I've changed my opinion of them now. Previously I wouldn't have even considered one.

But after taking a new Boss 335 for a really good spin yesterday, I'm convinced HSV have a lot to worry about. It's the first "modern" car I've driven in a hell of a long time that has some resemblance of a soul. The thing is unreal. It drives so easily & gently, but give the throttle a bit more (it has a fair amount of spring resistance in the fly-by-wire unit) and all hell breaks loose. Power comes on real strong from low revs, is absolutely hammering from 3000 - 4500 RPM, where I thought it would start to fall away, but no, it keeps on surging all the way to 6000. The N/A Coyote engines can spin to 7500, but the aussie supercharged versions are limited to just over 6.

I thought I was quite hard on it (bounced off the limiter a few times, and probably came close to overheating the brains in the traction control computer), but the FPV guy I was with claimed I was quite reserved! The exhaust has a real nice note in the car - but a little bit "slappy" from the outside - like a 253 used to be, but it makes all the right noise when the throttle is opened, and it has a real nice crackle on the over-run.

I'm almost converted.....