From Central Otago to Auckland CBD
Bonding with our new longtermer on a 1500km road trip. By David Linklater.
Good at reading between the lines? Then you’ve probably guessed there’s more to the long-term test of the Holden Commodore SS-V Redline that I’ve been running since November, than simply a last-blast in the last Aussie-made V8.
The plan has always been to change horses mid-stream and swap the old-school VF for an allnew ZB Commodore.
Sorry for not keeping you all in the loop. Didn’t want to distract.
I’ve achieved half of that by collecting our ZB directly from Holden New Zealand’s media launch drive programme for the new range last month, which wound up in Central Otago.
First order of business was to drive back to Auckland, giving me a handy 1500km to get familiar.
So no, you haven’t seen or heard (especially) the last of the old Redline.
But I’m doing this in chronological order, so this story’s about getting the ZB back to Auckland.
There’s a bit of crossover time with the VF built into the programme, so next report I’ll wave goodbye while I’m still saying hello to the new one.
Our new Commodore is a VXR, which seems appropriate because it’s the performance and technology flagship of the range.
My ‘‘other’’ Commodore is of a course a hero model too, but it’s a stretch to say the former is a replacement for the latter.
There’s no direct successor to the SS-V because the new range doesn’t go any bigger than the 3.6-litre V6. And the VXR is $8500 less expensive than the outgoing Redline.
Know what you’re thinking: the VXR isn’t really a specialist model because it doesn’t have any more grunt than the regular ZB V6 models.
But if ‘‘performance’’ means more to you than a drag race, there’s VXR-specific stuff like an extra, more aggressive ‘‘VXR’’ drive mode (good name that) and adaptive suspension.
A decent road trip was an opportunity to put those and some of the ZB’s other Commodore-first technologies to the test.
Because as the flagship model, the VXR comes with everything. Some stuff you never dreamed about in a VF: 360-degree camera, adaptive matrix-LED headlights and ventilated/massaging seats.
My route: from Alexandra in Central Otago through the Haast Pass to the West Coast, then onwards to Picton.
Across the dreaded Cook Strait and straight up State Highway 1 to Auckland.
Not sure if Holden NZ had a direct line to the weather, but at least half of the trip was undertaken in pouring rain, which definitely played to the VXR’s strengths.
The AWD system, with a ‘‘Twinster’’ rear clutch pack that gives true torque vectoring (not the pretend ‘‘by-braking’’ kind on many cars) does its best work on low-traction surfaces.
Also impressed with the slick nine-speed gearbox.
The ZB’s V6 engine feels a bit peaky compared with the turbofour in lesser models, but the transmission fills in the gaps quite nicely and the AWD means you can deploy maximum power pretty much without fear for safe overtaking.
This really mattered on the narrow, winding and very soggy Haast Pass road, which was carrying a road train of every Toyota Corolla registered in NZ for the last 12 months.
The VXR’s sports seats look quite aggressive, with their wraparound shape and AMGwannabe shiny ‘‘VXR’’ logos.
And you do kind of have to drop down over the side bolsters to get in.
But long-distance comfort-wise, I’m very susceptible to back pain on long driving stints (previous injury plus advancing years) and I got out of the VXR after some long days feeling fit and flexible (ish).
That was without resorting to the massage function all that often, which is a nice novelty but a bit fiddly to activate unless you remember to do it before you drive away: the button is on the seat base and hard to feel around for without a long look.
The VXR has electronicadaptive dampers, which means the suspension changes character according to drive mode.
But even in its softest setting, it’s still firmer than a standard ZB Commodore with what Holden calls the ‘‘touring’’ setup – the theory being that’s the sportiest model so it should always feel sporty.
Cycle through the stages and you can certainly feel the difference, but the range isn’t huge.
‘‘VXR’’ is typically a track-type setting in the world of Opel, but it’s not that stiff in the Commodore; I happily drove the car on backroads in that setting, mostly to enjoy the extra (electronically enhanced) exhaust noise.
If I had my way, the VXR would get more of an advantage from its adaptive suspension by offering a super-soft setting because you want that sometimes.
I tackled Picton-Auckland in one go.
No sick came on the ferry; thought you’d want to know that.
It’s safe to say that by this stage I had stopped playing and was keen to get home as smoothly and swiftly as possible.
So the chassis antics stopped but the average speed rose, which ironically brought the fuel consumption down.
It had been hovering around 11 litres per 100km for the trip (admittedly over some demanding South Island roads), but upping the pace brought the average down to 9.9l/100km by the time I’d got to the middle of the North Island.
I leaned pretty heavily on the adaptive cruise control for the last leg, which is a virtuoso piece of tech.
It includes stop-and-go functionality – although I won’t really get a chance to try that until I’m back in city life.
The last word for my first VXR report has to go to the matrix headlights, which have 32 individual LEDS that handle highbeam automatically and simply tailor the light pattern around incoming traffic.
No, it’s not the first time I’ve experienced this technology, but a proper trip in ‘‘my’’ Commodore has really showed how it takes the stress out of night-driving. It’s like magic.