Holden Commodore Tourer 2018 Review

Back to the future

Holden has gone back to the future with the Calais Tourer, which is a very similar concept to last decade's locally-built Adventra. While that vehicle was a sales flop, times have changed and this long-legged wagon could be the right vehicle in the right place at the right time.

In SUV-mad Australia there's every chance the 2018 Holden Calais Tourer is going to be the most popular model in the reconstituted Commodore range.

Think of this car as the spiritual successor to the Holden Adventra, the all-wheel drive wagon based on the locally-built VY-VZ Commodore from the early-mid 2000s.

A 20mm ride height increase, a fresh 3.6-litre V6 engine combined with a new nine-speed auto, Twinster all-wheel drive grip and some cladding give the German-built Opel Insignia-based crossover a combination of style and substance that could cut through the clutter and appeal to suburban Australia.

There are two models in the line-up, the $45,990 Calais we are testing here and the high-specification and more expensive $53,990 Calais-V.

Curiously, buy a Calais liftback (there's no Calais wagon) and you get a 2.0-litre turbo petrol or diesel engine. Only the $51,990 Calais-V liftback gets the V6 AWD powertrain. Ah well, naming conventions are made to be broken.

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What's it get?

Like the rest of the new-gen ZB Commodore line-up, the Calais is well equipped. Safety gear includes autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist, forward collision alert, side blind zone alert, rear cross traffic alert, parking assist, a reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors and cruise control.

There are six airbags - no rear side airbags, only curtains -- and a maximum five-star ANCAP rating.

Comfort equipment highlights include leather seat trim, heated front seats, wireless phone charging, an 8.0-inch colour touch-screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone projection, satellite-navigation, digital radio and a hands-free power tailgate.

The Tourer rolls on 18-inch alloy wheels and Continental ContiSportContact rubber. The spare wheel is only a space-saver. Not much help in the Outback. Braked towing capacity is limited to 2100kg.

Service intervals are 12 months/12,000km (up from nine months and down from 15,000km compared to the old car) and cost $817 over the unexceptional three year and 100,000km warranty period.

Upgrade to the Calais-V and you get 20-inch wheels, adaptive LED Matrix headlights, a 360-degree camera, a panoramic sunroof, a head-up display, Bose premium audio, a massaging driver's seat with power-adjustable bolsters, ventilated front seats, heated rear seats and flappy paddles for the auto.

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The inside story

Slip into the comfy driver's seat and the view is a tad dull, missing the drama and light of the Calais-V's 8.0-inch colour cluster screen.

The twin-dial instrument panel is grey and is reminiscent of the Astra small car. The dashboard is sweeping and multi-hued. The touch-screen is mounted nice and high.

Both the driver's seat and the three-spoke steering wheel provide plenty of adjustment range. You should get comfortable.

Despite being narrower than the old Commodore you don't feel crowded next to your front-seat passenger. The pronounced centre console accentuates that's separation. There's no shortage of bottle holders and bins either.

It's the same story in the second row, where there's also plenty of storage, although the door pockets are small. There's noticeably more headroom than the hatchback, as well as bigger windows. There are adjustable air-con vents in the rear of the centre console.

The boot accommodates a sizable 793 litres of luggage loaded to the roof behind row two. Fold the split bench seat flat and that expands to a hefty 1665 litres. The loading area is long, low and flat and includes a string net and security cover.

The driving

We didn't get that long behind the wheel of the Tourer. A couple of runs through a set of cones on a slippery dirt road, a couple of laps on a fun gravel road loop, then one lap of the Holden bitumen ride and handling course was it.

But it was enough to get a couple of promising impressions.

Above all else that nine-speed is amazingly good. In Sport mode there is absolutely no need to even think about manipulating the gears manually via the shifter. It is intuitive whether attacking the throttle or lifting off, holding gears or slicing down through the 'box at the right times.

Relax and it cruises thump and vibe-free. It really shows off the 235kW/381Nm V6 off to its very best.

Big capacity naturally-aspirated engines might be yesterday's news, but allied with this transmission this one grunts along fast and smooth. Maybe there's a slight hesitation when you first press the throttle, but that's a very minor issue.

The twin-clutch Twinster all-wheel drive system with its torque vectoring capability doesn't spoil things either. It' set up to allow both power-on and lift-off dirt drifting, all aided by a deft electric-assist power steering that allows precise adjustments.

Off the dirt and on the road course the Tourer's extra ground clearance makes itself felt as it rolls and floats more than the more tightly strung Commodore hatches.

But the passive suspension is still well-controlled and there's no doubt this would be the version for that strop across crap Aussie country roads.

Verdict

After driving the Tourer my gnawing doubts about the structure of the Commodore range only grew.

There's no version of the Tourer with the excellent 2.0-litre turbo-petrol or the 2.0-litre turbo-diesel, let alone a front-wheel drive model. Holden is letting a big opportunity slip here.

Instead, potential buyers are being offered a plethora of hatches and traditional wagons. It's like the product planners are in a time warp, or they know something we don't, or Holden was simply told what versions it was getting.

It's probably a bit of all three. But the bottom line? At first taste the Tourer is an entertaining, convincing vehicle. It could be the best vehicle Holden is selling right now.

Even better if a version started below $40,000 in entry-level Subaru Outback territory.

Holden Calais Tourer pricing and specifications:
Price: $45,990 (plus ORCs)
Engine: 3.6-litre petrol V6
Outputs: 235kW/381Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 212g CO2/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP