Personal opinions from VY drivers

[redlion05]

Hello everyone,

Recently I had my pride and joy (a holden vn calais...which was immaculate after many $ spent) crashed by another driver at 100kms only two weeks ago. Sad i know but i thank god every day for the fact that we survived the horrific crash.

I'm looking at a 2003 VY calais series II with a supercharger v6, 178,000kms (supposedly freeway kms) sunroof, leather seats, 6 cd in dash stacker, so basically extras not found in some calais and all stock. There asking $13,6000. Oh, it also comes with reg but no rw but it has been serviced by the holden dealership at all service intervals. I'm looking at the car on Wednesday morning (14th April).

Does it sound promising and has anybody who own a vy commodore found many faults and do they still enjoy the car? Also, is there much difference found between a series 1 and 2?

Thank you all in advance for you advice
Brendan

[Big_Simmo]

Hey mate good to hear you walked away from that crash..
ive had my series 2 vy calais since end of jan and so far i havent found any fault or dislikes besides the boring green dash lighting
I dont have the supercharger, i just got the plain old 3.8 v6 nothing fancy though.
But long story short im very happy with the car in every aspect

[BT91WA]

all highways km's, everyone says that
I have a series 1 Vy berlina ecotec,
Ive had to replace my radiator, 34 days after i bought it so it wasnt covered by dealer statutary waranty..... $500 (common in VY's)
Headunit is plagued with a mechanical error ... $300 off holmart (apparently is common error)
In comparison to my mates VX berlina, its a much nicer ride, steering is better and a much nicer interior (not saying i dislike VX's)
Calais L67 has my tick of approval

[chargedvx6]

KMs are too high IMO. My 03 has 100k only and I paid $16g 1.5 years ago with a fresh respray from the Holden dealer. Keep looking and one will turn up. 178oookms is no big deal on these cars but some big maitenance items will be coming up soon like shock absorbers, castor rod bushes, charger oil service and trans could be iffy

[redlion05]

thanks for all your helpful opinions guys.

Just wondering aswell....is it really this hard to find a vy (or in fact any commodore) that has a manual transmission? I wished my next car would replace the boring auto.

Also, the guy who owns the car is from the country and would be driving long stretch roads, so i'd imagine their long distance kms.

Also, any differences found between the series 1 and 2?

[Calaber]

Very big difference between Series 1 and 2.

Series 2 was upgraded to be more of a luxury sports sedan than the Series 1. It had 17 inch alloys, instead of 16's. Slightly lower and firmer suspension, SS style lower body kit, black hoodlining, revised mesh grilles and rear bumper insert. In my opinion, it is a far more attractive car than the Series 1 and is worth looking for. I don't have the same reservations about the car you are looking at with 178k on it - if it has been looked after and you continue to look after it, it still has a lot of life in it and isn't expensive.

By the time Holden was building VY's, manuals were only fitted to about 5% of Commodores. I think they were only fitted to S, SS, SV8 and utilities as standard. If you wanted a manual Calais, you would probably have to do the conversion yourself, unless you found one someone else had converted.

They are a good, sound model, with many of the earlier bugs from the VT and VX sorted out. Check the Common VY issues at the head of this forum to see what does go wrong, but I can't think of any serious deficiences with this model.

[colgf]

I have had a 2002 VY Supercharged Calais with Leather & Sunroof (Series1) Holden by Design for about 18 months now, It had 140k on it when I bought it for $12800 with no rego from a Sydney Dealer (Third Owner). I have tarted it up with R8 Fulltwin exhaust, extractors,KN filter, xu-6 chip, 17" SV8 alloys, 10psi pulley, 10 degree cooler thermostat, LSD . I have put about 30k on it during the 18 months & it has never let me down -performs faultlessly (touch wood). Go for that series 2 mate, it sounds a real good buy, Naturally its still only a machine & they all need maintaining, but I cant think of a better car for the bucks!!!!!! You will LOVE the Supercharged engine buddy , they go like stink!!!!!

[redlion05]

Thank you everyone for your excellent information. I'm in early stages research a car but I will let everyone know tomorrow what i think of the car

[WestieVYLS1]

I have a series 2 Calais (although it has an LS1) and i love it. I've had nothing go wrong with it and it is a neat looking car. The only problem I forsee is the kms, but that is really only a factor if you sell it or trade it in......as long as you look after (trust me, you will want to) it will go great.

[redlion05]

Well peoples, I went for a test drive on the 2003 vy calais s2 (with v6 supercharger) and I must say that it was at satisfactory level. It had a broken volume button, a few noticable scratches on the outside of the car and stains on the carpet but a little bit of TLC and im sure it would've been a good car. Although I didnt purchase it cause it didnt come with a RWC and he wouldn't drop the price no lower than $14k. Loved the sunroof tho.

On the redbook website, the average private buying price for that car with that many kms would go for $13-13,500 kms, which he refused.

I'm having a look at another car tomorrow, its a 2004 vy calais s2, with 143000kms and a standard 3.8l v6 and is supposedly immaculate both outside and inside and minus a sunroof. Only issue is a service is due. Yet the drive away price is $15,600 and has 1 year warrenty....do you think thats a good buy?

[chargedvx6]

Well peoples, I went for a test drive on the 2003 vy calais s2 (with v6 supercharger) and I must say that it was at satisfactory level. It had a broken volume button, a few noticable scratches on the outside of the car and stains on the carpet but a little bit of TLC and im sure it would've been a good car. Although I didnt purchase it cause it didnt come with a RWC and he wouldn't drop the price no lower than $14k. Loved the sunroof tho.

On the redbook website, the average private buying price for that car with that many kms would go for $13-13,500 kms, which he refused.

I'm having a look at another car tomorrow, its a 2004 vy calais s2, with 143000kms and a standard 3.8l v6 and is supposedly immaculate both outside and inside and minus a sunroof. Only issue is a service is due. Yet the drive away price is $15,600 and has 1 year warrenty....do you think thats a good buy?

I would consider the supercharged calais. Get a quote on the rwc forst as it shouldn't need more than a couple of bushes at worst. Was it leather interior? How many kms on it?

[Calaber]

Well peoples, I went for a test drive on the 2003 vy calais s2 (with v6 supercharger) and I must say that it was at satisfactory level. It had a broken volume button, a few noticable scratches on the outside of the car and stains on the carpet but a little bit of TLC and im sure it would've been a good car. Although I didnt purchase it cause it didnt come with a RWC and he wouldn't drop the price no lower than $14k. Loved the sunroof tho.

You don't say what State you are in, but in NSW a seller must provide a pink slip for rego by law when selling a car privately. Is that the situation in other states too?

[Sean880]

Well peoples, I went for a test drive on the 2003 vy calais s2 (with v6 supercharger) and I must say that it was at satisfactory level. It had a broken volume button, a few noticeable scratches on the outside of the car and stains on the carpet but a little bit of TLC and im sure it would've been a good car. Although I didn't purchase it cause it didn't come with a RWC and he wouldn't drop the price no lower than $14k. Loved the sunroof tho.

On the redbook website, the average private buying price for that car with that many kms would go for $13-13,500 kms, which he refused.

I'm having a look at another car tomorrow, its a 2004 vy calais s2, with 143000kms and a standard 3.8l v6 and is supposedly immaculate both outside and inside and minus a sunroof. Only issue is a service is due. Yet the drive away price is $15,600 and has 1 year warranty....do you think that's a good buy?

KMS are important. The more kms the more wear on all components. I see plenty of people trying to flog their high mileage cars for the same price as a vehicle with about 100000 kms.

I would wait until you can pick up a good car with about 100000 kms or less if you can afford to wait.. These do come up if you can be patient. I would not worry about whether it is a V6 or V6 supercharged or V8 Calais. The important thing is the overall condition - especially mechanical, quality of the car, its history and service records. Try for a series 2 car. The later the build in the model life of the car the better usually.

I second Calaber's comment about a RWC. I recently raised this point with the RTA as I will be selling a car soon.

Private sellers in NSW are bound by law to provide a RWC (not more than 42 days old). If they do not the RTA has the right to refuse to transfer the registration and then the sale is up in the air. Why would you risk paying for a car and then have the RTA refuse to transfer the rego to you. They may not refuse but they have the right to if there is no current RWC. Then you will have to go to the expense of getting the mandatory inspection report if the seller(having been paid for the car) refuses and you will have to pay for any rectification work needed to get the OK report issued.

If there is no RWC with the car, and the seller refuses to provide one, then you should assume that the private seller knows there are faults with the car that will have to be rectified before an OK report is issued.

Here is the Full NSW REGULATION: ....................................



..............NSW Legislation

[GenReaper]

I own an SS Wagon thats done 285,000 kms and it still drives like its brand new.
Has some mods and goes hard.

Great car the Series 2 VY all i would say is get it inspected by a mechanic on a hoist before you buy it.

Very happy and way better than the VP Berlina i was driving.

[doobs]

Ey,

I brought a 2002 VY V8 series 1 Berlina Wagon about 3 months ago. I got it from a holden dealer, with RWC and all on roads for $15200... Its got 150,000ks. Specs are Auto, leather interior, all factory options, heavy duty tow pack, LSD. Its nice and clean drives great and has been awesome so far. Much better than my VX v6 exec

[Villan_au]

VY berlina 03 It had 163,000ks $11.999. Specs are Auto, leather interior now its got 175.000ks and drives like a dream and the inside is as clean as i got it from the car yard after 9 months. If you lower it low and stick big wheels on it will drive like a pig.

[Adds_05]

i have a vy series 2 wagon that ive had for abit over a year,payed $9300 for it with 11months rego and a brand new windscreen fitted,had 180,000kms on it but it still drove like new. it now has 239,000kms on it and its still going great,glad i got the series 2 over the series 1 though,just minor things that are different but still...

[redlion05]

Thanks to everyone for the comments and advice. I have decided to buy the VY Calais Series 2 from the Subaru Dealership which I purchased for $15,500 drive away and is in imaculate condition and drove very well. Its been serviced throughout its life at holden dealerships, has average amount of kms (142000) and boy does it have a nice colour to it. I will post some pics when I drive it to my house tomorrow. Funnily enough, im still having dreams about my old vn calais....i guess ill miss it forever.

[Aggro_VE]

Good to hear you found one, the series 2 is the best in the VY series partically the Calais and you brought it from a dealership so there is added security/warranty etc. I had my Syracuse VY2 Calais for a short time due to a P plater in a VW Kombi destroy half of the drivers side, yeah it was repaired but it was never the same ever again so i traded it for an VZ SV6. In saying that I will still have it today if it didn't get damaged, it was a beautiful car and it looked bloody hot. Massive difference compared to the 'grandpa' spec of series 1.

[rydogz]

Private sellers in NSW are bound by law to provide a RWC (not more than 42 days old). If they do not the RTA has the right to refuse to transfer the registration and then the sale is up in the air. Why would you risk paying for a car and then have the RTA refuse to transfer the rego to you. They may not refuse but they have the right to if there is no current RWC. Then you will have to go to the expense of getting the mandatory inspection report if the seller(having been paid for the car) refuses and you will have to pay for any rectification work needed to get the OK report issued.

If there is no RWC with the car, and the seller refuses to provide one, then you should assume that the private seller knows there are faults with the car that will have to be rectified before an OK report is issued.

Here is the Full NSW REGULATION: ....................................



..............NSW Legislation

Ha never seen anyone provide one. I bought a 20k car without one simply had a mechanic friend look at it and shes been tip top. Sold my old car with BF problems for $100 without any BS. Aren't they the same guys that sell $1000 stickers? They're color coded and everything though...

[redlion05]

thats too bad Agro VE. Hey, at least you haven't gone for a backward plunge in your lastest vehicle. I went for my driving test recently in my VY Calais (which is programed by aami insurance) to test its strength in brakes and performance of the vehicle (as well as its safety) and i was quite impressed. Btw, I dont believe in the dealership warrenty. On that same day that i took that driving course, i found my wipers to be worn out to the point i couldnt see through the rain and my car tyre pressures were all over the place (especially my spare tyre which was at 16psi)....like honestly, would you class that as roadworthy? All the same, i'm happy with my VY. Everybody was admiring it at the course session lol