1987 Holden Commodore VL review from Australia and New Zealand
"Do up the engine and fly"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Seized water pump, seized thermostat.
Loose exhaust headers.
General comments?
When I bought the car it was a stock standard executive, since then I have been looking to improve the performance cheaply. I wasn't interested in bodykits or even mags, just street sleeper with attitude.
I have added cold air induction, with a K&N filter and cutting a hole underneath the factory air filter box fed by a plumbing pipe that collects air from behind the front bumper.
The exhaust is modified with a high flow cat and extractors.
The car ran really well, but I went further with a chiptorque HP 3 chip and Surecam camshaft just recently.
The power now is incredible, I did not expect to see such an improvement. On the street it is immensely responsive to quick accelerator input and literally shoots out of corners.
The car leaves new model Commodores, Falcons, Magnas, everything for dead. If you get the low end power down properly then the car is an acceleration demon.
I don't think there is a cheaper way to get this kind of power, best thing is that all the mods are invisible to the eye. Surprising people with their huge wheels and bodykits in late model cars is the best feeling, especially when you know that they are wondering how a car with plastic wheel covers blew them away in the merging lane.
It's an excellent combination of an older lighter body with a potent fuel injected motor. Fuel economy is awesome in comparison with the power you can get.
This is about as far as I can go with the standard non turbo engine, before spending a huge amount of money.
Soon I will add the dyno readings of this car in the comments section of this review, as I haven't even had the chip dyno tuned yet! It still hammers, and hopefully I can get more power.
The whole thing came together really well
and pretty inexpensively as well, only problem is figuring out how to get the most power out of the auto transmission, which is something I am not about to tell everyone yet!
The VL is the only Commodore I would ever consider buying, it's been a great car.
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All 1987 Holden Commodore reviews
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| First year of ownership | 1999 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2001 |
| Engine and transmission | 3.0L Automatic |
| Performance marks | 9/10 |
| Reliability marks | 7/10 |
| Comfort marks | 6/10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 8/10 |
| Distance when acquired | 98000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 153000 kilometres |
| Date of Entry | 19th March, 2001 |