2008 Holden Epica First Steer
August 8, 2008 by Anthony Crawford
2008 Holden Epica – First Steer
“From the rear, it looks positively Saab-ish. Holden has got its act together with this revised Epica, the 2.0 litre turbo diesel being an especially sweet drive”
- Anthony Crawford
Just over a year ago, General Motors Holden launched the Epica nameplate as a mid-size family sedan providing a value for money option in a growing category.
But the punters didn’t seem to warm to it, nor did many of Australia’s motoring writers. Subsequent sales of the car were anything but spectacular.
It’s true the 2007 Epica was not an attractive car. Not at all. The same cannot be said for the revised 2008 model car. From the rear, punters might even think it’s a new Saab 9-5, especially in Pearl White Metallic and Granada Black Metallic (two of seven exterior colours on offer). While I’m still not sold on the front styling, it’s more than a subtle improvement on the 2007 car.
After a decent steer in the revised car my first impressions are positive. As long as the marketing girls and boys at Fisherman’s Bend spend a few dollars on getting the name out there (and make no mistake, they are spending big) this car, especially the diesel, should find more than a few buyers here in Australia.
Nobody likes high fuel prices. They can have a catastrophic affect on your day-to-day quality of life. Essentially, you end up with less money in your pocket, and that’s never a good thing.
Filling up a large car petrol powered car or SUV these days, can be scary. With a 100-litre capacity tank, you will spend close to $7000 per year on fuel alone. That’s for those lucky enough to need only one car.
The mid size car segment will attract buyers from two markets, Holden says. Those wanting more room than in a small car, and those looking to save more than a few bucks, by coming down from a large car. Nothing wrong with that logic I say.
But midsize cars generally use a lot more fuel than your average small car, usually because of additional power and weight.
That’s where the modern day common rail turbo diesel comes to the rescue. They offer considerably more ‘go’ from low down in the rev range and allows you to travel a greater distance on one tank of fuel. This is especially true of vehicles in the mid to large size segments.
While Holden will continue to offer a refined in-line six-cylinder petrol engine, it’s all about the 2.0 litre common rail turbo diesel powered car. That is what will make this car a success story.
It’s both an efficient and smooth revving engine, which develops 110kW at 4000rpm and a strong 320Nm of torque at 2000rpm. From the relatively short time behind the wheel of the car I was pleasantly surprised just how smooth and quiet the car was.
At 110km/h on a Melbourne highway, the engine was ticking over at around 1600 rpm, or barely working. Mid range acceleration is constant and you can feel the torque even in sixth gear.
Off the mark acceleration won’t set the world on fire but employing a variable geometry turbocharger, you could never call it slow either. The steering set up is also nicely weighted, even at dead centre, so you feel well connected to the road.
What I keep coming back to with the Epica is how refined the power delivery is. There’s very little engine vibration through the cabin, which makes this car, a particularly pleasant drive.
It’s also a lot quieter than many of the 2.0-litre diesel passenger cars I have driven this year. This is a well-sorted engine in a well-sorted chassis.
Not only that. Standard equipment across the range is a six-speed automatic transmission with what Holden calls Active Select, allowing for sequential style shifts, up and down the ratios. Holden engineers are quoting a 14 percent improvement in fuel economy at a constant cruise control style speed.
Twice, I looked at the fuel consumption readout while travelling at 110km/h and was more than surprised to see 6L/100km for more than a few minutes. Testament to diesel power!
I’ll also have to praise the general ergonomics inside the Epica. Specifically, the firm but supportive seats in the top spec CDXi we were driving, were equally as comfortable as those in some of the more expensive European car brands. Very well bolstered all round, without being too narrow for the larger folk.
Instrumentation and switchgear is intuitive and easy to master. It’s also well laid out and attractive. There is a lot of plastic on the centre stack but just enough metal look accents throughout the interior, to make things interesting rather than dull.
Medium size cars are becoming larger. They must be. There’s an awful lot of cabin space inside the Epica, including that area between driver and front passenger. It almost feels like a large car. There’s also plenty of room for the rear passengers too and the boot is huge, with just on 480 litres of load space. Good size aperture too with the boot lid held open by gas struts.
Creature comforts across the range include: Steering wheel mounted audio and cruise controls, Auto on headlights, MP3 connectivity with a 6-speaker audio system with single CD in the CDX trim and an 8-speaker unit in the CDXi along with the usual array of electric windows and mirrors.
Epica has upped the ante in the safety department in this segment, with six airbags (including the all important curtain airbags) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC).
Rear Park Assist, which must be considered a mandatory safety feature these days, is fitted (audible version only) as standard on the CDXi spec cars only.
From 29,990 for the 2.0-litre diesel, with six speed auto, six airbags, Electronic Stability Control, a host of creature comforts, tonnes of space and much improved European-like styling, the Epica CDX diesel is the value for money pick.
That said, for just $2000 more, you could upgrade to the CDXi 2.0 diesel and pick up 17-inch alloys (rather than 16-inch alloys), Rear Park Assist and the 8-speaker 6 CD changer, which also represents good buying.
2008 Epica range Recommended Retail Pricing
• Epica CDX 2.5-litre petrol (6 speed auto) from $27,990
• Epica CDX 2.0-litre diesel (6 speed auto) from $29,990
• Epica CDXi 2.5-litre petrol (6 speed auto) from $30,990
• Epica CDXi 2.0-litre diesel (6 speed auto) from 32, 990
• Epica CDXi Optional leather pack $2000
Print it: 
The point being shouldn’t write the Epica off because it is a Holden or Korean.
Bret u need to get over this Korean thing!LOL
I worked at a company that had lots of them too, Realcars. You soon get to hear which cars have certain troubles. Our Camiras never seemed to have engine problems, but they regularly returned to depot on the back of a truck before mysteriously deciding to allow themselves to re-start. Dodgy Delco computers?
Geminis – no problem. VL Commodores – no problem. VS & VT Commodores – rear main seal, generally, but mine was a total lemon. Camrys – head gaskets and 3rd gear synchros in the mid forty thousands.
None of these things afflicted all cars, it was just a pattern that developed.
Hey Car Advice guy’s,you need to clean up some of the crap that get written here, the article is about the Holden Epica not about the ego’s of these idiots.
I’m going to have to find another car web site as this one has completely lost the plot!
Realcars,
Mate I don’t have a problem with Korea, nor have I stated that “it’s Daewoo it must be shite”.
I’m just sick of the propaganda and denials about the cars real origins.
And BTW, who was it claiming that the Prado was Hilux?? even though none of the critical dimensions even come close. Mate, the pots black.
Richo,
how do you know its the model tyre you speak of??
they actually havent told the guys testing it what it actually is.
they have removed markings for the testing process. there was a reason they didnt want the teams to know what it was.
sure a good ole 2 and 2 measure might put you on the money, but how can you confirm your story…..
and another thing you went further on in that HRT getting the better tyres,
well the other improvement to the rules now see a totally random method of delivering tyres to teams.
the tryes are pretty much drawn out of the hat nowdays which makes it hard for any “tyre rigging” to take place.
yep,
there was a lot of suss things going on in the HRT dominance days…….
oh,
and the proof of the un even aero performance could have been backed up by GRM and perkins actually taking race wins….
that was the days of tander (GRM)
and Ingall (Perkins)
ambrose was actually the savior for ford.
and to be honest, before that, they were struggling for talent on the ford side of things which could have also cntributed to not many wins.
that was when Seton, Johnson, Crompton, Jones were all past it which was also late 90’s to early 00’s.
and another thing was, they were all owner drivers and none had the business structure like TWR (6 cars) had.
once the old timing ford teams realised you could not go racing to go racing, then ford has been better off.
I drove some Epicas at the launch & I have to say apart from the diesel being somewhat punchier then I expected they are the worst car I have ever driven.
The interior was incredibly cheap & nasty & for cars with only a handful of kays they squeaked & groaned a hell of a lot. The engine was more John Deere then modern diesel when it came to NVH & the steering & handling balance was very wonky.
It definitely left me thinking it’s a car someone would drive because they had to not because they wanted to.
The Daewoo Leganza was rubbish a decade ago & it is still rubbish with Dame Edna headlights & Holden badges, anyone who buys one of these compared to something like the Mondeo is truly mad.
Hi Andrea, I got the model code D11 because that is what auto action, motorsport news and neil crompton at the last round of the championship said it was. All three sources are highly reputable and said that the tyre in question is the old D11 dunlop qualifier.
Also back in the tyre war days it was only ever a rumor that bridgestone where giving HRT gun tyres, but i think it’s a rumor that was pretty widespread and most people in the know either believed it or wouldn’t have been surprised if it was true. Bridgestone where heavily in bed with HRT at the time from a marketing point of view so it made sense for Bridgestone to want to see HRT winning races over some of their other bridgestone teams.
And your right in Craig Lowndes last championship win it was rusty ingall who pushed him to the line in a holden, and GT did the same thing also in a holden. But neither team had the level of dominance over the rival ford teams that HRT had. I think if you take HRT out the VT commodore and the AU falcon racecars where pretty evenly matched, and many believed at bathurst the AU was actually better because the front bar was a smoother through the air and the fords consistantly ran higher top speeds down conrod straight back in the AU days.
Your also right that ford teams lagged behind the holden teams in terms of professionalism in the late 90’s untill SBR really started to kick goals in combination with ambrose who was VERY good at setting a car up. There is no surprise at all that SBR fell off badly when ambrose left the team because it was really ambrose’s setup skills that made the difference in both ambrose’s last championship win and ingall’s championship win.
sorry andrew m, don’t know where andrea came from!
Too bad if anybody actually wanted to take this site seriously!
I was actually thinking the new revised Epica looks alright… but it’s wasted on these mindless social outcasts.
Here’s an idea, everybody here that is putting dirt on a car THEY HAVE NEVER DRIVEN, how about you all eat a bowl of AIDS ridden d1cks?
Motorhead – I\’ve also driven a Epica, but not this facelifted one but mechanically the same. Against its rivals it still has a long way to go even if its the cheapest. It\’s insulting for Holden to offer derivative trash when there are find cars like the Mazda 6 and Mondeo around.
Tom, I hope the ML270 you’re buying is not the US-made model… The Rexton with the same engine is screwed together better than those things.
This year’s Epica certainly appears to be a big improvement on the first model. Not as good as the Mondeo, but then the Ford product is significantly more expensive. I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Skoda Octavia (although it is somewhat smaller than either the Epica or the Mondeo). Both the Skoda and the Mondeo have a big big plus over the Epica in one respect, and that’s the availability of a hatchback (even if the Skoda is described as a “sedan” it’s actually a liftback).
The Octavia has it all over both cars in the interior stakes. Why do carmakers insist on boring and heat-absorbing dark interiors for this country? The “build your car” pages at the manufacturers’ websites are a joke: no matter what exterior colour you chose you get a black or dark grey interior. Oh, wait, you can chose leather… oh, that’s black too. Stuuuupid.
I just bought a cdxi turbo diesel epica. It drives amazingly and the features along with the interior styling are great.
After all it still is a Holden.
In other words, it’s still sh*t.
Cheers
F-O
How much price 2010