Attributes of the ZB that make it Special

[lowandslow]

Lazy compared to a modified, blown V8 and one of the silliest 6 pots this country has produced.

 

[tuckerbag]

You will find surface rust under the dash of just about any car most of the cross supports and brackets are just unpainted pressed steel.

None under my VP BT1 dash

 

[Badgerdog]

Ofcourse a tuned blown fpv v8 and a typhoon are going to make a stock calais feel lazy.
Why no comparison of a zb to a gen f gts?

That's it in a nutshell. I was driving a 400kw supercharged FPV GT-P at the time probably making more than 700 nm's. That beast cost me $91K Kiwi. Holden at that time wanted $85K for something that felt woefully inferior and lacked any real urge under 4,000 revs.

As to your second point, the thing a lot of you guys are missing is that there's no point comparing a $50K car with a $100K one.

The dirty truth no Aussie associated with the assembly industry ever wants to admit, (and many others as well), is that with the ZB people finally got a chance to own a very good car at a very fair and reasonable price. The asking prices here in N.Z. for Australian assembled V8 Commodores have been unrealistic since Adam was a boy, for what you get.

There's nothing else here for $50K Kiwi that comes anywhere close to my car...I know, I had a bloody good look.
If I wanted to spend $100K again I would have bought a low mileage Mercedes-Benz AMG C63.

People who make real decisions and buy cars on a regular basis expect bang for buck and V8 Commodores have been an epic fail in N.Z. in that regard for as far back as I can remember. After getting rorted with an overpriced, piston slapping, oil burning, diff graunching, riddled with electrical problems V8 Calais VX that Holden N.Z. simply walked away from and wouldn't acknowledge the issues, is it really any surprise I was gun shy to ever own another Australian made Holden ?

Its official you can add point 11 to my initial list, Best handling and performing car in N.Z. brand new for $50K.

 

[lowandslow]

I used to own a VX V8 Calais back in 2001. It sounded good with the Remus exhaust. That was the end of the good things about it.
Piston slap from its Mexican assembled V8 engine, gross oil consumption, graunching diff, one electrical problem after another after another after....well you get the picture. Rated at 225 kw through an ancient 4 speed auto.

The 235 kw's in my ZB through a highly efficient 9 speed auto means its not only faster, its a vastly better bit of kit, as you'd expect given that technology has moved on so much.

Well why would anyone compare a 50k car to a 4k clunker thats pushing 20yo?

 

[Holden17]

That's it in a nutshell. I was driving a 400kw supercharged FPV GT-P at the time probably making more than 700 nm's. That beast cost me $91K Kiwi. Holden at that time wanted $85K for something that felt woefully inferior and lacked any real urge under 4,000 revs.

As to your second point, the thing a lot of you guys are missing is that there's no point comparing a $50K car with a $100K one.

The dirty truth no Aussie associated with the assembly industry ever wants to admit, (and many others as well), is that with the ZB people finally got a chance to own a very good car at a very fair and reasonable price. The asking prices here in N.Z. for Australian assembled V8 Commodores have been unrealistic since Adam was a boy, for what you get.

There's nothing else here for $50K Kiwi that comes anywhere close to my car...I know, I had a bloody good look.
If I wanted to spend $100K again I would have bought a low mileage Mercedes-Benz AMG C63.

People who make real decisions and buy cars on a regular basis expect bang for buck and V8 Commodores have been an epic fail in N.Z. in that regard for as far back as I can remember. After getting rorted with an overpriced, piston slapping, oil burning, diff graunching, riddled with electrical problems V8 Calais VX that Holden N.Z. simply walked away from and wouldn't acknowledge the issues, is it really any surprise I was gun shy to ever own another Australian made Holden ?

Its official you can add point 11 to my initial list, Best handling and performing car in N.Z. brand new for $50K.

What a bummer...I paid closer to $60k in 2017 for my first ever V8...brand spanker SS wagon. I guess if I rushed into Holden even now I could probably trade it on a new ZB....let me think about that for a moment

 

[VFRDLN]

None under my VP BT1 dash

You're not looking hard enough. Look under the console at the shifter assembly. I have had the dashes out of many makes and models and can assure you they are all the same, plenty of pressed steel brackets and supports that have surface rust. Manufacturers only make things that you can see look good and none are any different.

 

[berlina411]

I think the ZB is a good car, as I've said before. There is not much wrong with it and there is plenty of tech for the money.Yes it has some issues but all cars suffer from some issue or other
The only problem was the name.
Back in 1978 GMH released a new car. They called it Commodore. Why? Because it was different to the HZ Belmont/Kingswood/Premier/Statesman models it eventually replaced.
The same thing happened in 2018. New and different body, chassis, engines, transmissions, drivelines etc. Radically different and nothing at all like the VF so GM should of called it something different, maybe just kept the Insignia name perhaps
Anyway, I'll stick to my RWD V8 because that's the type of car I like. And just for the record, I have had zero issues with my VF2 except for replacing the battery last year.

 

[StrayKiwi]

I wonder if the outcry would have been the same had the ZB been called something like Kingswood, Belmont or Premier? Insignia is a nothing name with no resonance down under.

 

[Derekthetree]

Its official you can add point 11 to my initial list, Best handling and performing car in N.Z. brand new for $50K.

Your previous list had some merit, now you are just making it up.
Yes these are demos, but ballpark... would both run rings around a ZB (or VF for that matter)

https://www.autotrader.co.nz/used-cars-for-sale/mazda-mx____5/2218297
https://www.autotrader.co.nz/used-cars-for-sale/hyundai-i30/2198511

 

[Badgerdog]

I think the ZB is a good car, as I've said before. There is not much wrong with it and there is plenty of tech for the money.Yes it has some issues but all cars suffer from some issue or other
The only problem was the name.
Back in 1978 GMH released a new car. They called it Commodore. Why? Because it was different to the HZ Belmont/Kingswood/Premier/Statesman models it eventually replaced.
The same thing happened in 2018. New and different body, chassis, engines, transmissions, drivelines etc. Radically different and nothing at all like the VF so GM should of called it something different, maybe just kept the Insignia name perhaps
Anyway, I'll stick to my RWD V8 because that's the type of car I like. And just for the record, I have had zero issues with my VF2 except for replacing the battery last year.

Fair comment. For what its worth I think your car is the last and arguably the best made by Holden.
They were about $80K here new, from memory which was about $14,000 more than Falcon XR6 Sprint money which makes 370 kw and 650nm's on overboost. Holden V8's were never fair value for money ion N.Z. in my view and the best of the last and their pricing is indicative of how it always was here.

Each to their own. I'm going Euro next time, AMG C63 or BMW M5 are the current favourites. I think this Covid 19 thing has taught us all to enjoy life while we have it. Neither of my kids deserve any inheritance so I'm planning on getting a special weekend vehicle and keep the Calais V as a daily driver. Might as well spend my money and enjoy it.