ZB Calais Tourer Is It Worth The upgade

[87VLCALAIS]

Hey guys, could we stay a bit more on topic?

 

[stooge]

Hey guys, could we stay a bit more on topic?

nope

 

[hademall]

Hey guys, could we stay a bit more on topic?

Ooh, sorry sir! Where were we?

 

[Anthony121]

Buy the Tourer, I drove one many times country and city driving in 2018 and loved it. It's not a V8 but lovely car to drive.

 

[StrayKiwi]

I had a Bedford Jumbo some years ago. It had a Holden 202 block swap with a 186 head among other things (a Valiant fuel tank, Holden 1 ton gear box with a Wolseley electric overdrive.) It had more than it's fair share of quirks. Someone had wired the fuel gauge (standard Cf BTW) backwards so it showed empty when it was full and then later suddenly it would jump to 7/8ths full and the engine would quit. One day I literally coasted it into a servo after it ran out of gas. It was a thirsty beast for sure, it's a good thing gas was cheap in those days.
It got written off after I had a nose to tail that smashed the bullbars inward through the radiator and snapped the universal joint in the driveshaft. But that is a different story...

 

[Turk Kurtulus]

So we have gone from ZB Calais to Bedford vans. I should have bought a Bedford Van when I was 18 instead of the HQ, 3 on the tree with bucket seats mind you. Appreciate your comments, tomorrow is the day now lock down is over. Yay

 

[hademall]

So we have gone from ZB Calais to Bedford vans. I should have bought a Bedford Van when I was 18 instead of the HQ, 3 on the tree with bucket seats mind you. Appreciate your comments, tomorrow is the day now lock down is over. Yay

Good luck! Let us know how you go.

 

[Turk Kurtulus]

Thanks, will do, the dealer is a couple of hours drive from me so I will get a good run coming back and share my opinions. Cheers

 

[Turk Kurtulus]

Hello All, how times have changed. I organized a pre approval loan only to discover that once the contract is signed and other paperwork emailed that it takes a couple of work days for the dealer to receive the funds. No worries I think, I can get a loan from the dealer, and if the dealer isn't competitive I will request the pre organize loan pay out the dealership. The kicker is the dealership finance require a work day to get approval as the folks who approve do not work weekends. So I collect my wheels next Saturday. The test drive, well when I returned to the dealer and spoke to the salesman I said that is not a Commodore. I didn't say it in a negative way but rather in a surprised manner. You see I believe the safer things become the more of the fun factor or excitement is lost. The ZB 'Calais' drove fantastically, it was confident on the road, I pushed it around corners and round abouts to see if I could get the tail to swing out. No is the answer as I thought if this thing lost control I wasn't skilled enough to recover as I pushed it too hard. With my VE, when the tail swings I say weeeeeee that is fun. The cabin was noisier than I expected, which I liked as it gave me a sense of what is going on around me. I could not tell that it had 9 gears which is a positive and doing a 100ks with the engine idling at 1500 rpm reminded me that this go machine has Commodore DNA. I have in my time owned a BMW 535i 1999 model in the early 2000s. The thing had so many gadgets that I didn't know how to use most of them. The one thing I can say is I remember going camping with other family friends say in 2003 who respectively drove a 2000 Commodore, another drove a latish Pajero and there was a Nissan Maxima in the group. After 2 hours on the bendy roads to our destination, we had a pit stop. I remember seeing every driver and front seat passenger stepping out of their vehicles, grabbing their lower backs and arching backwards.
I looked at my wife who just stepped out without any indication of a sore back nor did I. The reason for this story is, this 'Calais' has not only caught up to a 1999 top of the range BMW 5 serious in terms of comfort and gadgets but has surpassed them. That is my first impression of this car. Personally, I believe I would have loved it if it made me say weeeeee by having a button that made it rear wheel drive. Anyone know of any company that can install this fun factor feature? How times have changed is the fact that when I bought my VE so many years ago, it took about an hour and a half. Most of that was the demo drive and some negotiation on the trade in value for my VT Calais. A thought just came to me, VB Commodore was adopted from Germany By GM Holden and when Germany took it back, Holden was shattered and shocked. So GM, in stead of doing the right thing, decided to kill our beloved Lion. Be safe people and apologies for the rambling. I have had an interesting day

 

[StrayKiwi]

AWD does things quite differently to a RWD car as you have experienced. Because the system is quite intelligent at apportioning torque to the wheel with the best grip you really need to corner at insane speeds to unsettle it.

If you want an AWD system with an oversteer button you are looking at something like a BMW M5 X-drive or a Merc AMG A45S which is a lot more money. A Ford Focus RS has one too but you need to see a chiropractor after driving it to the shops because the ride is too firm for road use.