Promising hatchback; saloon hit road

Press, 1 September 1989, Page 37

Promising hatchback; saloon hit road

By PETER GREENSLADE Two important new models hit the New Zealand car scene last week in Auckland when Orly Motor Distributors launched the 1360 cu cm, 47kW Peugeot 205 GR four-door hatchback and, later in the day, General Motors New Zealand came up with an allAustralian two-litre Holden Commodore. The latter is the successor to a succcession of two-litre Commodores that have commanded 52 per cent of all Commodore sales since 1680.

I understand Peugeot dealers have decided to do a $21,995 package putting a registered 265 with a full tank of petrol and mud flaps on the road for the buyer. The Peugeot is the most successful super mini car to come out of France. More than six million examples have been built and the flow from French factories is unabated as Peugeot continues to meet a seemingly insatiable universal demand.

After an all-too-brief honeymoon with a fuel-injected sixcylinder Nissan engine under its bonnet, the Holden Motor Company decided to rely upon its own resources when the Japanese yen became too hot fdr Australians to handle. The two-litre Commodore uses a derivative of the Family 2 engine manufactured at Melbourne’s Fishermens Bend. Originally the car was intended for export to New Zealand only, but Holden realised that it could have some potential in under-developed Asian countries and so it is also going into the Third World.

Australians have more lusty automotive appetites and the two-litre Commodore with its modest, if not entirely unmemorable, performance would never satisfy, although I’ve no doubt that it will be snapped up by easily-sustained New Zealanders. Cloaked in the V 6 VN Commodore bodyshell with most of the more powerful car’s ac-

coutrements, the 1998 cu cm fuel-injected four-cylinder Commodore has the Bosch Motronic ML4 engine management system. The cheapest five-speed manual Berlina is a saloon selling for $29,250. But that’s where the good price news stops. The automatic variant costs an additional $l3OO and the station waggons — identical to the VO apart from the engine — cost an additional $l4OO, while the automatic also carries that $l3OO impost.

Auckland last week was comparable climatically with one of this country’s island dependencies fringin Antarctica, and was not conducive to amiable introductions with motor Cars.

A morning 200-kilometre run in rural regions south of Auckland was accomplished in good order on wet roads by the Peugeot 205. Fine flexibility and an uncommonly good turn of speed, and superlative road-holding with an imperviousness to strong cross-winds

were outstanding features. Although the cabin is by no means cramped, the comfortable front seats are closely mounted, thereby ensuring that driver and front seat passenger are almost too chummy. A sole larger-than-normal back seat passenger tends.to disturb the otherwise commendable weight distribution of this 750 kg car to the extent that I thought it possible that the rear end might become unstuck in sharper corners on a wet road. That never happened, but the car seemed much more secure when the load was evenly distributed.

Our introduction to the Commodore was less than congenial. It had automatic transmission and there was only time to discover that the automatic gearbox — a four-speed with lock-up torque converter — drew off too much power from an engine that didn’t have anything to spare, when the windscreen wipers packed up in a blinding torrent of

rain. Subsequently, we transferred to a five-speed manual saloon that was marginally more lively but certainly no ball of fire. On demanding roads north of Auckland this two-litre Commodore was lethargic and ponderous, that is until it was buffeted by abnormally strong wind gusts when it almost inevitably over-reacted. All the same, I must admit that I enjoyed the spaciousness and general comfort and I’ve no doubt the features of this Commodore should attract a swarm of buyers, To achieve a comprehensive picture of a car it should be tried in all weathers and this I hope to do in Christchurch in the near future.

The Peugeot and the Commodore look promising, which is. rather more than could be said of the Auckland weather, even as I flew away from the place.