VY Commodore torque figues not what they seem

BURIED in the technical specifications list for the new VY Commodore was what looked like a drop in peak torque for the 225kW version of the Gen III V8, from 460Nm at 4400rpm in VX II spec to 450Nm at 4000rpm.

This contrasts with the new higher-performance version of the Gen III which goes into the sports variants and now produces 235kW at 5200rpm and 465Nm at 4400rpm.

Holden says the reason the base Gen III - which is available with Berlina, Calais and S ute - torque figure is different between VX series II and VY is because it has moved from the DIN standard to a "more international standard" - ECE.

"At the V8 torque output level there are a few Nm difference in the standards," said a Holden spokesman.

"Hence the Gen III goes from 460Nm VXII DIN to 450Nm VY ECE. However, they are essentially an equivalent figure."And what of the change in torque?"The reason the current Gen III 225kW peak is reached slightly further down in the rev range is due to different calibrations to the V8 engines in VY," the spokesman said.

"This creates a slightly different torque curve. It's also worth noting that the Gen III torque curve between 4000 and 4500 is actually very flat, so it doesn't take much to change your peak.

"We have also applied the Monaro induction system to these VY engines.

"The power figures remain the same for the V6 because it would go down a few for ECE, but then it's made up a few because of the calibration changes we've made to the VY V6 engines. Hence a zero sum game here."These figures also have to be representative of average tests of a large number of engines under various environmental conditions such as outside temperature and humidity.