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By
EWAN KENNEDY
12 March 2007
Turbo-diesel engines are surprisingly scarce in the light to
medium 4WD models in Australia. Though diesels have always figured
strongly in the large 4WD sales lists, and are becoming increasingly
obvious in the luxury 4WD market, they haven’t been overly common in
the so-called ‘compact’ vehicles.
All that is about to change as Holden has just introduced a
turbo-diesel engine option for its popular Captiva. The company
says it is delighted to have this engine in the range as Captiva
is already sitting in a healthy number three spot in its
hard-fought class and the company anticipates that it will
substantially improve sales with the diesel option.
However, both Ford's Territory and Toyota's Prado (the latter
with a diesel option) are a long way in front of Captiva in the
sales race for Medium SUVs so it will be a long battle.
Unlike the existing V6 petrol engine that is made in Holden's
Port Melbourne plant, the turbo-diesel engine comes from South
Korea, as does the rest of the vehicle.
The powerplant is a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, unit that
delivers 320 Newton metres when it’s revving at only 2000 rpm
and maintains close to that figure through a large part of its
range. Peak power is a respectable 110 kW at 4000 rpm. As always,
it’s the torque figure that you should look at in an engine like
this because pulling power is more important than the blinding
acceleration that power can deliver.
Not that there's anything wrong with the acceleration of the
new Captiva CDi off the mark. We were impressed with the minimum
lag and the way that it got going in urban conditions. Though
there was less acceleration in overtaking situations than we like.
Anticipate your move, get the transmission down a gear and
everything should be fine.
As we have said, diesels are all about pulling power, and
Captiva is certainly impressive in that way. A braked trailer of
up to 1700 kg can be towed behind a Captiva with automatic
transmission, whereas a manual Captiva can handle a full two
tonnes.
Official fuel consumption figures are just 7.6 litres per
hundred kilometres with the five-speed manual gearbox. The
five-speed automatic transmission apparently has to work
significantly harder than the manual, resulting in it using over a
litre more each 100 km. But its 8.7 litres per hundred measured
consumption is still considerably less than that of the petrol
engine.
On-road comfort and handling have been important features of
the Captiva since it first went on sale here in October 2006.
Though this is nominally a South Korean vehicle, considerable work
was put into the design by Holden people. This included
considerable suspension design work by Australians in Korea as
well as at the Lang Lang proving ground in Victoria.
The result is a vehicle that feels almost car-like in its road
behaviour, only the higher centre of gravity slowing it down if
you do want to press on with your driving. Holden has sensibly
specified that all models are fitted with ESP, electronic
suspension program to assist the driver if they make a mistake at
the wheel. Anti-rollover protection is also an important safety
feature in Captiva.
Seating is supplied for seven, though as usual in vehicles of
this size, four adults and three children is the maximum realistic
load if you are travelling for more than a short distance.
As is common in the latest generation of turbo-diesel engines,
that in the Captiva only has a diesel rattle when it’s idling,
and even then it’s much more noticeable from outside the car
than in. Once on the move there's little more noise than you get
from the refined petrol V6 and cruising is relaxed and
comfortable.
Turbo-diesel Captivas are priced impressively well, at only
$1000 more than their petrol engined brothers, albeit the
comparison against a high-tech V6 petrol engine is not quite a
fair one.
The diesel engine is offered in the SX, CX and LX variants.
Somewhat oddly, the Captiva Maxx, which is aimed at the European
market where it is sold as the Opel Antara, doesn’t come to
Australia with the turbo-diesel option. Odd because the Europeans
have been right into diesels for many years, though it has to be
said that 4WDs don’t sell well in that continent. Maxx is being
sold here as more of an upmarket semi-sports vehicle so perhaps a
diesel doesn’t quite fit that image.
The full Captiva range including prices (excluding on-road
costs) is:
SX 2.0-litre diesel five-door wagon - $34,990 (manual), $36,990
(automatic)
SX 3.2-litre five-door wagon - $35,990 (automatic)
CX 3.2-litre five-door wagon - $38,990 (automatic)
CX 2.0-litre diesel five-door wagon - $39,990 (automatic)
LX 3.2-litre five-door wagon - $41,990 (automatic)
LX 2.0-litre diesel wagon - $42,990 (automatic)
MaXX 3.2-litre five-door wagon - $42,990 (automatic)
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Marque Publishing Company
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