Holden Colorado 3.0 LX 2009 Review

Holden Colorado 3.0 LX Turbodiesel Crew-cab 4X4

Road Test

Price Guide: $43,490 (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges)
Price as tested: $45,932.69 (metallic paint: $400 steel tray $2042.69)
Crash rating: Three-Star ANCAP
Fuel: diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 8.5
CO2 emissions (g/km): 228
Also consider:  Nissan Navara (more here), Toyota HiLux (more here), Mitsubishi Triton (more here), Mazda BT50 (more here)

Overall rating: 2.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.0/5.0
Safety: 2.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 2.5/5.0
X-factor: 3.0/5.0

About our ratings

When Holden lost the Isuzu franchise, it lost access to the Rodeo name, so it rolled out essentially the same vehicles but called the range Colorado, using the name-change as an opportunity to do some tweaking of specifications and minor adjustments to trim.

As a result, the LX Crew-cab 4x4 is one of the most down-to-earth, honest, working-class heroes on the Australian market. There's not much in it that you don't need and you can rely on what is there to deliver the goods, come rain, hail or shine.

The basic anatomy is a 3.0-litre common-rail turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual gearbox, housed in a 4-door, 5-seater Crewcab body with 4x4 capability, a limited-slip rear differential and a $2000 after-market drop-side tray up on the chassis rails.

Onto those bare bones are added a no-nonsense cabin, a basic level of electronic driver aids and a solid dose of can-do capability. ABS brakes and push-button on-the-fly 4x4 selection add some 21st century technology.

The new corporate 'face' is obvious, with siamesed headlamps under clear covers on a black background. A generous bonnet intercooler scoop promises much and a stout steel-tube & mesh rear window guard looks ready for active service.

The drop-side (and tailgate) tray is small, but is balanced by a cabin that can seat five, all with full lap-sash safety-belts, the four outer ones height-adjustable. The tray's deep metal sides are held to one-another by the simple expedient of twisting a thin bar across a slot, and the floor of the tray is wood-lined, although somewhat high to be lifting heavy tools into.

The leading edges of the ute's tray protruded 130mm further than the widest point of the sides of the cabin, and the leading edge of the flat steel mudguards had lost much of their paint, this on a vehicle with under 10,000km on the clock. And the diesel filler cap to the 76-litre tank is tucked away behind the cab and pokes up under the tray, looking like a very aftermarket after-thought.

In contrast, the cabin is workmanlike -- tough vinyl floor-coverings, stout dash and door-trim plastics and hard-wearing fabric seat-coverings, with adequate front-seat legroom for driver and passenger.

Cost-cutting is apparent in details like the lid of the centre console, absent at this level, and the bottle-holders in the doors -- too small for anything above 600ml -- yet the glovebox is generously large. While the driver gets good control placement and a rake-adjustable steering column, the devil's in the detail: the central digital clock is tiny and at such an angle as to make it all but invisible to the driver; the blue high-beam warning lamp is so dazzlingly bright it needed to be covered over; and the fitted radio/CD is a cheap unit with poor sound, so-so reception and tacky little knobs which seemed on the brink of dropping off.

Bonus points include intermittent (but not variably intermittent) wipers, two trip meters and outside temperature gauge, electric windows and exterior mirrors (with indicator repeaters), air-conditioning and a full-sized steel spare wheel. Besides the three-point safety belts for all occupants, passive safety is limited to dual front airbags, adjustable head-restraints and side intrusion bars in the doors.

The heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system is efficient, if noisy at bigger fan speeds -- but the 3.0-litre diesel donk isn't a quiet thing when it's working either; accelerating through the gears with any haste fills the cabin with the clattery roar of the big engine.

One aspect where the driver is poorly served is in the long gear-lever attached to the 5-speed manual transmission. Although gear-selection is smooth and predictable, the lever's action seemed rubbery and vague. It transmitted a great deal of vibration all the time, to the point that holding the lever for more than was absolutely necessary became distinctly unpleasant after an hour in stop-start traffic. The lever was also the source of some of the noise in the cabin.

Up front, there are both a 12v power socket and a cigarette lighter with an ashtray -- all three will be inaccessible if there are drinks in the console's cupholders, which are themselves awkwardly far forward, close to the centre of the dash and have a maximum effective height of 170mm; a cold-drink can is 130mm high, a 600ml plastic bottle is 220mm.

The front seats are small -- perhaps ideal for Japanese tradesmen, but beefy Aussie tradies will feel like they're sitting on a stool. Similarly, the back bench seat is close to the floor and leaves passengers' knees tightly bent and thighs largely unsupported. The backrest is nearly upright and while the seat-back does hinge forward, there is no meaningful storage space behind it, begging the question: why does it fold at all? There's just space for the jack, which is stored underneath. There is a an ashtray but no rear-seat drinks holders, although the seat-backs of both front seats do get map-pockets.

Big people -- or at least those with big feet -- may also find exiting the rear seat awkward due to the small rear doors and the B-pillar's proximity to the leading corners of the seat.

On the road, the engine's lusty power and seemingly close gear-ratios mean that the mediocre gear-shift is almost constantly employed -- or was, until we learned to skip the even-numbered second and fourth gears and just use first, third and fifth. The motor roars away and propels the Colorado forward purposefully, pausing only for the next cog. It has an irresistibility about the way it makes progress and feels like a much bigger workhorse than it really is.

The diesel puts out 120kW at a high 3600 rpm, and 360Nm at 1800 -- interestingly, the auto-transmission version loses 27Nm. An anomaly is that the slower-spinning diesel has a lower-output alternator (80 amps) than either the four-cylinder petrol (100 amps) or the rev-happy V6 petrol engines (120 amps); spark-hungry things, ignition systems.

With independent front suspension and 280mm disc brakes at the front and a leaf-sprung rear end with 295mm drum brakes, the underfloor features are hardly high-tech, although the big turbo-diesel does get a limited-slip differential and ABS brakes -- with electronic brakeforce distribution. This takes the place of a load-sensing apportioning valve, which isn't available on ABS-equipped Colorados. However there is no form of stability control, traction control or anti-skid software.

The rake-adjustable steering column drives a speed-sensing power-assisted rack and pinion steering system that offers a wide 12.4-metre kerb-to-kerb turning circle, but when four-wheel drive is engaged, the limited slip diff makes turning tight corners even worse.

The Colorado's towing capacities are generous: 3000kg braked, and 750kg unbraked.

Built tall (1750mm) and heavy (1872kg at the kerb), the Colorado's handling is at best, utilitarian -- if it's pin-sharp responses and millimetre-accurate steering you want, you're on the wrong floor of the department store: get out of the Blundstones, King Gee and Yakka work-wear section and head towards the lingerie.

The Colorado provides a rough, tough and double-rugged ride on poor surfaces and is only a little better on smooth ones. It is, after all, a truck -- and isn't ashamed to steer, stop and go like one. If that doesn't suit you, pick up your shopping and head down to a dealer that sells softroaders.

The after-market, extra-cost drop-sided, wooden-floored load-bed seems almost too small if you start thinking of a cement-mixer, a brace of shovels, some gas-bottles,  a few bags of cement and a couple of hefty tool-boxes plus a ladder or two. However, it's rated to take a tonne, so we stacked it to the gunnels with firewood and on a dry, powdery and sloping surface, the LX shrugged off the load as if it weren't there.

In fact we started off in 4Low, but so competent was the Colorado that we quickly shifted to 4H and then to 2H -- and the ute's rate of progress didn't flinch; with about 500kg of timber aboard, the ute was, if anything, more stable, more comfortable and quieter to drive, as if taking the bite out of the rear cart-springs with a bit of a load was just what the 'Rado needed to shine.

Unloading was a breeze. Dropping all three sides meant that most of the load tumbled out and detritus left behind could be easily swept off. The tray's side and rear panels all hinge below the level of the floor, so the deck usefully becomes the highest point.

Similarly, tying a 3-metre fallen tree-trunk to the rear tow-hook became a test of the breaking-strain of the rope, not of the Colorado's muscle or grip -- eventually the tree was where it was wanted and after ten minutes with a chainsaw, was transformed into a most agreeable garden seat.

Feeling the need to more fully explore the load transformation of what had, until then, been adjudged a pretty ordinary workhorse, we strapped a 1000-litre water-cube into the tray and hauled some H2O around. Of course, 1000 litres weighs 1000kg, so we were getting to the upper limits of the Colorado's 2900kg GVM, and it showed.

It showed in a degree of tail-happiness which could have been partly down to the height of the load bed  and correspondingly high centre of gravity, and partly to pressures in the 245/70R16 tyres on their 16-inch x 7.0-inch steel wheels. However, punching the 4H button sharpened the steering and once the slow-thinking system engaged, it gave all the grip we'd need on dirt roads, while the 4L button added a lot of confidence when heading back down the steep slopes with a tonne of water on the back.

Now the gear-ratios were much more appropriate and not only was the ride much improved, but it was quieter too -- it was clear that the ute simply wasn't intended to trundle about unladen and all its design KPI's included a significant mass of cargo.
Familiarity -- and harder tyres -- would probably breed a little more confidence, but it would be a brave driver who habitually pushed the Colorado to its maximum GVM.

Thus it's obvious that at this level of trim and sophistication at least, the Colorado is more a worker than a player; it revels in being laden and working up a sweat, rather than piffling around with no challenges.

For all the cabin's short-comings, the answer is obvious -- the Rodeo-replacement isn't about getting to the job -- it's about doing the job.

Images: Loaded Colorado - Steve Kealy

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