Audi RS4 Avant vs Vauxhall VXR8 Tourer (Holden HSV Clubsport) - performance estate car showdown
video description
Okay. the Audi is a Teutonic Blitzkrieg machine with DSG. etc. etc. and enough computers to satisfy 100 pimply nerds BUT I wouldn't have a DSG box if you paid me (reliability and longevity issues) and why all the pooh-poohing about the Holden's manual gearbox? If you were doing a real comparison, Autocar, you would have specified the six speed auto Commodore! To cap it off the VRX8 is rear wheel drive and the Audi is a 4 paw!
Next off, think about the relative target market of these vehicles. The Holden was never designed with the UK in mind. Vauxhall just brought them into the UK from the GM global parts bin. The Commodore is an Aussie cruiser. built for our vast road network and variable-quality rural highway network. They are built as tough as a SUV because they have to contend with environments as diverse as Alice Springs and downtown Melbourne. You can hammer a VE or VF Commodore all day on dirt roads and it just won't break. neither will the engine overheat or the dust sealing fail. It is a supremely comfortable long distance cruiser and in the GM family it puts its American cousins to shame for build quality and reliability.
Is it as nice to drive as an Audi? Depends on what you want out of a car. If it's just comfort then there wouldn't be much in it. If it's gadgets go for the Audi. If it's 4WD handling, go for the Audi. If you want a car you can chuck around with supreme confidence and one that will make you smile every time, it will be the Holden.
Just stop and think about it. Holden, with a budget probably one tenth of what Audi had to develop their car, has produced a world-class car which was originally just intended for our 23 million population audience. That it manages to sell well as a Chevy SS in the States, a Vauxhall VRX8 in Blighty and Caprices in the Arab world is a testament to its basic reliability, comfort and engineering. That GM US is about to kill Australia's much-loved -own car- is heart-breaking and a loss to the motoring world.
Date: 2022-04-17
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Comments and reviews: 9
tripsadelica
Moving aside the sporting characteristics of both cars, the tester did not do some basic comparisons. The Commodore (sorry, VXR8) is a bigger car and, therefore, has greater space in the tail for a family's luggage. The seat room in the Commodore, especially in the rear, is superior as well.
Longevity-wise, the Commodore will last for years. The engineering was developed to cater for not only modern freeways but for the teeth-rattling outback roads as well. I'm not sure the Audi will age as gracefully and I am dubious about the long term longevity of any tubo-charged engine.
The Holden is a well-engineered precise handler. The penultimate in Australian vehicle engineering (sadly Holden will stop making cars next year) it is a comfortable grand tourer. Sadly Vauxhall didn't think to send the non-sporting varieties of the Commodore to the UK. I think most English motorists would have liked to try out the mid-spec Belina model or the high-spec Calais with the 3. 6 litre V6. Still a very quick car but with much less thirst than the V8.
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Moving aside the sporting characteristics of both cars, the tester did not do some basic comparisons. The Commodore (sorry, VXR8) is a bigger car and, therefore, has greater space in the tail for a family's luggage. The seat room in the Commodore, especially in the rear, is superior as well.
Longevity-wise, the Commodore will last for years. The engineering was developed to cater for not only modern freeways but for the teeth-rattling outback roads as well. I'm not sure the Audi will age as gracefully and I am dubious about the long term longevity of any tubo-charged engine.
The Holden is a well-engineered precise handler. The penultimate in Australian vehicle engineering (sadly Holden will stop making cars next year) it is a comfortable grand tourer. Sadly Vauxhall didn't think to send the non-sporting varieties of the Commodore to the UK. I think most English motorists would have liked to try out the mid-spec Belina model or the high-spec Calais with the 3. 6 litre V6. Still a very quick car but with much less thirst than the V8.
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Rob
Audi vs Holden is like comparing a scalpel to a chainsaw, brains and precision vs brawn and power. They were never aimed at the same subset of drivers and so the comparison falls a bit flat. Like the drag race, yes of course the Audi pulls away quicker with Quattro but if you-re buying a 6 litre V8 muscle car you probably aren-t interested in AWD anyway. Same with the gearboxes, manual 6 speed will always be a preference for some people, and even 8 years ago when this was uploaded the manual V8 was a dying breed. The Venn diagram of Audi and Holden-s target markets almost certainly has very little crossover.
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Audi vs Holden is like comparing a scalpel to a chainsaw, brains and precision vs brawn and power. They were never aimed at the same subset of drivers and so the comparison falls a bit flat. Like the drag race, yes of course the Audi pulls away quicker with Quattro but if you-re buying a 6 litre V8 muscle car you probably aren-t interested in AWD anyway. Same with the gearboxes, manual 6 speed will always be a preference for some people, and even 8 years ago when this was uploaded the manual V8 was a dying breed. The Venn diagram of Audi and Holden-s target markets almost certainly has very little crossover.
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Daniel
Price is the issue. In Australia the HSV would be substantially cheaper then the Audi and a lot of the arguments against it in this video would evaporate. Unfortunately by the time the car makes its way to the UK that's not the case anymore. However I have little doubt that far more of the HSV imports will be driving around the UK in ten, twenty or thirty years time (proportionally) then the Audi's. They are easier and cheaper to fix, easier to modify and are going to be more desirable having more character with their old school V8 muscle and rarer numbers.
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Price is the issue. In Australia the HSV would be substantially cheaper then the Audi and a lot of the arguments against it in this video would evaporate. Unfortunately by the time the car makes its way to the UK that's not the case anymore. However I have little doubt that far more of the HSV imports will be driving around the UK in ten, twenty or thirty years time (proportionally) then the Audi's. They are easier and cheaper to fix, easier to modify and are going to be more desirable having more character with their old school V8 muscle and rarer numbers.
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Gr8mate13
Stick a trailer behind them both or a caravan, then drive it up a gravel road, then take it to the dealer ship and see what the repair bills are. Its just a bloody Commodore dime a dozen shit kicker, as many have said, rip out the interior buy the Recaros seat go nuts spend $100000 exta on the car, blower, drop in a DSG box whatever you wish see how the RS4 goes then.
See how the RS 4 goes in the bush in Australia when it break down half way across the Nullabor or driving to Kalgoolie, see if you can get it serviced, goood luck.
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Stick a trailer behind them both or a caravan, then drive it up a gravel road, then take it to the dealer ship and see what the repair bills are. Its just a bloody Commodore dime a dozen shit kicker, as many have said, rip out the interior buy the Recaros seat go nuts spend $100000 exta on the car, blower, drop in a DSG box whatever you wish see how the RS4 goes then.
See how the RS 4 goes in the bush in Australia when it break down half way across the Nullabor or driving to Kalgoolie, see if you can get it serviced, goood luck.
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D800Lover
The R8 (the proper name) here is the -VE- version. In 2013 they brought out the -VF- version and that would have made for a better comparison. Don't get me wrong, I love the RS4, but it is four wheel drive and it is a rapier. The -VF- version of the R8 became a lot more sophisticated, but still retained its character, that of a rear-wheel drive muscle car. You can't call anything that the Germans makes that is anywhere similar in character.
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The R8 (the proper name) here is the -VE- version. In 2013 they brought out the -VF- version and that would have made for a better comparison. Don't get me wrong, I love the RS4, but it is four wheel drive and it is a rapier. The -VF- version of the R8 became a lot more sophisticated, but still retained its character, that of a rear-wheel drive muscle car. You can't call anything that the Germans makes that is anywhere similar in character.
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Votka
Okay you buy VXR8 but just to ask anyone here where is that road in Melbourne which you can drive and drift legaly. I give you the answer right now
- Nowhere -
So what's more good about VXR8 nothing honestly, I know the Audi is more expensive but you pay for luxury, for speed, for entertainment, sound etc.
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Okay you buy VXR8 but just to ask anyone here where is that road in Melbourne which you can drive and drift legaly. I give you the answer right now
- Nowhere -
So what's more good about VXR8 nothing honestly, I know the Audi is more expensive but you pay for luxury, for speed, for entertainment, sound etc.
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Cab
Raising the dead but this guy is one of the worst reviewers I-ve ever seen. Look at the area under the curve for torque and power for both. Compare the load space, too, and the towing ability, given you have chosen an -estate-. Then check out the reliability record of both. Mate, you-re a tosser.
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Raising the dead but this guy is one of the worst reviewers I-ve ever seen. Look at the area under the curve for torque and power for both. Compare the load space, too, and the towing ability, given you have chosen an -estate-. Then check out the reliability record of both. Mate, you-re a tosser.
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autos
At least you guys have these cars to argue about! In the states we don't get pooh! I have to move to Australia to be happy I guess. I would hands down choose the Holden (VXR8) by the way. It just screams drive the dog snot out of me lol.
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At least you guys have these cars to argue about! In the states we don't get pooh! I have to move to Australia to be happy I guess. I would hands down choose the Holden (VXR8) by the way. It just screams drive the dog snot out of me lol.
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togethia
VXR8 every day of the week. The RS4 has proven unreliability, and Audi have this habit of mounting the engine so far forward it might was well be in front of the number plate - understeer city. Is not even a choice, the VXR8 wins.
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VXR8 every day of the week. The RS4 has proven unreliability, and Audi have this habit of mounting the engine so far forward it might was well be in front of the number plate - understeer city. Is not even a choice, the VXR8 wins.
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