brad72
9th April 2010, 11:50 AM
Well I've now been the proud owner of a Alaska white 2.7L D4 with 7 seat leather and Satnav for 2 weeks and have to admit the more I drive her the better things seem to get. I am even getting in strife for taking long cuts through the bush tracks to get home. "How come it's taking 40 minutes to get home in stead of 15", asks my wife. I reply that I have to test out all the 4x4 modes.....
Anyway, coming from a VE Calais V sedan i was expecting handling to be worse but to my surprise the D4 outperforms the Calais is almost all aspects. My Dad said what do you expect, it's a holden but I'm not going there. Power and acceleration is excellent once I got used to the diesels power curve. Handling around corners is great for such a tall, heavy car. The road manners both on and off road and fantastic and to our surprise there is very little noise intrusion from the road or engine even at highway speeds on 3/4 stone bitumen roads. My Calais is loud in comparison.
Our first trip was only only 1 1/2 hours away down to Goomburra with the last part of the drive on heavily potholed wet bush tracks. We had the D4 loaded to the max with our camping gear, esky, gas fridge, roof pod since it was raining, jerry cans, wife and kids. I had a bit of an ohhh sh$t moment after packing as the car had dropped quite low with all the weight and i couldn't remove the step clipped over the rear wheel since the wheel arch was so low.. Switched the car on and up she rose. Phew. In my old 4x4 i would have had to jack the car up. My wife would of wet herself laughing. So off we went. Even full, the steering hadn't become light, in fact I was hard pressed to tell we had anything in the car. The bush tracks, corrugations, pot holes were all absorbed by the air suspension and I pulled up at camp with a grin from ear to ear. What a relaxing drive. The D4 was covered in mud so she was nicely christened. Even got to follow a D2 and defender in so almost had a convoy. The kids love the fact they can now see out with our 3 year chatting continuously about what she can now see. Even got some camping neighbours admiring the new ride and commenting how good the D4 looks.
So all in all, one of the best cars I have owned to date. Looks good, easy to drive and comfortable. What more could I ask for.
Anyway, coming from a VE Calais V sedan i was expecting handling to be worse but to my surprise the D4 outperforms the Calais is almost all aspects. My Dad said what do you expect, it's a holden but I'm not going there. Power and acceleration is excellent once I got used to the diesels power curve. Handling around corners is great for such a tall, heavy car. The road manners both on and off road and fantastic and to our surprise there is very little noise intrusion from the road or engine even at highway speeds on 3/4 stone bitumen roads. My Calais is loud in comparison.
Our first trip was only only 1 1/2 hours away down to Goomburra with the last part of the drive on heavily potholed wet bush tracks. We had the D4 loaded to the max with our camping gear, esky, gas fridge, roof pod since it was raining, jerry cans, wife and kids. I had a bit of an ohhh sh$t moment after packing as the car had dropped quite low with all the weight and i couldn't remove the step clipped over the rear wheel since the wheel arch was so low.. Switched the car on and up she rose. Phew. In my old 4x4 i would have had to jack the car up. My wife would of wet herself laughing. So off we went. Even full, the steering hadn't become light, in fact I was hard pressed to tell we had anything in the car. The bush tracks, corrugations, pot holes were all absorbed by the air suspension and I pulled up at camp with a grin from ear to ear. What a relaxing drive. The D4 was covered in mud so she was nicely christened. Even got to follow a D2 and defender in so almost had a convoy. The kids love the fact they can now see out with our 3 year chatting continuously about what she can now see. Even got some camping neighbours admiring the new ride and commenting how good the D4 looks.
So all in all, one of the best cars I have owned to date. Looks good, easy to drive and comfortable. What more could I ask for.