[Review] 2016 Holden Commodore SV6
From a while back, the Holden Commodore was one of my favourite sports/power sedan. I was finally able to test drive it for a week and I can continue to say that it is still my favourite power car in the price range bracket. My test vehicle was the SV6 which had a 3.6L V6 engine producing a decent 210kW of power! It certainly goes when you put the foot down!
While the power of the Commodore is a factor in me liking the vehicle, the design and colour of the Commodore strikes me as well. The red hot body colour with hints of black make this stick out like a sore thumb, in a good way of course! In the carpark, it was very hard to not be able to see where you parked, unless there were identical red Holden Commodores. Another thing to note about my Commodore is that it is the Black Edition model which blacks out some of the vehicle’s adornments. The 18″ wheels, fender vents, mirror scalps, grille surround and lip spoiler are all in black as part of the Black Edition model.
My first impressions on the Holden Commodore (that is, when I drove it out of the dealership) was that the seats were nice and comfy – they were a mixture of leather and soft-feel layered materials, and were deep to accommodate your seating preference. The back seats were also comfy as they too were deep, and had the same contouring as the front. With the Commodore, sitting in the back seat is just as comfy as sitting in the front, so no more fighting kids over calling “shotgun”!
Another first impression is its power. You really can’t be liberal with the accelerator in urban areas, as when you add a little accelerator, Whoomf, you’re off!
When I got in the vehicle I also noticed how tiny the wing mirrors were. The reason for this is to apparently reduce drag which improves on the aerodynamics of the vehicle. It does have blind spot monitoring so those close encounters when changing lanes aren’t too much of a hassle.
The steering wheel is also covered in leather and is nice and thick. Because it’s a sports car, the steering has that touch of “heaviness”. This is in line with the sporty nature of the car and was to be expected with the Commodore.
A couple of mechanical features of the car include it having a BiModal exhaust and a Mechanical Sound Enhancer (which enhances induction noise and supplies targeted frequencies into the cabin). These are only available on V8 models.
In terms of technology, the Holden Commodore has most of the bells and whistles for a modern vehicle. My SV6 has Holden’s MyLink Infotainment system with an 8″ touchscreen, Automatic Park Assist, Rear View Camera, Front and Rear parking sensors, Blind Spot Alert, Reverse Traffic Alert, Siri Eyes Free and a Smart remote engine start system which is only available on automatic transmissions. I did not realise there was such a feature so was not able to try this out unfortunately.
To start off on the entertainment side of things in the Commodore, the Holden MyLink infotainment system could use a bit of an upgrade. The design on it looks a bit dated for such a modern vehicle, and somewhere along the menu I kept on seeing a Windows Vista sign pop up. Nevertheless the buttons do what they are supposed to do, and the menus do what they are supposed to do too. Speaking of buttons, the placement of the buttons could be positioned better too. For example, the NAV (navigation) button is all the way to the left and would be a lot easier to reach (since it’s a commonly used feature) if it was placed near the right closer to the driver.
During my time with the Holden Commodore, I could not pass off the Automatic Park Assist feature and so I had to try it out somehow. The above picture will tell you how that went for one of my tests.
The Head Up display was also a nice touch and this meant I didn’t have to keep looking down at the instrument panel to see how fast I was going, or looking to the navigation system to see where I had to turn next as this was all on the head up display. It’s bright turquoise-ish font mean that it was bright enough to see even on a nice sunny day.
In the Holden Commodore, it was also not uncommon for drivers to slow down around me as they think I am an undercover cop. This was nice as you see drivers are more likely to drive sensibly around you and not be a dick.
While the SV6 Commodore has a 3.6L V6 engine, it can take a minimum of 91-Octane fuel. It has a fuel capacity of 71 litres and during my time with the Commodore I got around 11.1L/100KM. Now if I had it for a longer period of time, I reckon I could adjust my driving habits to get it down to around 10.5L/100KM. There’s just too many things to test in very little time!
Overall the Holden Commodore SV6 is a very nice looking car interior and exterior wise. The sheer amount of power you get for a $50,000 car is quite astonishing. If I were to buy the Holden Commodore, I would get the high end model, the SSV-Redline with all the tech bells and whistles built-in.
For more information on the Holden Commodore please visit: https://www.holden.co.nz/cars/commodore
