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By
EWAN KENNEDY
2 January 2006
Holden’s Rodeo now has its most powerful engine ever, and even better
news is that the new powerplant is built right here in Australia. At
Holden's specialist engine plant in Port Melbourne to be precise.
Rodeo is the third vehicle in Australia to
receive the new Global V6. Commodore has had it since August 2004
and many of its derivatives have picked the engine up along the
way. Even more exciting was the launch in December 2005 of a
high-performance variant of the engine in the form of a
turbocharged 2.8-litre in the latest Saab 9-3.
The Global V6 engine used in the Rodeo is
closely related to the Alloytec engine installed in the Commodore
but, as befits a commercial vehicle, it has been retuned to put
more emphasis on pulling effort rather than on big acceleration.
The Rodeo engine, which has the same 3.6-litre capacity as the
Commodore unit, has torque of 313 Nm at 2800rpm, with maximum
power of 157kW at 5300rpm. The flatter torque curve should make it
an excellent engine in heavy-duty work.
This torque is well up on the 280Nm on offer in
the previous Rodeo V6 with its 3.5-litre V6. As a result, Isuzu,
the manufacturer of the Rodeo has had to specify a new high-torque
five-speed manual to sit behind the Holden engine. The existing
four-speed automatic transmission has been upgraded to cope with
the extra grunt.
The existing 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engine
continues to be offered alongside this new petrol engine. And
there's also a 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol unit for those doing
lighter-duty operations.
In its latest format the Rodeo is significantly
larger than at any time in its 25-year history in this country.
These days Rodeo is more than simply a ute, it comes with tough
styling and a high stance that does plenty for its credibility
amongst those who like their utes.
There's a huge range of 30 models, comprising
cab-chassis and pickup models in single, extended-cab (Space Cab
in Holden speak) and dual-cab variants. Then there are rear-drive
and 4WD models.
Fifteen of these models are offered with the new
Global V6 engine. Holden says that initially there will be no
price increase for the new 3.6 engine over the cost of the
superseded 3.5-litre.
Rodeo is an important vehicle for Holden and,
with 63,000 sales since the introduction of the new, larger model
in 2003, it’s outsold only by Commodore and Astra. This new
engine option should do nothing but good for Rodeo in the sales
race, and the fact that it’s built in Australia will appeal to
the patriots.
These patriots, not to mention the Australian
economists, will be pleased to hear that the Holden engine plant
recently exported its four millionth engine – that’s a lot of
engines and a lot of incoming dollars.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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