Many folk already know about the Holden Colorado – a good, reliable Aussie pick-up (aka ute) that tradies have loved for years.  However, there are limitations on how many people you can fit inside a regular Colorado ute, especially the single-cab varieties. What if you combined the sterling qualities of the Colorado, such as the ability to go just about anywhere, with the ability to take the whole family, the dog and the luggage?  This seems to have been the idea behind the Holden Colorado 7 Diesel: to make a family-sized SUV that can tow anything and go anywhere.

First and foremost, the Holden Colorado 7 Diesel is a 4×4 and it’s designed to be a serious bush-basher.  High and low ratios and electronic on-the-fly shifting are there, of course, along with limited slip differential.  It’s got the clearance to handle the rough stuff, too, with 219 mm clearance in the Holden Colorado 7 Diesel LT and 231 in the Holden Colorado 7 Diesel Trailblazer.  Both variants can cope with an approach angle of 30°, a departure angle of 25° and a ramp breakover angle of 22°.  Throw in the 5-link high stance rear suspension and the double wishbone suspension with extra clearance at the front and you know that you’ll be going off the road in style and comfort.

We all know that if you’re into going places with the family, off-roading and towing, you need lots of torque. This is why you’ll find a diesel powerplant underneath the bonnet. Is this a massive 4-litre job?  Is it a V6 or a V8?  No indeed: it’s a 2.8-L Duramax 2 Diesel with four cylinders and common rail injection.  If you think this doesn’t sound overly exciting, think again.  It’s got torque and plenty of it, up to 500 Nm at 2000 rpm, giving the Holden Colorado 7 Diesel the ability to tow 3000 kg (that’s 3 tonnes) braked load.  That’s more than enough to tow the horse trailer, even if you’ve got a massive big Shire horse (which gets bigger than a Clydesdale) in there.  It’s enough to tow a fully grown White Rhino (which tips the scales at 2.5 tonnes), in case you ever wanted to do that.  So if you’re looking for something to pull the caravan, you’re looking in the right place.  The power curve peaks out at 147 kW at 3600 rpm.  Getting the revs just right for whatever you’re doing is made easy with the six-speed automatic transmission.

The Holden Colorado 7 Diesel also features a truckload (in more than one sense) of great driver aids that make the experience behind the wheel (and in any of the 6 passenger seats) an enjoyable one on the road or off it.  Traction control, trailer sway control, descent control, ABS brakes with EBD, hill start assistance and electronic stability control all come as standard features on both variant of the Holden Colorado 7 Diesel.  This means that the 16-inch wheels on the LT and the 18-inch wheels on the Trailblazer will stay firmly on the road where they belong – or the gravel or the sand or the snow or the grass or the mud or the… well, wherever you want them to be, really.  For more sedate round-town driving, the rear parking assistance, rear camera and cruise control will all come in handy, although I’m sure there’s times that the rear view camera can come in handy when off the road as well, such as trying to turn around on a narrow trail with a steep ditch on one side (this manoeuvre is what I call the thirty-point turn).

We all know that driving, even off road, is far more fun for the driver than for the passengers, especially the ones in the third row of seats, who will get a bit bounced around on the cloth (L(T) or leather (Trailblazer) seats in spite of what the suspension is capable of absorbing.  This is why it pays to keep them entertained, which is catered for quite nicely with the six-speaker audio system that can take USB input as well as Bluetooth streaming from a compatible smartphone (yes, you can play your favourite Spotify lists without having cables all over the show) and iPod compatibility.  The information about what’s playing will be displayed on the 7-inch colour touchscreen, which also is set up for hands-free calling and Siri eyes-free messaging.  What’s more, to make sure that everyone’s smartphones, laptops and tablets can all charge up, there are four power sockets placed around the cabin: two in the front, one in the back and one in the rear cargo area.

Speaking about the cargo area, if you fold the second and third rows flat (the second row has tumble folding as well as traditional 60/40 splitting; the rear row has 50/50 split folding), you get up to 1830 L of storage space.  If you have all the seats up, don’t worry.  There’s still oodles of boot space in there, not to mention the double glovebox and the upper days storage, the door pockets and the cup/bottle holders.

You get this (and more – like the air conditioning and the roof rails) as standard in the Holden Colorado 7 Diesel LT.  However, if you go for the Trailblazer variant, you get more.  We’ve already mentioned the leather seats and the larger wheels.  However, you’ll also get a rear roof spoiler, power adjustable and folding side mirrors with an extra indicator and an upgraded air-con system to an electronic system.  However, when it comes to safety, there’s no difference between the two: even the LT variant has the airbags (front, side and curtain), the ISOFIX child seat preparation for three seats, three-point seatbelts on all seven seats, front seatbelt pretensioners and the full five ANCAP stars.

Current model series include:

• Holden Colorado 7 Diesel LT
• Holden Colorado 7 Diesel Trailblazer

For any more information on the Holden Colorado 7 Diesel, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Holden dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!