The HSV Commodore is dead, long live the HSV ute

Tuesday, 7 August 2018

The HSV Colorado SportsCat was a new direction for the Aussie company that is best known for its powerful V8s - a diesel ute with no extra power!

**HSV Colorado SportsCat+

Base price:** $82,990

Powertrain and performance: 2.8-litre turbo-diesel four cylinder, 147kW/500Nm, 6-speed automatic, 4WD.

Vital statistics: 5345mm long, 1826mm high, 3096mm wheelbase, 18-inch alloy wheels with 285/60 tyres.

We like: Improved on road ride and handling, nicer interior, looks great and those brakes are amazing.

We don't like: No reach adjustment on steering wheel, trick dampers are optional, it ain't cheap.

An entirely new grille, bumper and body kit mark the HSV Colorado SportsCat+ as not just a Colorado.

The era of the uber-performance Commodore is over for HSV, so the obvious thing to do was make a grab for the single biggest segment that had some form of appeal to traditional HSV buyers. And that wasn't SUVs.

Nope, clearly it was utes, so HSV turned its special blend of low-volume engineering skills and love of big, bogan-y body additions to the Colorado.

And now the result of that is here - the HSV Colorado SportsCat+

Nothing to see here - HSV have done nothing to the Colorado's engine.

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An HSV Colorado, eh? So what kind of monster engine powers it then?

Yeah, well, let's get those expectations under control straight away - the SportsCat is powered by the same 147kW/470Nm engine as the standard Colorado, with HSV having done no tweaking under the bonnet whatsoever.

Obviously shoe-horning a massive V8 into the Colorado's engine bay was never going to be a goer - at least not if it wanted to keep the asking even price vaguely sensible, that is - but how about a tuned-up version of the four-cylinder turbo diesel? Yeah, it probably could have, but it would have served little purpose other than marketing and bragging rights.

Oh, wait. This is a ute, so it probably should have done that.

But the fact remains that it didn't. What HSV did do was focus on what you would consider to be a ladder-chassis ute's weakest and strongest points and make a concerted effort to improve both.

That would be handling (that's the weakest point, of course) and off-road ability (obviously one of the strongest points), by the way.

So what did HSV do to the Colorado?

The same, but different. The SportsCat's interior is considerably nicer than the Colorado's, but is still limited by the same issues.

HSV offers two models of SportsCat - the standard one and the SportsCat+ we drive here. Both feature HSV tuned sports suspension with 10 per cent stiffer front springs and multi-tube valve dampers front and rear. A 33mm thicker front roll bar has also been added and a strut brace now sits inside the strut tower.

The new springs lift the front by 25mm, pleasingly levelling the Colorado's stance, but more importantly bumping the approach angle up from 28 to 32 degrees. Likewise, the ground clearance is also increased over the standard Colorado, up to a useful 251mm.

Unique 10-inch wide Cooper Zeon LTZ Pro 285/60 R18 all-terrain tyres (specially developed for HSV) also add 20mm, while the track is up by 30mm.

It undeniably looks the part, with the SportsCat+ getting a different body kit to the standard version.

The SportsCat+ gets a decoupling sway bar on the rear that improves turn in and reduces understeer, but uncouples simply by selecting 4WD low, giving you full articulation for off-road goodness.

The SportsCat+ also gains extra braking prowess over the standard model with a four-piston AP Racing brake set-up on the front with 362mm rotors and a larger master cylinder to improve their effectiveness and feel.

So do you notice the difference between this and a standard Colorado?

Oh yes, you certainly do.

A hard tonneau and sports bar are standard, meaning its not really a load-lugging workhorse.

The ride is instantly better than the Holden (which has improved drastically over the last few updates anyway), with a far more confident and planted feel to the rear end through corners.

But the single biggest difference comes when you stand on those brakes for the first time - the AP Racing set up hauls the SportsCat up better than anything else I have personally experienced in the ute segment, with a wonderfully confident and adjustable feel.

Repeated hard stops betray nothing in the way of fade, while stamping on them hard when wet just sees them calmly going about the task of stopping the SportsCat quickly and with considerable authority.

While the SportsCat is also noticeably better than a standard Colorado on a sealed road, it really comes into its own on the gravel. HSV has retuned the Colorado's stability system to make things more fun while it is on, and it is startlingly obvious on gravel - the SportsCat feels wonderfully chuckable and adjustable on gravel, with a delightfully playful feel to the rear end.

On the inside there are nice touches like the very comfortable sports seats and lashings of leather, but things are still very much limited by the donor vehicle, particularly the non-reach adjustable steering column that is every bit as frustrating here as it is in the standard Colorado.

Big and very serious brakes are a very big tick in the SportsCat's 'pro' column.

Is it worth the extra money over a Colorado Z71 then?

It does depend what you want from a ute, of course, but, yeah, it really is.

The 4x4 Z71 double cab auto that the SportsCat is based on costs $66,990, while the automatic SportsCat+ lands at $82,990, meaning a $16k premium.

So, yeah, that's quite a bit more, but look at it this way - you could buy a Z71 and spend all that extra trying to kit it up to the same level as the HSV, but you would almost certainly fall short.

While $16k might get you the visuals (the alloys and tyres, hard tonneau, sports bar, body kit, new seats, etc) you would still be without the nicely-tweaked handling, fantastic brakes and, probably most importantly, the HSV badge on the nose.

Any other utes I should consider?

Yeah, this is where the HSV's compelling arguments start to fall apart, because there us some seriously good stuff in the $80k+ ute range these days.

Holden actually has an answer to the HSV in the form of the $79,990 Colorado Xtreme that will launch shortly. Basically a dress-up kit on a standard Z71, the Colorado lacks the HSV's extra engineering, but does look suitably wild.

The $85,990 Volkswagen Amarok V6 Adventura gets a whole load of kit, effortlessly out-powers the HSV and handles at least as well. It doesn't have the monster braking ability, or the HSV's chuckable nature on gravel, but it does have full-time AWD and 165kW on tap, with a 190kW version landing soon.

The forthcoming Mercedes-Benz X-class X 350d V6 Progressive will land at $81,250 and packs a 190kW 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 engine, permanent AWD and some serious refinement.

But the HSV's biggest competition comes in the form of its traditional foe - the Ford Ranger.

The recently released $84,990 Ranger Raptor easily eclipses the SportsCat in terms of off-road engineering and sheer ability, while also out-muscling it in the power stakes, with a new 157kW 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine.

While the HSV is deeply impressive for what it is, the Raptor emphatically highlights the difference between pulling something apart to make it better and simply building it better in the first place.