2000 HSV GTS from UK and Ireland - Comments

Thumbs up for the HSVs!! A friend staying over from Germany preferred my 1997 Commodore V6 and my dad's 255kW 2002 HSV to European marques, and with the new VY series' updated interior, the quality has improved (although it was never bad) markedly.

However I was surprised to find how expensive they are in Britain - Over here a ClubSport is a little more than a Mercedes C180K (a car that couldn't pull a sailor off your sister to quote Motor Mag), so finding a big car with performance figures that come even remotely close is a real challenge. Advice to European readers: try before you buy & if you just need that V8 urge coupled with great styling (for the HSVs done by TWR in the UK) then a HSV is the way to go. A great car that will turn heads like it turns tread into smoke.

Having lived in Australia and NZ between 1979 and 2000 I know that the HSV was widely perceived as a car that commanded respect, both for style and performance, certainly with the guys I knew. Now living back in the UK I have owned a '99 HSV for the last 2 years and I have never had so much fun in a car. (Well apart from my first mini, but that was for other reasons!) The attention the HSV receives is unbelievable and the number of BMW and Merc drivers that do not know what it is give you a laugh as you accelerate from 80mph up to 130mph plus (the HSV's best acceleration band) and leave them trailing in your wake. My rationale for owning a car is performance, style and something a bit different - all these are clearly met with the HSV. A lot of the earlier comments are personal opinion and who can honestly tell the difference between 0-60 in 5.7 or 5.2? Driving an M5 in Australia is probably the equivalent of driving an HSV in the UK - pretty unique! As for fuel consumption, anyone who even mentions fuel consumption and V8's in the same sentence either can't afford one or will never buy one.

Hows things?? well gotta love this debate. I honestly didn't know they sold Holdens in the UK, I knew they sold the monaro under the vaxhall badge. I loved watching the episode of top gear where Clarkson gave the Vaxhall Monaro a right propper thrashing, and if I remember correctly, he said, it was one of the best handling cars he had ever driven, as he threw it round his test track. yes the holdens are big and heavy. yes they have some awsome styling lines VT onwards especially, but how many other cars can a family of 5 throw all there gears into the boot of their family sedan and go on holiday for a month? and have the comfort of a luxury and spaceious car and the performance of a "torquey" v8 grunt machine.

Gotta love these beasts. and there is nothing like the low down rumble of a big bad v8.

Well boys. I am a Kiwi and am on my third HSV. I am 56 years old and believe me have had my share of cars, including japanese, and I am sick of bits falling off these things. Indicator stalks, door linings, doors filling with water and not draining...RUST... If you've got a japanese car, get rid of it quick before your boot lid passes you at a stop sign!!!

I will stick with the HSV's, and if anyone compares an HSV with a production Holden, which is still bloody good car, they haven't been through the factory in Melbourne. I'm a Kiwi and I have. So go and take a look at what goes on there.

The comment I would make re the car races, If I remember Win Percy and Allan Grice beat those screaming Japanese machines in a VL Walkinshaw in 1990, which also included Ford Sierras as well. I agree with the writer who compares price with all the so called, luxurious, Europeans. Look at what you buy in equal performance that compares with HSV NOTHING!! I had the occasion to attempt to out accelerate a 2001 540 BMW as he was waving at me through the window in a somewhat vertical finger manner to which I replied with the accelerator of my 5.7 Stroker. The last I saw of the beemer was was the grille in my rear view mirror and it was a long way behind.

IF IT AINT HSV AND 8, IT JUST DON'T RATE!!!

I'm sorry, but a Skyline or Supra Japanese not having 1000bhp potential? Both are capable of 1500bhp and are a lot smaller engines. The 2jz from the Supra can muster 700bhp with no change to its internals. Also the tuning potential is cheap and plentiful. The gtr can have a 100bhp increase from a couple of hundred bucks worth of induction and exhaust work.

Irrespective of what some of the detractors may say, the gentleman who started this thread was absolutely spot on.

I ran a 2001 GTS for 18 months - it was one of the 5 in the country painted Tiger gold. I had the aftermarket exhaust and headers fitted and it sounded absolutely awesome.

I used it daily as my only car and, despite having around 375bhp averaged 21mpg. Yes, it was easily possible to get that down to single figures (!) but it was unbelievable how economical it was. It was the most comfortable car I've even driven and the best performing.

Unfortunately for HSV, the cost was what killed it, combined with a lack of dealers who knew anything about it. It certainly was not a modified Omega - if you put them side by side (and I did as a friend had a brand new Omega CD at the time) the HSV was longer and wider and there wasn't a single panel carried over.

They're now down to a reasonable price and I wouldn't hesitate to get hold of one second hand. The only thing that was a downside for me was the first service - £1,500 for a set of new brakes as the disks cracked on mine (a known problem unfortunately).

Overall - 10/10 and a fantastic car. And no I'm not a HSV dealer!

Almost any engine can be tuned to produce big hp numbers. This technology vs cubic inches debate is ridiculous. Different engines are intended for different purposes. Lightweight turbo fours are great for rallying and some track applications and they can be very impressive machines. Big V8s have a different focus. I do not own a big V8 so I can eat rice. However, it is a brilliant car for towing the boat, it overtakes easily and is a relaxed ride on long interstate trips. It has 250,000km on the odometer, hasn't been rebuilt and still pulls 280hp at the wheels on the dyno. As great as those little rockets are, they simply don't fit the requirement of a lot of Aussies and they certainly don't have the hairy-chested rumble of a bent eight and I'd be struggling to fit my sons in the back of a WRX or EVO.