Holden Commodore VX Series II

Rear-wheel-drive is a big part of the deal, but so is the long wheelbase stance and rugged construction inherent in both the chassis and driveline.

But if there's been a shadow of a doubt cast over the big two - Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore - recently, it would have to be the suitability of the latter's independent rear suspension for towing.

Since the VT Commodore was introduced in 1997, Holden's version of IRS has been standard across the board on sedans, station wagons and the long-wheelbase luxury cars.

In fact, since the launch of the VU Commodore Utility late last year, even the humble ute now has IRS.

The big problem was that, in Holden's case, the IRS set-up wasn't the technically pure variety. Ask a suspension engineer how to make IRS work, and you'll invariably be told that proper upper and lower wishbones (a la the optional IRS set-up on the Ford Falcon range) is really the only way to go.

Unfortunately for Holden, the system it borrowed from its European offshoot, Opel, is what's called a semi-trailing link set-up and is looked down upon by the purists.

The main problem is that it allows some pretty radical camber changes to occur at the rear wheels when loaded up (say, when towing a decent-sized trailerboat).

Where a double-wishbone set-up tends to keep the rear wheels more upright and therefore the tread flat on the road, the Holden semi-trailing link arrangement could sometimes see the rear wheels splayed out at odd angles with a big load on board.

For the trailerboat owner, that could mean some interesting dynamics when towing, and accelerated tyre wear if a load was carried/towed often.

Working on those criticisms, Holden has upgraded the IRS of the Commodore range and re-released the whole range as the VX Series II range of sedans and wagons.

The big change has been the fitting of an extra set of link arms which help control the camber changes without upsetting the superior ride quality that an IRS system offers over a conventional live-axle set-up.

In reality, the extra links control toe-in/out more than they control camber changes.

But the bottom line is that the new links make the car more stable in a straight line and give it better turn-in, and that's never more apparent than with a load hitched to the towball.

A range of smaller improvements have also been added, including a revised front and rear stabiliser bar and retuned shock abso rbers at the rear to make the most of the extra links.

The changes certainly don't make the Commodore an instantly superior tow-vehicle compared with everything else on the road. We're inclined to think the simpler live-axle set-up of the basic Falcon package is possibly a better bet long-term, but at least the new Commodore will be a better drive when the rear suspension is working its hardest - when the tub is hanging off the back.

The rest of the Commodore package remains more or less the same despite the facelift: the V-six engine is still good for 152kW and 305Nm of torque, while the towie's tool-of-choice remains the 5.7lt V-eight option with its 225kW of power and 460Nm of boat ramp conquering torque.