Holden Caprice V8 AFM 2009 Review

Overall Rating: 3.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 4.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 4.5/5.0
Safety: 3.5/5.0
Behind the wheel: 4.0/5.0
X-factor: 3.5/5.0

When it arrived in 2006, the current incarnation of Holden's upper-end 'plutobarge' was met with applause all round for its mix of good looks, competence on the road and cavernous, kit-filled interior. Three years on, we're revisiting it to get a look into an upgrade aimed at moving Holden's big iron with the times.

These days, eight cylinders and astrocubes don't look that flash even as a short-term proposition. But with a history steeped in V8 sentimentalism, Holden has enough loyalists on hand not to let it go yet. Which is why every Holden V8 now comes with Active Fuel Management (AFM) -- a cylinder deactivation system that switches between eight and four cylinders, according to what its engine management system determines about prevailing driving conditions.

Part of the company's EcoLine-branded greening initiative, it's a technology that's already found favour in Chrysler's 5.7 HEMI V8 300C, and in Honda's current Accord V6.

All credit to Holden, too, for getting it to market without a price rise.

Having spent the previous week in an Accord V6, Holden's beaut brute proves a decidedly different proposition. For a start, it's two cylinders and 2.5 litres bigger -- at 6.0 litres, it's the biggest mill available in the Australian motoring mainstream. It feels big. And with the help of four trumpets out the back, it's capable of sounding big without breaking the confines of good taste.

It's nimble and lively in corners, too, with suspension tuning providing a tidy compromise between ride and handling. Comfortable without being wallowy, it inspires confidence going into corners, with nicely weighted, direct steering imparting the feel of a smaller, more sporting machine.

Outputs are unaffected by AFM. Peak power and torque come on fairly high up the rev range -- 270kW of power at 5700 rpm; 530Nm of torque at 4400 rpm -- but the V8's muscular enough down low to heave its 1.9 tonne backpack around with no problem at all.

It saunters around suburban streets happily on not much above idle speed, but planting your foot unleashes a half-muted bellow and a prodigious, linear pour of power through a well matched set of cogs with little confusion or jerk. There's six of them, but you'd have to be gunning for a Darwin award to keep your foot down into the overdriven fifth and sixth.

Just don't set the trip computer to show instantaneous fuel consumption when you test it thus. Because it's not hard to get it the gauge banging its head on the 99.9L/100km ceiling.

That's what happens when you stomp on a V8 and AFM proved useful, if not earth-shatteringly so, in staunching that thirst. Taking no particular care in this respect, when we handed the car back after seven days combining about 360km of city cycle driving and one overnighter in the Blue Mountains (about 80km each way via the M2, the M7 and the M4 freeways), we'd averaged a creditable mid-13s per 100km.

We can probably attribute that in part to the Caprice's ability to gather momentum quickly and retain it. Give it a bit of a push, lift your foot and it just rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls on the trailing throttle.

On freeway runs it assumes the four-pot configuration and sits happily on 110km/h for long stretches, sacrificing little in the way of smoothness. As noted in our SS V AFM review (more here), there is a difference but it's not in any way onerous.

One of the side benefits of cylinder shutoff is the engine braking it can provide at appropriate times -- enough to help keep basic cruise control systems honest on downward runs that might otherwise see the drivetrain let go and coast over the set speed.

The Accord's 6/4/3 shutoff works well at keeping out unwanted velocity, thanks to the haste with which it deploys. The Caprice in contrast proved tardy at times, leaving us gathering pace down into the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, waiting in vain for the indicator to show a switch from eight to four-cylinder mode.

In the end, barrelling towards the speed camera band down the bottom at well over the set 80km/h, the time came to brake.

Admittedly that's a relatively steep incline. On longer, gentler downslopes it switched down and maintained the cruise speed without a problem.

The Caprice fares well on the safety front, with front, side and curtain airbags and ABS, electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), brake assist (EBA) and traction control.

It also remains loaded with luxury goodies and modern conveniences: remote entry; power everything; automatic bi-xenon lamps; tri-zone climate control with separate controls for driver, front passenger and rear seat; Bluetooth and a top-notch entertainment package combining MP3-ready BOSE surround sound with Blaupunkt six-stack CD/DVD player and 18-inch alloys and a full-sized spare under the boot floor.

Rear climate and AV controls are mounted in a ceiling console, with a remote for the AV. Rear passengers get headphones and individual screens mounted in the rear of the front seat headrests.

The seats are finished in soft, non-slippy leather. Supportive and well bolstered front and back, the front set feature 10-way electric adjustment.

With the height- and reach-adjustable wheel, finding a comfortable driving position is quick and easy.  Indeed, ergonomics are good all round, with the exception of Holden's famously crappy VE/WM handbrake.

With its prodigious legroom, rear seating feels very business class -- for those not riding in the middle, anyway.  There's a lap-sash belt there, but for anything but the shortest journeys, this is really a four-seater. If you need five, save $8000 (more if you can do without the V8) and buy a Statesman.

The Caprice's interior is attractive, even if the controls mounted around the centre screen are a bit busy and take a bit of learning. The wheel-mounted audio and trip computer controls are well thought out and easy to use.

The test car's black headlining tends to disguise the amount of interior space, but might prove useful in providing a cinematic feel for those watching movies in the back.

Fit and finish were in keeping with the big tick Holden received for the improvements it brought to this model over its predecessor. We found no problem with them. Indeed the gunmetal blue-grey paint job attracted spontaneous praise.

If our time in the upgraded Caprice is anything to go by, AFM has enough to maintain this imposing machine's appeal within the diminishing claque of V8 sentimentalists, if not broaden it. It's a fine car, and AFM makes it just that little bit finer.

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