Back in a Holden and a ZB at that.

[VFRDLN]

Well I bought a ZB Calais V tourer on Saturday after taking it home overnight. My current car is a Ford Everest Titanium that has been traded for the ZB and before that I had a VF 1 Redline for 4 years. I bought the Calais as it was extremely cheap as it was part of a failed fleet deal and has been registered and demmoed for 3 months with only 400km on the clock. I saved 20k on the retail price for a new car with the accessories I wanted. The VF was a great car with brilliant brakes but the tech in the ZB and overall feeling of quality is higher. I love the LED matrix lights and the 9 speed auto is silky smooth and quick to change. It would be nice to have speed sign recognition and a better lane keep assist though. I had speed sign recognition in my Everest that was programmed in by a very clever bloke through a program called forescan that lets you alter just about anything in the cars brains. Would be good if someone was able to do the same with the ZB as it has all the hardware there to work. Anyway anxiously waiting to pick the car up some time this week or most likely next.

 

[Smitty]

.. a review once you have had it for a few weeks would be good

 

[Calaber]

You saved 20k on the retail price. Big discount. What was the price?

 

[benny66]

Well I think it's 58k including on roads so I am Assuming about 36 to 38k but the mileage is extremely low so maybe a bit more .

 

[benny66]

Being a fleet deal car are you entitled to the fix priced servicing? I looked at a Calais V tourer that was initially ordered for a hire car company but they renegged. The car was a great price and only 1000 km on the clock but it had no fixed price servicing.

 

[Badgerdog]

Nine speed auto is an awesome bit of kit...arguably the best bit of technology on the ZB.
Its not impossible to catch it out but 99.8% of the time the way it changes gears is so smooth and quick its almost completely imperceptible.
Very sharp movements in the throttle for overtake can result in a harsher than expected kickdown and that seems to be its only slightly weak point.

 

[StrayKiwi]

Nine speed auto is an awesome bit of kit...arguably the best bit of technology on the ZB.
Its not impossible to catch it out but 99.8% of the time the way it changes gears is so smooth and quick its almost completely imperceptible.
Very sharp movements in the throttle for overtake can result in a harsher than expected kickdown and that seems to be its only slightly weak point.

I found a nice smooth method for overtaking is to manually change down 3-4 gears before you floor it. You get better response too because the gearbox is in the right gear so there is no hesitation while the car selects the gear.

 

[Badgerdog]

Good idea mate, you're on to it !
There's a definite lift in performance over 4500 revs as I am sure you would have noticed.

 

[VFRDLN]

You saved 20k on the retail price. Big discount. What was the price?

I paid $41,500 including accessories. Retail all up would be $61,300.

 

[VFRDLN]

.. a review once you have had it for a few weeks would be good

Will do.