OT Ozzies

[Ross]

A friend just bought a new GTO(Manaro). Goes like a raped ape in a straight line and has all the right sounds.
I know they didn't sell well here, but how is this car regarded at home?
Pontiac has been offering tarted up shitboxes for twenty years. Why they couldn't manage to sell a four hundred horse V-8 that you can buy with a gearbox is beyond me.

[Zeuk in Oz]

A friend just bought a new GTO(Manaro). Goes like a raped ape in a straight line and has all the right sounds.
I know they didn't sell well here, but how is this car regarded at home?
Pontiac has been offering tarted up shitboxes for twenty years. Why they couldn't manage to sell a four hundred horse V-8 that you can buy with a gearbox is beyond me.
They were so highly regarded here that when they announced that they were to be discontinued here 6 months ago, they sold the last ones quickly. ;) In other words people didn't really want one but didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to own one. Go figure ! (As you Americans say).

Basically just a 2 door version of what is still available here. A new, safer version has just been relased here of the 4 door range. No mention of a coupe.

Quality, safety and engineering of the Monaro was no more than average.

The ones to have here were the special HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) versions that were not called Monaro at all but CV8, I think.

Personally I have never driven one, nor do I ever want to drive one.

But then again, I drive a Brazillian Ford as my daily driver (F250) ! :D

[mattyb]

Hi Ross, to start with I guess its a purists choice when it comes to the Monaro. On one side of the coin there is the fact that it carries the name and legend of the one of the original Australian muscle cars, albeit powered by chev 350 in 1969. It was the first 2 door performance vehicle that GMH produced in many years. Performance wise no one cant doubt in certainly has the grunt.

As for its pedigree, well the the model is based on a 4 door variant called the commodore which is a basic family sedan. The Monaro even came in a six cylinder cylinder configuration as well. This has become available over the years in several performance versions leading to ultimatley the Monaro. The same drive train is available in sedan and utility and wagon, suprisingly one sees more same spec utes(SS) and (MALOO) than Monaros, and its not neccesarliy a pricing issue. The utes are upwards of $50 000 aussie as is the Monaro.
The monaro essentially gave the Australian public an oppurtunity to spend big on a performance vehicle without having to purchase a european car. We still have a stigma here about euro cars.( OOH they cry. parts mate are so expensive) Even though the Monaro will start to fall apart like its base model cousins in 20 years Aussies still love this stuff. Its also a status kind of thing for those who,s australia is still GMH vs Ford.

From Memory there was a differential(spline) issue with the cars and some of the earlier engines had a machining fault.

On a meet we went to last year at eastern creek there was a commodore skid pan day. There were hundreds of utes, wagons, sedans and monaros driven by merchandise clad holden worshipping die hards. Funnily enough production of the Monaro has now ceased!

Personally if I had $70 grand to spend on a car it definatley would not be a trumped up 2 door commodore. It would be a couple of BMs.

I still see Monaros on the street and would not swap my 14 year old 540i for event the flashest Monaro. They are available in the UK branded as Vauxhall as well but I dont know how they are going there.

To summarise. cant deny the grunt and the appeal of 4oo horsies screaming along,( doesnt matter what make or model 400 is 400hp) but for the money well its just a 2 door commodore really! Im sure to be scorched for this if there are any die hard holden boys amongst the crew here but I doubt there is.

[Ross]

Matty,
Is maloo what you call awagon?

[rob101]

Matty,
Is maloo what you call awagon?
a maloo is a HSV ute
a ute is what you people call a pick up. ute is short for utility.

[Ross]

Ute I know. Then what is HSV?

[rob101]

Ute I know. Then what is HSV?
Holden Special Vehicles
its where all the sportiest holdens come from, like the clubsport, GTS, GTO, maloo, grange and senator

[Yiorgos]

Think of HSV as the M division of BMW, it is analogous to that.

They are a separate brand in their own right (cars are not labelled as a Holden HSV, they are just labelled HSV AFAIK), however mostly are sold alongside their cheaper cousins (Holdens).

The Monaro IMO are just an expensive Commodore minus two doors and a plastic badge on its arse. The shell is different (obviously) but a lot of the parts are carried through from the Commodore. Even the tail lights (which look pretty good I must admit) are available via Holden Spare Parts and people buy them to tack onto their shitty VX Commodores, cheapening the Monaro 'brand' even more.

For the money of a Monaro (which is a 2-door variant of our taxis here ;) ) I would get a decent brand new 3er. Many Australians tend to see the HSV tag and go ga-ga, throwing their cash away on a car that its underpinnings are the same as the cheaper $35,000 option.

[F4Phantom]

Think of HSV as the M division of BMW, it is analogous to that.

They are a separate brand in their own right (cars are not labelled as a Holden HSV, they are just labelled HSV AFAIK), however mostly are sold alongside their cheaper cousins (Holdens).

The Monaro IMO are just an expensive Commodore minus two doors and a plastic badge on its arse. The shell is different (obviously) but a lot of the parts are carried through from the Commodore. Even the tail lights (which look pretty good I must admit) are available via Holden Spare Parts and people buy them to tack onto their shitty VX Commodores, cheapening the Monaro 'brand' even more.

For the money of a Monaro (which is a 2-door variant of our taxis here ;) ) I would get a decent brand new 3er. Many Australians tend to see the HSV tag and go ga-ga, throwing their cash away on a car that its underpinnings are the same as the cheaper $35,000 option.

Funny post. I would like to add that as the 35k commodore and 70k monaro is the same kind of thing I was once in class at mech eng school and one guy did a lot of work with aussie 5Lv8 supercars in the pit teams. He said "there is a problem with a car that as its build on the production line, it does not know if its gonna be a race car or a taxi!" and thats exactly how it is, mahumid the taxi driver can drive you to see a commodore race, in a commodore.

[Ausmpower]

Funny post. I would like to add that as the 35k commodore and 70k monaro is the same kind of thing I was once in class at mech eng school and one guy did a lot of work with aussie 5Lv8 supercars in the pit teams. He said "there is a problem with a car that as its build on the production line, it does not know if its gonna be a race car or a taxi!" and thats exactly how it is, mahumid the taxi driver can drive you to see a commodore race, in a commodore.

Yep ALL production car classes are based on production line chassis....It's just that everything bolted to it it non production. V8 super cars are an example as are the WRX, Evo, Focus etc. rally cars. The pedestrian production equivelent 'looks' like the race car but is has no where near the performance of the full blown race prepped car. I can't see the Subaru production line CCing the heads of every WRX......

[wingman]

They had the Brit version of the Monaro (Vauxhall) on 'Top Gear' a while back and gave it such a rave it was laughable. They were speaking in superlatives and went on and on. I'm with the other Aussies in that it's a tarted up Commodore. Mind you a mate of mine had an original Yellow (with the racing stripes) Holden HK Monaro with a 307cu Chev motor in it and it was really cool. A real Aussie icon.

[F4Phantom]

Amazingly on Top Gear the monaro was against the supercharged jag S type and the chrysler 300c. They hated the chrysler and loved the monaro. In the monaro's defence they only tested the 260kw one not the 300kw one, they would have loved that thing.

[Yiorgos]

They loved the Monaro because there's no "computer" trying to drive the car for you. They viewed it as a fun car to flog around, because it's not as technically developed as its competition in Europe.

[mattyb]

and thats exactly the beauty of the heriatge. Im sure weve all had toranas, falcons, kingswoods and hr,s etc v8,s when we were a bit younger and it cant be denied that it was a hell of a lot of fun floggin them about without computers etc. when they got bashed up you could just belt them back into place and when they blew up you could just pull em apart in a weekend and fix em up for a couple of hundred bucks. Ahhhhh,the good ol' days if i had the space i could still go a 2 door HQ Monaro GTS just for a laugh

[Ross]

Thanks guys for the views and lesson in Ozspeak.
There was a bit made of it's humble underpinnings and a high price. It sells here for roughly 30K USD. A tick over half the price of a Vette and probably the closest "domestic" thing to it.

[GJPinAU]

and thats exactly the beauty of the heriatge. Im sure weve all had toranas, falcons, kingswoods and hr,s etc v8,s when we were a bit younger and it cant be denied that it was a hell of a lot of fun floggin them about without computers etc. when they got bashed up you could just belt them back into place and when they blew up you could just pull em apart in a weekend and fix em up for a couple of hundred bucks. Ahhhhh,the good ol' days if i had the space i could still go a 2 door HQ Monaro GTS just for a laugh
But now you're a mature adult BMW driver, who doesn't need to hoon around! ;)