Holden Adventra 4WD?

I know a guy who bought one of the first V8's to tow his boat with.
Previously had an Exploder.
Last time I was talking to him he said he was very dissapointed with fuel consumption.
The new 6's will probably be better.

He said the only good thing was Holden sent him a cheque for $7,000 when they reduced the price shortly after he bought it.

Dont know about off road abilities however

Flywest.
had the opportunity to spend the day off raod in an Adventra.
Surprisingly capable.
Down side.
1. Very poor vission over the bonnet.
2. Fuel tank is way to small to be viable outback.
3. No "real"ground clearance.

regards

All those Awd and crossover cars originated in europe for icy conditions.....they seemed to continued the trend over in the harshest of environments, Austraila They aint made for sand and stones no matter what they tell you!!!! Michael

Had 2 within our fleet - both v6. Both now gone as had done their 45,000kms. No troubles with them and averaged 11.2l/100km for the duration. Both had to have the rhs tyres front and rear replaced at approx 35,000km - lhs were ok and stayed until vehicle replaced - go figure - would have expected the lhs as that is the side that ends up in the dirt shoulder but.... Have also had in the fleet since they were released Ford Territories - AWD and RWD. Into the second round of them and again no real problems. They do go through tyres though - the AWDs. The Adventra had a reasonable range in the bush but useless around town. Same with the Territory. Both however were/are hopeless to get the last 15l into the tanks. Operated on country sealed and unsealed roads - not 'offroad' - we have 4WDs for that. Went to get a dual cab Commodore to lease but they have gone so have ended up with a Sportswagon - not sure how that will go re. cargo space but we'll just have to see. Performance and economy in the country excellent for both Holden and Ford. Did not and would not consider anything else if actually venturing away from any of the major population areas. Did however have to specify real size spare wheel and still do - should be an ADR to force manuf to supply a matching spare to what is on the car. They do not have good clearance or ramp over but on gravel roads are good - can slide well. The Outback and Tribute are not really the same type of vehicle so cannot be compared. rgds

They have absolutely nothing at the front that can be used as a towing or recovery point.

G'day Flywest. I have a July 04 CX8 (with full leather interior, 2100 KG tow pack & fog lights). We bought it in May 2005 as an ex Holden owned car with 7800km on it. It now has done just over 80,000.

Pro's
1. Tows my 5.4m 1900kg+ ski boat effortlessly - lots of power 330hp
2. Plenty of space - we have 2 teenagers and never run short of room
3. Comfy, well appointed and quiet
4. Handles as good as my BMW MSport coupe did
5. The V8 exhaust note sounds sweet - a guy thing, until your wife drives it, then it quickly becomes a chick thing as well!
6. Excellent brakes
7. Get's up & boogies when you want it to....
8. You can remove the towbar and put the ally cover on and it's a nice clean look. Takes less than a minute to do.

Con's
1. likes to eat tyres - needs to be aligned every 6 months. Get about 35,000 out of a set
2. likes a drink - 16.2 l/100km average since we've had it
3. had a few recalls. Side airbag wiring, front recovery point (yes, it does have one - located under a cover on the left side of the front bumper), and one other minor one that I can't recall the details of.

Warranty issues
1. Roof rails replaced because of corrosion under the powder coat. Replaced in 2005.
2. Both front door side protection moulds replaced because they cracked

I just had my water pump replaced 2 weeks ago as it was leaking. Replaced under extended warranty so we only paid for the coolant. Had to replace the front left door lock actuator. Apparently a common fault with Commodores VY on. Easy fix - $40 from a wrecker instead of $250 from Holden.

It has 90mm more ground clearance than a stock Commodore. I've never taken it offroad and never will, that's what my 4WD is for. But it handles dirt roads like it's on the bitumen. Overall, we are really happy with our Adventra and we'll hang on to it for as long as we can afford to run it. Incidentally, it has the same ZF front diff bits as the BMW & Merc softroaders.

If you have any specific Q's just ask.
Louie

Thanks heaps fellas

Second son just bought a 2006 XL V6 with 80,000k's, it seems like a nice ride - Just was hoping we did the right thing!

The old Bitsamissing triton 2.5 Tdiesel Dual Cab 4x4 that I bought new 15 years ago in 1994, with 400,000km;s just sold this afternoon, I'm actually sad to see it go - been a member of the family so long!

Hope the Adventura fills its shoes - I'm guessing it will - the tyres isn't an issue - know someone in the game and get looked after in that dept.

Cheers

My only contact with them was back in about 2005 when I was involved in the rescue of a woman from a single car accident on the Silver City Highway just south of Packsaddle.

The car left the road at about 100km/h and flew off a creek embankment. It skipped once on the rocks in the bottom of the creek and collided with the dirt embankment on the other side ending up on its side.

As I checked the car for fuel and oil leaks I noticed some shiny metal bits stuck into the embankment. It was part of the gearbox casing which had bleep tered on impact. This thing hit hard.

The only occupant, the driver was released from the vehicle largely by their own effort. Despite the fact that every panel including the roof and floor pan were distorted the only injury was a broken ankle caused when the driver hit the floor.

My initial thought when I saw the car was that we would have a fatality. When we looked at the car in the compound the next day I was suprised there were no serious injuries.

I was impressed. I know we don't buy cars to have prangs in but, occasionally, we do have prangs in cars. When we do it's nice to know the car will look after you.

The driver was from a station just south of Tib and was sorry the Holden was gone. They were planning to buy another as a replacement.

Before anyone asks the accident was self confessed driver error, changing the radio station.

I have followed an Outback across sand dunes and was suitably impressed by the performance.

Duncs

Thank you one & all for al the comments good and bad.

Young fella collected his vehicle today, and is pretty excited - spent all day cleaning polishing, waxing buffing vacuuming and armoralling glazing rainexing etc etc etc to get it back to almost new appearance.

It was a Telstra vehicle from NSW, so seems to have been serviced regularly etc from new and presents really well -= probably some exectutives car.

Few early issues - like:-
no owners manual
missing draw bar and towball
missing the ally cover plate for the tow bar area
can't find the recovery eyelet to screw into the front bumper
can't find the auto trans dipstick to check fluid level
Don;'t know wat "memory card & remote" in the list of specifications means?....memory card and remote for what? the 6 disc in dash CD stacker?
Wheres the first aid kit hidden?

Thats it so far! LOL

Hard to keep up with all this modern technology!

Cheers