1990 Holden Commodore VN review from Australia and New Zealand

The radiator developed a split and required re-coring after the cooling system became pressurised from a defective cylinder head. To be fair though, I don't think the previous owner had looked after the vehicle very well, it had a rust in the cooling system and may have been overheated in the past causing the damage to the head. This has all been repaired and I have had no trouble since.

The door rubbers don't stick very well, hence automatic car washes can be quite a damp experience.

Small rust spots are appearing in the water channel below the rear window.

Rattle in the dashboard around 2300 rpm, coupled with a slight vibration from the engine at the same time.

Water pump started to leak, but was replaced without much expense.

Fuel gauge, and less frequently the temperature gauge, will intermittently not work without bashing the dashboard.

Small water ingress from top centre of windscreen seal.

I have experienced a raft of small problems, which can be expected from a 13 year old used car (particularly one bought ex-repossession). Nothing extremely serious or expensive has gone wrong though, bar the problem with the cylinder head, which, from what I gather, is quite rare for this type of vehicle, leading me to believe it had probably been overheated before it came into my possession.

Generally though I have found the vehicle to be very reliable, it always starts first try, it never uses any oil, and does not lose any water.

The engine is very impressive in terms of power, if the vehicle handled corners better I would have rated it higher than a 7 out of 10. In fact, it goes like stink.

Fuel economy on the open road is surprisingly good, I have achieved 7.5 litres per 100km on a long journey (average speed 110kph). Around town the fuel consumption is a lot higher though, around 12 litres per 100km.