2007 Holden Commodore Omega [VE] review from Australia and New Zealand

- A/C stopped working

- Pieces of interior trim fell off

I had high expectations when we recently hired a new VE Omega for 14 days; the car that Holden and Wheels magazine claim can match it with the best from Europe. Unfortunately, the car has been majorly overrated by these motoring ‘experts’, and is let down a very ordinary drive line that is way off the pace being set by the Toyota Aurion, and even the BA Falcon.

The V6 power plant is a crock; it lacks low down torque and is way too harsh and noisy for a supposedly modern engine. Perhaps this is why even GMH no longer use this motor in their American built cars. The pathetic 4 speed auto is also a sad joke, with poor ratios, shift pattern and a tendency to spend most of the time hunting through the gears. The car also lacked a manual shift or tiptronic mode, which was disappointing. The drive line of my 1988 Nissan Skyline GTS, with the legendary RB 30 embarrasses the Commodore with its incredible smoothness and refinement. In fact this 20 year old Aussie built Skyline would still outpoint this car in nearly every respect, aside from interior room and secondary crash protection.

The steering is also too light and vague, and provides the driver little in the way of direct feedback. The ride was also floaty and the handling was no better than average - Certainly not on a par with a BMW 5 –series as claimed by Wheels magazine!

The quality and finish of the interior plastics are a joke, with large variations in dash panel gaps, and loose fitting pieces of trim and bonnet release that felt like it was going to break off at any stage. A couple of pieces of the centre console trim actually fell off while we had the car, which does not say much for its long term reliability considering the car only had 20,000 k’s on the clock.

At one stage the A/C also stopped working, raising further doubts about this cars long term reliability and build quality.

The steering wheel mounted controls and trip computer display were difficult to use and poorly thought out, and there was no manual boot release or even a locking fuel cap.

About the only things that impressed me about the car was the amount of interior leg room and the excellent brakes. However, the car falls way short of the new Toyota Aurion, with its silky smooth V6 and Lexus like 6 speed auto, along with Japanese levels of build quality and finish. Even the Ford Falcon, with the optional 6 speed auto would be a better bet then this very disappointing car.