1995 Holden Berlina VS review from Australia and New Zealand

Throughout the years the car has had a few minor electrical problems, with the most annoying being the remote central locking plipper, which needs replacing every 2 years or so, and because it's part of the key fob, you have to replace the key.

In the last year, I have replaced the following;

Water pump.

Coolant hoses.

Spark plug leads & coils.

Alternator.

And with more to come.

The car was my mother's for 4 or so years, and she had bought it off a friend who had barely driven it in the 3 years he had it. I have now had it for about 5 years and am a bit over it, even though it has been an excellent car for me as a young driver.

Being a panther black Berlina with IRS makes it the most desirable of the V6 VR-VS series, unless you like the 2 tone paintwork on the Calais and I don't. The seats in the Berlina are also more shapely than the Calais ones. There's also no fake wood.

I think my car is the only example of a VS with all the original electric window motors still working, although the back 2 make grinding noises.

The best thing about the car is that it's got heaps of low-down torque, and the thing just pulls like a train up big hills at 80 while doing 1800rpm! Just tapping the accelerator when taking off from the lights has you streaming past fours and small sixes, which are urgently revving their guts out. I can't see why people bother rice-ing up econoboxes like Pulsars and Civics with fart pipes and fancy air filters, when a bog-stock V6 Commodore does it better with zero effort.

It gets reasonable fuel consumption too, ranging from 6.9 on the motorways to 12.2 in heavy traffic. I've known smaller engines with less performance to drink more.

Unfortunately, the V6 engines are not very nice, especially if you love high precision mechanics, like you'd get in a BMW or a Honda. The one in my car has always been rougher than average (it was one of the first VS'), but I've experienced much worse in other Holdens.

The torquey engine also lets you fully exploit its fun handling. The ride is quite firm with 16s and IRS with sports springs and the handling benefits too, compared to a bog-stock solid axle comfort setup. While there is a bit of initial understeer, you're left in no doubt you're driving a grunty rear-drive car with no traction control...

I've really loved this car. It may be crass and boganey to love Commodores, but I do. My next car's definitely going to be a V8 ute.