I went down to Holden and had a close look at the Omega and Calais yesterday. Doesn't look that bad from the outside, but those front wheel arches make the car look like Dumbo the elephant with floppy ears, they really exaggerated them.

But that's not the point. I opened the rather cumbersome drivers door and hopped in. 2 things I noticed first. 1 is that the doors need to be closed with some force. Too often they don't close the first time with normal effort, and it's when you do the "double close" that you notice the cheap door trims. They vibrate inside when you close the door. And they especially vibrate and make a racket when you knock against them with the side of your closed fist. I would have thought that these would not be the first impressions a car maker would want to give to someone, when it's going on about the quality of the new car.
As has always been the case with anything designed and made by Holden, the interior trim and finish is quirky, there are gaps around the arm rest for dirt and dust to settle, and which would be a pain to clean.
The center console is wide, and the handbrake assembly would have to be the worst I've ever seen in a car. It really is that bad. Pulled up in the braked position, the handle wobbles from side to side, and the grip is awkward and annoying to grasp, not to mention the large release button on top of the handle. The center console lid is flat, I would say it would be awkward finding an ideal position for the left elbow to rest for long drives.
I like the rubberized feel of some of the dash trim, especially over the speedo cowling. And the air-con controls are tactile, but the stereo comes off as cheap. The glove box lid is made of cheap hard plastic, and it is huge, when you open it you expect a huge space to put things in but, the actual space is almost half the size of the lid area. Just strange.

I got out and went up Ford to immediately compare the 2 together. And I have to say with the interior, Ford really do not have that much to be concerned about. Ford have to work on there interior refinement too, especially the door handles, the plastic in them can get a bit creaky.
But I have to say in all honesty, I much rather the interior of the Ford. Although I like the Omega's speedo and tacho array better I think.
I already know the Falcon's ride is very good. And apparently the Omega's ride finally comes up to the Falcon's standard. And IMO I think the Falcon look very handsome from the outside. It's a classic look. So I think the Ford's alright in this comparo. The interior wins, the exterior doesn't have much wrong with it. And were talking about the brands bread and butter cars.
Ford need to be concerned with the Statesman/Caprice, SS and the HSV's variants of the VE. These will be quite alright from HSV. This is where the fat wheel arches and minimal front overhangs will work well. The front side view of the HSV VE's already remind me of the M3.

its a new car, so theres bound to be teething problems with quality. give it a year then go back and close the doors, i reckon it'd be much better.
i agree with the handbrake though, shocking peice of design.
it seems to me they suddenly ran out of money in the last stages of development, and half the little things are really shoddy because of it. like the mudflaps for instance, i dont know if its just the base model ones, but they are tacky, el cheapo ones, like you get from kmart that have "HOLDEN" written across the back. ive seen quite a few others around like that too, so unless kmart have suddenly had a run on em, it must be the factory ones im seeing. they look terirble though, im not a fan of mudflaps at the best of times, but they could have at least "styled" them like every other car manufactuer does.

how long until the glove box starts sagging like all there other commodores prior to it

I thought a guide to a well built car was how the doors sound when closed! if they are a firm thud, means solid and air tight. If they way the VE is flimsy and air leaks. I reakon the front guards a rip of from the European cars like BMW and Audi... But i guess most of the parts to make the car come from off shore anyways.

All gm cars, my fiances ts astra feels like u have to fight with the door to open it and close it, mind you there are times when i get out and get hit with the door cause it didnt hold on the bloody stop! very annoying although i must admit there is some sort of safety/secure feeling with it. makes the car feel alot more rigid in some ways i guess.

the guards including the blinker assembly on the omeag are def. not suited for a base model. look awesome on the other series such as ss and calais. i have to admit i was very impressed with the vehicle overall. they do look a little out of proportion but once u start seeing more of them they start to look quite stylish, a little too large but nice. i think holden did a great job.. but hey id never buy one, i got blue blood for life !!

My mates mums vs S commondoor, the doors on that are a s**t to close, really hard to do, and yes you have to really pull them hard and slam them shut, they are light yet when you actually try to close them they have this feelings of something quite heavy. Havent been in a late model commodore, but if they are anything like that old one then screw going near it.

well everyone is saying what you have said about the commodore - they are saying the lower models are very basic and cheap!! where as the V models are that little bit better - come with all the opitions - but when it comes to the top end - stato, ss, etc of course they will be on the mark with the bf - but still i dont know how they can send a billion dollars on a car that looks like it does - not very good on the eyes!!

drove a new commodore and a bf mk1 falcon last week and i have to hand it to the falcon, on the commodore sv6 the small screen is s**t, u cant get gps, climate control, 6 stacker cd player, the handbrake is the biggest load of s**t ive ever used theres only 5 speed auto and the position if the stick is so high its hard to use without hurting your arms, the steering wheel is to big, the sound of the indicators plays through the sound system and is irritating, so i went up th road to a ford and got an xr6 priced with 6 stacker, leather, climate control, premium sound, GPS, GT rear spoiler and a 6 speed auto comes in next week

You would have thought Holden would have opted for the extra expense of having an electronic handbrake across the range. Like that found in the Jaguar. Then they probably could of made that huge fat ugly center console a bit slimmer. Because it would solve the problem of making provisions for a LHS handbrake for exporting.
I don't get it. I would have thought anything, even the extra expense of having it would have been better that what they have now.
Imagine that flimsy cheap handbrake in the Statesman and Caprice.

has anyone got pics of the ghetto a** handbrake set up at all??

BA/BF interiors aren't very nice.. everything is so plastic, cheap and flimsy. Even worse is the territory. I think the EF/EL/AU interiors were much better finished off with the materials they used.

^ lol you should hear the rattles and s**t happening from my car after 240000k's.

You should see the insane amount of work I've had to do just to keep my rattles under control every 6 months after 170,000. Seems when I stop one, 2 more pop up right away. You can have it, I'll take the BF and especially the Territory.

have to disagree with you there. i dont think theres much of a comparison between BA/BFs and EF/EL's. yeah, both a pretty plasticy, but the quality and design of the b series s**t all over the e series.
the plastic feels better in the ba's and the gaps in the dash are no where near as big.
that said, the ef/el interiors have aged pretty well, still a good looking and comfortable car to be in, but the ba's and bf's are waaay ahead, and so they should be considering they are several generations newer.

I think they got the appearance of the BA/BF interior done very well, but as previously stated, it's the finish, and poor quality plastics used (and build quality in some instances), that really let it down.