1988 Holden Commodore VL review from Australia and New Zealand

Hole in muffler from rust. Replaced with whole new exhaust. Extractors and 2 & 1/4 inch system.

Crank angle sensor dies at about 230,000km.

Alternator died.

Drivers seat has a tear on right hand side.

Boot leaks slightly.

Front left headlight blew at about 245,000km.

Back indicators and brake lights have all blown at various stages.

2 power steering pumps have gone, probably from doing too much circle work.

Gearbox and Drive-shaft both went at about 210,000km.

VL is in my opinion the best looking Commodore that Holden has built. The inbuilt spoiler gives it a great look.

It is a good overall package. It has enough power to have fun in, yet it is not over powered to make it too dangerous in the hands of an inexperienced driver. Will smoke the tyres with a bit of effort, but it is still very docile around the city.

It is a great car to drive in the country. I have driven 1,000km in 1 day in it and it went like a charm. Didn't even look like over-heating. And the seats are comfortable enough for the trip as well. It really just does eat up the miles.

Handles gravel roads reasonably well. Does have a tendency to under-steer if pushed hard. That can change to over-steer fairly quickly if accelerating hard out of a corner on the dirt.

Radio and speakers are very average so I recommend upgrading them.

Also 14inch rims were standard so I changed them to the 15inch VL Calais alloys. I am running 205/65 on them.