1989 Holden Calais YouTube Review... Not exactly an Audi!
 

This is not to everyone's taste, but I found it a bit nostalgic. Its a recent review from YouTube on the VN V8 Calais.
The Calais was the top of the line model in Holden's Commodore range. It has the classic 80's velour interior, as this is before "lesser" brands started to go nuts with leather.
The VN body shell was a substantially widened version the Opel Omega A / Vauxhall Carlton mk2 architecture, and you may recognise the side body style closely resembling the Senator (probably for the additional length that version offered).
What drew me to this video was that it reviewed the V8 version.
That V8 was the same engine which powered my VR model Berlina (1 step down from Calais - middle management car). The VR was the same shell as the VN with updated styling and a front suspension review with widened track front and rear (You may notice the wheels on the VN are tucked in a bit).
That V8 was my first introduction to real V8 power, which I've been hooked on ever since!

Anyway, if it's your cup of tea, enjoy!

https://youtu.be/sRmkaK6kKCA

My VR Berlina:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555804099

Despite my experiences with my daughter/ son in laws commodore (broken serpentine by wrapped around crankshaft pulley, multiple suspension problems, thermostat failure, I am quite fond of the big car! The V8 must have been a big improvement over the V6?
Sorry I couldn't have brought the head out in my luggage - it was on the limit despite the fact only 3 kilos were my own stuff! Besides it's still long way from Perth to the east coast!

Are you talking about the S8 head David?
That would be overweight on regular luggage!
I've had the one Michaela sent over for over a year now - had lots going on with purchase of property and renovations amongst other things, so haven't got to that yet!

What model is it your daughter has? VT or VX or something yes? That was the next body (Omega based again).
The V6 in that would be the Ecotec 3.8. Excellent engine for torque and reliability, and not much slower than the V8.
A mate of mine had a VY with an Ecotec V6 we ran back to back against my VR V8, it wasn't that much slower, but the V8 had way more torque (and sounded better! Especially with my Cat back exhaust).
It was a great tow vehicle (towed cars on a tandem a few times), reasonably quick, pretty good economy for a 5L engine (12.5l/100km (23mpg ish) long term average). Power and torque were respectable by standards of the time (achieving something like 7.4s 0-100 & 145mph top speed with a 4 speed auto and a 3.08:1 final drive)

Nice big land yacht. We had a 3.0 straight six Senator back in the ‘90s. Lurrvvvely.

Back in the 90's the Commodore and (Ford) Falcon were just everyday family cars. Australia from the 60's through to the 2000's had an affinity for the "Big 6's" (as in cylinders) and there was a massive rivalry between Holden and Ford. The V8 became the performance option from late in the 60's.

Land Yachts to us are more the big American cars. We're about to partly inherit a '65 Chevrolet Bel Air. That thing is a land yacht!
In our driveway in recent months we've had my two S8's, the family XC90, a Nissan GQ Patrol, and a Nissan GU Patrol. They are all large cars. The 65 Chev is bigger than all of them!

Interesting video and car. Always good to see anything with a big V lump in it. Cars with proper big engines are far too rare in the UK.

That rear quarter is certainly very Omega/Carlton-like. But the front end of your VR Berlina (from that angle at least), reminds me of a car I VERY nearly bought once.

I've always liked unconventional/quirky cars (hence my years of hydopneumatic Citroen ownership!). And I've always liked big cars too. So, when I was looking to replace my last Citroen XM my shortlist came down to an Audi A8 or a Subaru SVX. I eventually chose the A8 of course, but I still think the SVX is a really cool looking car and the front end looks a lot like the front end of your VR Berlina I think:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=...mg.W5fBANj7yVA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqU9IeF58aQ

Yes, I suppose I can see SVX in it, but I reckon a Calibra is more SVXesque!

In the Australian market at the time, the Commodore was a best seller. So they were a dime a dozen, like a Vectra, or a Corsa for you.
Unlike Subaru at the time, which was a niche player and was between the Leone and Imprezza in timeline. There was no "symmetrical AWD", or WRX, or rally success for them yet! The SVX looked every bit the spaceship to us as to you!

I'd forgotten about the Calibre. You're right, that was a bit more SVX-esque. And it was quite probably Vauxhall's competing product since both cars are from the same decade.

For me, the name Commodore brings back childhood memories of home computers, not cars. Sat in front of my VIC20 (we were too poor to buy a 64 ;) ), enthusiastically programming for hours on end.

My best mate in Primary School had a Commodore 64!
Used to take about half an hour to load anything from it's tape drive - I think the 5 1/4" drive came out later and was very expensive!
We used to play Airwolf on it!
I had to make do with a Tandy/Radio Shack 4x4 remote control truck! Still have it in fact! I bet my mate doesn't still have his Commodore 64!

Our first computer was an Apple IIe! We bought a memory expansion card for it which doubled its memory from 64kB to 128kB! I played around with Basic a little bit, but wasn't really into programming. I mainly used it for schoolwork and games - remember Load Runner? Or was that Lode Runner?!

As for the car, I think it was an Opel name. Certainly followed Opel naming conventions from the 70's - Senator, Admiral, Diplomat etc.
I don't know why we didn't simply call it Carlton. It was all new to us in 1978, and the first generation was pretty similar to the Carlton, but with local engines (two 6's and two V8's), suspension and interior materials carried over from the Kingswood models.
HSV even used the Senator name plate from the early 90's.