2007 HSV E series ClubSport R8 Road Test
29 Jun, 2007
11 Comments 
BEHIND THE WHEEL
- Intro
- A bit of history
- How it goes
- How it handles
- Interior comfort
- The Look
- Safety Features
- Cost of ownership
I’m not sold on leather fit outs, either you burn your butt or freeze it, depending on the weather. That’s a non-issue in the R8, as the HSV sports seats with cloth trim will have you firmly planted in a fair degree of comfort.
The fabric and colour of the trim though (graphite mesh), certainly wouldn’t be my choice (looks inexpensive) but the seats themselves are well shaped and offer excellent side bolster. Adjustment is via a combination of electric and manual motion (I’d prefer one or the other) but you can pretty much find the perfect driving position.
There’s plenty of useful information on the various digital readouts, including a speed-ticket saving, digital speedometer in addition to the analogue dial, which has small numbers and is difficult to read.
You can access the trip computer and Bluetooth phone from the steering wheel in addition to the Audi-like scroll wheels for the sound system. These are far more driver friendly than individual volume and frequency buttons.
Alloy faced pedals are standard kit as is the leather wrapped gear shifter, as expected.
There’s also a set of racing style triple gauges (voltage, oil temp and oil pressure) which looks the business but is let down by the cheap plastic mould which encompasses the unit.
The R8’s interior styling would be improved enormously by the simple addition of just a few brushed aluminium strips around the centre stack and door trim. Again, it’s something this car deserves.
- Intro
- A bit of history
- How it goes
- How it handles
- Interior comfort
- The Look
- Safety Features
- Cost of ownership
Location: Home / Holden, Behind the Wheel, Sports Cars, Top Australian Cars / ...
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(12 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)
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June 29th, 2007 at 8:40 am
G’day,
That low mounted red light in the rear diffuser of the UK version of the car is not a stop light but a rear fog light. I understand all new cars sold in the UK must have rear fog lights.
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June 29th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Lucky we don’t have that foglight here then. There are already too many tools here that drive around with their rear foglights on (think Hyundai drivers)
Just found your site the other week. I’ev now added your RSS feed to my home page. Awesome website. This site is exactly what the Aussie online car community has been lacking. Autospeed has gone downhill, and FullBoost is mostly oriented towards drag racing. The other, more commercial sites are a pain.
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June 29th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Thanks Matthew - that makes more sense but nonetheless, a race car-like stop light would be a nice touch on the R8!
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June 29th, 2007 at 9:43 am
thanks for your positive comments Daniel!
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July 3rd, 2007 at 11:26 am
I actually dislike the look of the HSV from the back.
If you look at it from dead on, there’s too much expanse of metal, and the taillights are very small in comparison.
I think that HSV should have stuck with what they used to do, which is take taillights off a Commodore. They could have taken the taillights off a Calais or something.
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July 4th, 2007 at 7:09 am
To each his own JW, but sales of the E series cars are way ahead of previous years sales already and export sales are equally spectacular.
Most folks think the rear of the car with the LED tail lights is the best angle of the new car, so you would be part of a very small group of people.
It’s a great drive.
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December 21st, 2007 at 9:37 am
JW,
You hate the rear look at the back that is a wonderful butt!
HSV spent 3 million dollars alone on the taillights!
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March 16th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
GET REAL! THATS NOT A SUPERCAR! its a holden! i hate holdens. FORD RULE! The tyhpoon orion has the equivalent power to this v8 although the typhoon is only a V6.
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March 17th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
ford falcons dont have a v6 “yet” its a straight 6….
and what ever.. its only a holden.. it looks better however
the TWR supercharged version offered in the UK is a mean peice of kit. TWR have made some seriously amazing machines.. XJ220s for example
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April 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Simba Loves Skylines is an assclown, fords suck chocolate salty ballz as do skylines
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October 13th, 2008 at 10:23 am
gday
i.d like to see some evo lancers
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