Archive for July, 2013
The Lion Roars: Holden VF Ute Sets Nürburgring Record
When reviewers want to say that a vehicle handles well, they often mention how the designers did the testing at the Nürburgring. The “Ring” is considered to be one of the most demanding and difficult race courses in the world, and to get around the track in one piece is a sign of a good car and/or a good driver.
Not many utes have been tested at the Nürburgring. This is partly because these aren’t common vehicles over in Europe (which raises the question about what tradespeople use to haul their gear around – do they all use lorries and vans? And does every single farmer in the European Union use 4×4 motorbikes and tractors to do the rounds?). But back in February this year, when the design team at Holden were just putting the finishing touches on the new Holden VF Commodore, they decided to put the ute through its paces on the (in)famous Nürburgring.
Only two utes had been put through their paces at the Nürburgring before: the Dodge Ram SRT rigged up with the 8.0-litre V10 engine from the Viper, and the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor with a supercharged 6.2-litre V8. It was rather lucky for Holden that a VF Commodore was in Europe already when they had this bright idea: a pre-production model was undergoing a bit of testing in Spain. Time was short: this model would either have to be crushed in Spain or sent back home to Australia within six weeks.
There was no time to book a famous professional racing driver. Instead, the best driver they had on hand was Rob Trubiani, a member of the chassis design team who had been on hand for the testing in Spain, which included calibrating and fine-tuning the ESP. Trubiani was not and is not a racing driver, but he was a certified Nürburgring test driver. After all, what better way to ensure that the chassis you’ve designed works brilliantly than to see how it goes through the Nürburgring?
The team at Holden selected ANZAC Day (Australian time) as the day to put the Holden VF Commodore SS-V Redline Ute against the clock. However, they managed to get it out onto the track in the hands of Rob Trubiani before then, as the track had some of their industry pool days on (days when the track circuit is kept for manufacturers to test cars on). This nearly spelled disaster, as the Holden had a close brush with an Audi that sent the ute off the track onto the dirt at the exit. But what’s a bit of dirt to a ute? Even with this close call, the Holden still managed to do the track in under the 8 mins 40 seconds Trubiani thought it capable of doing.
ANZAC Day dawned in Australia as Trubiani lined the Holden VF Commodore Ute up ready to go. The ride is better seen than merely described, which readers can do at this link, complete with Rob Trubiani providing the commentary on his drive. He gets airborne at one part and dodges debris from a prototype Jaguar that exploded during the industry pool days, but still picks up a time of 8:19:47. And now, the Holden can proudly claim that it’s the fastest time for a ute to complete the Nürburgring. Sure, “utes, pickups and commercial vehicles” is a new category for the Ring, but a record is a record!
To quote Shakespeare, “Well roared, lion!”
Iron Fist, Velvet Glove: The New Caprice V
The Holden Caprice V, in its new 2014 guise, is a combination of street savvy, world champion boxer melded with the smarts of a technical genius. Think Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky sitting down and talking quantum mechanics or relativity with the bushy headed wunderkind that was Alfred Einstein. Chevy’s ballsy 6.0L V8 with Holden’s US sourced electronics with some world class programming delivers what Holden has desperately needed and it’s a cracker.
Distance sensing radar, lane changing awareness, integrated internet radio, remote start from the keyfob, heads up display with multifunction info, blind spot alert, G force readout, voice to text messaging, voice control and reverse park assist add to heated seats, trailer sway control, reverse camera and Active Fuel Management from the 260kW/517Nm alloy block 
power source. Holden’s flagship, along with its Commodore brethren, also receives an interior redesign and electronic parking brake, doing away with the tired and unloved handle built into the centre console, that doubles up as a Hill Hold Control system.
It’s finally what Holden have promised for years, a world class luxury vehicle and I spent a wonderful week with the Caprice V, with a road trip to the mid south coast of NSW, to find out if that promise holds up.
The exterior design is virtually unchanged from the VE based WM model; now called the WN, it makes the new Caprice a real sleeper to those not inside it. The V spec has the V8 as standard mated to an uprated six speed auto with sports shift. The engine/exhaust note is muted, subtle, barely hinting at the animalistic roar the quad tipped exhaust lets loose when the go pedal is pushed in anger. It’s a free swinging engine, ticking over at just under 2000 rpm at freeway 
speed, revving cleaning and gutterally to 6000 as the speedo does indecent things. The potential to be a boulevarde cruiser or street brawler is well within its sphere of influence and the engine does both well. There’s no doubt at all that it likes a drink, especially when provoked, however the economy of the 6.0L comes into play with a judicious right foot (and Active Fuel Management), with over 700 kilometres provided from full to empty, including some spirited driving. The gearbox slurs through the gears, with just a hint of whine as it changes.
The ride is rarely disappointing; the bias towards comfort certainly shows, with roll and tip in towards the outside wheel noticeable. There is a skip across the road on certain bumps and with the roads still damp from (at the time of writing) the heavy rains of late June the traction control system was noticeable hauling in the near two tonne mass of 
the Caprice. The rear compressed hard on some of the heavier undulations but never lost grip. It’s smooth, unfussed 
and handles like a car smaller and lighter in the tight turns of the Kangaroo Valley Road. The interior, in its own way, is also rarely disappointing. A negative standout is the cheap feeling and cheaply fitted plastic shroud for minor storage ahead of the gear lever; the plastics would benefit from more of a suede feel throughout the cabin, including the seat supports, which still betray their low rent origins, as does the leather print plastic on the upper dash. The seats are well padded, supportive without feeling as if they crowded the thorax but the stylistic addition of a fabric strip, colour matched to the fabric on the dash, is questionable. The eight inch touch screen infotainment system and aircon layout is natural, ergonomic and much better overall than the WM/Calais in the preceding model. The view from the driver’s seat is also pleasurable, with a full colour LCD screen providing information such as fuel usage and economy, tyre 
pressures and more. The rear seat passengers, with heaps of rear leg room, can relax with wireless headphones to listen to the DVD playable from the centre dash mounted player but, disappointingly, USB access is from the console storage rather than from the aforementioned lower dash, whilst the same console also has, somewhat un-user friendly, a slot to put the keyfob. Unsurprisingly, there’s loads of boot space, thanks to the extra wheelbase.
Moving to the electronic system available in the US is a revelation and unlocks a bevvy of user friendly features. Collision Avoidance, for example, works on sensors reading the distance between the Caprice and the vehicle in front. Should that vehicle get closer whilst the Caprice is not braking, alarm chirps sound and the distance can be changed through a number of choices. Remote start needs the new electronic handbrake to be engaged, allowing the engine and dual zone climate control to come to life. Reverse park assist also uses sensors to judge angle and distance to help bring 
home the five metre behemoth to a parking space. The HUD (Head Up Display) gives speed, g force, revs and the posted speed limit, integrated with the satnav system whilst the infotainment system works on voice command. A button on the steering wheel is pressed to activate the system.
The much vaunted update to the Commodore range is more about the interior and electronics; with the flexibility and grunt of the V8 in the Caprice V with that level of intelligence, it’s well worth the mid $60K driveaway price with its mix of brawn and brains and certainly holds its own against the European competition.
http://www.holden.com.au/cars/caprice
The Downside of Driver Convenience Aids
I’m constantly amazed at how smart cars are becoming. To put this another way, every year seems to bring a new set of sensors or cameras to make driving easier and/or safer. Ten years ago, rear parking sensors were the new gadget to improve safety. And there’s no doubt that this has reduced the risk of driveway tragedies where little kids haven’t realised that Mum or Dad are backing the car out and… And it’s probably saved a few bent bumpers or so. Now, of course, rear parking assistance is pretty old hat and nearly every new car has this feature. Now, there are rear cameras, front parking assistance, sensors to the side, sensors that detect a change in your driving style and either cut out the distractions like the phone and the audio if the car “thinks” that things are getting tricky or else flashes and beeps at you to tell you to wake up if it thinks you’re daydreaming or falling asleep (the latter is found in the new Mercedes E-class models, for example).
There’s no doubt that smart cars make driving safer. However, there is a downside to them. We could easily become dependent on them. Possibly, we could depend on them to the extent that we become less alert drivers or less skilled drivers. Why should we get into the habit of looking out behind us when we back if there’s a beeping sensor to warn us of approaching obstacles? Why should we check to the side if the car has a sensor? This will mean that we stop developing our “situational awareness”.
Situational awareness is one of the most important factors when it comes to safety systems in the air. Pilots have gadgets that fly the plane for them (autopilot) but even when the autopilot is taking care of things, pilots still have to have good situational awareness and be constantly alter to what’s going on in the air around them. Yes, flying a plane is trickier than driving a car (even though you can get your private pilot’s licence before you can get your car driver’s licence) and there is a third dimension to deal with. But the air is considerably less crowded than the roads and pilots have radios and radars to talk to other pilots coming towards them, and can get told about congestion up ahead by the control towers. Drivers don’t have friendly ACTs (air traffic controllers) keeping a lookout at areas of potential congestion – a sat-nav package or access to an online webcam that shows congestion is probably the best you can get. Even so, pilots still have to have their situational awareness up to full every time they’re in the cockpit.
And here’s the rub: pilots never learn to fly on planes that have autopilot. Instead, they learn on basic little things where you have to do it all yourself. However, people can learn to drive on cars with all the driver convenience gadgets.
Imagine that you’re a teenager learning to drive in the family car, as most of us do. Earlier, Mum and Dad picked a car that had all the safety features to keep all the kids safe. You’re going to learn how to drive on something that could have front and rear parking sensors and maybe a camera. All well and good. You get your licence, and later, you leave home and you decide to pick up a set of wheels of your very own. The sort of thing you can afford for a first car isn’t going to have all the newest driver aids. We all know what the typical “student car” is like. The most you’re likely to have will be power steering, automatic windows and automatic transmission (like the mid-80s BMW 3-series we sold a couple of years back to a polytech student). If you’re really lucky, it will have cruise control or even steering wheel-mounted audio controls. But you’re going to have to parallel park and back down driveways all the same… but you’ve never learned how to do this without electronic assistance.
So while all the driver convenience aids are very helpful, I have one real concern. Are we going to end up with a generation of drivers who don’t know how to drive without sensors all over the place? Won’t this have us ending up with less skilled drivers on the roads? Will we get drivers who are so used to getting information about their surroundings from the display screen in the dashboard that they don’t look out the window or use the mirrors? Because those awareness aids only work when the ignition is on – when you’ve turned the engine off and are about to get out of the car, the car won’t tell you about the approaching cyclist you’re about to knock to Kingdom Come with the door.
My teenage son is months away from being old enough to get his learner’s licence. I’m going to insist that he does at least some of his learning in the old warhorse of a Nissan that my husband uses for his contractor work, which has power steering and that’s about it, so he knows how to drive something basic and bog-standard – a dumb car rather than smart car, so he ends up a smart driver rather than a dumb one. I hope other parents will do the same.
Level 2, 9 Help Street