Tosca Update?

[BBDOS CV8]

Originally Posted by mbukukanyau

what is all this pontiac bashing? It looks better than accord and camry

I'll agree with you about the looks - in person the G6 does look nice, the Bucky Beaverish front isn't so apparent. It's actually also got decent build, nice exterior finish. Although the interior materials are 1980s. And the ergonomics? Less said the better. The boot swallowed a lot of gear. Just as well. The inside was pretty blah.

Driving wise? The 3.5 GT I rented last year in DC was about on a par with a 1985 Camry, except slower. It wasn't dangerous. But it had no driver involvement, no feedback. The suspension/tyre/ride package achieved the seemingly impossible combination - it rode harshly over small bumps and roadjoins. But wallowed over big ones.

I think the wheels were 16" alloy, they felt like 20 inchers with rubber band tyres. There's something wrong with the geometry or the dampers are working back to front with tons of compression damping and very little rebound. This was on an 8,000 mile car. I checked tyre pressures in case they were at 50psi. Nup.

I didn't even realise it was a V6 until I lifted the bonnet. It felt like a small four in terms of motive power. It sounded strangled when I floored it, and accelerated best on a moderate throttle and left to short shift itself. Gear changes on full throttle could be timed with a stopwatch - lurch, slipslipslipslipslipslipslip, lurch.

Around Lancaster PA, a middling size country town with buggerall peak hour traffic and touring the surrounding country at very low velocity it got low 20s mpg. During a 60-70mph trip to Pittsberg, 26-27 on the freeway. Overall about 23mpg by the time it was dropped back to Newark.

Pretty unimpressive car for 2007. Australians complain about the Epica - they don't know how lucky they have it.

At the motor show Holden was showing a six-speed Epica with ESC and same diesel as the Captiva. If it comes in at <$30K i.e. similarly pricing as the Captiva diesel i.e. $1000 more, I think they'll have trouble supplying demand. It's already 4 stars ANCAP, so stability should lift it well into the 4.5 category.

[teamkiwiracing]

Originally Posted by TKR

I have just spoken to a local Holden salesman who said that they have sold their entire allocation of the revised Epica (6 speed auto, ESP) and cannot get anymore at this time so I'm guessing the update was successfull. In fact one of their customers is so happy with the car (esp with petrol at nearly $2 NZ per liter) they have bought some future vehicle purchases forward.
It seems Holden finally have their 'Camry'.

BTW - the Diesel version is on it's way shortly.

Was at the local dealer today, and your right, the CDX Epica now has the 6spd auto and ESP as well. Im surprised that they didnt wait until the release of the minor facelift later in the year to intoduce it. Also according to the Holden NZ website it states that it only available on the CDX and not the CDXi, which is quite random. The only other noticable change is the deletion of the chrome cross bar on the front grille.