New Grocery Getter - Aussie Motoring Icon

[TJ]

Let's get straight to the point - I am now the owner of a ZB Commodore - RS

Stock photo because can't be fucked with a real one and it's with dealer for pre-delivery shit




So, how the fuck did I end up here? And why?

Well - I had always planned to buy a car mid-late 2020. I've had my heart set on a Passat R-Line or Skoda Superb 206/Newer Octavia RS for ages and ages.

Then 2020 for me, just like a ton of others, has gotten a bit crazy -

- Wedding cancellation and losing some money on that
- Honeymoon cancellation and losing some money from that
- Redundancy and taking a pay cut
- Unexpected surgery and a whack out of pocket
- New house costing more than expected
- Unfortunate experience of losing a pregnancy and a ton of complications adding some medical expenses there

Those alone were all small things that added up - but the second hand car market has also been hammered by Covid - 30k cars are now 40k cars.

So not only can you not find a car, but when you do, they are either spastic km's, rough, or drug money.

This, along with the rough year meant I took the adult route of deciding to keep pennies in the bank and deciding to drop the budget.

So I expanded the cars I looked at - my criteria isn't particular massive but boxes I wanted to tick - Roomy enough for me to be comfortable day to day, Practical enough for me to throw my bike in/pram when needed, have some fruit in terms of tech, be somewhat able motor wise - don't expect sports car but the thought of a 110kw n/a motor in a mid-large car wanted to make me shoot myself and be a wagon or sedan. This is the list I ended up -

- Sonata Premium/Elite/Optima GT - this is the 180kw 2.0l, not the 2.4 wheezy n/a thing. The right cars are well stocked - radar cruise, good audio, etc etc. Test drove two Sonata's, first one sold whilst I was going to grab the nopics to have a drive, the second sold within 30 minutes of being advertised. A really decent thing despite the badge.

- Mondeo - Roomy enough, comfy enough, the Trend's have enough tech but they are allllll 2/3 years old with over 100km an ex fleet or overpriced. Didn't want the diesel either

- Peugeot 508 - Left field here. Not many out there, drove awesomely well - the 1.6l turbo in these is a cracker. Super comfy seating for driver and passenger. Reat space and boot was smallest of the lot and it was frustratingly French. Poorly thought out controls, storage etc.

- Octavia (Non RS) - Knew the car well, but dropping from an optioned RS to a base model with meh seats, the 1.4 vs the 2.0l etc was too hard to ask. Any with the luxury/sports/tech packs were stupid dollars. Considering my daily drive is in tons of crawling stop/start traffic this also exposed what I know anyhow - the 7 speed DSG in these can be jerky at low speeds, 1 day test ran showed I'd probably be annoyed really quick. Golfs were the same - plenty of 90TSI's out there

I have zero interest in the 1.9 million shitter SUV's out there so nothing to say there.

A couple of friends suggested the ZB. The base model LT - no fucking thanks. They just look so boring and mundane with the wheels, no kit, base spec interior. I also had my reservations - not a real Commodore etc etc. Then I drove one. RS seats are perfectly suited to my 6 foot 6 frame, tons of adjustment - super easy to find a spot I was comfy in. 190kw meant it was by far the most powerful of the lot - coupled with the 9 speed it is enough to get around and not hate life. Active cruise, park assist, lane assist, infotainment - screen while small was nice and smooth and stereo sounded decent with android auto etc..

Once I decided I could happily live with one, simply had a hunt to find one that wasn't an ex cop car and did a deal. Went liftback over wagon as I just prefer the looks really.

And that is the story of how I now own an icon of Australia motoring.

[TJ]

Plans -

Firstly, I FUCKING LOATHE the stock wheels - horrendous. They look 100 times better with painted one colour so will get them done in black with a view to finding something else down the line.

The chrome highlights for me is meh - they look so much better blacked out - see below for example.



Have ordered kings springs for a 1 inch drop.

Does anyone tune these in Australia? Dale surely must love them?

Few people seem to to get the rear mufflers deleted for some flow and sound - see how we go.

Not much else - service, drop, enjoy knowing it's not what I wanted but the wise choice, and how iconic these things are.

[piss98]

Nice one man, if it’s comfy and fits the criteria then win! Agree on a black out!!

And sorry to hear about the other stuff man, some hard to deal with stuff in that list so hope you and Jess are going ok! Of course you know where to find me if you need anything or even just an ear! 👌🏻

[TJ]

Yeah it's been a year. Explains why my posting here has been way down. But many others have been worse off so it's all good.

Old me would have went Yolo and bought a new RS but trying to be sensible to ensure the next few years are easier.

Certainly not as polished as something from the VAG group but value for money was awesome.

[piss98]

Sometimes you gotta take one for the team, when I was at your stage (baby stuff, house stuff) I sold my MINT low km S14a 200sx and bought a fucking 4cyl Camry - I know the feels! I can tell you a 4cyl Camry doesn’t have 190kw. 🤣

[mizone]

5, 4, 3, fuck it..

[irsa76]

I took a Calais Tourer for a test drive a week ago, would have grabbed it but decided sorting out my debt situation is more important. Lovely car, surprisingly massive inside, the V6 sounds great and pulled really well, although I reckon nopic's Citroen would destroy it in the midrange.
Also looked at an RS wagon,all the ones here are silver or red, 2 colours we won't touch.
Oh, and every single one I've come across are ex Hertz or Europcar, but next to no kms and immaculate.

[TJ]

That is the goal vs that thing above. Not a fan of the wheels at all!

[irsa76]

Doesn't look half bad.
They look so much better in black.
And as a lift back. The wagons remind me of a toddler with a loaded nappy.

[itsnotagsr]

"The last Commodore" - sure to be a collector's car!

Sorry to hear about all the challenges this year mate. 2021's just around the corner and you won't look back.

[Captain_Slow]

Good choice. These are a good thing and excellent value for money at the moment - they just happened to come along at the wrong time.

[lumpy]

Nice one - I've posted a bit about the RS ZB I had last year (company car, I had to swap it for a Equinox in March ).

Engine and gearbox combo on these is just right (although the turbo a bit small). I was talking myself into hating it before I drove it but they are actually a great car to drive (for the type of car it is). It kind of looks like something more prestige european but also kind of not, I nicknamed mine the ALDI AUDI.

Sorry to hear about the other disasters TJ - things can only get better from here.

Also - looking at the turbo placement in the engine bay it's just begging to be replaced with something bigger!

[Sloth]

As per the rest of the blokes here, this years been a shit of thing. excellent purchase, im looking at one of these for the nopics, black rs tourer. trying to find one is the hard bit. your mods sound the same as what id like, rims, black the chrome and tint. there are uk lads dong tunes. and then theres this thing...
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/04...-engine-video/

same LTG code 4 cyl engine......

[Sloth]

oh and apparently you can map it pop and bang like a golf r

[perthdrivers.txt]

That black one ^ looks great, probably first ZB ive seen where anyone has paid any attention to the looks!