Holden’s ‘high-riding wagon’ tested
On-road, on the dirt in the high-ride Commodore Tourer. David Linklater reports.
One of the most appealing models in the new ZB Commodore range is an SUV model called the Tourer.
We’ve been here before, of course. From 2003-06 Holden offered the Adventra, an off-roadoriented version of the VY Commodore wagon. It came first as a V8, then a V6. Then it was gone.
It still has a bit of a cult following in Australia, but truth be told the time wasn’t quite right for such a car in the Holden range and the technology wasn’t quite up to scratch either.
Fast forward to 2018 and the time could not be better. The SUV genre accounted for 42 per cent of new-vehicle sales during January.
That’s easy. It rides 20mm higher than a standard Commodore Sportwagon and it has extra plastic cladding on the exterior.
Which is a lot more than many modern cars offer in order to claim SUV status.
ZB specification gets the Tourer quite a bit of SUV-cred anyway, as it happens. This model is only available with the 235kW/ 381Nm 3.6-litre V6 engine, which means it comes as standard with the very clever Twinster all-wheeldrive system.
Twinster provides a separate clutch for each rear wheel.
It communicates with the drivetrain 100 times per second and can apportion up to 50 per cent of torque to the rear, and 100 per cent of that available power to either rear wheel individually.
In short, the AWD system provides an incredible amount of control in a proactive fashion – because it can read what the car is doing before you actually feel the effects.
Holden has developed a unique suspension tune to suit the Tourer’s higher ride height – even more compliant than the ‘‘Tour’’ package fitted to the Commodore LT, RS and Calais models.
We had our first taste of the Tourer during the Australian media launch for the ZB Commodore this month.
Disclaimer: while we drove the rest of the range extensively on public roads, time in the Tourer was restricted to Holden’s Lang Lang Proving Ground, in a number of activities including laps of a high-speed handling circuit and hill-route, dirt-road driving and even some towing (it’s rated at 2100kg).
So we won’t call it definitive, especially as we weren’t in New Zealand (that time will come in the next few weeks).
But it was comprehensive and illuminating: the Lang Lang routes we used were not racingcircuit-smooth, but rather designed to be representative of real-world roads.
Not to mention free of traffic. The increase in ride height is actually quite modest and not something you’re immediately conscious of from behind the wheel.
But a few laps on tarmac backto-back with conventional ZB models did highlight how much softer the Tourer is, with noticeably increased body roll.
Weirdly, it’s a not-unpleasant sensation: Holden takes great pride in the way it’s maintained steering integrity and body control on bumpy roads right across the ZB range, and the Tourer telegraphs big changes in chassis attitude very clearly.
Tourer also keeps it real on tyre size and therefore ride: it wears relatively modest 18-inch alloys with 235/50 rubber.
Not exactly rock-hopping stuff, but a lot more versatile than the 20-inch, 35-series feet fitted to other high-end ZB models.
The AWD system is brilliant on both tarmac and dirt, shifting power around in virtuoso fashion to keep the car stable and make the driver look very good.
The Tourer gets a Sport-mode button that sharpens up steering but also adjusts the Twinster setup to be a bit more rear-drivebiased.
The Tourer is coming to New Zealand in top Calais-V specification only, at $65,990.
That means you get stuff like adaptive matrix LED headlights, colour head-up display, 360-degree camera, Bose audio, massage/ ventilated front seats, heating for front and rear seats, shift paddles and a monster panoramic glass roof.
But given that this is essentially Holden’s Subaru Outback... and Subaru sells loads of Outbacks, surely it won’t be too long before we see the lowerspecification, less-expensive Tourer Calais in Kiwi showrooms.
Does Tourer have SUV space? Holden acknowledges the new ZB is 36mm narrower than the outgoing VF, but also claims that it’s all in the centre console: the space around the driver and front passenger is exactly the same as the old car.
Although the wheelbase is
86mm shorter, the company says the ‘‘couple’’ distance - from the hip-point of a front-seat occupant to the hip-point of somebody sitting behind them - is also within
1mm of the old car.
The Twinster system means a much smaller transmission tunnel running through the car.
However, that cabin widthreduction does mean Commodore is no longer as adept at accommodating three adults (or three child-seats) across the rear.
Cargo capacity is 560 litres with the rear seats up and 1665 litres with the 60/40-split seats folded flat.
It’s a five-seater only, of course; your seven-seat, V6 Holden SUV option comes in the form of the American Acadia at the end of the year.
In truth, Aussies aren’t quite as obsessed with SUVs as we are. Over there, the genre accounts for a mere 35 per cent of new-vehicle sales, or about even with passenger cars.
Perhaps that’s why Holden Australia executives prefer to call the Tourer a ‘‘high-riding wagon’’.
But Kiwis won’t be backward in calling it an SUV, pure and simple.