Holden Special Vehicles Showroom

Holden Special Vehicles

2016 HSV GTS Review : GenF-2 SedanPlayIconRounded
Review | 26 Jan 2024

9.0

James takes a ride on the Highway to Hell in the 2016 HSV GTS - and brings AC/DC along for the ride
2021 HSV Colorado V8 review: Top secret ute track-tested
Quick Drive | 18 Nov 2021
A top-secret HSV Colorado V8 was just months away from showrooms before Holden was axed. Here is the story on the one that got away.
2020 Ford Ranger Raptor v HSV Colorado SportsCat v Nissan Navara N-Trek Warrior comparison review: Road test
Comparison | 22 Feb 2020

8.4

The super-ute category has a new challenger. Here’s how the new Nissan Navara N-Trek Warrior stacks up against the pioneering Ford Ranger Raptor and HSV Colorado SportsCat on the road.
Loading...

0
Off-road comparison: 2020 Nissan Navara N-Trek Warrior v Ford Ranger Raptor v HSV Colorado SportsCatPlayIconRounded
Comparison | 21 Feb 2020

8.4

Which of these top-end 4x4 utes fares best off-road? There's only one way to find out...
HSV Commodore VN SS Group A touring car prototype sold at auctionPlayIconRounded
news | 19 Mar 2024
This 1990 Holden VN Commodore ‘pilot’ race car is a highly collectible piece of Australian motorsport history, and it could be yours
Rare HSV GTSR W1 sedan sells for $363,000 at auction
news | 12 Jan 2024
A HSV GTSR W1 has sold for more than double its price when new – but it was far from the records set by its siblings throughout the pandemic.
Early HSV Group A prototype with HRT V8 heads to auction
news | 20 Dec 2023
A 1990 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A prototype is being auctioned, complete with a hand-built HRT V8 race engine.
Loading...

0
Ex-HSV designer reveals Callum Skye electric off-roader
news | 25 Nov 2023
Scottish designer Ian Callum and his team have developed their first complete vehicle, an electric off-roader, set to go on sale in 2024.

Holden Special Vehicles Videos

Holden Special Vehicles CarAdvice

Aussie Oddities: HSV Coupe 4
Features | 15 Dec 2023
Holden Special Vehicles paved the way for a brutish grand tourer with an all-wheel-drive, two-door, V8 coupe.
When Australian-made cars were the stars | Drive Flashback
25 Years of Drive | 12 Oct 2023
The 1996 Australian International Motor Show showcased everything that was good about our local car industry. Drive was there.
1997 HSV GTS: When Aussie muscle ruled the roads | Drive Flashback
25 Years of Drive | 29 Sep 2022
Big Aussie muscle cars are almost always Bathurst-bred. In September 1997, then-Drive editor, Phil Scott, drove the new hot rods from Holden.
Loading...

0
Walkinshaw topples Brock's Holden empire: This week in Motoring, June 1987
25 Years of Drive | 2 Jun 2022
Sunday, 7 June 1987, was a landmark day for the Australian car industry with Tom Walkinshaw dethroning Peter Brock as the king of Holden's performance car division, wrote Phil Scott.
2016 HSV Clubsport R8 LSA review
Owner Review | 5 Sep 2019
HSV, for many, the most loved car brand in Australia. Unfortunately, there will be no more. Which is exactly the reason I decided to buy a Gen F2 R8 LSA. I have owned a few different HSV’s in my life and I couldn’t miss out on the chance to have one of the last ones. I have owned a VT Clubsport in midnight purple and the HSV XU8 a few years back. Due to my job I had to own a work car which offered no performance or fun which is what I was looking for. So, when I first laid eyes on the Gen F2 HSV’s I just had to have one. Like the slogan says, “I just want one”. I bought the car in 2017 for $80,000 straight from the dealer and haven’t looked back since. I love this car and everything about it. Sure, it has a few little imperfections here and there but that’s why I like it. I love this cars styling, the aggressive look of the front and their size of it make it a presence on the road. A car not for the faint at heart. I love the interior as well, it’s a fantastic size with lots of room for 5 people and very comfortable bucket seats wrapped in in a leather and swede combination. I have seen many reviews and have heard people saying that the interior feels “cheap” and “tacky” but personally I don’t agree. It feels very authentic to me and the way HSV have mixed a sport and plush interior I believe looks amazing. As for the technology it’s got almost everything you would want. It’s got GPS, Bluetooth, a DVD player for when you are parked, electric seats and much more. If you want to be really picky you might not like the fact that it doesn’t have heated or cooled seats like a lot of cars these days, but hey, I don’t really care if it has them or not so I can look past it. One issue I do have though is the Pandora App. It was a music streaming service that is no longer available, and Holden now put Spotify as a standard app in their new cars, but I am still stuck with Pandora. I would love to be able to get it changed but unfortunately, I don’t think that day will come. The touch screen unit is a little tacky and slow to respond a times but nothing to get mad about, it’d not as quick or as reactive as one you might find in an Audi or Mercedes etc. This car has been super reliable for over two years now and I haven’t had any technical issues with it. I hope that one day HSV could possible return, but I personally can’t see it happening. They went out with a bang and at least I was able to get one. I don’t plan on ever selling my HSV and hope it can last me a very long time and I can continue to enjoy it for many years to come.
2015 HSV GTS: owner review
Owner Review | 10 Apr 2019
Rewind back to 2015 and I was looking at buying a HSV GTS in April 2015 and the HSV dealers wanted about $104,000 drive away (which I thought was outrageous). So I waited until October 2015 when the GEN-F2 models were appearing in the showrooms. I went in on the last day of October and was able to negotiate $85,250 drive away on a GEN-F1 GTS that was in stock at the dealer. So by waiting 6 months I was able to save a huge $18,750. It just goes to show that timing is crucial when it comes to buying a new car. I can summarise the car in 3 categories. The Good: Vehicle performance for a large 4 door family sedan is incredible. The combination of acceleration, braking and cornering in a car of this size is really unmatched in it's price range and only equalled by euro cars costing 2 to 3 times the money of the GTS. The MRC suspension with its 4 settings means there is an ideal ride comfort / handling combination for just about any surface you drive on. Bullet proof drivetrain. The engine, transmission and differential are all a time proven combination. The transmission and differential are over engineered in terms of their strength. They aren't going to let you down, even in the long term. The Bad: Interior chrome trim is blinding on sunny days. Did no one actually test drive this car on a day when it was 40 degrees and the sun was shining? Build Quality is not perfect. My car had a couple of very minor paint defects which somehow made it past 3 levels of inspection (ie. Holden factory, HSV facility, the dealer pre delivery process). The service department were really good though when I pointed out the defects and they admitted that the defects shouldn't have really made it past the first level at the Holden factory. The factory Continental Sport 5P tyres in my honest opinion are the worst tyres I have ever had. I had more punctures with them in the 18 months I had them than in my some 30 years of driving. Once they were about 50% worn they were unbearably noisy. And don't get me started about the lack of grip. Replacing them with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S was the best thing I have ever done. The Ugly: Fuel consumption. Absolutely horrible around the city. But that's to be expected when you buy a car with supercharged 6.2 litre engine. Expecting decent fuel consumption from a GTS would be like buying a Justin Bieber album and expecting decent musicianship!!! Despite that I've given it a 9.5 for "performance & economy" because economy wasn't a consideration for me. Long term ownership will be expensive. For example consider the brakes. I've heard of dealers quoting between $5000 and $6000 to replace all 4 rotors and pads using genuine items. So while the GTS has awesome braking capability it does come at a price. Same with the MRC shocks. They are supposedly $1500 a corner. Now come back to 2019. The GTS is out of warranty and there is nothing to replace it within its price range. The closest would be an AMG C63S but they are about double the GTS. The Camaro? A 2 door. But after owning a CV8 Monaro (which was a great car) I vowed to never buy a 2 door car (with rear seats) ever again. Time for an aftermarket exhaust system, camshaft, cold air intake and supercharger pulleys with a higher ratio. Result. An estimated 610kw at the flywheel and a quarter mile time at the drags of 10.8 seconds. The only problems I have had with the car are: 1. The head unit / LED screen had intermittent glitches (eg freezing, reverse camera not working) which came good when the car was restarted. A software upgrade by the dealer appears to have fixed that. 2. The drivers side seat felt like it was loose. A known failure fixed by the dealer. The biggest tragedy of it all is that we no longer manufacture such an great car in this country.
2014 HSV Clubsport R8 review
Owner Review | 4 Apr 2018
This vehicle is a SV variant. Having owned a VY II SE and a VZ Clubsport/s, this vehicle caught my eye and well’ it got the mind and heart racing. The only thing I dislike and still do till I carbon fibre wrap them is the inbuilt exhaust tips. Aside from this the car is comfortable, rides superbly and powered nicely. SV Enhanced grabs the MRC magnetic ride control, EDI interface, 20” Black Sapphire rims staggered, Black Saphire rear wing, AP Racing brakes and 340kw. Interior is amazingly comfortable eith passengers surprised at the fitout right down to the Bose sound system, which I rarely use as i prefer to listen to the sound, cackles and pops along with the roar as the air intake opens up. A few mods have been done ( retune by Oztrack & OTRCAI) to give it a little bit of performance for track days. Its time stock standard was 68.7 secs around Symmons Plains ... compare that to a Supercar at 54sec lap. Track day this car is delegated to the high speed group consisting of a GTS, twoLamborghini’s ( Gallardo and a Hurracan) and a Audi R8. I love surprising one of the Lambos at the end of the two straights- he simply cannot power into the braking zone as quick as I do..lol The bi-modal exhaust stays in Sport mode, performance mode for track days, but in saying that I have never had the need to use launch control. The bi- modal which normal shuts off one of the high flow pipes at 1300-3000 revs has been disconnected to improve sound and power output as well. Given the SV has high flow headers snd cats, nothing more is required expect maybe a resr muffler chsnge to depen thst infamous V8 roar. This car has never missed a beat, mechanically and turns heads at every show, mostly due to Bowden’s Own products now being used. Sadly no more Clubsports and given this was the most powerful naturally aspirated engine built for an Australian production car, it is now my investment. An investment to reflect Australian built, produced and cared for products. I simply love it.
Loading...

0
2014 HSV Clubsport R8 review
Owner Review | 13 Feb 2018
Quick note before I jump into the review. In case you haven’t read any other of my Owner Car Reviews, I’m a 14 year old from Sydney, and I have a passion for cars. As I’m sure you know, the Holden factory in Elizabeth closed in October of last year. It was a very sad moment, especially for my dad. My dad has always been a Holden guy, and I’ve experienced my fair share of that growing up. He goes to Bathurst each year for the Supercars race, and has owned 4 HSVs over the years (VR Clubsport, LS1-powered VT II Clubsport, 307kW VE Clubsport R8 and his current car which I’ll get into). He has owned so many he’s part of the prestigious HSV Frequent Buyers Club (you have to have owned 3+ HSVs to be eligible). So, you can imagine what it was like when he took delivery of his MY14 HSV Clubsport R8 in February of 2014. Well, by delivery I don’t really mean delivery. As soon as the car arrived from HSV’s Clayton facility it was sent over to a local performance shop to get a Walkinshaw W375 kit added on, which boosts the 6.2L naturally aspirated LS3's power from 325kW to 375kW, through ceramic coated headers, dual active cat-back exhausts, a cold air intake and ECU calibration. And my god, those modifications are evident. The exhaust is the best mod of all - the amount of rumble and noise you get is insane. Even when in an underground parking garage, cold starts can be heard from three stories above. Talking to someone in the back seat while doing 130 on the freeway? Good luck. It’s a barrel of laughs and giggles. That’s probably the best way to describe the R8. Want to pull almost 1 G through the Victoria Pass? Check. Want to kick the tail out when leaving the car wash? Check. Want to dominate the traffic light grand prix? Check. There isn’t much, performance wise, that the R8 can’t do. Well… apart from 6:47.3 Nurburgring laps that is. Now, as every Toyota C-HR owner knows, a car isn’t just defined by its performance and go-fast talent - let's move on to comfort and practicality. Let's be real now - unless you're a family of 6, you don't need a CX-9, Territory or X5 - a Clubsport R8 is all you need. There's plenty of space when sitting in the very comfortable front bucket seats, and boot volume is a mammoth 496L - however, the back seats are where the R8 (and the VF Commodore in general) really shines. It doesn't matter whether you are 6 years old or 6 feet tall, you'll never have a problem with legroom, headroom or shoulder room. Forget about your SUV or sports car - this, with the exception of the manic GTS-R W1, is the best Aussie road trip vehicle ever built. Looks wise, the 2014 Clubsport R8 is an aggressive vehicle. It has that mean, low stance you expect from a HSV (bar the SportsCat). It has tougher-looking front and rear bumpers (which I actually prefer over the GTS), coupled with wider fenders and lowered suspension. The boot lid is home to the R8’s surprisingly small spoiler - which oddly is considerably smaller than the one on my dad’s old VE Clubsport R8. Let’s move on to technology and features. For an Australian car that first broke cover in mid-2013, and was in development since 2009 or 2010, the features list is extremely impressive. Forward collision alert, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, hill hold, a heads up display, rear cross traffic alert, an automatic parking system - the list goes on. However, there are a few modern technologies the R8 misses out on - AEB (cough cough Stinger 330S), a digital driver’s display and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. Speaking of infotainment systems, the R8 uses the 2013 version of Holden’s MyLink system. The system, considering its age, is very good - it has a fully fledged satellite navigation system with traffic, messaging functions, media apps like Stitcher and Pandora (RIP) and a hell of a lot more. Aesthetics wise, most people would consider MyLink dated (I don’t) - it’s probably comparable to iDrive 2 or MZD Connect in appearance. The Clubsport R8 isn’t perfect. If HSV had done a Gen-F3 facelift with things like an infotainment overhaul with full phone connectivity, folding rear seats and AEB, this car would be absolutely fantastic. In short, the 2014 HSV Clubsport R8 is all you could ever want from a car. It’s blisteringly quick. It’s massive inside. It looks more aggressive than most of the cars on the road. It is very well equipped even by today’s standards. Next time you’re in the market for a modern, fast family car that won’t break the bank, remember this: before you buy a Stinger, a ZB Commodore or another damn SUV, take a second to check the used market, because there’s a VF Clubsport R8 somewhere out there ready to steal your heart.
* 'MRLP' is the manufacturer’s recommended list price as provided by our data provider and is subject to change, so is provided to you for indicative purposes only. Please note that MRLP is inclusive of GST, but is exclusive of any options and does not include on-road costs such as registration, CTP, stamp duty and dealer delivery. Where an MRLP is stated as a price range, this reflects the lowest to highest MRLP provided for that model range across the available variants.
Chat with us!







Chat with Agent