In a year, production of the last Australian-made car will cease.
That’s a terrible shame because Holden’s final upgrade to the Commodore SS is an absolute cracker.
The $56,000 Holden Commodore SS-V Redline is the top of the range, and it offers the best value for money available on the market today.
Not only is the last SS great bang for buck – but it is a cohesive, premium-feeling sports sedan that evokes clear memories of the late 1990s BMW M5.
V8 up front, power to the rear wheels alone, a nice interior – and the feeling that you’re buying something very final and very special: the Holden SS is feelgood motoring.
As we said in our Chevrolet SS review – the rebadged American SS Commodore – this is a very approachable fast car, full of character, and easy to drive.
It says a lot that a friend of Chasing Cars experienced our press car from the video above, and immediately bought a Redline for himself.
The car has that effect on people.
As an Australian, it’s easy to fall into nostalgia about the end of Australian cars. So, in our week with the SS-V Redline, we thought a lot about whether this type of car is truly obsolete.
They use an awful lot of fuel and have eschewed turbocharging to the very end. They are huge, five-passenger cars in a time when Australians have just one or two kids. The Commodore is built by expensive labourers and it will be far cheaper to just import a German Insignia and call it a Commodore.
All those things are true – but it doesn’t stop the VF Series II from being the best car Holden built, and its inevitable departure from the car scene will still feel like a great loss.