(first posted 5/8/2018) Most cars would usually be looking rather tired eight years into their model run. Not so the first-generation Holden Commodore. Other than an unchanged width, the VL looked remarkably different to the inaugural VB Commodore. Even more refreshingly, it came with two new engines: both straight-sixes from Nissan, one a turbocharged version.
How did Nissan engines end up under the Commodore’s hood? Let’s look back at Holden in the 1980s. The first Commodore, the 1978 VB, had been lauded for being the right car in the right size at the right time. The 1979 XD Falcon, in contrast, was seen as being oversized and out-of-touch. As fuel prices fell, however, the Falcon began to soar and the right-sized Commodore suddenly wasn’t so right-sized. By 1982, the Falcon overtook the Commodore in sales. The bigger Ford had been aided by strong fleet sales and a whopping 95% share of the taxi market, but even private buyers were looking past the Commodore.
1984-86 VK Commodore
General Motors-Holden as a whole was also suffering. They had spent $AUD400 million on a factory to produce the Family II four-cylinder and, despite a fledgling export program for said engines, the whole endeavor was proving highly unprofitable. The government had also mandated the use of unleaded fuel from January 1, 1986, throwing another spanner in the works for Holden. General Motors was reluctant to throw even more money into what was effectively an isolated outpost, at that point catering almost exclusively to a domestic market that bought only around 600,000 cars a year. By 1986, Holden’s market share was down to 20.84% while Ford sat at 30.59%. Despite a growing market, Holden was faltering. This failure wasn’t just on the back of the Commodore range, mind you, as Holden had some concerning gaps in their lineup (no ute or long-wheelbase sedan after 1984) and some mediocre products (Camira, Astra).
As early as 1983, Holden was in talks with Nissan to obtain their inline six engines. They had looked throughout the rest of the GM stable first, of course, but found Opel’s sixes to be too old and heavy and GM North America’s V6s to be too weak. The deal was struck with Nissan to source their RB30E six, used in the Skyline range, for the revised 1986 VL Commodore.
The new, imported six signified the end of the line for 38 years of Aussie-built Holden sixes, although local production would eventually return. The electronically fuel-injected, single overhead camshaft 3.0 was more modern and refined than its predecessor, although it weighed fractionally more than the old Holden six. Horsepower and torque were 152 hp and 182 ft-lbs respectively, compared to 142 hp and 196 ft-lbs for the fuel-injected version of the old six. That still put it down 36 ft-lbs to the volume-selling carburetted 4.1 six in the Ford Falcon but the Commodore also weighed around 600 pounds less.
Holden engineers had made tweaks to the Nissan six, hoping to increase low-end torque without sacrificing its broad rev range. Automotive journalists at the time were highly impressed with the overall refinement and tractability of the engine, as well as the new five-speed manual and Nissan-sourced four-speed automatic transmissions. Nissan’s impressive engine netted a great many comparisons to Europe’s finest, particularly in its ability to rev effortlessly to its 6200 rpm redline.
Those who bristled at the notion of a Japanese engine in a Commodore – and there were quite a few grumbles at the time – could still opt for the 4.9 V8 eight months into the VL’s run. Holden had retooled it to run on unleaded and it now produced 164 hp and 238 ft-lbs. Although it was quicker off the line, the V8 was no faster than the new naturally-aspirated six to 60mph: both did the dash in around 9 seconds.
While the new engines and freshened styling elevated the VL, the rest of the package was showing its age. Although the Commodore had been stretched longer and longer, it had never been pulled wider and wider. This put interior space at a disadvantage compared to the 5.4-inch wider Falcon. Surprisingly, for a car engineered in such a hot country like Australia, the air-conditioning was lousy. At least Holden freshened the interior, with a new, more modern-looking center stack that sat lower. They also ditched the odd, square gauges of the VK for more conventional round ones; the posh Calais also lost its digital instruments, sharing a gauge cluster with the mid-range Berlina (the Calais did, however, gain stylish semi-concealed headlights). The changes were positive but there was still plenty of room for improvement in terms of build quality. Wheels compared a VL Calais with the top-spec VB SL/E and found plenty of cost-cutting and some concerning build quality issues.
Wheels also wasn’t a fan of the tweaks to the VL’s suspension, although many buyers may have been pleased. The VL’s suspension was softened, resulting in greater body roll and vertical motion. Engineers had aimed to decrease road noise and ride comfort but the Commodore’s handling suffered. Critics also noted the steering now provided less feel, power steering-equipped Commodores now requiring 2.7 turns lock-to-lock instead of 3.3. The “Euro” feel of the Commodore had been dialled out somewhat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAid00jRbr8
After a short, six-month delay, Holden introduced the eagerly anticipated turbocharged version of the Nissan six. Rather than restrict it to certain models, Holden made it an option across the entire range. Producing 201 hp and 218 ft-lbs, the turbo six was smooth and lacked the lag that plagued other turbocharged engines. Like the naturally-aspirated Commodores, the turbos also came with a choice of five-speed manual or electronically-controlled four-speed automatic transmissions. With the manual, 0-60 mph was accomplished in around 7.6 seconds; the auto reached 60 in around 8.5 seconds. Those were some heady numbers for the mid-1980s. Turbo Commodore buyers also had the option of an available FE2 suspension tune with firmer springs and shocks, negating the retrograde revisions to the VL’s suspension.
The turbo was intended only to be a niche model, Holden projecting around 3000 sales a year and the bulk of those were expected to be the high-end Calais. That made sense considering the price premium the boosted model carried: although a turbo Calais was only around $AUD 1500 more expensive than a regular one, the price premium was $2000-3000 in the SL, Executive and Berlina models.
By 1987, Holden buyers were spoilt for choice: there were two performance engines they could choose from, one representing the comfortable and the familiar, the other new and fresh and exciting. More importantly, even buyers at the bottom end of the Commodore range could enjoy a more refined, fuel-efficient Aussie sedan or wagon.
The New Zealand market also received a smaller 2.0 inline six from Nissan, replacing the lethargic 1.9 “Starfire” four they’d continued offering even after Australia had had enough. Keen pricing of Commodores with the small six – $2000 lower than equivalent 3.0 variants – allowed it to account for half of Commodore sales there. In turn, the Commodore overtook the Falcon in sales there.
The Falcon remained king in the Australian market, however, thanks largely to its greater fleet and regional sales and incentives. With an imported engine, Holden couldn’t afford to slash VL prices too much and instead focussed on private buyers. It would take until 1989, the second year of the VN Commodore, for the Commodore to finally wrestle back the sales crown from the Falcon.
It was common knowledge a new, wider Commodore was on the way as the VL was being launched. The 1988 VN offered greater interior space and more modern styling, although under its new sheetmetal it was much the same as the VL. The key difference was under the hood: the Nissan sixes were gone, replaced with the Buick 3.8 V6. An increasingly unfavorable exchange rate had killed any chances of Holden continuing its deal with Nissan. The VN’s V6 may not have revved as sweetly as the VL’s six but it made up for that loss with more torque.
The decision to use Nissan sixes was an expedient decision made by a company in the red, but it’s made the VL one of the most respected Commodore generations. To this day, VL turbos command obscene prices. While it was controversial ditching the Aussie “Red” six for Japanese engines, history has remembered this decision, and the VL, fondly.
VL Berlina photographed in Taringa, Queensland in February 2018.
Related Reading:
Magazine Classic: 1986 Holden Commodore vs Europe – Challenging Teenage Perceptions II
Automotive History: Australian Auto Family Trees – The Holden Commodore From A-Z VB-VF.
Curbside Classic: 1988-91 Holden VN Commodore – Revisiting the Opel Mine
Curbside Classic: 1978-81 Holden VB/VC Commodore – The Beginning of a New Era
The Nissamodore. A (local) GM deadly sin.
By the time this came along, most folk experienced fleet-level Commodes with 1963-era engines and 1970-era GM 3-speed autos. None too refined, undergeared, 0-60 mph in about 12 seconds, 15 mpg. Even though, as an auto, the last injected version of the old six was decently smooth and actually faster than the replacement Nissan, few ponied up for it.
Thus this Nissan-engined one was a revelation for most, speedy, refined, quiet, and the public loved it.
But GM stuffed it.
The engine, as fitted, was higher than the top of the radiator, and with the slightest loss of coolant – in a hot country – the head gasket would blow. The transmission was fitted with silly high gearing, presumably for economy figures, which meant it hunted, and got hot, and too often died. The cost of fixing what was then exotic stuff was really shocking to most consumers.
And they mucked up the handling as mentioned, which was noticeable in normal driving. They persisted with the Spongebob disc/drum combo, fitted a weird variable steering rack – unassisted in the common base form – and the car lost all the Euro poise it had ever possessed.
And GMH build quality in the ’80’s was off the pace. Poor paint, poor panel fit.
And they lost money on them, despite good sales. How? Well, having been too lazy to do much since ’63, the engine couldn’t ever run on the new for ’86 unleaded, hence the outside engine. Which was fine till the dollar collapsed against the Yen, and the drivetrain was reputedly costing them $10 k each! Hence the midnight engineering (which showed!) of the crude Buick V6 for the next model VN, which had other wise been entirely engineered to run with the Nissan fitout.
Nissan themselves, who just once ran a very cheeky ad congratulating Holden on their fine choice of engine (lawyers stopped the party), produced the admittedly ugly Skyline with the same drivetrain, but with good handling, 4-wheel discs, better seats, no radiator issues and gearing suited to a revvy engine. They’re sought after now.
Finally, personally, I reckon the mods made to modernise the ’78 body looked ’80’s bad, plasticky, ill-fitting, and as history proved, very prone to fading and warping before falling off. I’ll concede they worked in their time.
I’ll also concede the rare topline turbo models now fetch astronomical sums, so some love them.
But not me. I see a nice car that foolishness ruined.
Great post, William. One little nit, all Commodores had perfectly decent aircon for their time, even if the Falcon’s was slightly better.
The VL wasn’t the Deadly Sin, but the Commodore was. GM had to bail out GM-Holden to the tune of $780m at the end of 1986 because otherwise they could have gone bankrupt.
A relative had one of the R31 Skylines for about 20 years, it was a good car.
I’m with you on the Skyline. A friend replaced his Volvo 164 with an R31. In the end the Skyline outlasted him.
To me these two Australian iterations of the German Opel Commodore C and the Ford Granada Mk2 look rather bizarre.
Almost like prototype cars they tried to disguise in order to not have taken any pictures of them.
These Falcon’s might look like a MK2 Granada on the outside, but they have more in common with the US Granada.
The only parts that are the same is the headlight lens and debatebly the outer door handles, and even then the lens is only the same on Right Hand drive Granada’s from what I have found.
They still were basically 1966 US Falcons underneath the outer skin, and the mechanical’s were pretty much the same just updated.
The engines may have had crossflow heads on the 6s, but they were still the old pre crossflow underneath.
The Granada’s look like a cross between a TE/TF (MK4/5) Cortina (TC2/3Taunus) and an XD.
I own 4 Falcon’s, 3 versions of this 4th Generation Falcon and a 5th Generation EL Fairmont.
1 is an XD Sedan like the blue one below the VB Commodore above, it was my first car and I have owned it since 1996.
2 is XF Wagon like the wagon in the above advert, these wagon’s used a tailgate that was also used on Fox Body Fairmonts.
3 is an XH Panel Van, this model of van was the last of it’s type, and was a 4th Generation body with a 5th Generation front panels and suspension grafted onto it.
4 is an EL Fairmont and even though this is a 5th Generation the floorpan is pretty much the same as the 1966 Falcon.
The Falcon from 1960-2016 as has been pointed out here before, was never a clean sheet design, it just evolved with each generation.
Interesting. Didn’t know the XD+ wagon used the Fox tailgate. Easily interchangable or were there differences (trim aside)?
They look interchangeable but I am not 100% sure, the number plate surround looks different, but the rest looks the same.
I would like to get my hands on the version I have seen on Fox Bodies, where the window opens separately to the complete tailgate, that style was not available here.
It should have been available on the XD-XF Fairmont’s, like the 2 way tailgate was available on XA-XC Fairmont’s, just as a point of difference from the base models.
I’d be surprised if anyone has tried it out!
Re- tailgate. They look but they are not. And that is from a very good source.
Nowadays the Granada Mk 2 is being hailed as one of Ford´s most timeless designs.
Agree. Every time I see this car I always wonder what might have been had FoMoCo opted to offer this design in the U.S. (locally manufactured to avoid exchange rate issues). Clean styling, a dash of European pedigree–would have made a great Mercury (a la the Capri) if nothing else.
It had about the dimension as a 1980 Buick Skylark. So by US standards it was very, very small.
So it might have had a chance with US car buyers at least over a certain period in time. Lets say 1977 – 1982.
No, much bigger than the Skylark; 111″ WB, 186.5″ OAL, 73″ width, so 4.5-6″ more in each dimension.
you´re right. the ´80 Skylark was really tiny.
The Aussie Commodore seems to have morphed more and more into some kind of knock off Opel Senator by the early 80s…
It was a knock off Reckford with a Senator front, thats exactly what they did.
I believe Monzaman is specifically referring to the Senator’s six-window glasshouse that was adopted on the later VK Commodore.
right
Holden did their own version of the Senator 6 window roof, making it significantly easier to produce.
Interestingly the Holden has rack and pinion steering where the Opel has recirculating ball.
My GM to his bootstraps father had a new VL 3.0 five speed his last GM car he swapped it straight for a ex demo 1990 Toyota Corona and never looked back, I bought his ext Corona a 93 NZ new with Amon suspension at the time a mate had a 3.0 VL auto the Corona handled better went as well and rode better Ive yet to work out what the fuss over the VL was about,
Well, a mate of mine told me stories of, back in the day, trips to Canberra well below 8 hrs, the turbo 6 being able to easily bury the needle on the speedo and also being faster than the V8. Those Calais got lots of praise and smiles in those stories.
Nice one William. Caught a turbo Calais recently, will post it at some point. Never ever ever ever see a VL wagon now.
Will, thanks for a great piece. I love learning more about these cars (and GM’s global dysfunction).
This was GM´s biggest and last attempt in Europe at winning back market share in the upper middle class car segment.
Pic shows the development team of the 1977 prototypes of Senator / Monza / Commodore (GM V platform cars)
It failed. Sales numbers of all three models disappointed. Commodore was axed in 1982.
Those were pretty good cars with superior handling and ride qualities, which were showered with accolades by the press.
This was the advent of the end of the “value for money” concept.
Even middle class people now wanted more than that: A thing called prestige !
I wonder if they were hurt by having the Rekord as part of the family, which would have diminished the prestige.
It seems the Omega took over from the Commodore as much as the Rekord, without the cheaper front end that time. I suppose the 115mm length difference may have made a difference for some owners, but the weight saving of the shorter nose must have been negligible (<20kg); sheetmetal in itself isn't that heavy.
Wasn’t the Rekord the four? You’d also have the weight saving of 1/3 less cylinders.
Yes, but I was referring to just the bodywork change.
It is like when the Fairlane became closer in appearance to the Falcon and sales dropped because its ‘prestige’ diminished versus a bottom-of-the-line BMW or Mercedes (in their unpainted bumper glory in those days).
For Senator´s and Monza´s interior Opel basically just gussied up the Rekord´s with fake wood and some plusher seats (CD version on Senator).
They received a lot of flak for that and hastily launched an interim “inside” facelift in 1981 with the old exterior but with a brand new interior.
This series was called A1+ and available for one and a half year only.
When the A2 arrived in 1982 the refurbished interior remained but was accompanied by an overhauled exterior.
Did not help much.
Sales figures kept plummeting.
Yet they went ahead with the next Omega/Senator anyway, then another Omega for good measure. Ford was still fielding competitors I suppose, plus the French to a lesser degree.
When I first saw that photo of the “red” car at the beginning of this write-up I thought: another FORD Taurus story. In the US, the Taurus often featured grey plastic bumpers and of course would feature a 6 window greenhouse right up through 2005-2006.
Sort of on the same track, I love foreign Fords but I doubt the Granada would have been very successful in the US. If I am to believe the comments here, it would have been slightly smaller but possibly more expensive than a Ford Fairmont/Mercury Zephyr. Though the idea of it being a carry-on model for the German Capri is interesting.
It is a shame that GM never really mined the vast amount of talent at their overseas operations when designing and engineering small cars for the US market. Egos prevented folks from getting some truly great cars.
I wonder what would have happened if they’d switched Mercury to being a Ford-of-Europe import division for their smaller cars, like this Granada? That would have left more money in the kitty to meaningfully differentiate the bigger Mercuries from their Ford siblings.
That would have definitely been a good strategy to avoid the badge engineering that Mercury descended into, and would have catered for the Euro cars costing more across the board. The thorn in the side of that plan would be the cost to certify cars for sale in the US, with each and every variation needing to be done individually, that effectively prohibits the sale of low-volume cars (except at the top end of the market, naturally).
he thorn in the side of that plan would be the cost to certify cars for sale in the US, with each and every variation needing to be done individually
That is the biggest reason why United States and, to the extend, Canada should forgo their FMVSS and CMVSS and join the rest of the world with UN-ECE, the de facto international standards.
Australia started harmonising its Australian Design Rules toward UN-ECE some years ago, and the consumers benefit greatly from wider range of choices now. Ditto for Japan.
An interesting tale! I would never have imagined that GM would have considered going outside for an engine. It is also interesting how GM and Ford were so much more evenly matched there with the sales crown going back and forth between them every several years.
They did it more recently as well – Saturn Vue with a Honda V6 right here in the US. It’s embarrassing to have “motor(s)” in your name and not be able to find anything in your own workshop for a vehicle that is your own engineering product.
IIRC the Saturn Vue with the Honda V6 still used a GM transmission, an odd mashup especially for a FWD car.
Given the woes I read about on here of many 1980s GM engines, perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea!
The 3800 obviously did ok, but needed some significant revisions for rwd duty. How much of a rush it was to replace the Nissan engine can be seen in early VN Commodores which have an extremely long upper radiator hose running to the rear of the engine.
Judging by some comments from some trusted antipodean colleagues, it seems this could have been made into a GM Deadly Sin – perhaps something about Holden in that legendary series would be a good addition…
I nominate the HX, with its crude emission controls and breathless motor!
Excellent piece William, on something that to you is completely run of the mill but to most of us is fairly exotic forbidden fruit. I’m of the school above that find the Euro Granada (as well as the same era Taunus and Escort) to feature exquisite styling, hence fall on the Falcon side of the equation (it’s a lot like Camry vs Accord used to be) but these are all interesting. The first time I saw many of them in person years ago in NZ I was just agog over them, more recently saw a very driver / borderline beater ‘80s Falcon at a cars and coffee and spent more time with it than anything else…
I assume you do understand that the AUS Falcon and the Euro Granada share nothing in common except styling language, and a closer look shows there to be some not insignificant differences. But yes, that styling theme that both used was excellent.
You assume correctly! I was merely discussing the styling vs the Euro Granada. It could drive like an Ox cart and I’d still like the looks. 🙂
It seems larger as well if I recall, Falcon to Granada is like Avalon to Camry (purely relatively speaking, not comparing any actual generation of either.)
This VL is strange, totally out of the family feeling with Opels if compared to the other generations. However the VN looks even nicer than the Opel Senator.
19 years ago I owned the distant Korean cousin to this, the Daewoo Prince.
You can really see it in the cowl-windshield area.
I really liked it at the time, despite it’s heavy ponderous feeling in town and poor fuel economy (the struggling 1.8L Opel Family 2 engine was the likely culprit).
It replaced a Daewoo LeMans (Kadett E) which was a pile, albeit a fun to drive pile.
The Prince was diametrically opposed. It was a great highway cruiser once up to speed.
The doors closed with a solid thunk and felt well built. People seem surprised when I use that term with 90s Daewoo in the same sentence, but it was. I felt like a king driving it after that LeMans.
The VN to VS are both longer and wider than the Daewoo.
The doors on that Daewoo looks like first gen 6-window V-car doors
I always enjoy your articles on Australian-specific models Will! Having a much more basic knowledge of them, I learn a lot. Enjoyable read!
More interesting stuff from Down Under! What’s curious to me is that while GM in the US was partnering with Toyota (NUMMI, Chevy/Geo [and later Pontiac] badged Toyota’s), in Australia it was Nissan. A savvy local business decision, or an example of GM’s random approach to globalization? I wonder how the market would have accepted these cars with a Supra 6, especially the Turbo version?
I’d say it was random, purely a passing phase, a marriage of desperation rather than convenience.
Later on GMH was partnered with Toyota (leading to Holden badged Corollas and Camrys, and Toyota-badged Commodores), and Ford were partnered with Nissan (Ford-badged FWD Pintara/Bluebirds and Patrols, and Nissan-badged Falcon utes).
Earlier there was the Holden Astra, which was a rebadged Nissan Pulsar, which was itself the recipient of Holden’s family II engine from the J-car – all to meet local content rules.
Australia was a weird place to be, if you were a car nut!
Those marriages … or perhaps just cohabitation … still take place here in the US as well, as I was reminded just now seeing a Chevy-badged Nissan van. The Nissan version outnumbers the Chevy version ten to one, at least in my town which has a Nissan tore but no GM store.
Perhaps you were thinking of shambolic Button plan…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_car_plan
https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/holdens-demise-started-with-the-hawke-government-20131212-2za8a.html
Great stuff, Stopford! I found the Falcon-Commodore sales batttle as interesting as the angle on the Nissan-sourced powerplant. Nice work.
In the mid 1970s, Australia was offering designers from the US good advantages to relocate. My brother, an auto designer, and his wife a graphic artist. moved to Australia. Not much more that I can say, brother returned to the Sates in the mid 1980s.
The VL looked great, cracked heads and handled like jelly when not going straight. I put in strong springs to control it and new head and then the auto gave up…… so very few on the road now…and most are the v8.