HSV GTS new car review
Australians still love a V8 and it's no more obvious than on the second weekend in October at the nation's premier motorsport event at Bathurst, where the iconic engine layout still makes all the right noises around one of the world's great race tracks.
Holden and Ford admit the days of winning on the track and translating that to showroom success are long gone. This is hardly surprising, given the purpose-built race cars share only a badge with the road versions they mimic.
But for Australia's most successful performance brand, HSV, there's a strong marketing connection between the race machines and the Commodore-based cars that are its staple.
It's most pertinent with the latest Gen-F version of the GTS, the hero in the range and the fastest car ever built in Australia. For the first time, HSV has teamed a supercharger with a V8 engine to give the GTS a huge performance advantage over the rest of the HSV range.
What do you get?
Priced from $92,990, plus on-road and dealer costs, it looks like an expensive Commodore, but the GTS comes with its fair share of fruit. Included are heated, leather-clad seats (electrically operated up front), a Bose sound system, a reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, dual-zone automatic air-conditioning and HSV's impressive EDI (enhanced driver interface), which provides detailed performance data and data logging on everything from power outputs and wheel slip to steering angles and lap times.
An auto ups the price to $95,490.
The GTS also has all the latest Commodore toys, including blind-spot warning and collision alert, with the latter prone to the occasional false positive.
The head-up display is also impressive, right down to the HSV logo that flashes up on start-up, the first of many reminders you're not in a regular Commodore. There's also adjustable suspension as part of the driver control system.
The only step backwards is the single power outlet, with the second outlet replaced by two oversized oil gauges.
There's also no spare tyre (a bigger differential fills the space), and if you want one it seriously compromises the boot space, while those who like gearshift paddles have to live without.
What's inside?
Commodore drivers will recognise plenty in the GTS, from the basic layout to the main controls, but there are enough HSV trinkets, including well-proportioned seats, to make you feel more special.
Cabin space is generous, ensuring five-occupant comfort with good head and leg room.
Finer details are where the GTS loses points to its European counterparts. The faux carbon fibre looks fake, for example, and there are still some scratchy plastics on the top of the dash and door trims.
Under the bonnet
The engine is the highlight in the GTS. The 6.2-litre unit has extra firepower from a supercharger, which forces more air into the engine, allowing it to burn more fuel. The result is more power.
And what a mighty whack it has. The 430kW peak gives the big Commodore body potent acceleration, at times keeping the traction control busy trying to contain wheelspin. Keep your foot flat and there's prodigious pull.
We managed a 0-100km/h time in 4.3 seconds. It's a quick machine, especially once you remind yourself it also seats five in comfort.
But it's the torque that is more impressive, with 740Nm on offer, providing phenomenal pulling power. Even at 800rpm, the engine has enough on tap to provide above-average acceleration. At 60 or 70km/h up a hill in sixth gear, it'll haul nicely, with the engine barely ticking over at 1000rpm or so.
The auto transmission is also well calibrated to take advantage of that torque, happily sticking in sixth while building speed up a hill.
The six-speed manual has a heavy clutch action, but it's viceless. Tall gearing (second is good for 120km/h or so) is also well suited to the punchy engine. Use a lower gear and that pull is amplified.
Fuel use is where it falls short. While the claim for the auto is 13.9 litres per 100km, expect to chew through well over 20L/100km of premium unleaded around town. Even with some freeway thrown into the mix, don't expect to use much less than 12L/100km.
On the road
It's a big car but a very confident one, something helped with the latest Gen-F updates.
New 20-inch Continental tyres grip brilliantly, although it doesn't take much of a prod on the accelerator to provoke the stability control into action.
Six-caliper brakes provide potent stopping power that's only ever likely to come under pressure on a race track. Even then they held up well to some punishment at speed at Phillip Island.
The adjustable suspension, or MRC (magnetic ride control) is more convincing in the GTS than it was in previous HSVs. In its softest mode, Tour (there are also Sport, Performance and Track), it's surprisingly compliant, given the low-profile rubber, jarring only over potholes and other sharp edges.
In Track it's a different story and more jittery than makes sense on the road. The Sport mode is firm on gentle drives, but provides some extra dynamic sharpness.
Those modes also adjust the throttle sensitivity (the differences are mild), steering (there's a deadness to the mid-corner feel in gentle cruising, especially in Tour mode), exhaust note and stability control tuning (it'll let the driver get away with more in sportier tunes, such as Track).
The torque vectoring system is unlikely to get much of a run in everyday driving. It operates only in the most aggressive modes, Performance and Track, diverting more power to the outside wheel when accelerating, and is best felt on a track. Each of those modes must be selected after starting the car, resulting in a less aggressive stability control system that allows more sliding before the electronics kick in to contain things.
Despite the four modes, I never found a setting that did everything I wanted. So, for example, if you want the meatier steering feel, it's accompanied by firmer suspension. Ideally I'd like a selectable setting (as in some European vehicles) whereby you can mate the weightier steering feel with the softer suspension, for example.
Verdict
Big, beefy and brutal, the GTS does exactly what it says on the box, albeit with the sort of fuel use that could require the drilling of another oil rig. It's not as refined as its European rivals, but on the money when it comes to performance.
That said it's surprisingly easy to live with in everyday driving and remarkably calm overall.
It's 95 per cent there and for less than half the price, making it something of a performance bargain for a full-sized sedan. For that it deserves a big tick. Make it two.