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Where are the VXR owners?

gwog3

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Zb vxr
Heated seats are excellent, plenty hot enough at level 2
 

StrayKiwi

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MY18 ZB VXR
Here's my post I'm dedicating to Tuckerbag. The parts of my VXR that could be improved:
  1. Vision out the rear window is very restricted. The side mirrors, blind spot monitoring and rear camera can't make up for it, especially at highway speed. I'm an old school guy who was taught to look, not just glance in the mirrors.
  2. The sound system, although Holden says it's a "premium" Bose system lacks mid range. Ironically my 13 year old previous car also had a Bose system and it was much better. I suspect the active noise cancelling system is interfering with it, but it could just be a lack of decent speakers.
  3. The car likes to connect to my phone via bluetooth a bit too readily for my taste. Sometimes music comes blaring out of the speakers before I have done my seat belt up. Jarring to say the least.
  4. I wish the liftback had the same hatch height adjustability as the wagon. My 5'2 wife can only just reach the hatch when it's fully open. If it could have been electrically driven up and down it would have been nice. The dealer did offer to install a pull strap for her which I thought was a nice touch.
  5. The poor turning circle has caused one embarrassing moment so far.
  6. Manual downshifts via the paddles could respond quicker.
  7. The piano black around the centre console is already covered in fingerprints. That's going to be a pain to keep clean.
  8. My VXR doesn't have a handy felt lined storage box to hold sunglasses. My old one did!
  9. The car needs more power or something to distinguish it externally from a RS-V other than a small boot badge. This is supposed to be the halo model, give it some love Holden!
I won't write a post about all the good stuff, I'd be labelled a Holden stooge. :rolleyes:
 

Badgerdog

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ZB Calais V
Nah, I think you have to balance it out with the good stuff mate.
235 kw's is a very good effort from a naturally aspirated 3.6 engine. I'm not aware of any other naturally aspirated engine of the same size making more power and I think the 9 speed auto makes the most of the good power that's there.
I've had far more powerful vehicles before, (up to 400 kw's+), but they came at a vastly higher cost both in terms of initial purchase price and fuel consumption. You get what you pay for and as a package its a good solid 8/10 overall in my opinion at a quite reasonable price.

The RS 2.0 liftback is exceptional value and is probably the pick of the range in terms of value for money.
 
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StrayKiwi

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MY18 ZB VXR
235 kw's is a very good effort from a naturally aspirated 3.6 engine. I'm not aware of any other naturally aspirated engine of the same size making more power

The S54 straight six in the E46 BMW M3 springs to mind and that was only 3.2L - 256kW and 365nm.
 

StrayKiwi

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MY18 ZB VXR
Since @Badgerdog requested it, here's 9 things I love about my VXR:
  1. The exterior looks. The ZB is more European than it's predecessors and in the shared opinion of my wife and I that gives it a certain elegant presence.
  2. The engine. I said in my test drive post it felt a bit thin, but I've come to realize there definitely is significant torque down low. And that top end snarl is fantastic. I've really missed the six cylinder sound after 13 years in the turbo 4 cylinder wilderness.
  3. The gearbox. GM/Holden have a winner here. In VXR mode the way it seems to know when you want to hold gears and will change up/down at exactly the right time, it almost makes the paddle shifters redundant. I've tried to make it gear hunt at town speeds and I think I can replicate what Smitty was doing to get it to do that, but you can always override it with the paddles if it gets confused. For me it's a non issue. I was a hardcore manual transmission guy and I admit to only being lukewarm about saying goodbye to the third pedal, but I haven't missed it once.
  4. Handling. I drove it 70km from Te Kuiti to Hamilton via SH39 in the wet and at speed and it never felt once like it was about to lose traction or get unsettled in bumpy corners. I think I've been converted to a believer in Michelin Pilot Sport tyres now. An excellent accompaniment to the adaptive dampers and AWD system and the combination is dialed in perfectly. Something I couldn't get in the brand new 2019 Skoda Superb I test drove was that trust in the car to perform as advertised, the VXR was the opposite, it tempts you to drive quicker than you should, a bit like the Ford Focus RS.
  5. Ride. The car rides just fine on our roads despite having 20" rims. Even in VXR mode which has the firmest damping rates it never hits the bump stops on the shocks or bounces uncomfortably over speed humps or large potholes. It's in that Goldilocks zone of not too firm and not too soft, it's just right.
  6. Matrix LED headlights. Worth installing in your car if you can. I never have to manually dip my high beams. It's like magic.
  7. Heated/Cooled seats. I'll never own a car without them if I can avoid it.
  8. The infotainment. It's right up there for ease of use, especially for people who may not necessarily be technologically literate. Personally speaking being from an IT background I'd like it to do a little more than it does, but what it does do, it does pretty well. And I cannot overstate the ease of use factor, it's really important that manufacturers get this right, and I think Holden have.
  9. 360 degree camera. No more drive by feel. I also love the front camera for going over large speed bumps or into steep driveways.
 
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Badgerdog

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Now you're talking my language mate :)
 

Badgerdog

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ZB Calais V Review.
Four months and just over 4,000 km's so here's the good, the bad and the ugly.
Lets get the Bad & Ugly out of the way first.
Bad and Ugly
1. After suffering an engine failure after only 850 km's, (probably caused by a leaking head gasket letting coolant mix with engine oil) I still struggle to feel confident that this new replacement car and its engine will be durable but this is probably just a problem in my own head and I would say my reservations at this early stage after what I went through are quite normal and concerns will probably dissipate over time...its only time and mileage that will make me really confident with this engine....so I still have my kid gloves on with this one.
2. Ride quality is only average at best and that's with me selecting the wheels and 18 inch 45 profile tyres off an RSV which the dealer was kind enough to swap over to my Calais V. This was a good move. Buy a VXR for the adaptive dampers and Brembo's if you can fit into the seats, (my over indulgence in culinary delights over the years means they were too tight for me).
3. Back up Camera and surround view camera quality is poor, there's no two ways about this, its as grainy as heck and very poor clarity.

Average
4. Brakes are pretty good but not a highlight of the car that's for sure...go for the Brembo's on the VXR.
5. Performance - Its okay but its not a performance car, real performance starts with AT LEAST 300 kw's, preferably quite a lot more. If you're looking for a performance car look elsewhere.
6. The Bose premium stereo system is "premium" in name only and lacks any real base depth

Good
7. The GM 9 speed auto box is a very good and highly efficient bit of gear crammed full on very good technology. Even when the box is dead cold shift quality is normally so good its impeccable. I've only caught it out once when it dithered a bit on deciding which gear to shift down into on an abrupt overtake and got a fairly rough and slow change...otherwise its a real gem.
8. Handling - Is very good, augmented by what would appear to be a very light and stiff chassis.
9. The Led matrix headlights are simply brilliant in more ways than one !..who would have thought a few years ago headlights could be this good ?
10. The seats - apparently designed by BGR a European designer that specializes in ergonomics that are good for the back, there are very good and as mentioned above the seat heaters are a real belter and a tremendous thing to have in winter. Seat cooling is only average and I doubt anyone will bother with either number 1 or 2 of the 3 level's of cooling available.

So that's ten specific things. The level of technology overall and the looks of the liftback impress. Notable highlights not mentioned above include the excllent overall ergonomics of the car and the liftback gives a lot of versatility with loading, the heads-up display which is very clear but sometimes too bright at night and seat massaging which can be useful but something of a novelty.

Overall I give it 8 out of 10. That might rise to 8.5 out of ten after the passage of time and I feel more comfortable with the engine reliability.
 
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StrayKiwi

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MY18 ZB VXR
I did a 200km round trip in the VXR today. My best friend drove it and had to be constantly reminded he was driving a Holden, he kept talking about how “very European” it is.

On the way home it was getting dark and the car automatically changed the infotainment screen to a low glare background. It took me a moment to figure out what had happened and why. Most impressed.

Reported Gas Mileage: 9.2L/100km average with a low of 8.5L/100km.

And I should have put the seat massaging on the list of things I’d change in the VXR. Best left switched off and ignored.
 

StrayKiwi

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Here's what my best friend had to say about my VXR after driving it:

Engine: I was really surprised at the performance of that engine. Its really impressive they have extracted that much power out of it, and its power delivery was something a little new for me. It really did perform above expectations.

Features: Your right. Your not going to get those features for that price in any other car. Its easily comparative to the higher spec audis.. One thing that I was interested in is how the lane assist would work on NZ roads. It really didn’t at all on the back roads, its more a motorway thing. Im sure all lane assists will be the same, it was something I was thinking about for a while even before driving your car.

Driving: As I mentioned I was taking it easy. Its hard to jump in a car and drive hard, especially in the wet, when you have no experience in it. Your comments about the stability control & weight were spot on. There were a couple of times coming into a corner when the front end felt like it was going to push wide only for the electronics to sort it out. This feeling lasted for ½ a second or less, and was barely noticeable. Accelerating out of a corner, the car had that sorted – no problems there. Yes it’s a big car, but the suspension & steering weight did a great job of hiding this. Its worth another drive in the dry I think.

Sound: Your car sounds much better from the outside (based on when you accelerated away after dropping of the jacket). I wonder if you can turn that off? It’s a much more natural & pleasing sound IMO.

Like me, he comes from a turbo 4 background, having owned various Subaru's over the years as well as a Golf R recently.
 

StrayKiwi

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MY18 ZB VXR
6. The Bose premium stereo system is "premium" in name only and lacks any real base depth

After mucking around I found there is an EQ in the infotainment. After pushing the mids up to max the overall sound is improved to a level I'd call acceptable.
 
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