Along for the ride: Holden VF Commodore

I’m proud to say I may have contributed just a little to the development of Holden’s new VF Commodore. Just a very little...

Embedded within what the company calls a Rapid Problem Resolution (or RPR) drive from Melbourne to Sydney, I detected a faint noise coming from the door of the Calais V wagon I was driving.

“Where is it?” asked my passenger Mark Sheridan, a very senior Holden engineer with a title that translates to ‘I know just about everything about VF’.

“Lower section of the door towards the rear,” I reply.

“Above or below the armrest?” queries Mark, looking for more specifics – he is an engineer after all – as he makes notes in the car’s logbook

“Below, it sounds like to me, and it sounds like it’s coming from inside the door rather than the outside,” I add, trying to channel engineering-type exactness.

But I ruin the effect by adding: “Given where I have told you to look it’s probably coming from the wheel.” Sheridan just snorts.

We agree it’s a ‘creak’, triggered by broken surfaces in right-hand corners.

Later at an Albury hotel with about 20 Holden engineers sitting around the table, squeak and rattle engineer (yes, truly) Henry Weinlich, who I notice has quite big ears, interrogates me. “You sure it was a creak, not a squeak or a rattle?”

Um. Is that important?

Yes it is, as it turns out.

“A rattle comes from cantilevered components that are fixed at one end and free to move at the other,” Weinlich explains for the class dummy.

“Squeak noise is slip-stick -- that’s where the friction has built up and lets go and emits some rapid fire noise.”

RESOLUTION NOT REVOLUTION?
Thankfully the spotlight moves off me and the experts peruse the logbooks from the six VFs on the drive and report problems. All of them are noted down on a spreadsheet and allocated to drivers whose job is to investigate, resolve and recommend fixes. It’s called the PRTS or Problem Resolution Tracking System.

There’s a squeaky window wiper; a vibration in a door; the read-out for the cruise control in different cars seems to equate to different speeds... There might be a minor discrepancy in air-conditioning temperatures from car to car too.

There’s important sounding words like ‘hysteresis’ bandied about and some humour: “You’ll be a good test engineer one day, Adrian,” one of the most senior blokes at the table is told.

The SS-V Redline’s “grumpy idle” is commented on.

“That’s what you want!” fires back someone else.

It’s a good atmosphere; a bunch of guys who like each other and the work they do. They are clearly bright, motivated and dedicated. The flat-earth economists and commentators who argue manufacturing is not worth it in Australia only need to spend a little time with this lot to understand its value must be measured in more than GDP.

It’s noticeable a lot of the issues are being sent Henry’s way. That’s logical really, because while these are pre-production cars they are built from production tools and processes, so fundamental tuning issues should have already been resolved on engineering test drives that have covered more than 1.1 million kilometres over the last three years.

Considering this drive is early April and the VF’s on-sale date is June 1, you wouldn’t want to still be grappling with the fundamentals would you?

Now it’s the detail stuff, like my creaky door, that is showing up and having to be dealt with.

“That creak is the sort of thing we are looking for,” confirms Sheridan.

“Because we are getting closures, getting a body in white or a door in white of a certain variation, we are getting the plastic trim with all the trim components underneath with certain variations too.

“We bring them all together and in math it may say you get a 3mm gap. But in reality we might actually get the occasional touch condition. So we are just trying to understand where those variations occur.

“We’d understand that in math, we’d have a look at the production process to see whether we are getting that on every single car or if this is just a unique issue that is on this car. We either fix it if it’s a permanent thing we need to do, or fix this car.”

NO THRASH METAL?
One thing that’s noticeable -- as this drive wends its way through Victoria and NSW, sometimes on back roads and sometimes on the Hume Freeway -- is that this is no thrash.

Speed limits are adhered to and anyone getting enthusiastic is admonished. The group is reminded that crossing double white lines is a strict no-no. Less serious crimes like forgetting to turn your radio on or passing the lead car is a “cakeable offence”, which means you shout the vanilla slices at morning tea.

The cars are being driven to a durability cycle intended to accelerate wear and tear to a 10-year level in just 10 months – that means lots of kays but not necessarily at high speeds.

Right now the cars are two years into that cycle, so they were built just two months ago.

“We are trying to find the issues that come from wearing out,” explains validation boss Adrian Miric.

“That is the stuff that as you own the car for a period of time will start to colour your feelings of how you thought the car has gone for the time you have owned it.

“There is always something that will slip through the net because you are working from a limited sample size. What you hope you find is the stuff that is really going to be obvious to the customer. We also pick things up because we minutely inspect the car, but would be absolutely impossible for a customer to see.”

The only time the pace really ups is when I passenger with gun test driver Michael Barber in the Redline on a mountainous back road. It’s what’s called a ‘non-saleable’ prototype, which means it’s not part of the durability cycle. Sadly it also means I am not allowed to drive it.

Never mind, travelling with Barber as he expertly flips the bellowing V8 through lefts and rights all the way chatting calmly about the wonders of electric power steering and the endless joy of tuning shock absorbers, is testimony to how good Holden’s new hero sports sedan is and why it is so good.

When I get my chance to drive the RPR Commodores it’s obvious the improvement has not been restricted to just the Redline. The VF might not be the complete redo Holden once planned pre-GFC, but it’s still a clear step forward and a great advert for this engineering group's skills.

“We have spent the last 10 years developing this car,” says Sheridan.

“Not only through Commodore, but a lot of us spent time on Camaro and other cars that we designed and developed and made prototypes of that never saw the light of day.

“But every time we go and do it, we are constantly improving our skill level as Australian engineers as we come up with better ideas and different ways of doing things. I think what you are seeing in VF is a combination of the technology we are putting in but also the skill base in Holden in terms of the way it has improved over time.

“I think we have made the best Commodore we have ever made.”

Links to motoring.com.au’s VF Commodore: First Drives
>> First Drive -- VF Commodore SS
>> First Drive -- VF Commodore Evoke
>> First Drive -- VF Commodore Calais V
>> First Drive -- VF Commodore SV6 Ute

Links to motoring.com.au’s VF Commodore news
>> Mission accomplished: Holden had simple aims for VF
>> Steering a new path: EPAS is the headline item but VF’s chassis represents significant change
>> Aero Dynamic: Pedestrian safety and aerodynamics have shaped VF
>> Inside Job: Fewer parts and better materials drive VF Commodore’s interior upgrade
>> Large car future proofed: VF’s new electrical platform plays a vital role
>> Power games: Carry over powertrains don’t detract from VF story
>> Getting connected: VF delivers impressive connectivity
>> Safely integrated: No US-spec kneebag but Holden says VF is safer

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