Holden Colorado 7

Holden's Colorado 7 is not the car to buy if you are returning home from a night out in the small hours, the neighbours will hear you coming from miles away.The 2.8 litre diesel is probably the noisiest engine I have ever driven over the years. Not from the exhaust, but under the bonnet.

Sure it does it's job well with load lugging and torque, but it is embarrassingly loud at idle,under acceleration  and deafening in an underground car park.

Windows up it's tolerable,but gee, wind them down, and forget about a quiet conversation with your passengers.(.Mitsubishi's Pajero of a few years back was almost as unrefined. Hot or cold it banged away with little change in the decibel level. )

If you can overcome that issue(and it might even be a deal breaker for some potential buyers,) the Colorado based on the ute of the same name has a few pluses. As the name suggests, it's big, and seats seven people but only children in the rear two. The instruments are clear and placed where they work best. The sound system is okay.The leather seats in the model on test are pretty ordinary however. One passenger complained of a numb backside after an hour or so on a trip. They are a tad firm.

You sit very high in the Colorado 7 and that's great in traffic. I saw fuel consumption readings of about 11 litres per 100 km. 

The suspension I found to be far too unforgiving. On suburban roads every bump and crack was uncomfortably magnified.. "Shaken and stirred" would best describe it. Off road it must be even worse. I didn't this time, venture off the blacktop.

The rear cargo area is quite large but falls down in that it is not a level load space. The two rearmost seats fold but there's a hollow at the tailgate which might inhibit the loading of certain items.

There's a lot of hard plastic on the cabin,. most noticeably on the central console lid and door arm rests rests.

At night the headlights(compared to others in its class) are positively feeble. At one stage thought I had forgotten to switch them on.They have a very poor range, and the high beam spread is not what I have come to expect in modern vehicles.

Starting at $46 K, the Colorado is not cheap, and it could be a lot better. Off road vehicles need not make the driver feel as if they need a kidney belt or earplugs to overcome any deficiencies in the vehicle. 

For the same money or a little more, you will find much more refinement and equipment levels elsewhere.
Peter Sellen