lebron wrote:Re the '05 Monaro..........
Thats basically what I am after, just a car to drive, that looks good, handles great and goes quick! Not concerned about re-sale value down the track! On that, has anyone driven one and if so, please tell me about it!
Lebron, I bought an 03 new and absolutely loved it. I had to move it on for family reasons unfortunately. I got mine fully loaded, Sat Nav, leather seats, Holden Assist, Sunroof.
The handling was just superb. The steering was very responsive as well. The suspension was beefed up from the standard Commodore it was based upon.
Something that might be a drawback for others was the ability to get in and out of the back seat. Not that that bothered me much.
And talk about cruising around..... I was able to cruise around town in 5th gear (6 spd gearbox) at 1500 rpm getting about 13l/100km. On the open road I managed to get it down to 8 or 9, but still with the ability to overtake someone as if they were standing still.
The two problems I had with the car prior to moving it on in 07 was the boot latch, which was poorly engineered IMO and the passenger seat electronics which malfunctioned. That was a repair job under warranty but the boot latch haunted me throughout the life of the car. Not that that's a big issue of course. The hinge boot assembly that Holden used up till the VE, and is present in the Monaro up till it's finish, is purely garbage. No one from Holden obviously ever used the car and packed it full of gear otherwise it would've never made it to production. You can't store anything near the hinges because of the big swinging arc that's required of the arm attached to the inside of the boot. In my VZ Comm that I have now, it's infuriating. If you're not attempting long trips with lots of gear, this wont be an issue.
I thought i loved the Monaro more than anyone or anything, then i watched Top Gear who did a review when the VZ Monaro came out. I think they still rate it as one of the bargain buys, ever!
The resale value for me was atrocious (62 down to 37) but that was simply because of the petrol prices being really high at the time and media speculating that petrol was going to increase to $2 a litre. The major depreciation is now gone, so I say, go for it! Please note, that I leased my car, so it'd done 67k by the time I moved it on in 01/07 - more than average kms for a car of 03.
Please let us know if you do decide to get one.
If you want to know anything more, please feel free to ask.
Cheers
Gadj
Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:59 am
was towing a trailer, was the most gutless thing ever
