I had a VE SS sedan before the RSV wagon. Probably my favorite car (that I've owned) of all time. Low mileage, nice and straight, lowered on Pedders and Koni's, staggered Simmons FRC wheels, Brembos, CAI and stainless x-pipe midsection but stock rear mufflers to keep it quiet. Main reason that I moved it on was that I was moving to Alice Springs and the 55,000 km auto transmission was flaring into third and I was worried about the cost of getting something like this fixed in the middle of nowhere...
RSV is a much better day to day car although without the emotional connection. Things that are better with the RSV:
- Warranty
- Likely no major outgoings for 4 or 5 years
- Bluetooth means I can chat on the phone while driving
- Quieter and smoother and so less tiring to drive
- In general seems better screwed together, although a lot of the exterior plastics feel a bit light, eg. front bar and grill made of very thin plastic
- Interior quite nice and modern, even if magazines say it is bland or whatever
- Uses a little less fuel (probably only $15 per week) and is only a little slower in the real world
- Able to trim down my collection of tools since don't need to anticipate spending weekends fixing things
Not as good as the SS:
- Not as good looking in my opinion, I really like the early VE body shape, and the VE really hammered, first car I've owned where I didn't feel a like it could use a little more engine
- Seats aren't quite as comfortable, VE cloth seats are very comfortable AND supportive
- Headlights not as good either, not sure how headlights can go backwards over a decade, ended up fitting a light bar in the grille...
In a perfect world I'd have spent the changeover money on a complete refurbishment of the SS and probably still have come out ahead, but a bit time poor to do this.
As regards other things I considered:
- RS wagon a very close second, the 4T engine is pretty good, if a really low mileage one came up in a few years I might swap the RSV for one of these
- Mondeo didn't really do anything for me, although the Ecoboost cars are apparently quite good, and popular
- Stinger would have been nice but given I got the RSV for $33k with 8 kkms, a Stinger would have been and extra $15k, and not worth this much more to me.
- Drove an Aurion a few years previous and found that it was well made, powerful, steered poorly, ergonomics not great (steering wheel to far away, presumably for airbag safety, but very uncomfortable), and dash and interior in general looked a bit dated. Although probably reliable enough.
- New Camry V6 only just released and apparently a very good car overall, but apparently the front end bottoms out on rough roads and the brakes are only 4 cylinder size
- SP25 Mazda probably a good car but would cost as much as an RS hatch which would be way more fun to drive
- Considered a VF SS as well but then I'd be buying back into the transmission rebuild process, and sad to say flaring at 55,000 kms in a pristine and apparently well looked after car is just ridiculous
So the ZB in my case won out by offering a fair bit of everything without any obvious downsides - fast enough, comfortable enough, and hopefully proces to be reliable enough