New Commodore Evoke Review
COMMODORE EVOKE REVIEW
- What’s hot: Superior ride and handling, quality feel and high-end features at an unexpected price
- What’s not: Curious ‘soft panel’ dashboard trim, external styling carryovers
- X-Factor: The quality, capability and economy to bring buyers back to the traditional Australian family car
Price: $34,990 plus on-roads
Engine/trans: 185kW/290Nm 3.0 litre SIDI DOHC V6/six-speed auto
Fuel economy listed: 8.3 l/100km | tested: 8.5 l/100km
OVERVIEW
Did ever a car hit the Australian market with such weight of expectation as the new VF Commodore?
Perhaps not since the HQ, or maybe the first Opel Rekord-based Commodore, has this market so eagerly anticipated the arrival of the ‘new baby’ from one of our own.
And one, like the Chev Camaro and Pontiac G8, that carries the flag for Australian engineering and automotive design capability.
Sampling nearly all across the new Commodore range in a long looping run through (appropriately) the Monaro High Plains in Southern NSW, left us in no doubt of the quality and capability of this car and the depth of its engineering.
World-class? Inside, outside, underneath, everywhere you care to look.
And the biggest surprise is that it comes at a price that has it lying right across the better medium sedan and SUV sectors.
With the Evoke, the entry model to the range, there's electric power steering and ‘park assist’ self-parking, with rear-view camera and front and rear sensors, with IsoFix child-seat attachments, electric park-brake, trailer sway control, Bluetooth and audio streaming, eight-inch touchscreen and voice recognition control, among a raft of technologies.
And this, all this, for less than $35k?
Still not satisfied? Add then the refinement, on-road ease and balance of a limousine, the effortlessness of a 3.0 litre V6, but with the thirst of a medium segment four-cylinder.
This car, at this price, with these features and capabilities simply demands the attention of buyers. It’s as if Holden decided to slam down a challenge to the market to end all argument.
Any buyer spending five minutes behind the wheel of the Evoke would have to seriously question why they would want to spend more money on a lesser imported SUV or medium sedan competitor.
Andrew Holmes, project engineering manager, told TMR, “We learned a lot from the Camaro project, and we put it back into the VF.” It shows; we think the new VF Commodore will change a lot of minds.
Don’t even think of buying anything else till you have a look.
INTERIOR | RATING: 4.5/5
Quality: It’s the classy ambience of the interior, the feel of the controls, the soft-touch surfaces and stylish implementation that puts the VF in a wholly different league to the outgoing VE.
That’s not to damn it with faint praise: this is a classy interior full-stop. Besides a cohesive and inviting feel, there are so many features on offer that it looks not at all like an entry-spec model.
It’s only the soft fabric panel on the dash (suede further up the range) and the curious curved line it creates, that jars with these eyes. I can’t work out why it’s there.
The rim to the composite steering wheel also has a rubbery feel to it. It’s nicely styled though, with all functions at the thumb-tips and is sized just-right.
Model VE VF pricing Rollback Evoke (auto only) $39,990 (Omega) $34,990 - $5,000 SV6 (manual) $42,790 $35,990 -$6,800 SS (manual) $47,790 $41,990 -$5,800 SS-V (manual) $55,290 $45,490 -$9,800 SS-V Redline (manual) $57,790 $51,490 -$6,300 Calais (auto only) $48,290 $39,990 -$8,300 Calais V V6 (auto only) $56,790 $46,990 -$9,800 Calais V V8 (auto only) $61,990 $52,990 -$9,000
Options
Evoke
- Blind Spot Alert / Reverse Traffic Alert - $350
- Satellite Navigation - $750 (Available September 2013)
SV6
- Satellite Navigation - $750
- Sunroof (Sedan only) - $1,990
- Rear wing spoiler (Sedan only) - $500
- Leather Appointed seats - $1500
SS
- Satellite Navigation - $750
- Sunroof (Sedan only) - $1990
- Rear wing spoiler (Sedan only) - $500
SS-V
- Sunroof & Bose® Audio Package (Sedan only) - $2490
- Rear wing spoiler (Sedan only) - $500
SS-V Redline
- Rear wing spoiler (Sedan only) - $500
Calais
- Satellite Navigation - $750
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