A family road trip away sounds like a fun idea to most of us. Add in to the mix a car that is frankly a bit mad, and the fun will multiply. I’ve got my hands on a Holden Commodore Sportswagon SSv Redline and it’s off from Auckland to Taupo and back again and I decided to treat the two journeys in this executive, leather lined technology packed grand tourer quite differently.
Part one - The journey from Auckland to Taupo is all about a reliable, family wagon that I’ve filled with seemingly enough family, food and clothing for a month away and my slight obsession with beating the manufacturers claimed fuel economy for a 6 litre V8 monster. Not easy to match, let alone beat a claimed fuel economy but in a fully laden big V8 I thought I had my work cut out.
When I picked up the Sportswagon from Holden, average fuel economy was up around 14.5 litres per 100km and I thought that was to be fair a little high but only a little and I set my sights on getting it down to perhaps 13. So when upon passing the first 100 km mark I was more than a tad impressed that I’d got it down to 11.4! My initial thoughts were that Holden should immediately hire me as some kind of executive fuel economy consultant and pay me a modest fee to SMASH the claimed fuel economy on all their vehicles which would surely have some kind of impact on their carbon footprint and would have certain tax benefits for them at the least. And of course, (not to Holden marketing manager) people will buy more 6 litre V8’s as they seem more affordable to run.
Second option is that I drive like a nanna.
Part two - Fast forwards a couple of days and it’s time to head back to the big smoke. No State Highway 1 cruise this time though as we were going back via the Waitomo glow worm caves (which are awesome by the way). This meant heading off the beaten track a few kms north of Taupo on to state Highway 30 and then State Highway 3. What a fantastic drive – it’s fast, there’s literally no other traffic on the road and with the Pontiac sourced wheels of the SSv Redline I felt a bit like I was Michael Night and my car was about to make some kind of pithy comment on my driving ability.
The Sportswagon was a huge amount of fun on highway 30 especially with its twists and turns and ups and downs and with so much raw power under my right foot and big Brembo brakes on the front, there was nothing it couldn’t handle and this is really when a car like this comes in to its own. In town the SSv with its shiny wheels is a bit conspicuous and gets a lot of looks (mostly admiring) at the traffic lights and in the supermarket car park but it does make you feel a bit showy!
Technology is pretty hot in the car with reversing camera, touch screen, full ipod connectivity and also blue tooth that I fuinally worked out how to use as there was absolutely no way I was going to resort to reading the instruction manual.
On the twisting open roads of state highway 30 though, I LOVED it! And the fuel economy on the return leg….nudged in to 12.1 after the back road stint which left me seriously worried that my sense that I was pushing the car to it’s limits up hill and down was somewhat over exaggerated and I just drive like a nanna.
Or I’m the best driver in NZ and it’s time for Holden to put me on the test track…..