1992 Holden Commodore Series II Executive review from Australia and New Zealand

Cruise control ceased working shortly after purchase, not worth the expense to get repaired.

Steering rack developed slight leak, eventually needing replacement once it got too severe to simply top up the fluid every once in a while.

Headgasket blew on a 40C day towing a furniture trailer between Melb & Adel.

Transmission cooler piping developed a leak, once diagnosed, this was a simple DIY replacement of dried/cracked hosing and top up of trans fluid.

Thermostat went, simple DIY fix.

Resistor pack controlling AC/Heater fan-speed blew, easy DIY swap for modern VT replacement part.

Throttle cable sheathing frayed and needed replacement.

As was IRS equipped model, rear tyres wore unevenly on the inside, further exasperated by heavy towing. Suggest a rear camber/toe kit be fitted.

Boot leaked water in through the tail-light's housing, siliconed up to fix.

Provided effortless and idiot proof performance in a straight-line, beating all other non-sports cars at the traffic lights, but cornering is where it came unstuck.

Going hard in to a corner the standard suspension allows so much body roll as to feel like you're going to scrape your door handles on the road, and even with good tyres it was disconcertingly easy to get the rear-end loose (particularly so in the wet). That's even with the optional and more stable IRS (as opposed to the standard live-axle). Once loose it was a frantic wresting act to pull things back in to line due to sloppy steering response.

Brake feel is poor, requiring a couple of centimetre's travel before biting, (this occurred even after fresh fluid and a bleed and seems to be a deficiency of later models too), and brake fade becomes a serious problem after only a short amount of "spirited" driving.

However, these cars excel at being a family hauler, and perform well when driven within their limits, they have a mammoth boot, and can toe decent loads. The seats are comfortable, and there's plenty of room 5 adults on short trips, and 4 for long ones. Fuel efficiency is ordinary around town, but very reasonable when out on the open highway.

If you're after a cheap/reliable car with good load carrying capacity, go for it, if you're looking for something to drive hard then avoid unless you have death wish or are prepared to spend heavily on aftermarket suspension components (this doesn't mean simply lowering it, but sway bars, bushes, etc.)