sounds similar to the ruckus today...

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by WoodysXR6

ecotecs where vs to vy only not vr!

Ah yes, you are quite right. I don't have much passion for them, forgive me.

[WoodysXR6]

13% less engine weight and 7% in v reduction made them better but still crap lol il6 anyday

[vztrt]

Driving around today I think its the fact that you can put a bowtie on any of them....christ I'm seeing VR's with this rubbish.

[onfire]

Why do people do anything?
Because they want to.

[Riksta]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Driving around today I think its the fact that you can put a bowtie on any of them....christ I'm seeing VR's with this rubbish.

I've seen Lexcen's debadged and replaced with the Chev bowties. But I won't say a bad word, as Lexcen's are also horn.

[CODSASR]

like today vs p plater bowtie on the front but what was worse was he still had holden badges on the back I say thats worse then all chev badges

[Auslandau]

I think we have exhausted the topic and going westward ...... with the last page of comments hard to determine what the original question was. Any one who wants to know can start at the beginning.