1999 Holden Commodore Executive review from Australia and New Zealand

The manual gearbox was replaced by Holden, even though the warranty had expired by a month. The car had only been in my possession for a few weeks.

One CV boot was also replaced.

Although I had no problems with the quality of service received from the dealer where the car was purchased, I am less than happy with the car.

My last car was a VN Commodore which I enjoyed driving even though it had over 200k on the clock with the obligatory squeaks and rattles. The car was very quick and handled reasonably well. my only complaint was the auto gear box that let the car down, so I decided to buy a 5 speed.

I searched for a while and found a VT.

This car has not lived up to my expectations. The gearbox was notchy, whining in all gears, but worst in first. Noisy back lash that seemed to be coming from the diff, an annoying click when 5th gear is disengaged, there was also an oil leak.

I took it back to the dealer and they replaced gear box under warranty with the assurance the problems would be rectified and that the diff back lash was a trans fault... not! The oil leak was gone and the other problems remained.

I now understand that this is normal for Getrag boxes in commodores!

The car it self is heavier than previous commodores and is not as Quick as previous (VN-VS).

A few more rattles than I would expect from a 1999 car with low KMs including the drivers side door frame that seems rather flimsy.

If you could live with the 5 speed this would be a great family car for long trips, other wise buy an auto. If you want a V6 commodore that has some grunt, go for the previous models or get the 5.7 Gen 3. Though I heard even the six speed manual is crap too!

I have come to the conclusion that because Holden assemble so few Commodores with manual boxes, the engineering and development is minimal.