Holden Calais 2015 Review

Remember the VL Calais Turbo?

It was the ultimate car for a cluster of seven- and eight-year olds in my school playground. So advanced it was, with its EFI and turbo against the clumsy carburetor-fed V8 option, which also – incidentally – was less powerful.

Fast-forward another 10 years and the high school car park slowly filled with Calais of various vintage as true blue (or should that be red-eyed?) mates tried to live their primary school dreams on a budget. Cue VK ‘202s’ struggling to start and clunky three-speed autos being manually shifted.

I think back on that time now, and have difficulty imagining similar testosterone-fuelled school-ground conversations surrounding Holden’s most luxurious standard-wheelbase Commodore variant. It’s not the aspirational vehicle it once was, lost in the shuffle of SS variants and oversteer.

I’m standing before the last-ever Calais, the top-spec V variant, albeit in V6 form. Shimmering in the new, $550 cost-optional Empire Bronze metallic paint and sitting on newly-designed 19-inch wheels, the Calais V remains understated and classy, especially with the clear tail-light lenses and posh-looking decklid ‘CALAIS’ lettering splashed across the rear.

But whereas it was once an object of teen desire, it now looks ready to waft off towards the local yacht club, cardigans draped over the shoulder of its occupants.

You can opt to tear off those cardigans with the mighty new 6.2-litre V8 and its 307kW punch, opening up a limited-slip differential and optional performance brake package in the process. It does come at a cost, however, the Calais V V6 starting at $47,990 plus on-roads versus $55,490 for the V8.

Conversely, you can save a substantial $6700 and but the standard Calais V6, which does gain some useful extra equipment including the heated memory front seats with eight-way memory power adjustment to passenger and driver and its own 18-inch allow wheel.

It does miss out on luxury items such as the heated exterior mirrors with puddle lamps, sports steering wheel, high-end exterior trims, colour head-up display, lane departure and forward collision alerts and rain-sensing wipers of the V specification.

Understandably Holden focused its efforts on the ‘sports models’ and ensuring the new V8 would deliver the goods… and there’s no doubting that strategy has paid off in those vehicles. But it leaves the Calais V V6 with little tangible difference from its predecessor, a fact played out by the pricing, which has not changed.

If the outside is subtly different, the interior is harder to differentiate, with the same familiar look and feel and items such as the gear shifter and open storage section in front of it, along with the lower door trims, showing their age.

The comfort level is, however, still impressive, with an airy spaciousness to the interior and large-framed, nicely-trimmed leather seats allowing big distances to be consumed with comfort, the impressively-sized boot space swallowing luggage comfortably.

What impresses more is the Calais V’s ride quality, even on 19-inch alloy wheels. Yes, it was developed heavily around the Lang Lang ride and handling circuit I am driving it on, but this multi-surfaced loop mimics Aussie conditions, right down to the kangaroo sightings.

Where the VFII SS-V Redline Ute also driven on the day feels darty and edgy over the surface changes, and ready to spin up wheels in the wet conditions, the Calais is serene, soaking up bumps with disdain and providing readily accessible grip with smooth, linear response from its lighter front-end and well-calibrated electric steering.

NVH levels are also particularly low, the engine pulling quietly and against the more overt ‘sporty’ nature of the similarly-powered Commodore SV6.

It is a pity that the development budget was swallowed by the V8 installation, however, as the Calais deserves to be more efficient; 9.0L/100km is an indicator of why vehicles such as this, the Falcon and Aurion are on borrowed time.

Sunlight glinting off the updated rear-section, a look back at the Calais V allows time to reflect once more. This drive has served as a reminder of just how impressive the VF was when it came on market and how it still offers a competitive experience in 2015, especially at the price.

The Calais may no longer be aspirational but it’s a terrible pity that, at a time when Holden has basically cracked the formula of delivering a comparable overall product to much more expensive Euros, we now have to say goodbye.