bozodos

if he's in the USA he should buy a camaro

R33 Skylines, around here these are becoming as common as white VT's, and especially the ones with the drivers who refuse to talk to anyone who doesn't own an import, think that they own the most powerful vehicle on the streets, and who also tend to think that they are gods gift to driving, though at the drag strip they routinely have their arse handed to them by near stock V8 Commodores. V6 Commodores with straight through exhausts (sounds like a cow dying and invariably the driver thinks he has a 10 second car on his hands) cowboy utes of any make or model any passenger car with a flimsy bullbar (when will people learn that a decent bullbar actually needs to be attached to the chassis by more than 2 bolts, no matter how much metal it has on the front! also makes a anything other than a 4wd look hideous!) BMW's with chrome rims and fart pipes whose driver's think they are Scarface (99% of these are a 90s model 318i) and while I'm on a roll, any car with provocative number plates, one in particular comes into mind DNTRY on a R34 GT-T which doesn't have the balls to back up the owner's obvious high opinion of the car, which leads every hoon on the street to try racing it, and in nearly every case leading to humiliation of the driver. Everyone has their own opinions on street racing, but come on, putting plates like that on is an open invitation, and unless you're pretty confident that you've got some huge power machine, it looks really stupid, also good for police attention.

mine does that too, I was told by the previous owner it was due to having a microtech ecu (uses a map sensor rather than a MAF meter) It only happens when the water temp is under 30 degrees or so, so either overnight or on a freezing cold day usually.

yeah mine feels like it runs forever as well - wish there was some way to easily turn it off too. could you also pm me with how to change the timing for the turbo timer if you aren't comfortable with writing it on here please?

well looks like this thread has well and truly gone off the rails, don't really think that there's anything more constructive I can say!

I prefer the more purposeful design of the F50 personally, or the 512TR, at least they were built purely to be road going race cars - most ferrari's seem like rolling penis extensions to me!

this thread is the cancer which is killing SAU

well I thought i'd go against the flow in this whole issue, assuming I had 170k, I'd personally be keeping in mind the ongoing costs of any car with that pricetag in the end! M3GTR when I mentioned the technological improvements, I was using that in the context of the Australian domestic car scene, yes I am well aware that on a global scale none of this is new, but I was thinking of this from a commodore driver's mindset! Like what was mentioned earlier in the thread, IRS wasn't commonly available until the VP series, twin piston brakes in the VT etc. As for 'a place in oz' where one could drive in an aggressive manner, I can think of plenty, that however is another separate discussion in itself I think. I'm over the whole going fast in straight lines / burnouts (well participating in rather than spectating) type of scene, it was a major part of my decision to buy a 4 wheel drive Skyline! You're completely right about sheer power outputs only being worth bragging at the local about - there's several high powered XR6 turbo and LS1 twin turbo / supercharged utes locally for example with impressive dyno readings, but unable to be driven to their limits because of the fact they are utes, makes me think what a waste of time really. It sounds like you're still mindboggled at people willing to part with $170 000 for a Commodore though, might i suggest you ask around Street Commodores or likeminded Holden forum for some more extended answers? (be prepared for relentless trolling by 15 year old keyboard warriors though!)

370km highway to a tank, thats with a rb25 with 240rwkw, running WAY too rich though I suspect, would reckon it averages out to around 12.5l/100km without driving it on boost a lot oh and the 5 litre, well that goes from 11L/100km highway to 18-19L/100km around town (auto slushbox and aftermarket cam blah)

A31 Cefiro, GTi-R Pulsar, LS1 powered commodore, C33 Laurel

It's kind of ironic actually, my best mate is selling his modified VX SS because he bought a HR31, and I'm getting rid of my modified 5 litre in favour of the GTS4 that I recently bought, but then we've both owned our V8s for 3 years or so, they have their good points - for our styles of driving we both chose nissans in the end, but if say I wanted to go fast in straight lines or chase top speed, or get cheap power in general, the chev powered commodores really are unbeatable! In addition to that, throwing the VX into first whilst doing 50km/h and being tossed about the car like a ragdoll while leaving a trail of smoke and rubber was brilliant! Those gearboxes, while having the shift quality of a tractor, really can take a young man's thrashing in their stride! I'd buy a W427, but the current VE range hardly makes me cream myself, especially when the dirty old VN can give the V8 ones a run for the money (gotta love a good power to weight ratio!)

was raining flat out tonight, and was giving the skyline a little bit in RWD (getting upto around 10psi), and not once did it feel like it was even close to breaking traction or sliding! This was out of curiousity at some of the other people in this thread saying how easily they kick out! Maybe its just an R33 thing?

m3gtr i know this is off topic, but could you please explain what the difference between a STi Fonzie and the regular version is? I haven't been able to find anything on them on the net! at the end of the day, this is a car meant to satisfy the cerebral thrill of driving a massive, responsive v8, its probably going to be quite a brute compared to the European cars and the GT-R, but I think that would be the point of the entire excercise, not to mention it's still punching above its weight with the upper end of town. Simply put most euro cars look as boring as a white VT - the amount of silver bmw's around her is mindboggling, as well as R33's in every colour, why would anyone buy something that everyone else has if they are truly passionate about cars? (obviously the W427 isn't going to attract your average mid life crisis guy or a rich bogan family looking for a people mover) A BMW M3 is hardly exotic these days, I think that's more a term used alongside say Ferrari F50? People storing them for high resale values in the future being nuts? Gee i bet all those guys who bought VK Group A's or Walkinshaw's or GT Falcons and stored them away sure feel like idiots that 40 years later their cars are worth over 100k! Compared to the rest of the Commodore range, these ARE the creme de la creme - I can't recall of any other production Holden/HSV with dry sump lubrication, 6 spot brakes, carbon fibre bodywork etc. 170k isn't really that much for a car of this calibre, many people were happy to pay 100k for the GTS with a 300kw 5.7 litre when it was released! And saying that its still just a commodore, well you could say a GT-R is just a skyline after all

Somehow I don't think a twin turbo 3.8 litre GT-R is the answer to the oil crisis either, None of the cars mentioned here are built with economy in mind, but just FYI, the emissions and fuel consumption on the 5.7 litre chev motors at least were LESS than the old holden 5 litre, they only upgraded the entire range to the 6 litre to comply with Euro 3 emissions standards, and hitting the 3-400 kw range in any car with any motor is going to be burning a fair amount of fuel, theres no two ways about it. If you really wanted to get all in a huff about technological advancement, couldn't you then say that the japs really just slavishly copied the europeans? I'm pretty sure the japs for all their engineering brilliance, didnt completely invent the wheel so to speak. At the end of the day, consumer demand dictates the direction a car company is going to head into, and 1 in every 5 commodores sold at the moment is a V8, and HSV's having increasing growth still, would indicate that the populace still wants to drive their V8s, at least for the near future. The weight of the whole VE series does verge on the porcine, but as far as I know, the falcons are still in fact heavier, and these cars are designed to haul 5 fat aussies around plus all their junk, you'd probably find that most of its competitors would be skimping out along the way there in the space respect.

Funny you should mention the previous prototype, I was just reading up on that, seems like the new one is a bit watered down compared to the previous HRT-427 which did 0-60mph in 3.8 seconds and 11.8 second quarters, that was with a Corvette C5R race engine with 8 throttle bodies, a carbon fibre intake manifold and bonnet. The expected price on that was $215 000 way back in 2003! I honestly dont know how comparing a Subaru of any type to a rear wheel drive V8 is any kind of real comparison, of course a WRX is going to outhandle most things in the wet, you could hypothesize that the HSV would murder it on a drag strip or a race track due to a higher top speed, its all horses for courses.

It's also the closest we're going to get to an Aussie built Corvette I'm afraid, but even you would have to admit that in recent years the quality of the local product has been improving, at least with the Chevrolet motor there's all that US based R&D and aftermarket support, they aren't trumpeting it as a technological marvel either (I find the economy and power that they can still squeeze out of pushrod motors the most fascinating part actually). The price is a tad over the top given that the current top of the line Senator is around about 80k or so, however the Group A cars had a similar markup back when they were released and cashed up bogans or not, I think that there would be plenty of interest even in that price range. m3gtr, the current HSV lineup does include a tiptronic style 6 speed automatic if that's what you were getting at btw.

I just hope they are really something special - I've gone off commodores lately, but seeing any Group A or HDT gives me a thrill just like seeing a GT-R does (yeah that probably sounds weird to all of you who own a GT-R but they are very rare around here.) Of course you've got to wonder at the logic of continually increasing engine size when fuel prices are also rising lol.

As the topic suggests, I'm looking for an entire RB25DET NEO engine plus gearbox and accessories on behalf of a mate for his HR-31 GTS project - he's ruled out a standard RB25DET, and most of our quoting around has been in the $6000 range, looking for a package for less than that obviously! Just thought I'd have a look out around here, otherwise it'll be back to hassling the importers!

It would almost be like the good old days of the VN Group A vs BNR32 GT-R to my way of thinking! Top end Nissan vs top end HSV, I hope someone from one of the local car mags gets this idea into their head!

I wonder how one would compare to the new GT-R At the end of the day though part of the price at least is the exclusivity factor, its about time HSV started making cars which were more than just an SS with pumped up brakes, bodykit, interior and exhaust. Sounds good, but I'd buy an M3 personally for that sort of money.

I honestly don't know how any of you have trouble controlling a Skyline in the wet, mine feels pretty much the same as in the dry, though the suspension/tyres are not standard, but coming from driving various commodores they feel pretty solid on the road. As soon as i got a full time job and a licence at 17, I went out and bought my VN, now going from a Pulsar to a V8 was a whole lot of a learning curve in itself, I thought I had it all worked out to drive, but then went through the hard experience of giving it enough stick to kick down in the wet, break traction in a roundabout and smash a front tyre into a gutter, almost hitting a pole in the process put an end to that illusion. Not long after that I decided to plant it showing off coming out of a service station and yep same thing happened, jumped the median strip and ended up facing the wrong way in the opposite lane. After the second time I learnt to slow down, was so glad that i managed to learn this without killing myself, someone else or wrecking the car. That said, the only people i've ever seen spin out were those deliberately trying to 'drift', in the wet, usually in early 90's model commodores/falcons! I do also think that tyre choice can play a part in this obviously, not to mention having a properly working LSD (not really an issue with skylines I would imagine) as well as driver experience. I guess also with automatics and how they can kick down and hit boost would also have something to do with this. Just one other thing, to those bashing defensive driver courses, have any of you undertaken one? Just curious as to whether you had any justification to those comments or whether it was more just a personal opinion type thing.

i bought mine with a Stagea rb25det motor and gearbox, was wondering if anyone had an idea on whether a stagea/rb26 box is necessary or just a stroke of luck on my part? its also running aftermarket ecu (microtech lt10s), now I'm looking at having to piggyback an original one onto it to get the ATTESA working, kinda wish the previous owner had gone down the tried and tested powerfc path, but you've got to work with what you've got i guess! Can anyone tell me in a nutshell the difference between driving one of these 2wd vs 4wd? Apart from much better launches of course lol

hmm well i just got my gts 4, with a rb 25, microtech lt12, kkr 480 turbo, FMIC, exhaust, GTR fuel pump, splitfire ignition coils, the car was originally tuned by Croydon Race Developments on 18psi, i bought it running 11 and haven't touched it so far, and I reckon that the tune or the computer itself is hopeless! No VCT (apparently I have to ring up microtech and get info on how to turn it on), have to piggyback the MINE'S gts4 ecu that also came with the car to get AWD working, car often requires starting twice on a really cold start, and uses a heap of fuel! It does go really well, but kind of wished the previous owner had gone the PowerFC route, as im now looking at having to pay someone big money to get it all sorted out. I was tempted to just get the microtech all taken out and a stock ecu with piggyback computer hooked up but its all just too much stuffing around so i guess ill just persist with it.