[PTA SC] Nummer 398, niet van FWanker

Holden SV Clubsport R8 @ 398BHP







Think 'HSV' and it's easy to immediately believe that the cars will be harsh-riding, noisy packages. You know, better for out-and-out racers than the mainstream Holden cars, and really only suitable for those happy with that undoubted hard-edge. But the $68,000 Clubsport R8 actually isn't like that at all. Instead we were gratified to find - especially after the poor-road suspension incompetence of the recently tested CV8 Monaro - that it comes together as a superbly integrated package. For sure, it has a much broader potential buyer profile than just minority enthusiasts...

Let's start with the ride - it's one of the areas that was so unexpectedly good. There's no getting away from the fact that the R8 rides firmly, but it's a compliant firmness that comes from the use of progressive springs mixed with sympathetic damping rates. It takes less than a kilometre to start to appreciate this aspect of the car - the comfort aided by the wrap-around sports seats. And after all, a good ride is something that you enjoy every time you get into a car...
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And, like all really well developed suspension packages, the faster that you drive over bad roads, the better the ride becomes. Unlike the CV8 Monaro, the R8 doesn't feel to have a short-travel, stiff suspension - bumpy corners where the Monaro bottoms-out has the R8 staying completely composed. At slow speeds - say a 50 km/h urban trundle - the ride from the Touring II suspension can become a little too firm, but it's really a minor trade-off when it works so well in all other circumstances.

On smooth roads the R8 handles very well, with bags of grip from the enormously sticky 235/40 Bridgestone S-03 tyres wrapt around 18 x 8 rims. With the traction control system operating, the car will only ever power-on understeer - the electronic system stops any power oversteer. However, while in really tight stuff it's hard to balance the car with power (cos the power keeps getting taken away), on more flowing roads the R8 is really very, very quick. Stand on the brakes (and more on those anchors in a moment), turn-in and then get on the power, making small steering adjustments as the torque causes the tyres to work against the road. Clip the apex, watch the corner get spat out backwards, then get the line right for the next bend.

Sounds easy - and it is.
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And all that composure stays intact on poor secondary roads - the suspension keeping the tyres against the bitumen even in very demanding conditions, the traction control system working much more subtly, and the car feeling superbly co-ordinated. This is a car that shrugs off driver error, that has a precise turn-in and a commitment to following cornering lines that makes the most of the revised rear-end found in all Series II VX Commodores.

It perhaps sounds a little odd, but the suspension behaviour that we so admired in the bog-stock Berlina wagon - long travel, great damping, and a real feeling of precision through full bump and rebound - is retained in the R8. But of course the Clubsport takes those virtues and simply moves them many degrees in one direction to suit the enthusiast driver.
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Our R8 had the optional $2600 premium brake package - these are simply enormous brakes. How big? Well, try four pot calipers front and back, clamping front 343mm discs and rear 315mm discs. Both sets of discs drilled, of course. The Clubsport R8 might weigh 1700kg but seemingly no on-road braking challenge is too great for these fantastic stoppers. Sprinting down a steep hill at a ton-and-a-half with a hairpin at the bottom? No problem - just press on that centre pedal...

Surprisingly, given the race nature of the brakes, the pedal pressure isn't excessively high, and nor is it wooden in feel. Instead, we can only repeat what we said of the suspension - it's a superbly coordinated and effective package. The only downer with the brakes is that we noticed some pad squeal when they were cold.
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And the engine? Well, while we have some problems with the claimed power figures (none of the Gen III engined cars seem to be as fast as the output figures suggest they should be) the 5.7-litre V8 in the R8 is an effective and generally pleasing engine. Boasting what are fairly minor mods to lift its claimed power by 30kW over the standard Holden 225kW, the Clubsport engine revs more freely and has a sharper throttle response. It uses a cold air intake, extractors, a revised exhaust with different cats and twin 57mm exhausts, and new engine management mapping. On ChipTorque's Dyno Dynamics it developed 172kW at the treads.

To be frank we didn't find the car particularly fast in a straightline - launched as you would if taking on someone at the lights, with two people in the car, air and traction control switched on, the R8 would get to 100 km/h in around 7.4 seconds. Switch off the traction control, warm the tyres a bit, turn off the air and turf the passenger and you can get this time down to about the mid-sixes - but only with a high-rpm wheel-spinning launch. So in the real world there are quite a lot of cars that can see off the R8 - best not to get too hung up on the '255' badge, otherwise you might be a bit disappointed.
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But paper figures aside, the R8 seldom feels slow. The very sweet exhaust note lets you know in no uncertain terms that there's a bent-eight under the bonnet, while the use of a shorter diff ratio (3.73:1) revolutionises the way in which you can use the 6-speed. Unlike the previous 5.7s that we have driven, in the R8 fifth and sixth gears aren't next to useless. The lower final drive ratio (higher numerically) lets you use fifth around town, while response in all gears is very noticeably improved. You will still often have to change out of sixth at highway speeds if you meet a hill, but the top two gears are far more usable than in the cars using the 3.46 diff.

However, the faster-turning engine also uses more fuel... and in this area the R8 is really very poor indeed. We averaged 19 litres/100km on test - just as well petrol remains so cheap in Australia!

The six-speed box - equipped in this car with the $380 short-shifter option - is quite a heavy unit. Skipping ratios on downchanges - say from sixth to fourth - is not welcomed, and finding reverse was at times a chore. However, the 'box can be hustled along quickly - just as well, because with the shorter final drive and greater engine power, if you're driving hard you'll find yourself changing gear a lot more often than in the cooking models.
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The equipment level of the R8 roughly corresponds to Berlina level - with some added knickknacks. The gauge cluster runs an HSV design, which unfortunately includes the stupid practice of changing the size of the km/h increments as you work your way around the speedo. There's also climate control, four airbags, the fairly poor-sounding 10-stacker CD sound system from the Calais, electric height adjust on the driver's seat, dedicated trim - and the excellent new-for-VXII steering wheel stalks. You'll also find a specific HSV owners' manual, a fire extinguisher in the boot, and a compartment (it replaces the centre console cupholder) that contains an HSV-inscribed torch, pocketknife and tyre pressure gauge.

And, like all VT-onwards Commodores, there's a huge amount of space in both the front and the back, and a large boot that in this car incorporates a drop-down rear seat ski-port. This is an eminently practical family car, and it also one with excellent primary and secondary safety - the driver would have to stuff up big time to get this car involved in a single vehicle accident.
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The R8 Clubsport - especially with the incredible Premium Brake System upgrade - is a wonderfully capable car. Besides its thirst for fuel and performance which really doesn't live up to that engine output number, there's little to find fault with. It handles brilliantly on all road surfaces, stops like very few cars indeed, is comfortable and roomy.

But best of all, it feels an utterly cohesive and integrated package... a trait that simply inspires enormous on-road confidence.







[ Bericht 51% gewijzigd door Hugster op 17-01-2005 15:12:45 ]

MutZ maak er eens even 398 van wil je

Gotcha FWNK

quote:

Op maandag 17 januari 2005 15:07 schreef D-Devil het volgende:
Ohjaaaaa het Australsiche Opel .

Dat is wel aan het interieur te zien ja

Ik koester weer een diepere haat voor Norton AntiVirus dan ik al had

Gelukkig had ik BoJo's telefoonnummer