Diesel Commodore smooth and smart
It might seem sacrilegious, but a German-built, diesel-powered Commodore has a lot going for it, writes Richard Bosselman.
Bagging Holden for daring drop its most beloved Australian-made product in favour of a mid-size German-built model could well go down as 2018’s favourite car buff past-time.
Seems everyone has something critical to air about Commodore having ceased being a large, rear-drive car and transcending into something smaller, that keeps a V6 but drops the V8, reintroduces a four-cylinder after two decades and goes with front and fourwheel-drive.
Even the police have sniped, highlighting how their new frontline patrol car is a bit snug in the rear for passengers, through the ZB’s sloping roofline having reduced back seat space by a yawning 13 millimetres. Jeez, first they cuff you, then you can’t sit comfortably en route to the station . . . the indignity, right?
ZB-phobics lamenting losing the old VF-series car ignore the fact that the previous car departed because it couldn’t earn its keep – Holden had to move on and that’s that.
However, there’s no doubt the new car is struggling and potentially, by delivering more change than any other, the version on test here could well have the hardest journey.
Going Euro opens the door to diesel and also raises a question of this still being relevant. Sales trend casts a black cloud; road user charges, improvement in petrol engine efficiency and the relatively cheap price of that fuel, the cost of servicing, the Volkswagen drama . . . all have eroded the diesel car market to the point where many potential rivals have pulled.
Conceivably, Holden itself doesn’t make the job of raising consumer interest any easier by restricting this powerplant to this hatch and a $200 dearer wagon. An elevated all-wheeldrive wagon format conceivably would have been more worthwhile, so as to tap into the crossover fad. An option that occurs in the car’s Vauxhall and Opel guises, bypassed when Melbourne made its ZB call, seems even less possible now Peugeot runs the German shop.
So we get what we get. And what we get, in pure driving terms, is decent. The Commodore that goes farthest (by far) while burning the least fuel – with a straight out 1.9 litres per 100km advantage over the petrol four – sells itself as being an easy-going, efficient and, with a Euro 6 emissions tick (albeit with requirement to use AdBlue, hence the second filler in the fuel port) environmental choice.
While the trim is nothing flash – as a result of Holden going for spec to woo fleets – it’s comfortable, has all the core comfort and safety essentials and is roomy enough to make the coppers’ criticism of the rear seem a touch churlish.
It has little trouble asserting driver appeal, so long as you understand strength is measured in Newton metres. Big torque, modest power makes it pointless hammering the thing; the engine becomes coarse and the gearbox rebels, denying shifts if it considers them too hasty. And, by the way, this version doesn’t have hand shifters.
Better, by far, to simply provide smooth, easy and measure throttle inputs and ride on a decent slug of muscularity that exerts over a much wider spread than either of ZB’s petrols deliver. Drive it that way and
harshness is better quelled. This and an easy-going ability to eat ascents are all strong selling points.
Holden’s world-renowned engineering team was deeply involved in turning an Insignia into a Commodore.
Time at the wheel of any ZB reminds their input reached well beyond simply localising the wiper/indicator locations. The diesel’s suspension tune is different to the petrol’s. To some degree it has the same sort of relaxed personality that usually attaches – quelle irony – to those French diesel cars that were once so popular here. So, good grip yet also some body roll in cornering and understeer at extremis, with compensation of a bump-quelling ride quality and a more laid-back persona.
Holden doesn’t shirk in striving to impress the efficiency side of things. This is the only Commodore with a gauge that consistently updates instant and average burn and also shows, by way of an idiot-proof display, when you’re overdoing it.
It was this that revealed hauling up a hill hand-holding the box in fifth or sixth and pulling 2000rpm was producing less fuel burn than letting it lug up in Drive at barely half that on the tacho.
A sensible and slightly spendthrift spec ticks Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, remote engine start, front park assist and air con, but it’s mainly about durability; reps on the run will appreciate the one-touch folding rear seats and four USB points to keep their devices charged. The safety fit-out ticks the latest Euro expectation, with autonomous braking, a strong five-star Euro NCAP score, lane keeping assist, and forward collision warning.
Like I say, the challenge it faces is simply being noticed: At ZB’s launch, Holden encouraged sceptics to drive their car ‘‘and then have an opinion’’. I wonder how many critics have actually done so.