1988 Holden Commodore VL review from Australia and New Zealand

Naturally the crank angle sensor.

The head gasket blew about 220000 km due to a common problem with the VL.

Minor rust front windscreen and underneath rear windscreen, nothing major, it is a 15 year old car.

The car has been great, more reliable than my automatic Seiko watch for that matter. I don't think I haven't heard a mechanic say this was the best and most reliable commodore ever built by Holden.

The car is quick, with 150 Kilowatts on tap and is relatively light. The car is used as a daily driver is not too bad on fuel, though it will guzzle it down it you have a lead foot.

Comfort wise, well it's definitely not a mercedes, then again it never was meant to be. I would definitely call the cabin "no frills".

The car can be deadly in incompetent or inexperienced hands, especially in the wet. In the wet the car should be treated with kit gloves otherwise you might end up going sideways on the wrong side of the road.

Apart from normal wear and tear I would recommend an oil and filter change every 5000Km especially for the Turbo, I find Penrite 25/70 oil great anything lighter requires top ups which indicate oil burning.

The car I own is a BT1 model which is basically an ex turbo cop car. Funny thing haven't had a problem with the turbo in all this time.

I owned a Honda Legend in between this car and after 18 months sold it to get back into the VL. The Legend was comfortable, but once you get used to the overtaking power of a VLT its hard to go back.

The suspension is great when you're in you 20's, but seems quite harsh in your 30's. There is a bit of body roll which apparently can be improved by aftermarket suspension packages, or so I'm told. To be honest there hasn't been a need.