Super Tourer - HSV Clubsport R8 Tourer
It's stylish, practical and, as we discovered, also one of the world's fastest wagons. HSV has re-entered the family market with a bang.
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There is a mountain not far from Melbourne with a nice, twisty road leading to its modest summit. The snow gathers in winter, and on this particular day there are banks of it leading down from the eucalypts to the edge of the tarmac where it thankfully stops.
A quick glance at the climate display gauge shows the air temperature hovering just above zero and there seems to be no sign of ice. Just as well, because clearly grip is crucial, given my HSV has the now usual 317kW to push it uphill. Torvill and Dean can afford the odd spill; I cannot.
With each receding corner and short straight, however, it is becoming apparent this car has a depth of abilities that is urging me on. It's heavier than usual, easily topping two tonnes with me and, especially, Brunelli on board, but there's an astonishing amount of traction to tame the explosion of torque as the throttle opens wide out of second- and third-gear bends.
I'm impressed, possibly because instead of being one of a long line of heavy-hitting HSV sedans, this is the latest in a much shorter dynasty of wagons. And where wobbly lard-arsed handling and lethargic get-up might be expected, this one combines punch with agility. Finally, it seems, HSV seems to have something that might tempt potential owners into a car that's in the family way.
The Clubsport R8 Tourer is, of course, based on Holden's new Sportwagon, and that gives HSVs offering a huge head start. Instead of a long wheelbase, extended rear overhang and bread-van styling, the donor car has the same distance between front and rear axles as the sedan, the shape owes more to aesthetics than utility and it has the VE's exceptionally good multi-link rear suspension underneath.
Nevertheless, HSV has taken the Tourer to market with some trepidation given the reception that greeted its most recent wagons: if anyone has recently seen one of 333 Avalanche 4WDs or 27 VT Senator Signature Estates that were built, let me know. So investment in the Tourer hasnt been huge and theres just the one model that shares most of its spec and mechanicals with the Clubsport R8, although if it proves popular a Senator or even a GTS might follow.
HSV has relied on the somewhat radical shape of the wagon body for visual impact without going to town on body kit addenda as it did with, say, the highly plasticised Maloo. The front bumper and air dam are identical to sedan offerings, and because of the me-too wheelbase, the side skirts are the same. At the rear theres a Commodore SS bumper fascia and a Calais V chrome strip, but the only clues to the Tourer's HSV lineage are the quad exhaust tips and serious amounts of rubber peeping shy of the lower bodywork. There isn't even a Tourer badge.
In fact, apart from the bodyshell there have been precious few changes between four and five-door R8s. The Tourer gets springs that are 30 percent stiffer all-round, which is part of ongoing VE development but also a precaution against bigger cargo loads. The exhaust system is the same, as are the four-piston brakes, the interior forward of the rear seat and all the other goodies provided by HSV.
At $65,990 it's just $1000 more expensive than the equivalent sedan. Chrysler's competitor the 300C SRT8 Touring (317kW/569Nm) is $78K. Mercedes offers a V8-powered E500 Estate, but it produces fewer kilowatts and costs almost three times more. From here your hi-po wagon options only get more expensive (and more powerful), with the Merc E63 AMG ($245K) or Audi's soon-to-be-released 426kW RS6 at $259,000.
Power comes, of course, from the 6.2-litre LS3 pushrod V8 that was introduced into HSV's range earlier this year. Even though the outputs show little improvement over the LS2, it's got more grunt and
revs more cleanly. Peak power of 317kW arrives at 6000rpm, and torque maxes at 550Nm at 4600rpm; the same as any other Clubsport, Senator or GTS.
Yet the Tourer has significantly more weight to deal with than its sedan counterparts. At 1914kg as a six-speed manual, or 1936kg as an auto, it's about 100kg heavier than the four-door R8, with most of those kilograms going into the longer roof panel and extra glass. For that penalty you get 895 litres of luggage space compared with 496 litres in the sedans boot, and the possibility of reduced performance and increased fuel consumption.
Well, that's the theory, anyway. In practice, the Tourer quickly establishes itself as a two-box rocket with the kind of thunderous acceleration we've come to expect from any of HSV's big V8s. Put it this way: when we tested a manual LS3 GTS sedan back in July, it hit 100km/h in 5.5 seconds and covered the standing 400 metres in 13.7. The wagon lagged by just one-tenth, reaching 100km/h in 5.6 seconds and posting a 400-metre time of 13.9 seconds. So given the vagaries of different test tracks and conditions, you'd have to say performance is just about line-ball. Bottom line: the Tourer is definitely no slow-poke.
Perversely, it's probably the extra weight amassed towards the rear of the car that, Porsche 911-like, helps enormously with traction. Optional 20-inch rubber fitted to our test car helped, but there's no doubting the Tourer will cope with plenty of revs off the line before the rear Bridgestones dissolve into tyre smoke. On the road theres a comforting amount of throttle that can be fed in before the ESP light starts winking. It means that with the hammer down, the Tourer is converting Newton metres into kilometres per hour with a steely intent.
Efficiency is perhaps not the Tourer's main claim to fame, with our car returning 15.4L/100km over a mixture of country, freeway and city driving. It will be worse in a purely urban environment, especially if the $2330 six-speed automatic is optioned, and while we didn't exactly see polar bears dropping out of trees into rapidly melting snow, the CO2 output would be enough to make a greenie faint.
But the steering is as finely attenuated as any HSV sedan, with immediate turn-in and loads of positive feedback. Ally that to a sticky rear end and it adds up to a nice blend of precision heading into a corner and power available to punch your way out. Despite the stiffer suspension there's maybe a tad more roll as bodyweight shifts in the rear, and on downhill sections the brakes need a mighty squeeze to deliver their best. Other than that, you wouldn't know whether there was a boot or a box out the back of this HSV.
As a wagon, the Tourer has the same limitations as its Holden counterpart. The load area is shallow and far from long, and the angled tailgate further reduces carrying capacity. The roof-hinged fifth door might help access the rear, but when we tried loading Brunelli's dog Otto into the back, he banged his head when the tailgate dropped but he is a Weimaraner and no mental giant. Balanced against these shortfalls is a rear seat that folds flat (revealing 2000 litres of load space), room for a full-size spare and the fact that HSV buyers have patently demonstrated that in a wagon, styling is probably prized higher than practicality.
The point is, they now have a choice. HSV isnt going to make a huge noise about its new arrival. Itll just let buyers know that if they want a Clubsport R8 they can go the classic route and get a sedan. Or maybe follow the road less travelled and opt for a wagon with virtually identical performance and handling, distinctive styling, and extra carrying capacity to boot.
