Attributes of the ZB that make it Special

[Brettly-2008]

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.

Hang on, I feel like you're contradicting yourself. You didnt buy a VF Calais with a LS3 V8 because it felt "lazy" compared to an old supercharged Falcon you used to own? Yet you buy a ZB because it was a bargain at $50k? To me it seems like you couldn't afford (or don't want) a decent performance car but are quite happy to use performance as a reason you DIDN'T buy the last generation Commodores.

 

[Brettly-2008]

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

Yeah, maybe the modified, blown V8, but no stock turbo Barra will make an LS3 feel "lazy".

 

[Badgerdog]

Hang on, I feel like you're contradicting yourself. You didnt buy a VF Calais with a LS3 V8 because it felt "lazy" compared to an old supercharged Falcon you used to own? Yet you buy a ZB because it was a bargain at $50k? To me it seems like you couldn't afford (or don't want) a decent performance car but are quite happy to use performance as a reason you DIDN'T buy the last generation Commodores.

Pretty simple really. High spec ZB is easily worth $50K. The last of the Calais V8's were not worth $80K+ That's Chrysler SRT8 money with 350 kw's and 637 nm's which I bought one as a demo in 2014 for $72K. That Hemi engine is a real beast.
You've obviously never driven an F6. Max torque at 2,000 revs and the official numbers were always massively understated. Very late in the piece Ford finally admitted they all ran an overboost function. which was capped at 650nm as the max the ZF6 transmission could reliably handle.

Blame Holden Australia or the importer in N.Z., it really doesn't matter who's at fault but in my view Holden V8's have always been overpriced in N.Z.
From FPV BF2 Typhoon days in 2007, (what a cracker car that was), the inline 6 turbo made all Holden V8's appear lazy and overpriced. I never bought a HSV GTS because they wanted $120K+ for them here and dyno tests have shown they made less rwkw's than the supercharged FPV GT-P which was about $30K less.

 

[Brettly-2008]

Pretty simple really. High spec ZB is easily worth $50K. The last of the Calais V8's were not worth $80K+ That's Chrysler SRT8 money with 350 kw's and 637 nm's which I bought one as a demo in 2014 for $72K. That Hemi engine is a real beast.
You've obviously never driven an F6. Max torque at 2,000 revs and the official numbers were always massively understated. Very late in the piece Ford finally admitted they all ran an overboost function. which was capped at 650nm as the max the ZF6 transmission could reliably handle.

Blame Holden Australia or the importer in N.Z., it really doesn't matter who's at fault but in my view Holden V8's have always been overpriced in N.Z.
From FPV BF2 Typhoon days in 2007, (what a cracker car that was), the inline 6 turbo made all Holden V8's appear lazy and overpriced. I never bought a HSV GTS because they wanted $120K+ for them here and dyno tests have shown they made less rwkw's than the supercharged FPV GT-P which was about $30K less.

I must admit I had no idea how stitched guys get with prices over there for even Aussie made cars! That truly does suck. But I still have to take issue with the word "lazy" comparing "all" (as you said) Holden V8s to FPVs version of the turbo Barra. The comparo numbers are all over the place but Wheels has tested a VE GTS faster than a Typhoon on at least one occasion. If the Barra was quicker it was only by fractions of seconds, so the word lazy is redundant here also. If these turbo Barras are really understated they should be running 4sec with 650nm, not 5.5-6sec. Are you sure they "all ran" the overboost function? I thought that was just the last FGX example. Something doesn't add up.

But anyway, numbers aside, I'm sure you'd agree the interior and build quality of your ZB and VF Calais is light years ahead than any FPV and Chrysler you've owned yeah?

 

[Badgerdog]

Ripped right off is the only way to describe it. IIRC at the time they released the last Falcon sprint vehicles they admitted they'd been running an over-boost function on the barra turbo engines in the FPV's for ages, not sure about regular Ford XR6 turbo's and on the supercharged V8's too.
HSV with the GTS to their credit put in a heavy duty driveline and huge diff but that sucked up a lot of power and from memory with a wheels comparo the 430 kw's came in at about 310 rwkw's which was a bit less than the Falcon Sprint supercharged V8.

Much more to it than 0-100 times.
FPV and Ford with their Sprints went down the torque modulation path in lower gears to preserve the driveline. Neither the FPV barra turbo's or the supercharged V8's made full torque in the first two gears. More telling was the 80-120 overtake acceleration times and both were bang on 2.5 seconds which is bloody fast real world acceleration and not something you get from any Holden other than a HSV GTS. I think they talked about a test on the Falcon sprint at 4.6 seconds...

Chrysler had a belter of a stereo...900 watt 19 speaker Harmon Kardon. What a bit of gear that was which was just as well because you need to turn it up to drown out all the squeaks ands rattles from the interior lol

Had a pretty good run with the 3 FPV's I had...especially the first the BF2 FPV Typhoon. Not a single thing went wrong with that car, ever. Should have kept it...that was the one that got away. Supercharged FPV GT-P liked a little bit of oil but was an absolute belter so that was easily forgiven.
https://www.caradvice.com.au/videos...d-xr8-sprint-review-exhaust-note-and-burnout/

FPV's never had the tech of the Holden's or HSV's but they certainly did the basics of handling, performance and braking well and were always far better value here than their HSV counterparts.

I maintain with the ZB's, for the first time ever Kiwi's have had the opportunity to buy a highly specified Holden for a fair price. Maybe that's why they've sold over here a lot better than in Australia ?

Its not fast though. Never have I pretended it is. 0-100 in 6.1 seconds is okay though and the handling, excellent brakes and huge level's of technology make it a solid package that's exceptional value for money. I got sick of spending up on cars and am taking a break from it. For $50K brand new the ZB Calais V is a winner.

 

[VS 5.0]

0-100 in 6.1 seconds is okay though

 

[Fu Manchu]

I can't believe I just read some of that.

 

[keith reed]

And then there is the resale value.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Theres a fair bit of talking up the value of these cars. Bargain prices. Truth is, there are a lot of these cars in storage that may never be sold. Therefore the value in the future will be negligible. I think a used Holden Malibu would be a better buy.

 

[figjam]

Truth is, there are a lot of these cars in storage that may never be sold.

Holden storage ? Dealer storage ? Never be sold ?
If they around, they must get sold eventually, even if it is at a used car price at a loss.