Upgrade from VZ to VF

[greenacc]

I'm no VF fanboy. They are essentially a slightly tweaked VE with a lot of money wasted on things like self parking and electric steering and E85 tuning. The good news is they are newer, quieter and slightly lighter.

 

[Dodgy_Davo]

thanks for everyone's input, I'm not in any rush to change and still like the old VZ a lot, and it has a bit of work done and still pretty low km's (124k) so lot of life left, still a tough call whether to put any more money into it to keep it nice and maintain it or just trade it in while it's still worth something without spending any more on it.

Honestly the VZ SS ute has aged well and is a bit of a looker still imo

And a nice clean low K example would be worth thinking about keeping , especially so if its a manual

Could be biased but I just cant see any scenario where aussie made v8 utes are not becoming more sought after as time goes on..

As for the interior , you could always update the head unit to something with Apple car play /Android Auto to give it a more modern feel

always thought the pop out drink holders were cool on those models

only issue is the same one we are all facing ...parts supply going forward , particularly shitty plastic interior bits

e.g. $750 a piece for those drink holders on Holmart - lawd

 

[exanVZ]

Honestly the VZ SS ute has aged well and is a bit of a looker still imo

And a nice clean low K example would be worth thinking about keeping , especially so if its a manual

Could be biased but I just cant see any scenario where aussie made v8 utes are not becoming more sought after as time goes on..

As for the interior , you could always update the head unit to something with Apple car play /Android Auto to give it a more modern feel

View attachment 259877

always thought the pop out drink holders were cool on those models

only issue is the same one we are all facing ...parts supply going forward , particularly shitty plastic interior bits

e.g. $750 a piece for those drink holders on Holmart - lawd

Thanks mate, yea this is a manual 6L thunder, already upgraded the interior a bit with a nice Sony android auto head unit, reverse camera, sub and amp and speakers etc. It's got everything I need, except a big cam. Will cost a bit to do a cam swap properly so that's what got me looking at upgrades.

So far I'm happy to just keep driving it for now but keeping my options open.

 

[NJD-1992]

I should say series rather than model, but even then there isn't a lot of innovation. Toyota introduced hybrid models that are now mainstream. Mazda has its Skyactiv G that automatically disables cylinders when cruising.
The VF has an engine that was basically developed in 1979 (chev V6 60 degree).

Edit: typo

Innovation doesn't always mean better. A lot of innovation these days is innovation for innovations sake

Granted, us enthusiasts are well within the minority. Let's face it, 99.9 of drivers want a car that starts/ drives when they want it, and has CarPlay/Android Auto, that's basically it

I like the VF because to me I think they have a timeless look, I like rear wheel drive sedans, and can be had for far less money that a lot of the modern cars. No, they are absolutely not perfect, but I like the "Just enough combination of old school/new school" when I go for a drive. I also like they are for the most part simple to work on.

Look at how EV sales are plummeting in the US. Hybrid just also adds complexity. An extreme example is the Mclaren P1, what was supposed to be a spiritual successor to the F1. And yet less than 10 years later, many are having their batteries die due to the old battery tech, and from my understanding Mclaren doesn't support them anymore. I highly doubt in years time they will have anywhere near the same reverence as the F1, and the new Lamborghini Revuelto won't have the same reverence as a "stick" Murcielago

 

[exanVZ]

I kind of agree not all innovation is better. I was driving a new hybrid corolla for a while recently and while it was great on fuel, and has all the useless features I don't want, like automatic steering and jerking the car back into the lane if you get too close to a line on the road, as well as slamming on the breaks if someone 30m in front of you starts slowing down, it was missing basic features like simple electric seats and the inside just felt like it was all made of cheap plastic and wasn't designed to last more than 10-15 years. Even the steering wheel felt like crap, i'll take the leather electric seats, leather steering wheel, slightly less cheap plastic interior, and actually having to drive it myself of a VZ any day.

 

[NJD-1992]

I kind of agree not all innovation is better. I was driving a new hybrid corolla for a while recently and while it was great on fuel, and has all the useless features I don't want, like automatic steering and jerking the car back into the lane if you get too close to a line on the road, as well as slamming on the breaks if someone 30m in front of you starts slowing down, it was missing basic features like simple electric seats and the inside just felt like it was all made of cheap plastic and wasn't designed to last more than 10-15 years. Even the steering wheel felt like crap, i'll take the leather electric seats, leather steering wheel, slightly less cheap plastic interior, and actually having to drive it myself of a VZ any day.

And lets not even get started on one of the worst trends of them all

No physical buttons. Why oh why do they think everything has to be a dam touch screen!

 

[exanVZ]

And lets not even get started on one of the worst trends of them all

No physical buttons. Why oh why do they think everything has to be a dam touch screen!

While everything is touch screen, there's still also 25 buttons on the wheel too, as I was only driving it temporarily I couldn't work out what half of them did and was just too much for me.

 

[RevNev]

Doubt you'll find anything that drive as nice for the money on country roads, given it was designed for them here.

As hard as it for me to say this, FG XR6 Turbo Falcons drive better on country roads than a VF. They don't handle better than a VF but their more effortless and smoother over a long distance, steer them with your thumb, more comfortable seats and massively better headlights.

 

[panhead]

...every Commode was an improvement in the majority of attributes above the one which came before & same with Foulcans.

The build quality of the VE is far better than the VF and with the VF, some of the materials used are thin and easily breakable compared to the VE.

I don't see that as an improvement.




.

 

[Forg]

The build quality of the VE is far better than the VF and with the VF, some of the materials used are thin and easily breakable compared to the VE.

I don't see that as an improvement.

Thats one thing, "build quality"; it's one attribute of many, VF betters VE on most attributes.
Just about everything else you can mention the VF was better (this being a Holden the following list wasn't necessarily up to industry standard but was an improvement over VE); NVH, connectivity, interior look & feel, fuel usage, performance across the range. Handling improved on average too.
Even cost, VF was cheaper to buy.