The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Holden Commodore Edition

Updated: 29 Nov 2024

Flux, sorry for using your idea, but…can I use it? I’m surr you can.
Ahem. Welcome to F12OM’s “The Good, The Bad and The UGLY”! This time, we go Down Under, and tell about the Holden Commodore series, an Australian icon.
Let’s get started.

The Good: HSV GTS-R 1996 (VS)

There are good Holden Commodores IMO but I picked this one.
You might see this from Forza Horizon 3. Yes. And this is the fabulous yellow super-sedan of the ‘90s, the HSV GTS-R.
The bright “XU-3 Yellah” yellow paint. The Holden V8 that gives Falcons a big scare. And the styling, looks like it’s perfectly matched to the engine it gave. Only 75 units were built, means that it’s rare these days.

The Bad: Holden Commodore NG (Holden Insignia NG)

It looks good, but, please. This is not a freakin’ Commodore. This is actually an Opel Insignia, but with Holden badges and uses the name served for a RWD, large, Aussie sedan not a German FWD small sedan. And recent news have told us that Opel and Vauxhall was now PSAs. The same company who makes crappy Peugeot 1007s and Citroen C2s. So what? Holden is killing it’s origins in favour for more sales. Bruh.
At least on the bright side, Holden knows this and named it the ‘NG’ Commodore. And ‘NG’ stands for “Not Good”.

The Ugly: Holden Commodore (VN)

There are some ugly-looking Commodores but the VN Commodore have just made it to a next level. It looks boring. Yes, BORING.
Well, the car is based from a Opel Senator B which it had pretty bad looks IMO, but when they convert it to Aussie, they just made it look like a oversized Opel Omega A to make it looks even more worse. Thankfully, they didn’t use the horrible-looking grille of the Senator, they did their own. And also, they improved the styling a lot on the later models (VP - VS).

That’s it for today’s The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, by F12OM. (wish Flux can spare me for the this)
See ya! Have another Commodore below!

Comments

Flux (Capacitor) Can I use your idea, dude?

Only this time. Don’t make it a usual thing.

Good job, though!

Selling Opels and Holdens that are virtually the same car has a long history actually. Remember the Holden Commodore VC, or Opel Commodore C, as we call it in Germany? Or the Holden Commodore VN for example, that more than just closely resembled the Opel Senator A. The only difference is that this time it borrows a FWD chassis.
Also, don’t forget that the Opel Insignia B is considerably larger than the Insignia A. At 4.99 m in length, it’s larger than the outgoing Commodore VF even. I wouldn’t call it a bad car already. The Insignia A was a great vehicle, and I’m saying that as somebody who hates Opel with a passion.
The only thing that’s questionable about it is a performance version. Sure, there was the 2.8 V6 Turbo OPC (or VXR as they call it in England) that was as quick as the Commodore 6.0, but let’s don’t kid ourselves - that’s no comparision to an HSV.

Actually, I know the background but using an Opel Insignia for a Commodore replacement is too risky.
Also, I don’t hate Opel.

I think youll find a Holden 6.0 would be considerably quicker than a Insignia VXR - a local car journo tested it against a Toyota Aurion V6 and the opel got flogged in a straight line. They seem to be quite heavy.

Sure the first Commodores might have been the same but if you start looking at the later ones they are so much different to the Opel. They have a different front, rear, engine, drive train, interior and not the mention they were built in Australia.