Vxr vs calais

Very,
The side & thigh bolsters are enough to hold you in place, but not so deep as to be intrusive. The seats are very supportive, the extendable / tiltable cushion and adjustable lumbar support allow for a 'custom' fit - four hours to Hervey Bay and there's no back pain...

 

Highly recommended

I'm far from a lightweight and my generous proportions fit easily. Remember these are also sold in 'Murica, so there's room for most people... A mate of mine is 6'4" and he fits easily too, with plenty of room behind.

There's plenty of 'demo' and ex-Holden drive cars around - make sure you get one registered after July '18 so you get the five-year warranty.

Personally I wanted a wagon, and the RS-V gave me the best options for my money, the only 'toy' I would have liked is adaptive cruise, but the extra $$$ for the Calais-V didn't make financial sense to me. The V6 AWD will leave a smile on your face

 

Email all the Victorian dealers with what you're after and let them fight for your business. I wouldn't buy 'new' unless you're comfortable with a fairly significant devaluation...

Look at SA & NSW dealers too - just factor in the full registration costs for an interstate vehicle. And do the usual, aim to close the deal at the end of the month, even better at the end of December.

 

Most likely an evolution of the Opel Insignia.

 

I'd be voting for either RSV wagon or Calais Tourer wagon (not Calais V) at present prices, at least in Victoria since 2018 models with under 10 kkms can be had for about $32k. Seems there's a step up of about $8k if you want a Calais V or VXR. Agree it would be nice to have better seats, brakes, headlights, adaptive cruise and so on. But on the other hand it would be hard to feel hard done by getting around in one of the currently cheaper options... And if you like tinkering a set of upgraded headlight globes and brake pads would get you most of the way there...

 

Update of the current ZB - minor headlight, grille & tail changes.

 

Did you get anywhere with the LED headlight swap?

 

I'd doubt it, there were far fewer VXRs imported & registered - scarcity will keep the prices higher. And they'll be six months older, with six months less warranty.

Other than the wheels and better seats in the VXR, I'm not sure the look is any less 'premium'. (although those headlights look good...)

And those low-price ex-GMH demos are running out...

 

Yes the GMH exec driven Tourers has been keeping the dealers busy. At one point Brighton Holden in Vic had 12 to sell . All about 7k km on the clock.

 

Still working on the lights. Already have Osram Nightbreaker Ultimates for high and low beam which are a good (noticeable) and cheap upgrade.
Low beams plenty good enough now but high beams could do with a little more volume more so than distance
Tossing up between a Narva Explora 14 light bar which is light (i.e. not heavy) enough to possibly be able to mount with some light alloy brackets from radiator support down to number plate bracket.
Or alternatively repalce high beam globes with LEDs. Only problem with the LEDs is that a lot of them seem to be advertised as crazy powerful but end up not being a lot brighter than H4s...
Good thing about the light bar if I can do it is its easily removable to another car...

 

Is there any problem running your display in night mode all the time?
I would think it could actually give it a longer life. I prefer the black screen to the white screen.


Edit - While I have you, is there a way of changing the source on the steering wheel. On m VF there was a SRC button which you hit to change between the radio Am/FM/USB etc

Cheers

 

A few really good bit's and pieces, lets not beat around the bush here...

 

Yes there are a lot of bits and pieces. Some of which are pretty expensive to install such as the different suspension and the leather sport seats.

 

I was looking at these - long throw and plug & play wiring kit:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/14-inch...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

Good thought! I'd actually bought the Gemtek equivalent which I think has a better reflector design, but probably very similar result, but ran into too much trouble mounting it due to it being quite heavy and there not being anything forward of the air con condensor that isn't plastic to bolt it up to. Also be aware that the sensors that set off the pyrotechnic bonnet elevators (pedestrian inpact) are somewhere in the front bumper so be careful drilling extra holes....

The only easy solution I can come up with as regards light bars is a Narva 14 inch Explora light bar whihc is very light and only 65 mm deep, so may be able to attach it to the alloy cross member behind the grille and remove part of one slat to let the light out. These can be had for about $130 from Bunnings and then wiring kit and some tinkering to attach it on top of that, but I think its supposed to be a genuine 2000 lumens. I called Narva asking how it would compare to a set of 100W 175 mm Ultima driving lights for example, and the tech guy reckoned the light bar would be better. I know he works there, but on the other hand they probably make more on the driving lights - old tech and fairly basic models...

Would still be interested to know if anyone has had a good experience with an LED upgrade for the high beams in the ZBs...

 

LED upgrades are a wast of time and money. For an LED light to give good distance and saturation it needs a purposely designed projector. The LED matrix lights in VXR and CalaisV are extremely good and better than other cars I have driven with factory LED lights like my wife's Hyundai i30 and sister in-laws Mazda CX3 but they still have some improving to do. Aftermarket LED lights give the initial impression of being bright but get them out on a country road and you will see how bad they are with a very poor light pattern and lots of black spots although reflectors and white lines will show up for a greater distance. The real problem with such brilliant white light the aftermarket Let's produce is reflection from smoke/fog or even dust on country roads. As far as the Narva explora 12" light bar is concerned it gives great short distance light spread and saturation for its compact size but the 100w Ultima 175's will be much brighter and provide light way further down the road. I had the explora on my old Ford Everest as it's lights were not great and was happy with it. Overall distance was not much greater than the cars highbeam lights but it provided more light to the sides and filled in all the black spots and was good enough for driving on roo infested country roads.

 

9,000 km's on my Calais V now. Nothing really comes close for the money, apart from a Kia Stinger
I'm happy with the Calais seats and 18 inch RSV wheels.

 

I think the VXR with the Adaptive Suspension which is known as Continual Damping Control (CDC) is the pick of the models for smoothness, when driven in touring mode. Sure the wheels are 20" but the different Suspension compensates and also the Sports Seats are luxury!