Talk:Holden Commodore (VH)
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Early 80s Holdens
editGovernment buyers did not like the smaller Commodore and favoured the larger Ford Falcons. Generally bulk buyers, particularly governments, wanted a bigger machine, and the Falcon carried five passengers comfortably. By the mid 80s, government buyers were permitted to acquire Mitsubishi Magnas and Toyota Camrys, as they were at least locally assembled, and large. The problem was not rectified until the VP model.
Wedge-nosed Commodores were notoriously unreliable, and by 2000 they were rarely seen in original condition. Paint coatings faded and peeled, and quicklock fasteners caused bumpers to loosen or even fall off. Odometers made by VDO reliably failed at 130,000km on vehicles that lasted that long. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.244.91.3 (talk) 11:46, 30 March 2013 (UTC)
re: "By the mid 80s... as they were at least locally assembled, and large." What is the point of this poorly-worded statement, let alone any references (which I am not even going to bother with) to qualify this? The Holden Commodore was 100% locally assembled (and a significant redesign from the smaller Opel Rekord upon which it was based). Yes, the Commodore was externally a smaller car than the contemporary Falcon, but was actually more space efficient, and examination of each vehicle's technical specifications for interior dimensions will reveal that it was really only in (rear) shoulder room that the Commodore lost out to the Falcon, and actually offered more head and front leg room, and with the front seats fully forward, more rear leg room. The Magna was roughly on-par with the Commodore, offering slightly more rear shoulder room but slightly less overall leg room, but was larger in all interior dimensions than the Camry. As for rectifying the Commodore's (perceived) lack of space, the larger model that replaced the VB-VL range (and the VL offered more interior space than the previous models thanks to a smaller transmission tunnel) was actually the VN not the VP. As for vehicle sales:
- 1979-81: Commodore outsold the Falcon
- 1982-87: Falcon outsold the Commodore
- 1988-89: Commodore outsold the Falcon
- 1990-197: Commodore and Falcon lead for overall sales alternates five times
- 1998-2016: Commodore overtakes Falcon again, never beaten before end of Falcon production in 2016
re: "Wedge-nosed Commodores were notoriously unreliable" I believe this to be a personal opinion rather than a factual comment. The further qualifier "...by 2000 they were rarely seen in original condition" does not prove unreliability, as these vehicles were popular for performance upgrades for the street-machine community. The examples of the issues stated (eg odometer failures) are not major mechanical issues, and the vehicles were in fact considered to be one of the best Australian-build vehicles by most motoring journalists and car magazines[1]. Compared to their competitors of their era, authoritative sources such as Shannons state they were more reliable than Ford's XD (which the RACV rates the XD as one of the worst Australian cars[2]) and XE Falcon, and more examples of Commodores than Falcons still exist today. As for contemporary locally-built models from the Japanese companies, even fewer examples of Toyota Coronas or Mitsubishi Sigmas (etc) remain today.
IMO unqualified comments like this are just a distraction but unfortunately have a habit of finding their way into the original articles (hence why I am making a big deal about this). Based upon industry sources, and my own 35 years experience of repairing and rebuilding (mostly) Holdens and Fords, I believe this comment should be ignored - or in future, when they cannot be substantiated, deleted. Blammy1 (talk) 18:47, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
References
- ^ "Retro Review: 1978 Holden VB Commodore review". Wheels. 31 Jul 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
- ^ Nicholas Platt (3 August 2016). "Are these the 15 worst cars ever sold in Australia?". RACV. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
Move discussion in progress
editThere is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Holden VF Commodore which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 05:16, 5 May 2014 (UTC)
NOTE: this proposed move has been resolved and IMO this comment is no longer relevant and should therefore be ignored. Blammy1 (talk) 18:54, 26 September 2020 (UTC)