1985 Holden Commodore VK Executive 3.3L 6 Cylinder EFI from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Good first car buy with the potential to become something greater

Faults:

After a few weeks of having the car the cam shaft gears went whilst I was going up a hill.

Alternator died on a trip to Geelong also killing the battery.

Back seat cracked needed to be re-covered.

General Comments:

For an older model car the engine is very reliable, fuel efficient and has a comfortable amount of grunt.

Engine is very easy for a mildly mechanically minded person to maintain and repair.

Parts are common and cheap, a trip to the local wreckers or to the local car care centre will turn up most parts.

The interior is quite nice for its age, although the square speedometer is annoying for monitoring exact speeds.

Upgrade options for the engine are quite varied, the various 202 engines Holden has produced allow a young rev-head to indulge in Do-It-Yourself upgrades.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 23rd February, 2003

1985 Holden Commodore Berlina 5.0L V8 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Family Car with great grunt

Faults:

Radiator Blew.

Needed new water pump.

Cracked Windscreen.

General Comments:

Performance is very good, but takes a while for all 4 barrel's to open up.

Heaps of torque (318NM).

Power output of 118KW.

Seats afr comfortable.

Sounds Great.

Achieved a 0-100 time of around 8.5 seconds, which is quicker than my mates Vn commodore.

It's a Wagon too.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 21st February, 2003

1985 Holden Commodore VK 3.3 202 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

A mean machine

Faults:

The engine mounts broke.

Gearbox dropped out.

Gearstick flew out.

The muffler blew out.

Head gasket.

Steering arm was bent.

General Comments:

This car is a mean machine on the cook. The problem is that rubber is too dear.

I have a new diff in there so its all good at present.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 21st October, 2002

1985 Holden Commodore VK Berlina 5.0L from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

I love my car, it goes like a rocket

Faults:

A few months after buying it the electric fuel pump died - fairly expensive to replace ($180).

Radiator needs replacing (it is a 17 year old radiator so it's not doing too bad). Radiator stop leak does the job for now.

General Comments:

The car is beautiful to drive, some people prefer the new car feeling where you don't really feel like you're driving the car. Where as with the older cars you know that you're in control.

Please note 70,000km is not a typing error.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th September, 2002

30th Jul 2007, 19:44

Same here.

Got a 3.3 EFI Berlina.

Love It.

1985 Holden Commodore VK 3.3 black carby from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

It's a good reliable car for under $5,000, that performs fairly well

Faults:

Exhaust manifold warped slightly, but I have replaced it with custom sizes extractors and a 2 1/4 exhaust system running out of a 3inch dumper.

Front shock leaking, but I replaced all four when I lower it.

General Comments:

The cars performs well for a fairly stock motor, blowing manual vl's easily.

It has a very torque motor.

Cornering wasn't to good, but now it performs well since it has been dropped 3 inches.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th August, 2002

1985 Holden Commodore VK petrol from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

It was raced by the one and only Peter Brock

Faults:

The carbretter floods due to pressure build up in tank.

Ignition contacts melted.

Front seal replaced 2 times.

Noisy differental.

General Comments:

Goes hard and handles well.

A few problems, but what do you expect for its age?

I can work on it myself, try doing the same on a later model.

It's the last of the real Holdens before they went to a Nissan motor.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 28th January, 2002

1985 Holden Commodore VK 3.3 carby from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Avoid this Commodore

Faults:

Power steering pump failed due to a leak.

Power steering hydraulics are very noisy, needs replacing.

Pings a lot, mechanics can't fix this.

Erratic engine idle when the engine is hot.

Many leaks in the water cooling system.

Required a carburetor recondition (still not fixed 100%).

Numerous electrical problems.

Re-gas the air conditioning.

Window windup mechanisms break (very common).

Burns oil.

General Comments:

This car marks Holdens transition from a 25 year old carby to the electric/efi engine system. Holden totally screwed it up with the VK, that is why they used a Nissan engine in the next model, the VL.

The electrical system on the VK is totally crap, people have told me to replace it with the one on the previous model (VH). This also makes it hard to find causes of problems, like pinging.

It drinks petrol like there is no tomorrow, even more when driving around the city, I can sometimes get around 350km with a full 60 liter tank!

If you are going to get the VK, get it with EFI or the 5 liter V8 (not the 4.2 liter), or get a cheaper & more reliable VH.

But it is the best looking Holden, it is cheap to repair and easy to find second hand parts, since most of them end up at the wreckers. It also has plenty of power.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th October, 2001

22nd Feb 2009, 04:00

Well from the outset it sounds like your motor is on the blink, if it burns oil and guzzles petrol as you have made it out to. To stop the pinging, either use premium unleaded or add octane booster to every 3rd-4th tank of petrol. $14 over 3 tankfuls is, what, a $4-something premium on top of your petrol bill? Not too bad at all, and you will get a kick out of your engine, better fuel economy AND no pinging if you use octane booster. Mate, it's win win.

17th Apr 2009, 06:43

I own a VK Sl, and the erratic idle is probably caused by the inlet manifold gasket leaking, as the manifold expands when the engine gets hot, and is caused because the inlet and exhaust manifold are made of different materials and cool at different rates. Over time they slowly work loose, causing the leak, which could be causing you poor fuel economy and possibly your pinging if they're leaking badly enough, as mine gets great fuel economy and doesn't ping. Simply tightening the bolts will fix it, but if it's too buggered it will need a new gasket.

As for electrical problems, I have never encountered any, so I can't help there.