A look at the Commodore SV8

The new Commodore SV8 is expected to sit between the S and SS in price - but it will share the uprated engine and sports suspension with the more aggressively styled SS.

The SV8 is the only new addition to the facelifted VY Commodore range. The SS moves up in specification and appearance to make room for the intermediate SV8 sports model.

Like the SS, the SV8 comes with the uprated 235kW V8 mated to a either a six-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission. It also shares the FE2 sports suspension.

But it is lighter on creature comforts compared with the SS. The bodykit consists of a rear wing and twin exhausts - there are no side, front or rear skirts, not colour-coded instruments.

The facelifted VY Commodore will go on sale in New Zealand in November. The obvious changes over the outgoing VX are visual, just as they are in the BA Falcon. Comparisons are inevitable. They will take on a new meaning when both cars arrive in the flesh.

Commodore has been New Zealand's most popular car for the last 25 months, enjoying a considerable sales advantage over the Falcon AU.

The VY Commodore gets a new-look front and rear end. Up front, the larger Holden Lion badge in the middle of the new single trapezoidal grille blends with a bolder and wider, Monaro-inspired air intake, and new sculptured V-shaped bonnet. The grille is bisected by a sports bar on performance models.

At the rear, a prominent lip on the trailing end of the bootlid, flanked by a triangular new-look tail-lights, gives the car a squared-off look. Holden says the new tail also improves aerodynamic performance.

Engineering improvements include new chassis dynamics, better build, upgraded safety and the reworked 5.7-litre V8 engine developing 235kW at 5200 rpm and 465Nm at 4400rpm - a 10kW/5Nm boost over the standard Generation III Chevrolet engine. This engine is for sports models

The standard 3.8-litre V6 is largely unchanged, except for new technology to reduce shift shock. This engine will be replaced by an all-alloy V6 in 2004, when the last of the VT-based models, the VZ, appears. The VZ in turn will carry the Commodore colours through until the all-new VE is launched in 2006. The 225kW V8 is the same as before.

The steering in the VY has come in for special attention, too, with revised ratios to provide better response, with less driver imputs on the straight-ahead.

The car's interior takes on a classier, European look, with a better quality headlining and trim and fabric.

The centre console is angled slightly towards the driver and features new switchgear, including three large rotary air-conditioning dials and push buttons for the the Blaupunkt audio system, which replaces the Eurovox unit.

There is an all-new dashboard featuring a single binnacle housing a new instrument panel with a single or triple-window, depending on the model.

The first official photos of the Commodore were released late last week, two weeks after Ford unveiled the BA Falcon.

Already the long-time rivals are squaring off. Ford styling chief Simon Butterworth said, after seeing the VY photos, that he was confident of the reception the BA Falcon would receive. Holden design chief Mike Simcoe said the VY Commodore had a lot more presence and a lot more going for it in the flesh than it did in photographs. The VY is the first significant update of the VT Commodore, launched in September 1997.