drive.com.au at it again!

[ADSXR8]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/good...e#contentSwap2

After publishing the video on there website claiming the SS-V wins by default because of the gearbox breakage of the XR8, they now publish this.

I like the bit where the drive.com.au testers crash both Falcon's, award the win to the SS-V and then publish this statement

"Although it didn't complete the journey, the Falcon XR8's failure to finish in no way affected the outcome of this test"

They are getting caught up in there own lies. In the video it wins by default, now they claim would not have made a difference.

Lets put the shoe on the other foot, would the VE win if it was put on the back of a tow truck 200km west of Bourke? I DONT THINK SO!

[Laminge]

Holdenbiased.drive.com Bah!

The Xr8 died, warranty was declined, it does not deserve to win!

[ADSXR8]

Originally Posted by Laminge

Holdenbiased.drive.com Bah!

The Xr8 died, warranty was declined, it does not deserve to win!

Not saying it should, but the SS-V cannot claim a victory to cars that testers crash.

[S3SR]

well that article was alot better than their video and at least they can back some of their statements up...still doesnt explain the fairmont and the lack of trans fluid trail and other things 'doctored' in that video

[HSE2]

Since when does the XR6T have 550nm?

[Nappa]

Originally Posted by HSE2

Since when does the XR6T have 550nm?

I guess it shows the calibre of the drive.com journo's, the XR6T puts our 480Nm, the F6 does 550Nm......

[HSE2]

Originally Posted by Nappa

I guess it shows the calibre of the drive.com journo's, the XR6T puts our 480Nm, the F6 does 550Nm......

Its hard to take them seriously when they say things like this because they say it in such a way that it makes their opinions and conclusions appear as though they are based on facts that aren't correct.

When the BA was launched I wrote a review where I stated that the steering had become too sensitive for the chassis especially in the XT. Under some circumstances it can make the rear of the car feel disassociated to the front. Apart from one journo no one else commented much about it until now. The reason I bring this up is the as the sport variants don't suffer as much as the lower models yet last week the lower models were tested and this directness wasn't comment on. :

I have made my feelings on the Boss engines crystal clear. This is what happens when you stand still for too long. If Ford does act they have ****ed off every owner that purchased a full model and not a series and if they don't react the product remains irrelevant to all but extreme loyalists.

[MoreHPformyXR6]

Originally Posted by HSE2

When the BA was launched I wrote a review where I stated that the steering had become too sensitive for the chassis especially in the XT. Under some circumstances it can make the rear of the car feel disassociated to the front. Apart from one journo no one else commented much about it until now. The reason I bring this up is the as the sport variants don't suffer as much as the lower models yet last week the lower models were tested and this directness wasn't comment on. :

I have read with the BA if you through it into a corner at highway speed the backend can feel very sensitive (almost over sensitive) I have experienced the feeling they describe to a mild degree nothing that is over powering or scary though. Is this the same for the BF also? Im assuming's its more so in the XT due to smaller rubber & a tad higher.

[blackahcdx]

OMG you girls are getting your damn g-strings in a knot over some ****y little review.

WHO CARES?!

you know (or like to think, what ever the case may be :p ) that your car is as good or better.

I agree that drive.com.au isn't the best site out there, some of their stuff is quiet dodgy infact!

but sometimes i think some ppl here take this all to seriously, its not like they killed your mother.


Or is it? :p

[xdclevo]

Originally Posted by Drive.com

Riding on massive 19-inch wheels with low-profile tyres and wearing a front spoiler that appears designed for a race track, not the outback, it was tipped to be the problem child

Makes you wonder how the Holden with a front spoiler that appears to be designed for a race track could survive ruts big enough to harpoon a transmission pan. What a load of poo.

[MRJUCY]

I read the story in the paper this morning, I was amazed at the various ridiculous ways of describing the Falcons as failing when simply they crashed both of them & have no one to blame but themselves.

Saying the car picked the rock up is right up their with the paper years ago saying Packer's horse fell from under him playing polo rather then the simple truth that he fell off. They also say the SS has around 100mm more clearance then the XR8 if that's true the SS would have to have a ride height similar to the Territory.

I'll have to remember if I ever crash into a bus it wasn't my fault it was Ford's fault that my car wasn't tall enough to drive over it.

[WASP]

The 100mm ride height difference between the SS-V and the XR8 explains why the VE looks like it sits so high. Spoils the effect of the wide wheel arches.

Seriously though despite these annoying articles, Ford really need to pull their finger out on their V8's.

[b2tf]

What a joke of an article. This sums it up for me:-

Originally Posted by Drive Article

the XR8 was never designed for these conditions and we were testing the car beyond its calling in life. Nor would an XR8 owner be likely to drive his or her car on these roads.

That there is enough to ask the question why the hell would you be testing 3 cars on such a road? Substantial damage to 2 Fod vehicles yet no mention of how much repair will cost them, yet they ***** and moan that had they used Holden spare rims they were $947 each.

I for one hope they got a fairly massive bill to get those cars back up to scratch, thats some of the most irresponsible "testing" I've ever heard of. I bet these morons were the type who used to borrow Dad's Commodore Executive and see how well it pulled donuts in the back paddock.

[Ruger]

Originally Posted by drive.com.au

245kW of power and a whopping 550Nm of torque)

wrong.

Originally Posted by drive.com.au

Commodore SS. It has the best combination of power, economy, equipment and value.

they didnt mention anything about economy apart from the xr6t being better off than the xr8. and where is the mention of equipment in the review id seriously like a comparo of the 'ss' and xr8's equipment levels and well see who comes out on top.

Originally Posted by drive.com.au

And despite just having one rather large exhaust

its actually twin pipes to a single tip there matey.

Originally Posted by drive.com.au

The side mirrors are bigger than those on the previous Commodore but the testers felt they could be bigger again,

its a sports car isnt it? truck mirrors dont suit sports cars. i own a ba and have never had a problem with mirrors. id hate to think what they would say about the m3


'sports cars' belong on the road not in the bush bloody idiots.

i think half of holdens billion dollars they poured into the ve went into the drive.com.au journos
that review is total rubbish

[xe351]

Drive really need to get some drivers who 'can' drive

[Abacus]

That was a disgraceful article. They take three hi-po road cars, prang two of them, and come up with a verdict based on the the one that performed better in an environment the vehicles were not designed for.

What were they thinking? It seems that the extremes some journalists will go to to conclude that Holden's billion dollar baby is more than a billion dollar catch-up are downright ridiculous.

The only real criticism of the Falcons I agree with is the mirrors. They are too small, and they always have been. Ford should be able to design a decent sized mirror that won't look out of place.

[Silver Ghia]

I can understand the criticism they made of the Fords steering being too sensitive at highway speeds, and following the camber of the road too much. It takes getting used to.

However the environment these 'sports' cars were subject to, is totally unreasonable and not a test or comparison at all. Really not valid for drawing any conclusions on.

I suggest the SS was just lucky that it didnt get damaged as well.

[The Monty]

And to think I almost forgave them after the last incident. Idiots. I can not take a single written thing by them seriuosly any more.

[BTTB]

If I want to know how each of these cars performs... I'll test them myself :eclipsee_

: I don't need some pencil pushing knobjockey to tell me what I like

Especially one from drive.com.au :

[davro_xr6]

Could the fact they crashed the falcons be due to the fact that they're used to driving homo-doors and aren't used to a superior car with more power??

And could the wholly biased review be based on the fact the holden financially back drive.com?? Hmmmmm - the aussie public ain't stupid...

The way I see it - with the introduction of the VE, the homo-door boys are only playing catch up - they always have been, and will continue to do so with the introduction of ford's new number in a year or so. In my opinion they started to play the catch up game when ford brought out the beastie Phase 3 GTho... Although I am ford biased, I can still appreciate a good car, and from what I have seen of the cars Holden have produced over the last 6-8 years, they are a far cry from a good car - unless of course someone decides to put $10k of aftermarket equipment under the hood... Even with the VL they had to use a skyline motor to make the car any good... And even still today, in the V8 supercars, there's ford components in engine and driveline... Sorry, just got me a little stirred up after the article, as I'm sure it did with others...

[[Tonko]]

what a load of crap...nothing but praise for the SS, except the rattle that "magically" dissapeared.
How can they complain about the size of the XR6 rims, for being too small, XR8 for not "feeling" right but praise the SS's 19's? i would have thought on those roads that the 19's would be alot worse... but these "experts" see it a different way...

[Auslandau]

Actually cant beleive they took these type of cars to those places. Did that trip from Tibboburra to Camerons Corner in the ol' diesel land Cruiser and got stuck there for a couple of days as we got a bit stuck! The damage is what would be expected up there with those type of cars ..........the Commodore, especially with 19' rims was just absolutley lucky! All 3 should have been bought back on a trailer. These drive journo's have no respectability at all.....twits.

"We test the Hyandai Getz & Daihatsu Charade at Heathcote & se if we can crack 13 seconds!" Next week in Drive.crap.au



| [/url] |

[uranium_death]

You can't crash two cars and say "The cars failed to finish"

The DRIVER failed to finish. SImple as that. Which means you need to get two drivers who at least have their learners and then let them have a rip!

Fact is that Holden has bought their praise, or sucked them down.

Drive.com.au is a site I don't even touch. I'd prefer to do my taxes.

[killer_taxi]

That has to be by far the worst comparison test I have ever read. :

The Journalists knowledge of specifications was poor, "... the turbocharged 4.0-litre, six cylinder has more torque than both the Ford and Holden V8s... 550Nm of torque". The environment chosen to test these cars was stupid and unrealistic, they even stated this, "... the XR8 was never designed for these conditions and we were testing the car beyond its calling in life". Picking on little thing like this, “…important switches such as the hazard light button are obscured by the steering wheel.” is a waste of time and is not going to have an effect on the ability of a car being able to sell. How often do you have to use your hazard lights!? Oh forgot, there good at damaging cars.

I found the article to feel a little biased. The Commodore SS was always going to win this comparison test, it just seemed that they didn't want to say to many good things about the Fords. They listed many problems/faults with the XR's and hardly said any positives. The only positives that I read were about the sound of the XR8, better brakes over the old model, and the XR6T having a brilliant engine.

Also, missing in this comparison test was fuel consumption figures, performance figures, and equipment lists. I think the problem was they were far to busy writing about the accidents they had.

From now on, I’ll read quality such as Wheels for information, and will read Drive (and Carsguide for that matter) for a laugh. :evil_laug

[PepeLePew]

Many of the points made for an against each car are, in isolation, quite justified.

Dumb *** place to do the testing though. I dont think the conclusion is incorrect unfortunately, it just isnt reached in a very scientific way. And I dont things are quite as 'clear' as they imply, they seem to be basing that decision on Holdens revised pricing and rebadging.

I was left quite curious as to why the sump on the Ford trans is plastic? Not a fan of that sort of cost cutting....

[Franky]

Since when has Ford ever won a comparison on Drive.com.au?

I wouldn't be suprised to see a commodore in each of the journalists driveways. Even the BA couldn't win a comparison and it was car of the year and loved by critics everywhere.

[ltd]

Drive has got to be the biggest pile of crap ever. The fact that idiots like Joshua Dowling draw breath in this world sickens me. The reason he found the commodore so comfortable was because he had the cushioning of wads of hundred dollar bills in his back pocket. This is the exact same sort of trash that was printed about the 380 and how superior it was to the ford. Net result; Mitsubishi will close its Australian plant and ditch the 380 entirely.
The fact that these idiots are paid to drive cars is equally offensive, and crashing whilst thrashing two cars because the drivers love holden is an absolute farce. Sales figures will tell the story, and thankfully Toyota are going to kill Holden in the fleet deals. Then where will Holden be? With over 70% of the VZ selling to fleets, what market are they now going to occupy? Most fords are sold to private buyers, and hopefully Ford will discount to smash Holden. Billion dollar baby?
More like Billion dollar ***** up.
BTW, with their reference to plastic as being somewhat inferior, maybe they should take a closer look at the amount of plastic used by Holden. Whilst at it, look where the Holden plastic comes from ahem Korea ahem.
Why don't they take their BA front, 380 rear, camry sides copying asses and do a parent company suicide dive into receivership.

Holden mean a really great deal to Korea, and Sweet FA to Australia.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by ltd

This is the exact same sort of trash that was printed about the 380 and how superior it was to the ford. Net result; Mitsubishi will close its Australian plant and ditch the 380 entirely.

Holden mean a really great deal to Korea, and Sweet FA to Australia.

The 380 is not a bad car at all. But to say it canes the Ford is poo IMO.

The 380 is FWD, the interiors are pretty average (interiors mean a lot to me) and the power output is wee.

Drive have no sense of reality.

Sorbent or Kleenex should buy out the rights for Drive, make toilet paper with "Drive" on it and sell it in a special edition. I reckon they'll make a killing.

[stevz]

Originally Posted by davro_xr6

Could the fact they crashed the falcons be due to the fact that they're used to driving homo-doors and aren't used to a superior car with more power??

And could the wholly biased review be based on the fact the holden financially back drive.com?? Hmmmmm - the aussie public ain't stupid...

The way I see it - with the introduction of the VE, the homo-door boys are only playing catch up - they always have been, and will continue to do so with the introduction of ford's new number in a year or so. In my opinion they started to play the catch up game when ford brought out the beastie Phase 3 GTho... Although I am ford biased, I can still appreciate a good car, and from what I have seen of the cars Holden have produced over the last 6-8 years, they are a far cry from a good car - unless of course someone decides to put $10k of aftermarket equipment under the hood... Even with the VL they had to use a skyline motor to make the car any good... And even still today, in the V8 supercars, there's ford components in engine and driveline... Sorry, just got me a little stirred up after the article, as I'm sure it did with others...

This ^ and the one below have got to be amongst the worst loads of one eyed nonsense I have ever had the misfortune of reading.

Originally Posted by ltd

Drive has got to be the biggest pile of crap ever. The fact that idiots like Joshua Dowling draw breath in this world sickens me. The reason he found the commodore so comfortable was because he had the cushioning of wads of hundred dollar bills in his back pocket. This is the exact same sort of trash that was printed about the 380 and how superior it was to the ford. Net result; Mitsubishi will close its Australian plant and ditch the 380 entirely.
The fact that these idiots are paid to drive cars is equally offensive, and crashing whilst thrashing two cars because the drivers love holden is an absolute farce. Sales figures will tell the story, and thankfully Toyota are going to kill Holden in the fleet deals. Then where will Holden be? With over 70% of the VZ selling to fleets, what market are they now going to occupy? Most fords are sold to private buyers, and hopefully Ford will discount to smash Holden. Billion dollar baby?
More like Billion dollar ***** up.
BTW, with their reference to plastic as being somewhat inferior, maybe they should take a closer look at the amount of plastic used by Holden. Whilst at it, look where the Holden plastic comes from ahem Korea ahem.
Why don't they take their BA front, 380 rear, camry sides copying asses and do a parent company suicide dive into receivership.

Holden mean a really great deal to Korea, and Sweet FA to Australia.

Such a bitter, twisted and depressed person you are. You really need to get out more. Try some counselling maybe?
Oh and regarding your fleet vs private sales, maybe you should get your facts straight http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=63495

But the Commodore's lack of appeal to private buyers is nothing compared with Ford's Falcon. Last year it was the No. 2 selling vehicle in the country but it doesn't even rate in the top 15 favourites among private buyers.

The figures reveal that 88 per cent of Falcon buyers are fleet customers, compared with 81 per cent for Commodore

[ltd]

Originally Posted by stevz

This ^ and the one below have got to be amongst the worst loads of one eyed nonsense I have ever had the misfortune of reading.



Such a bitter, twisted and depressed person you are. You really need to get out more. Try some counselling maybe?
Oh and regarding your fleet vs private sales, maybe you should get your facts straight http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=63495

The fleet figures that you reference here are from 2002. That was also the time when Ford was number 2 in terms of total car sales in oz and holden was 3. Ford had 12.7% marketshare and holden has 12.6. That all changed with revisions by holden in pricing and model in order to attract fleet sales. Fleet sales used to account for 53% in 2002 for holden and ford, now it is around 40%. They are both selling more cars than in 2002. So where does this put your 88%?

Furthermore, since the price of oil has risen over 600% since 2001 Holden have discounted very heavily for the fleet market. And the figures you speak of are from drive.com.au which as this post has already highlighted is very questionable. They even elude to the figures not being available to the public yet because a so called journo says that this is the way things are, you believe them. Whatever floats your boat.

BTW, even based on your assertion that ford sell more to fleets, they still have more prospect for sales based on fuel consumption alone. The fact is that Holden have either stayed the same or increased fuel consumption depending on the model, and with the new camry, as well as aurion on the way, fuel consumption will be a big factor in determining sales. Ford have pre-empted this and as such have already made significant fuel savings. Holden have not done anything in this area.

So, if all you can seem to do is come onto a ford forum and in some obsequious way try and defend Holden (judging by most of your posts), then I submit that you are the one who needs a life. Disappear to LS1 and peddle your wares amongst your peers.

As for counselling, I don't need it because I drive fords. I'm happy with my lot in life and quite frankly, I am far too successful to bother with someone who often makes his opinions heard based purely on some primal emotion of loving Holden. If you love it, good for you. I'm not on a Holden forum bagging the hell out of Holden; I'm on a ford forum making my opinions heard from a business perspective. Quite frankly, if you're as intelligent as you seem to think you are, ask yourself why Holden has tried to sully the waters to convince people their car is cheaper. Ask yourself which other business brings in a new model and lowers the price substantially?

I'd suggest that you take your Oedipus complex to the nearest psychiatrist and ask yourself why you feel the need to habitually **** people off. To think I would even enter a battle of wit with an unarmed man like yourself is laughable - especially when your arguement is entirely based on 4 year old data from a dubious source.