1996 Holden Commodore VS II Executive from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Leaking rear main seal - high oil consumption.

Various interior trims on the doors come off.

Interior window surrounds fell inside the door skin.

Constantly blowing globes in the exterior lights.

Water leaks in the boot (can't find where from - mould now forming).

Mould forming on many internal window surrounds.

Temperamental central locking...

Rear driver side door mechanism broke one way when my wife closed the door a little harder than normal.

Commodores are the biggest selling car in Australia. I don't know why. I worked in a Toyota dealership for 3 years (after I bought the Commodore) and a V6 Camry is far superior in every way!

It has good performance and is smooth, but once the engine is pushed a bit it becomes very harsh.

On top of all this Commodores now attract very high insurance premiums because they are high risk.

Build quality is well below Toyotas standard and Mitsubishis for that matter.

The car is also very thirsty and not really the car I expected it to be.

Well, the Commodore uses a US GM powerplant, and from this survey US GM cars are pretty troublesome generally. What I don't like about the Commodore is the terribly uncomfortable seats. Lumbar support is useless. They should've just retained the German-designed seats from the VB/VC. Better yet they should've just made a straight remake of the Opel Omega with a wider and longer body, put in the local engine, and left the design as it was.

Sounds like you might have scored a lemon. My 1996 VS has been totally faultless for the nearly 3 yrs I've owned it. Paint and trim still excellent, good economy, good performance (but lack of top end noticable on the highway). The worst thing I can say about it is the abysmal resale value... But then, that's a Commodore for you!

It's not a lemon, I know people who want to drive theirs off the end of a cliff. These things don't effect the day to day running. A lemon would be in and out of the workshop. These are just annoying quality issues. It takes 2 minutes to fix a broken globe, the car won't stop driving if many of the trims are deteriorating but it doesn't give an overall impression of a good quality car for the money. You'd never get these gremlins in a Toyota.

I have the same quality issues (interior window surrounds, boot leaks, central locking, rattly doors) plus a temperamental transmission. The Holden dealership found nothing wrong with the transmission in the warranty period. It still goes, but what a disappointment.

160000km recently on my 3rd clutch. No it is not my driving style. Heard that the clutch system on manual Commodores post VN is generally not up to the job long term. The drivetrain has always been generally rough though - clunks and thumps, "cranky" in slow moving stop start traffic.

Leak from the rear main oil seal since about 80000km, has not really worsened - usually need to add about 500ml oil every 10000km.

Boot leaks from God knows where - recommend drilling a hole through the floor of the spare wheel well (and on the other side) to let water drain through.

Had the VSII for three years now. Have to agree on all the problems. Rear Seal is leaking about a litre every three weeks, seals gone, problems when towing relatively light weights where it seems to engage the clutch and rev out over 100 and the engine starts to red line.

Good styling though, I still think the VR / VS combo looks good, pity about the Australian workmanship (or lack of)

First Holden (other than an EH) and I must admit, the EH was a much better chick magnet!

Thanks

Rob.

Dear me, the car (as of this writing) is no even 8 years old and you people talk of leaking main seals and stuff? Does anyone wonder why these cars have poor re-sale value?

Japanese cars all the way... I don't care where a car is made, as long as it has quality.

I got a VR 1995 Commodore. Today, I found a whole puddle of water in the spare tyre well. Not to mention a constantly damp patch on the floor of the right rear passenger seat. Seems like the water is simply not draining from the boot lid. Does anyone know how to rectify this problem?

To the guy with the vr with a leaking boot.

You will be either the boot rubber, or the rear side window between C and D pillars. It is an integral unit with the rubber. Remove the interior trim around the window to see a bolt that holds the window on. The seal around the window/rubber might be stuffed from age and is letting water in above the wheel well. to fix, silicon it back on.