Upcoming 4 car large car comparison
July 15, 2008 by Paul Maric
In the first test of its type in Australia, CarAdvice places four of Australia’s top selling luxury 6-cylinder sedans under the pump to see which provides the best value for your dollar, along with which excels in performance, economy and roominess.
The results are certainly surprising. Two of the competitors entered the sub 15-second 1/4-mile club, while one of the competitors recorded continuously impressive fuel consumption figures and performance figures.
After spending a whole week with all four cars and undergoing extensive testing, the results are sure to ruffle feathers, but it won’t be hard to see that the market is rapidly changing. So stay tuned for this mega test.
Print it: 
It doesnt matter what you pick. The Holden vs Ford groups will be going for days…
Ooooooo, this is going to be fun. My guess is as follows, and I dont care if I’m wrong. Some of the results will be tight.
1. Ford
2. Holden, but only because it looks like a Calais tested.
3. Honda
4. Toyota
accord is the underdog and ford is the favorite….the other two in between,,,,fwd vs rwd,,,,japan vs USA,,,,iam hoping for a ford victory but the bottomline is V6 engines are the best in any car,,,cant wait to read the comparision.
1)Ford will shit in! Best drivers car, sub 15 Quarter, best value, better fuel consumption than the Holden, best handling car, great engine and gearbox.
2)Accord will come second. Refinement, quality, innovation (Displacement on demand, resale value, and possibly the best fuel consumption figures
3)The Holden will come 3rd because….. um…….ahh…… it looks ok i guess……., oh, and because it’s Australian. Shit engine, shit gearbox, and it’s just taken back a couple of generations by the FG Ford
4)Aurion is the quickest, one of the most frugal, but is a POS, and drives like a boat.
There you go guys, no need to post your review lol. Just provide some pics
Ben Dover: I agree with your conclusions, but I just need to ask you one thing. The Ford G6E costs $46,990 for a car without a Sunroof or Satnav, but the Accord V6 Luxury is the same price, and has a Sunroof and Satnav, with more power.I was just wondering on your justification for the best value as being the G6E? I agree with everything else you have stated there. Don’t get me wrong both the G6E and Accord are brilliant cars, I have driven both as I am about to buy a car in this category, and my choice is between the Accord V6L and the G6E. I am leaning more towards the Accord.
AW: all the cars in this category have some shortcomings but ben dover makes a good point. Sunroof never did much for me.
Mikez: I understand where you are coming from, but also with my drive in the Accord it felt much better built and more comfortable than the G6E. That is just personal preference, along with the Sunroof. As I said, I do agree with the points that Ben Dover makes.
I mean, it’s pretty important that a family, luxury spec car can cut sub 15 quarters.
Every gets the chance to hold the throttle flat for nearly 15 seconds these days.
/sarcasm
AW depends how much value u place on RWD I suppose.
For some reason i’m doubting the v6 Holden was either in the sub 15 quarter mile club, or impressive regarding fuel economy.
Bring on the 6 speed direct injection 3.6
Realcars: Driving wheels aren’t really that important to me, because more important are features and value for money, as well as comfort and fuel economy, as I do in excess of 30,000 kms per year. Don’t get me wrong, the G6E is a superb car, but it looks like I will take the Accord.
ChisGT: Agreed. Performance is not very high on my agenda when purchasing a car like this.
I also want to get out of my current car asap. It is a VZ Berlina, and it feels like it is going to fall to pieces. Hence my reason for not even bothering with a VE. I know they have improved, but I can find better cars, i.e. G6E and Accord V6L
It doesn’t matter how great these cars are, unless they can get sub 10’s and better sub 9’s litres per 100 kms in fuel consumption people will not buy them. And it’s all about sales in the end. If you get a chance read the article about the GM, Ford and Chrysler in the States and who is going to go belly up.
I would just hope that if the G6E is the winner, that the press do something with the result to get the public to see Aussie big cars are as frugal as the Jappers. There’s too much old school mentality remaining with middle incomers still believing that the Jap cars are miserly on fuel. Tis that way no longer!
I saw these guys parked at that servo in the pic on Commercial and Punt Roads on Melbourne on Sat morning. If only i had’ve asked them i could’ve told you first. Haha only kidding. I hope we don’t have all the brand defenders on here come out though. Gets tiresome hearing ones better than the other… all have their pros and cons :)
Thing I hate about these comparo’s is the usually don’t give a realistic fuel economy figure. I mean when I am driving long kay’s, which I do quite often, I always use cruise control. My old BA used to get sub 10L/100km all the time. No sweat. Range of 720 kays. Then we get comparo’s from all major mags/websites that don’t even come close to what I get in the real world. My real world doesn’t mean flooring it every chance I get and making the car change gears relentlessly. I would expect the G6E to get sub 10L/100 if my old BA SR could do the same with a 4 speed auto. If not I would have to wonder how people drive them so poorly.
Stop teasing us and get the article onto the site so we can read it A.S.A.P.
Tom – “For some reason i’m doubting the v6 Holden was either in the sub 15 quarter mile club, or impressive regarding fuel economy. ”
Definately, It has to be the Toyota and Ford.
I think it will be a close call between the Accord Luxury and G6E, especially because they are newer cars than the other two, you would expect them to be more modern, I think for an A to B’er on the family orientation, I would put Accord over the G6E.
i think the winner will be between the ford and the honda. Why? because both are two years newer then the holden and toyota so they damn well should be better! Alot of people don’t take this into account.. If you buy the latest and greatest car, then generally you will get the better car, but you also take a slight extra risk from a reliability standpoint as it’s “unproven”. In saying that i bought the current model lancer only 1 month after launch and so far it has been utterly faultless, but then so have all 3 previous mitsubishi’s i have bought so…
And at the people commenting its a Calais tested, the Calais is the competitor for the G6 line of Ford’s. So that is the proper comparison.
The question i pose is whether the differences would actually be enough in order for your average Joe to discern the difference?
I’m sure all 4 are fine cars. They are all stylish, have nice and well equipped interiors and the differences will mostly be only noticeable with a fine tooth comb.
Its almost unbelievable, looking back 15 years ago, how advanced cars have gotten. I’m wondering if the next 15 years will bring the same result.
I think the first picture in this article gives you the order in which these cars will place, G6E, Accord, Aurio, Calais
Your on the money Richo – It would be a big dissappointment if either the Honda or G6 proves dismal given the time they have to finetune the cars against the existing competitors in the market, but I know the G6 should be up there given the plentiful of reviews praising the car already…
Tom – I agree would love to see in 15yrs what technology will give us,
just to note as a consumer we want to see competition get fierce and therefore we see innovations quicker, I dont want a monopolising single manufacturer dominating the world that will just sit on their laurels.
I want the Honda to win personally. Its got a cheaper starting price than all the others (from what I saw in a “CarsGuide” in the Advertiser the other day) and its not as boring family car looking as the others. You have to admit that in base level the Commodore and the Falcon are quite boring looking and for 35,000 dollars they dont even get alloys! And the Ford and Holden will lose a third of their value in 2 months and ten thousand kms. I cant believe theres still a market for the faclon now that I see the better looking Diesel Mondeo is here.
Tom – your right, the average consumer will not notice much of a difference at all between all 4 cars, and all 4 cars in reality are that bloody good in isolation that pretty much the first car the consumer test drives they will buy! And even if a consumer does go to the effort of going and test driving all 4 different cars (which i am here to tell you most don’t bother!) the things which will sway them in the end won’t be dynamics or drivetrain refinement of any of these things, its far more personal things like styling which will fuel their ultimate decision.
It really is only the motoring enthousiasts who will actually bother testing all of the different cars in their price range, most really do just go “wow that car looked great in that commercial” go down to the dealership, drive it, and usually buy it there and then. The only reason usually that someone will go and test something else is if the first car they didn’t really like. But with these 4 cars, as i said they are all that good that it’s very rare that someone who test drives one in isolation won’t like it, so basically whichever they drive first, they will buy first. Styling, image and advertising sell far more cars then performance, fuel economy and handling dynamics ever will!
Alex – i wouldn’t agree with you at all that the falcon and commodore looking boring! Particularly in G6 and calais trim!
Wreckon Accord will win (most frugal) because of current petrol prices,G6 will obviously cop looks like previous model (in fact it is an evoloution) and commodore best looking.Toyota best all rounder. 1.Accord 2.Ford 3.Commodore 4.toyota
there saying a few surprises so that will mean no holden or ford which are your normal everyday family cars i know the aurion does 15.2 qtr mile dont think the accord would the holden no way so the other has to the ford i think aurion or honda for the best fuel consumption! will be interesting
So what is CarAdvice testing………………..
Ford Falcon G6E V Honda Accord Luxury V6 V Toyota Aurion Presera V Holden Commodore Calais?
^If that is what it is, my 1st – 4th positions are as…………………………………
1st Falcon (mainly because it is the newest here)
2nd Commodore
3rd Accord
4th Aurion
Whats your’s Dingo (And TP)?
It’s probably the Toyota on top I’m guessing! :)
Burt: You obviously haven’t driven an Accord. It is not slow at all. Maybe the VTi Versions, but not the V6. It is pretty bloody quick
When will this article be published. I want to see the results!
Moderators. Thank you for that. Yet again someone has to ruin the blog for everyone else
Here’s the hilarious bit: proper means right and gander is a male goose.
This proper gander can’t even spell propaganda.
I would think the G6E would win the comparison with Accord, Calais and Aurion next best.
However judging by these words: “ruffle a few feathers”, I would guess the Honda Accord wins..
Oh and the Calias natural competitor in the Ford range is the G6E not the G6.
I think it depends on the criteria for the comparison. If it just comes down to handling and performance this would be the pecking order.
1. Ford
2. Holden
3. Toyota
4. Honda
But if you throw; value for money, resale, service costs, economy and quality in the order would be (dare I say it)…
1. Toyota
2. Honda
3. Ford
4. Holden
I havent jumped fences or anything here (I do want the ford to win for the same reasons as Macca) but I want to read a subjective comparison…not one fueled by the marketing Propaganda or to appease us ‘Bogans’ as some bloggers here would put it.
I await in anticipation CA.
Accord 4 the win.
the hardest bit is picking the “overall” winner.
some comparos weigh talents differently.
if performance is the criteria, sorry to say it you wont see the commodore near the top.
most here have placed it 2nd behind the ford, but you guys have obviously not heard how many bad words come about holdens 6cyl range.
dont be surprised if the commodore comes dead last in the performance section.
we all know the falcon has a deep down grunty motor and a world class 6sp auto, and the aurion has a very punchy V6,
but the commodore has neither of those.
the only thing the commodore has in its favour is handling that will easily out do the accord and Aurion.
but is the commodores great handling enough to push the poor performing V6 and auto box to the back of the mind? (me thinks not)
and on the other side, is the aurions shocking handling going to be overshaddowed by its spritely V6?
value for money would go to the Accord i would think. (not the aurion as suggested)
even with resale thrown in, the accord would out do the rest.
BUT……..servicing on Hondas is expensive!!!!!
i agree with one of the earlier comments that the G6E will win, and the Accord is the dark horse.
the commodore wont even win the looks side of things.
in base models its flip a coin for the best looker for ford or holden, but in upper trim such as the G6E the ford is a stand out. and then interior looks and comfort is hands down ford.
i sat in the base model ute the other weekend, and i thought it was pretty flash. i had to remind myself that it was the Pov Pac i was sitting in. then i moved inside to my XR ute and then checked out the G series for the hell of it, and talk about a hands down winner
Richo, If you had actually read my comment than you would read that I said in BASE LEVEL. The very base commodores and falcons are boring looking. At least the Accord has a few lines to make it a little stand out. Saying that, I would have said the Accord was more at home in a test with the Mazda 6, Mondeo, Camry, Passat etc. I dont mind the Aurion but with a general dislike for Toyotas, I want the Honda to win. The Calais is far more interesting but even if they were available to the UK, I would never buy one.
for all those people predicting tne honda to use less fuel because of DoD, dont be fooled the claimed figure is over 10L. and this is in a fwd car thats not really even the same size as the falcon
RE: all the comments about the commodores engine. All of the “bad words” as Andrew M puts it are about the base models 180kw alloytec, not the significantly better 195kw variant which doesn’t weeze like the base engine does thanks to a much better exhaust system, and is also a much more free revving engine thanks to the variable valve timing being on both the intake and exhaust, instead of just the intake like on the base variant.
If this comparison was done using an omega or berlina then i would agree that the commodore will be pushing crap up hill due to the engine, but being a calais with the better engine the problem won’t be anywhere near as much as people are making out. The performance difference with the 195kw motor. Motor magazine has clocked a manual SV6 covering the quarter mile in 15.1 which isn’t bad at all for a V6 and is fairly damn close to the falcon and aurion.
don’t get me wrong, the calais will still have the least impressive engine of the quartet, but the difference won’t be a fatal one.
And anyway, we all know caradvice does tend to lean a little bit to the ford side.. or atleast one of the scribes do anyway
1. ford 2. honda 3. holden 4. toyota
hmmm i would almost like to see the mazda 6 put in with this bunch. seems pretty competitive at its new, lower price……..
Richo – Has the high output v6 of the commie got variable lift too?
You can see why Holden is moving up one spot an introducing the DI version of this engine and giving the boot to the junk 180kw standard motor.
The direct injection will be a revolution.
It should be roughly 220kw, and sub 10L fuel economy, Holden couldn’t get their hands on it fast enough. It’s just what the Commodore needs with current petrol prices.
And in a 1500 odd kg car like the future Torana, it will be utterly superb. If you think back, that’s the type of numbers a 5.7L LS1, made just under 10 years ago…
Crouchy – the mazda 6 is a 4 cylinder mate! This is a 6 cylinder comparo
Tom – i agree the DI V6 for the VF commodore should be a big deal, especially as it will be mated to a new 6 speed auto. It will be very interesting to see whether or not the omega and berlina models will score the full DI engine, a cut down cheaper version of the DI engine, or the 195kw alloytec that currently serves in the Calais and SV6.
The 195kw is higher tuned and uses more fuel than the 180kw motor doesn’t it? I think fuel economy is the current objective of the car manufacturers.
Richo…
have you actually driven a VE omega or SV6?
I have.
BF11 even beats VE’s for drivetrain performance, economy and NVH. FG’s easily wollap VEs for overall drivetrain package.
The VE handling dynamics, build quality mind you are the best i’ve seen on a commodore.
Adam, if you really have driven both an omega and an SV6, you would have seen first hand the marked difference between the 180kw engine in the omega and the 195kw engine in the SV6. My point was not that the 195kw motor suddenly made the commodore fantastic, simply that in 195kw trim the difference in refinement between the commodore and falcon/aurion/accord is much much closer then it is in 180kw form