GOOD, NOT GREAT

The Holden ZB Commodore (‘Welcome to Straya’, February) sounds like a very good car, but not a great one.

Your comprehensive road test did not elicit one thought of “wow” as I read it. Competency was the over-riding vibe. In my view the engine line-up is, as has always been the case with local product, a generation behind. The six should have been a 3.0-litre turbo. The 2.0-litre engines should have gone twin turbo. I mean, it’s a big car, and Commodore drivers like a bit of oomph. 0-100km/h in anything over 7.0 seconds today is just plain slow.

So it appears to me to be an adequate car, but not one for the aspirational new-car buyer in this price range. Yes, it’s a German car, at least for now, but for that money I’d be looking at a Volkswagen Passat, or even a VW Golf GTI, or an Audi of some kind. I suspect the Koreans will be the big winners in the fullness of time.

I believe that this is the Commodore that will allow fans of the brand the excuse to finally let go and look elsewhere. Personally, I hope the car succeeds, but I really can’t find enough reasons why it should. Peter Steele, Brisbane, Qld