| ReviewsOnline |
| Car review - Holden WH Statesman V6 |
| By Julian Edgar (From AutoSpeed Magazine) The Holden Statesman's ignition key is large and slightly clumsy, but durable, effective, Australian-tuff and containing some technology. You know that it's functional, that it will keep working for years, and that if the remote locking facility should ever fail, your local Holden dealer will be able to easily get another key - and probably quite cheaply, too. But it's not something that you pick up to admire delicate, cutting-edge design; it's not an industrial product with finesse or style or panache. You would never sit back and admire the key, feeling the thrill of excitement that comes with ownership of something magical and wonderfully exiting. And the rest of the car is pretty much like that as well... The Statesman follows a formula used for decades in Australian luxury cars - stretch the wheelbase (or use the wagon platform), change the panels, add lots of chrome and interior equipment, and then sell it as a prestige car. Even though the parentage is obvious to anyone who looks closely at the trim, or the instruments, or the engine, or the suspension, or the brakes, or the sound system - that doesn't matter, because this is l-u-x-u-r-y. If you approach the Statesman as a glorified Commodore you won't be disappointed. But step out of a genuine prestige car - even literally a decade-old, $24,000 Lexus LS400 - and you'll be taking a major step backwards in ride, handling, NVH, power, economy and quality. But that's okay - plenty of people would rather plump the dollars for a new Statesman than put down the dough on an old car... And what do those purchasers get for their money? On test was the base model - equipped with the 152kW 3.8-litre V6 and 4-speed automatic trans. This costs $51,200 (the supercharged 171kW engine adds only $1030!) while the stomping 225kW 5.7 litre Gen III V8 car is $55,660. (The test car was the just superseded model without the minor addition of the extra rear suspension link.) More than anything else, a Statesman purchaser gets a simply vast amount of interior space. The Statesman is a large car - and unusually, it's also a large car that has very good internal space efficiency. Put the front electric passenger seat back as far as it goes and even a 1.8-metre person won't be able to touch the firewall with their toes! Place the driver's seat in a normal position and there's over a metre of legroom in the back! The Statesman is simply limousine enormous inside - and that spells sprawling comfort that is completely unobtainable in the vast majority of cars. This isn't just business class; it's private jumbo jet. The seats themselves are comfortable, although they are from the American 'soft = good' school of design rather than following our preferred Germanic philosophy of firm padding for better long-term support. The switchgear and stalks are large and chunky, while woodgrain is used down the centre of the dash onto the console. An analog clock has been incorporated as a styling element, however it simply looks a little odd out on its lonesome. The generic Holden three-window trip computer is as excellent as ever, but its mode control would be more easily accessed via a column stalk rather than the dash button. The 10-speaker sound system - which incorporates steering wheel mounted controls - features a 10-disc stacker in the boot. It has excellent sound on CD, but is absolutely dreadful on FM, with a muffled sound lacking treble and clarity. Driven gently, the pushrod engine delivers torquey, effortless performance. Kept below 3500 rpm - which isn't hard to do - you could even be forgiven for thinking that the engine is refined. But venture anywhere near peak power revs of 5200 rpm and the V6 is harsh and loud. The 4-speed auto transmission is also obviously low-tech - at times it clunks badly on changes and is much slower than modern designs to drop back a gear when part-throttle acceleration is needed. While the rest of the car isn't outstanding in any way (interior room excepted), it's this engine and trans combination that is the car's real weak link. Put the 5.7 under the bonnet - or to a lesser extent, the supercharged engine - and a drive of the Statesman would be a very different proposition. Even the aspect at which the V6 engine has always shone - fuel economy - is less visible in this iteration, with mid-12's (litres/100km) being the norm in our test mix of city and freeway conditions. Certainly the AS2877 Highway figure of 7.0 litres/100 km would be unobtainable except in the most gentle of economy runs. The Statesman uses the Variatronic rack and pinion steering system - our perception is that the steering is much inferior to a base model Commodore. Certainly that precision and speed of turn-in that's typical of local Holdens is missing, while the system's weight changes dramatically as lock is wound on. Straight-ahead at parking speeds it is little-finger light, but reef the car through the bends and it is much, much heavier. Such a massive alteration feels artificial and contrived - especially when the power assistance can be felt to lag at times behind quick steering inputs. But the turning circle is tight - especially if you are used to front-wheel and four-wheel drive cars. In fact, in slow-speed manoeuvres, the Statesman is quite wieldy, with good visibility. The big car's ride is generally good - it's only over large and long undulations that the soft suspension can be felt to occasionally float. Like all home-grown Holdens of the last half-century, this is one car that is quite at home in putting long distance kilometres under its treads - and whether they're dirt or bitumen, it won't matter much. The fuel tank is 75 litres and the towing capacity a massive trailer-braked 2.1 tonnes. Handling is fine, with some understeer and any power oversteer sternly quelled by the eager and harsh traction control. Grip is by 225/55 Bridgestone Turanzas being worn on 16x7 alloys. Despite the reiterated declaration that Australian large cars are ready to take on the world - a statement made every few years in living memory by Ford and Holden PR machines - the big Holden remains a crude car within the context of real prestige automobiles. However, drop that pretence of world excellence and suddenly the Statesman looks like extremely good value - enormous interior room, competent handling and ride, good equipment level, proven durability and strength. We can well imagine that many prospective purchasers would be delighted with the car. |
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