Commodore wins award.

[billy bigtime]

Compliments of drive.com.au

And the gold award winner is...


Holden's new but old feel V6


When the biggest car company in the world pumps all its experience, technical resources and $400 million into an all-new engine, you can reasonably expect the best mainstream V6 in the world. Can't you?

Not when that company is GM, it seems. The base engine fitted to the Commodore since 1988 was a US donk with antecedents that predated the Cuban missile crisis.

The quad-cam Alloytec replacement has all-new architecture and componentry, yet, in a phenomenal technical feat, engineers have made the standard model Commodore sound and drive uncannily like the old one. And the new base engine delivers no meaningful performance or economy advantages.

You probably saw the new V6 being introduced in a glitzy TV ad, sitting on a test bench in Holden's NASA-inspired engine lab, surrounded by brainy looking people wearing white coats.

This is what's known as science fiction. The Holden engineering department looks nothing like that and the new engine sounds nothing like that either. Indeed, it sounds like a vacuum cleaner with a bag that needs emptying. No wonder they used a stunt double for the audio.

So, for 2004, come on down Holden.

It's 30 years since the demise of the Leyland P76, an Australian-built car that set the new low standard for quality, longevity, reliability, profitability and style. In this spirit, Drive presents silver P76s for 2004, plus the supreme accolade, our superb trophy finished in a truly unreal gold plating.

[DKGandBH]

The P76 got the "car of the year"... :-)

I thought that there were bigger car companies than GM ?

D.

[Bruce Moxon]

The P76 Manual V8 got the COTY.

The rest of the range got the shaft. Not the only time Wheels gave it to a specific model - one of the AU Falcon variants was a winner too, from (flawed) memory.

Other COTY winners; The JB Camira, the EA Falcon, the VN Commodore, the VW Passat (the old one - about 1973).

Anyone see a pattern here?



Bruce Moxon - owner of at least two COTY winners.

[Ozfords]

I'm petty positve that Falcon EA never got a COTY, for sure. But a Australian design award it did. Funny that.

[Bruce Moxon]

You could well be right.

And on a similar vein, the guy that puts together www.sniffpetrol.com has done a book called 'C**p Cars'. Supposed to be pretty good in a bad way).


BM

[Amaroo Park]

The JB Camira got car of the year in 1982

[Morris 1100]

Morris 1100, Wheels car of the year.

[johnh875]

Originally Posted by Bruce Moxon

Not the only time Wheels gave it to a specific model - one of the AU Falcon variants was a winner too, from (flawed) memory.

You don't mean the BA??? That's the only "AU variant" to win COTY. Wheels learned their lesson over the P76 V8 award years ago.