SS V and SV6 Commodore tested

Few would doubt the VE is the most prodigious step Holden has taken since the 48-215 arrived in 1948.

The VE is everything that all previous model Commodores since the first one in 1978 weren't.

Starting from a clean slate the VE chassis is the most competent in the almost 30-year lineage of family sedans and the body is as tight as a drum.

Credit where it's due, the VE steers, rides, handles and stops like a $50,000-plus Euro saloon.

Recently we booked in an SV6 and an SS to drive back-to-back over two weeks at a time when all the hype surrounding Holden's August launch had subsided.

Both had the 6-speed manual transmission and where one was a pleasure to use the other was like trying to stir a pot of treacle.

The SV6 changed gears with efficiency and with a fair degree of certainty.

The SS was like reverting to the bad old days of imprecision.

It was notchy and half the time you really needed to think whether the shifter docked in first or third after fighting with the stick to find its gate.

We would like to give the box the benefit of the doubt but the car had done 6000km. Any tightness should have freed up by now.

The curious thing is the SS driven on the launch on a mixture of country tar and dirt roads in South Gippsland in Victoria and at Holden's Lang Lang proving ground had a kinder, looser and more precise gearbox.

Then there is the gosh awful handbrake that blends into the centre console cutaway.

It has an annoying propensity to jam your finger if you're not careful when you push it down.

There is also a flimsy feel to the handbrake when it is engaged with a bit of sideways movement suggesting longevity may be a problem.

Now we're not really experts in predicting the future but we'll have a lash and suggest there may be some sort of modification to the handbrake when the first update comes around whether it be late next year or 2008.

And inherent through the range is that rotund A-pillar strategically positioned a long way forward and which hampers vision on tight corners and can even shield pedestrians from your view in certain situations.

But getting back to basics, the cabins in both the SV6 and SS V, the sports luxury version that Holden has added to the VE range, are tastefully done.

There are a few carryover bits from the old range which ended with the VZ such as the stalk-mounted cruise control.

However, overall the SV6 and the SS V are worlds removed from the previous model.

And they would want to be for the billion-dollar spend the VE program commanded.

The only surprise was how invisible the SV6 was in city traffic.

Hardly a stare, a second look, let alone anyone hovering close to size up one of Holden's billion-dollar babies.

It melded into the masses rather than strike reactions. The SS V, however, had more of an impact, with some drivers darting up close from a long way back and signalling the thumbs up.

On the SV6 drive which amounted to about 640km when the tank just about to run dry, the consumption was about 10.7litres but up to half of that was in slow, stop/start traffic.

The SS V finished at 11.5litres/100km over 500km but 85 per cent of that was on the open road so realistically you would be looking at around 14-15litres.

Some colleagues have reported concerns with interior fit and finish.

However, the cars tried in this test seemed quite acceptable, the quality of the finish was never in question.