HSV MY15 GTS

They say self possession comes with age, and it certainly seems to be coming to the Nissan 370Z. Last year, as a toe-dipping exercise before really establishing its Nismo performance sub brand, Nissan gave its now five year old V6 engined rear-drive coupe an official motorsport makeover.

In case it wasn’t tasty enough, HSV’s whipped out the salt and pepper and seasoned the GTS a little closer to perfection. MY15 Commodore updates have trickled up to HSV, auto models now scoring the same Camaro shift paddles while “Fantale” orange and “Karma” teal have bitten the dust, replaced by “Some Like It Hot”, a medium red, and “Jungle” Green think Hothouse from the VY days. The GTS’s wheels are now finished in a sort of shadow chrome. Pricing is unchanged $94,490 for the manual, $96,990 for the auto. The bi-modal exhaust now features electronic activation. And for MY15 GTS changes, well, that’s about it.

The shift paddles change the GTS driving experience by allowing you to keep your eyes up and focused on inhaling whatever bit of road it is you’re blasting along. The heads-up display mode shows cornering G-force but a row of coloured lights also indicates when it’s time to pluck one of those paddles.

They’ve got a tiny travel and click firmly, a tactile experience which exaggerates the lazy, slurred up changes you get from the 6L90E six-speed auto. Put it this way: while Ferrari’s measuring gear changes in milliseconds, HSV’s still using a sundial.

Pluck down a gear and the GTS’s transmission is a bit like a DSG that’s had a few too many wines. It’ll blip itself lazily as it grabs a lower cog, but it's hardly a crisp, swift rev.

That all said, you do get used to it. Meanwhile the brakes are just superb. Sounds funny, but so many cars good, expensive cars have brake pedals too soft, over-serviced with too much travel or sensitivity. But to plunge a foot into the HSV GTS’s brake pedal is to feel a blissful blend of firmness and bite, pulling up the big sedan strongly and stably. Whoever did these brakes deserves a trophy.

Of course, plunge a foot into the throttle and yep, there’s 430kW and 740Nm ready to pull you through long, tall ratios. The GTS is fast.

For a car based on a humble Commodore the suspension performance is impressive, too. Each wheel works bumps big and small even hammering through a long, fast corner, inspiring confidence. Particularly in the wet where the 255 front, 275 rear Continental Conti Sports give incredible grip.

Unfortunately the exhaust note is still a little underwhelming if you like a rich, meaty V8 note. Don’t enter into an exhaust sound-off if any of your mates buys a Jaguar F-Type R Coupe.

Small niggles aside (we just want it to be perfect so badly), as an overall finished product, particularly for $97K, the HSV GTS is an utterly superb muscle sedan and easily still Australia’s best.