2013 HSV Gen-F Track Test Review
2013 HSV Gen-F Track Test Review
What’s hot: Wonderful electric power steering, strong V8 engines, powerful brakes and improved interior
What’s not: Seats on base model Clubsport/Maloo, that’s about it really.
X-Factor: For sheer hammer at a price, nothing in this market comes remotely close. 'Nuff said.
Vehicle style: Large performance sedan
Price: $58,990 - $85,990
Engine/trans: 317kW/550Nm (Clubsport/Maloo), 325kW/550Nm (Clubsport R8/MalooR8), 340kW/570Nm (R8 SV Enhanced, Senator, Grange)
OVERVIEW
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new Commodore in town. Ergo, there’s also a brace of brand-spanking new models from Holden’s factory-sanctioned performance arm, Holden Special Vehicles.
HSV refers to this new generation of cars as Gen-F, and you can learn more about the range here.
We’ve now driven the entire Gen-F family. We’ve driven them on road and on track, and we’ve found them all to be a significant step up from the outgoing E3-generation HSVs.
HSV also had a pre-production example of the all-conquering 430kW GTS for us to drive. Unfortunately we can’t tell you about it until late July.
Trust us though, it’ll be worth the wait. That thing is a monster.
But for now, let’s delve into the rest of the Gen-F lineup. We drove everything from the base Clubsport to the Grange, with an even mix of manual and automatic transmissions.
The road drive for the Gen-F was pretty sedate, but HSV made up for it with a day at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit. Here's how the range stacks up.
Clubsport/Maloo
The entrypoint. The bottom rung. The penny-pincher’s option.
At $60,990 the Clubsport is now $4000 cheaper than before (the Maloo costs even less at $58,990), but although it’s one of the most affordable, that doesn’t mean it's lacking appeal compared to its more expensive stablemates.
Sure, there’s no head-up display, bi-modal exhaust or fancy EDI performance telemetry, but you do get the full benefit of the more refined VF Commodore interior and feature list.
However, we do miss the triple-gauge cluster that sat atop the E3’s centre stack.
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