- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
3.6i, 6 cyl.
- Engine Power
210kW, 350Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (91) 9L/100KM
- Manufacturer
RWD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2014 Holden Calais V Review
I've owned my 2014 Calais V for 6 months now. I have to say I love it. I was debating with my wife about what car we should buy and we narrowed it down to a Honda Accord, VW Passat Highline, and a Mazda 6.
- Sporty and classy looks, Comfortable and large cabin, Smooth ride with plenty of power when needed, Loaded with the latest tech, Bang for your buck
- Alcantara light grey highlights in cabin will not age well, Large rims= easy to scratch
A little about my experience with the Calais so far:
It has a real road presence with its classy and sporty look sitting on 19" wheels. It is as comfortable to be in as my lounge room sofa, and everything I need is within reach in the cabin. It hasn't missed a beat yet and servicing costs are very reasonable.
Myself and my wife mainly use it for school drop offs, shopping and getting around town. On the weekend we normally go for a longer tour and this is when we get the most enjoyment from the car. With its well padded seats, comfy ride and quiet cabin its easy to spend a couple of hours in it cruising. There is plenty of boot space and we have never had a problem fitting everything in when we go away for weekends. We have fitted two child seats to the rear via the isofix restraints which was easy and took about 15 minutes to install.
The technology included in the Calais is exceptional considering its price, from remote start(a friends $140000 X5 M does not include this), electric heated seats with memory, climate control, head up display, parking sensors and camera, blind spot warning and auto assist parking just to name a few.
The V6 is quite placid when I'm in (driving miss daisy mode) and the auto changes smoothly when selecting gears, but when I'm in the mood for some more spirited driving and push the gear level into Sports Mode it has enough grunt to get the heart racing for some quick overtaking off the lights. I sometimes slip it into manual mode for some fun and sportier driving, but I think the electronics do a better job of getting me up the the legal speed limit quicker.
The only complaints I have so far about the Calais is the light grey Alcantara strips on the seats and doors, I'm really careful about cleanliness in the car but I can already see the strip on the drivers seat and door discolouring a bit. The 19" wheels are big, so be extra careful when parallel parking because the rims are easy to scratch if your not too handy at parking.
My wife was very nice to let me make a man decision on the purchase of a new car and she wasn't too convinced at first about a Holden as she never liked them for some reason, but she loves it now and only lets me drive it on the weekends!
Holden, well done on the last series (VF) of Commodore and its variants.
This car is spectacular for its price...You get a lot of bang for your buck!