AUSSIES love a V8: there’s something about the low rumble and the lazy highway loping that seems to suit our wide, brown land.

Holden’s V8-engined Commodore is one constant on that landscape.

The large family car fare has featured a succession of big-bore engines that are as happy to contest the daily commute as they are to punt around a series of tight, twisting corners.

Holden may have made a little mistake with the previous V8, sold as both the down-market SS and the more richly equipped SS-V, in that the manual versions were a bit too much a driver’s car, and a strain to live with day-to-day.

Bighted by a heavy clutch pedal and brakes that didn’t ever feel quite up to the job, the SS-V needed a degree of compromise as part of the ownership experience.

The good thing about the VF update is the SS-V is now even more of a driver’s car, yet happier in the urban environment than it has ever been in the past.

Click on Our Opinion for the full review...