news

Holden VE Commodore SS & SS V


The new Holden Commodore SS will be available soon and while Holden have decided, again, that there is no need to release a competitor to Ford's immensly succesful XR-6 Turbo, the new VE model SS and the new SS V Commodores are sure to attract attention from the V8 lovers all around Australia.

It seems like Holden doesn't want to bite the bullet and admit that perhaps having a Turbo charged 6 cylinder is a far better option than a big V8? Or maybe they can't begin to imagine the idea of shedding their "big V8" image. Whatever the reason, if the sales figures are anything togo by, it seems that people still want big powerful Aussie performance cars, but given the high fuel prices and the fact that its 2006 and not 1995, some are moving away from the big V8 rumblers and more towards the more technologically advanced Australian cars such as Ford's XR-6 Turbo.

Nevertheless, Holden's new VE Commodore SS and the brand new VE Commodore SS V are worth a closer look. The Holden VE Commodore SS is powered by an engine more accustomed to HSV cars, the LS2 6.0 Litre V8 producing 270kW of power with a peak torque of 530Nm. The car comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission or for another $2000 you can opt out for the six-speed automatic with Active Select.

The new VE Commodore SS starts at $44,990 for the 6 speed manual and $46,990 with the 6 speed Auto. This is the first time Holden has offered the six-speed automatic for the SS, having previously equiped the old SS Commodore through its ageing four-speed automatic. If you intend to buy a SS Commodore I would highly incourage you to stick with the manual, not that I have my doubts about the European engineered 6 speed auto, but as you should be aware by now, I am not a big fan of Automatics when it comes to performance cars. Click for full pricing on the VE Commodore Range.

The VE Commodore SS comes with everything the Holden VE Commodore Omega comes with (+air conditioning as standard) as well as:

Exterior:

  • Exclusive sports grille with honeycomb texture
  • Exclusive deep section sports bumper fascia with matching honeycomb inserts and fog lamps
  • 18-inch twin five spoke machine finished alloy wheels
  • Exclusive deep section lower rocker skirt
  • Rear door badge on SS
  • Exclusive two-piece sports rear fascia with black diffuser style lower insert incorporating reflectors
  • Larger decklid spoiler in body color and black accent on SS (larger in comparison to SV6)
  • Quad round chrome exhaust outlets on SS

Interior

  • Performance interiors convey sports car cockpit effect
  • Vertical ‘waterfall’ theme with driver and passenger compartments split into ‘pods’ by unique centre stack offset to the instrument panel
  • Unique longitudinal colour break-up and vertical door grab handles on SS V
  • Abrupt interface between instrument panel and console adds to motorsport effect
  • Sports instrumentation supplemented by a high-mounted auxiliary display above centre vents
  • Red illumination

Holden VE Commodore SS V

The model that has interestead me a little is the new VE Commodore SS V. Obviously Holden has seen a gap between the Commodore SS and the HSV range and hope to fill that gap with the new SS V. Holden refers to the SS V as

Holden's king of the jungle, the new hero of our performance range. It also delivers front, side and curtain airbags, multi-function color LCD screen, premium stereo system and the ability to choose color-coded interiors

Hmm for the extra $6,000 you will be paying on top of the standard SS (with manual transmission) the SS V starts at $51,990 (extra $2000 for the six-speed auto). Quite a bit for a standard Holden! The equipement level found in the SS V makes me wonder where the extra $6000 has gone? For a start the 19 inch wheels are a nice addition, but what else do you get?

Exterior

  • 19-inch five spoke alloy wheels in silver paint finish
  • High tech tail lamps with smoky clear outer lens over bright styled bezel with red lens inserts
  • Larger decklid spoiler in body color and black accent as per SS
  • V decklid badge

Interior

  • Unique longitudinal colour break-up and vertical door grab handles
  • Large color screen in centre stack

Hmmm... extra $6000? Holden says:

SS V has an aggressive theme taking sport interiors to a new level. Either in Onyx, Ignition or Redhot, colour is applied to the instrument panel and seats for those customers wanting to be expressive and have a sense of customisation

So in otherwords, this car is aimed at those who have an extra $6,000, and really wish they had an HSV! My advice? Stick with the SS, most of those additional features aren't worth the $6,000! If I bought a Commodore SS I'd sell the wheels on eBay and buy some aftermarket ones for around $3000, much better way of standing out in the crowd!

For full pricing and optios on the new Holden VE Commodore SS and SS V range click here.

MORE:Holden Showroom
MORE:Holden News
MORE:Holden Reviews
MORE:Holden Commodore Showroom
MORE:Holden Commodore News
MORE:Holden Commodore Reviews
MORE:Search Used Holden Commodore Cars for Sale
MORE:Search Used Holden Cars for Sale
MORE:Holden Showroom
MORE:Holden News
MORE:Holden Reviews
MORE:Holden Commodore Showroom
MORE:Holden Commodore News
MORE:Holden Commodore Reviews
MORE:Search Used Holden Commodore Cars for Sale
MORE:Search Used Holden Cars for Sale
Chat with us!







Chat with Agent