The HSV would leave that Lotus Elise for dead. There is no substitute for cubic inches, Kilowatts and torque, corners or not, it would handle real well, don't worry about that.
The next release of the commodore, is based not on an Australian floor plan , but on the GM Global architecture which is going to be a exact copy of the next USA Chevy, which I have seen drawings off, which are similar to the HSV pictured at the start of the post, but alot uglier again. Goodbye VE, goodbye Australian made and Australian designed forever. This HSV, is the last of the big V8s, last of the V8 interceptors (I borrowed that from Mad Max.lol) but its the last before we get the American junk forever.
I am not a Holden fan, never have been, because they in earlier years, and including early VE's, were usually always poorly made compared to the Falcon variants, but a sad day for car building in Australia is coming with USA made commodores and the fugly American square-ish design philosophy with it-yuk.
But the HSV is a nice car, and worth 100 K compared to all the other stuff floating around at 4 times the price.
Heres my pick of fast cars below.lol I have owned a few Ford Hardtops, always great looking, good in a straight line, handling howdy doody.lol
Click pictures for bigger.