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By
EWAN KENNEDY
27 August 2007
A ute is a ute, is a ute. Such were our thoughts when Holden
invited us to a day of technical presentations of its soon to be
released VE Commodore ute. How wrong we were, because the guys in the
design department have come up with some clever new ideas to enhance the
usefulness their new ute.
Most of the changes are to the interior, specifically to the
rear area of the cabin. To start with, Holden has pushed the rear
bulkhead slightly rearwards to gain extra in-cab space, more
importantly the bulkhead now sits much closer to vertical than
before. The tradition has been to slope it forward at the base to
maximise the tray area at floor level. But Holden feels that
owners like to have a space behind the rear seat for tools, bags,
laptops, and so on, that’s secure and out of the weather.
There are even a couple of extra storage spots underneath the
front of the tray that are accessible from inside the cabin.
The soft tonneau can be rolled up and stowed neatly behind the
seats, a lot better than having it cluttering up the load area
when it’s not in use.
The total volume of the areas behind the VE ute’s seats is
245 litres, a huge improvement on the 90 litres in the current VZ
ute.
Instead of the rear of the cabin getting nothing more than a
coat of paint, it now comes trimmed with stylish materials to
match the look of the dashboard. This gets real flair in the hero
ute model, with SS badges to the same design as those of the body
exterior.
Access to the back of the cab is facilitated by seat backs that
fold forward at the pull of a lever in the outside-top of the
backrest.
But enough of the new VE ute’s cabin, what about the
all-important load area? The bad news is that it’s shorter by
191 mm at the floor than that of the VZ ute because the additional
space in the cab had to come from somewhere. VE also loses out on
width between the wheel arches; that distance was 1236 mm on the
VZ but has decreased to 1206 mm on the new VE. As the tray is
higher than before the overall volume is marginally greater, at
1208 litres it’s 43 litres up on that of the VZ.
Be sure to take your tape measure to the Holden dealership to
make sure the tray’s loss of length and width doesn’t stuff up
your needs.
All models have a strong moulded plastic liner that looks
capable of taking a lot of heavy-duty use. Tie-down hooks are of a
new versatile design and certainly appear to be strong and easy to
use. But we can picture skin being taken off the shins of people
standing in the tray wresting with the loading of bulky items as
the corners are relatively sharp.
Various accessory cargo boxes are in the final stages of design
but weren’t available for the press to see at these technical
presentations.
Fold down the tailgate and it not only provides a great viewing
spot for the races, ute musters (stand by for a big display by
Holden at the Deniliquin muster), or simply a quiet picnic, but
also has four moulded in drink holders to help preserve the
stability of the stubbies. The tailgate hinges are now to a much
neater design and are all but out of sight.
As before, this Holden ute is built on the same platform as the
long-wheelbase Statesman and Caprice models. A platform that will
presumably be shared with the VE station wagon, though, somewhat
oddly, Holden continues to neither confirm nor deny that a wagon
is to be introduced.
Carrying capacity ranges from 508 kg to 794 kg depending on
model. These are respectable numbers for a car-based ute. Holden
can, of course, provide a Rodeo light-commercial for anyone
wanting to cart really big loads.
Mechanical specifications on the VE ute are pretty much the
same as in the VE sedan, with a V6 engine in two stages of tune
and the high-performance 6.0-litre Gen 4 V8. We will look at these
in more detail when we have our first drives of the new utes in a
couple of week’s time.
As in the VE Commodore sedan, ESP (Electronic Stability
Program) is standard on all ute models. A move that’s to be
applauded as an unladen ute on a dirt road, with big engine under
the bonnet and an overly ambitious young driver at the wheel can
be a lethal weapon.
Holden is making a strong push in the sports-ute market,
feeling that many buyers don’t want a workhorse, but a
thoroughbred two-door sports car with a very large boot. So its
introducing a number of hot colours with weird names like Atomic,
Crunch, K-Pow and Morpheous – in case nothing visual springs to
mind when you read these names they are green, yellow, blue and
purple, respectively. Add words like ‘bright’, ‘vivid’ and
‘extreme’ before each colour to get the full picture...
Holden's new VE utility range will go on sale in October.
The range, with prices (excluding on-road costs) is:
Omega V6: $30,990 (manual), $30,990 (automatic)
SV6: $35,990 (manual), $36,990 (automatic)
SS V8 $39,990 (manual), $41,990 (automatic)
SS V $44,990 (manual), $46,990 (automatic)
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Marque Publishing Company
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