Mr Devereux would not be drawn on the question of cost.
“We'll talk about pricing of this vehicle as we get close to launch but obviously the car has a significant level of upgrades,” he said.
So the price is going up. Shall we call it starting somewhere close to or upwards of 40 grand?
Choose a VW, any VW.
The Skoda Superb is a great car, innovative in many ways yet still reasonably conservative. Good buying at 42K and up. Or a Yeti - if you prefer an SUV, you can pick one up starting at around 30k if you don't want all wheel drive.
The Aurion is boring but has the (recently a little stained unfortunately) reliability badge called Toyota.
The current Nissan Maxima is a great car, ranging upwards from 38k. Looks pretty good too.
Most of the Koreans walk all over Holden for quality and features now too, that leaves a huge range to choose from.
If you don't want an import, the humble FG still looks great value to me. 36k is hard to beat for an XR6, and the XR6T can be had for 42k.. now there's a bargain.
Firstly we are talking about Large RWD sedans. If you are wanting a SUV or whatever then probably the Commodore is not the car for you. None of the other examples are RWD with the exeption of the FG and the performance is well down compared to the Commodore in similarly priced models (Again FG excepted). From the indications, similarly priced examples will be well down on equipment compared to the VF. No doubt the the VW is a good car however the service costs are absolutely horrendous. Quality wise - hmm.... tbh most people's perceptions of quality vs what you actually get sitting in the cars are very different things.
My biggest gripe with the VE is the hard plastics around the centre console and I hope they have been improved with the new model. However, when sitting in many low and high end Toyotas (My brother in law works for Toyota HQ and has a new car near every second week), a couple of Mazdas and Hyundais, they all have their strengths and weaknesses in various areas. Further, most of the cars you mention are significantly smaller than the Commodore. The Aurion & most of the Korean's what I'd consider to be the large/medium end of the market which will be filled with the Malibu shortly by Holden. All are significantly smaller when you sit in the cabin and particularly shows up when you try to fit in mum, dad + kids and associated rubbish or 3 adults/teenagers in the back seat.
The FG is no doubt a competitor but will be blown out of the water for content. Not sure when it's replacement is due.
Fair call about the cost - All the indications so far is that prices will be roughly where things are at the moment. There is nothing official and won't be till just before the cars go on sale.
Really, if you want a large RWD sedan, particularly if you want something with a bit of go in it, your options are very limited.
I remember people saying the same thing about the VN when it came out, and then everyone gets used to it and begins to like it.
I'm still waiting to be able to afford a VE
Hahaha yep. Happened with the VL, VN, VR, VT (was a huge controversy with that way back when), VY, VE and now VF.
Reaper
