VS COMMODORE [277,774 BUILT]

THE VS CARRIED-ON the smooth appearance of the well-received VR with a few tweaks such as oval side indicator repeaters. It was powered by a new version of the 3.8-litre V6, the Ecotec that shared little but the V-formation with the earlier VN-VR motors. It had better breathing heads and smarter fuel injection, increasing power from 130 to 147kW while being quieter and feeling smoother and punchier. It used around 10 per cent less fuel and later was to be offered as a 165kW Supercharged option in Calais and the Statesman/Caprice. A new paint process at the factory improved colour and quality for later VRs; of course this helped VS models, too. Over at HSV, the 215kW 5.7-litre stroker V8 had been launched in HSV’s top-line GTS in 1994 and it gained extra notoriety in the VS GTS-R, a bold, winged, banana yellow, carbon-fibre-highlighted car considered a legend by some and a joke by others, especially as it was regularly hosed-off by the new breed of turbo four-doors from Japan, such as the Subaru WRX.