2012 Holden Colorado LX (4×4) review
To start this review, I need to be upfront and say that I don't own this car. But I feel that after driving it for the better part of 70,000km over the last 18 months, I probably have enough experience to let people know what's what. Tomorrow I hand it back (to my employer) in preparation to receive a new vehicle this week, so I thought if I didn’t review it now, I never would.
- Reliability has been excellent
- Pulling power
- Fuel economy
- Infotainment is awful
- Road noise
- Manual gearbox is rubbish
When I picked the vehicle up it was already about five years old, and had approximately 90,000km on the clock. I work for a building company and the vehicle had been previously used by a Site Manager from western QLD, so it wasn’t exactly a showroom model, but was in reasonable condition considering its relatively dusty and tough life. Now, while these RG Colorados are not without their flaws (especially these early pre-facelift models), I can confidently say that this car has exceeded my expectations in nearly every way.
To start with, it has been bulletproof in terms of reliability. I had heard a lot of bad things about the RG-series Colorado, both from scare-mongering HiLux owners and Colorado owners alike. However, in the time I have had it (which, while not being that long, has been for a fair few miles), I have had the following things go wrong: two light bulbs, one battery, the windscreen washer pump, and the steering wheel de-laminated and went all sticky (this was by far and away the most frustrating issue). Everything else has been taken care of as part of the standard regular servicing. It doesn’t squeak or rattle, and the interior seems to be holding up reasonably well.
The next thing that surprised me was the performance. Having mainly owned normal cars (not that fast, but not terrible) in my time up to the Colorado (with the exception being a brief affair with a Volvo 850 wagon), I was really worried about the performance of an old, manual, diesel ute. It is surprisingly good! I live on the Great Dividing Range and therefore spend a lot of my time driving up and down hills, and the Colorado really does pull quite well, even with a heavy load in the back or while towing.
The ride, while being firm (as is expected of a ute), is relatively good, and the seats have decent ergonomics and are comfortable enough. Nothing to get excited about, but there are certainly worse utes for comfort (early D-Max utes being an excellent example). The handling, well, it's an older ute. It handles exactly how you would think it should, which is a good thing. It isn’t a sports car, so as long as it isn’t driven like one, there isn’t much of an issue.
One thing that is an issue, however, is road noise. It is so loud. Again, this could be just because it is a commercial vehicle, but having driven some of its competitors (notably, Amarok, Ranger and HiLux), I can say it's the worst of them all for road noise.
While I am on the topic of things that annoy me, the Bluetooth is crap (both when using in the car, and when talking to someone using it in the car). You can only pair one phone at a time and the system only remembers one phone, meaning if you were to use this in any situation involving multiple drivers, there is no way of switching between previously paired phones.
There is no Bluetooth streaming, though you can plug in an iPhone (and possibly others, though I haven’t tested it) via USB and control the music via the steering wheel controls. However, I did have to purchase a USB to mini-USB adaptor in order to do this (seriously, why they didn’t put a normal-sized USB port into the vehicle is beyond me).
Also, the manual gearbox/clutch combination is terrible. It’s just way too heavy and harsh for comfortable, easy driving. I have driven Colorados with an auto since getting this one and would take the auto any day of the week. Plus, the autos have more torque.
Fuel economy has been excellent. I have averaged about 9L/100km since taking on the vehicle. Now, I have done mostly highway kilometres, but there has been a decent amount of Brisbane city driving, as well as towing and carrying loads.
I can't comment on the price and value for money of the car, because as previously mentioned, I don't own it. But a brief look online shows that you can pick up one of these with similar kilometres to the one I have for about $17K. Comparable-age HiLuxes and Rangers with diesel engines and four-wheel drive seem to be either more expensive or have a lot more mileage on them.
All in all, if you were after a decent, relatively cheap dual-cab ute, then I think the Colorado is definitely worth a look. I would just make sure it's an auto, and replace the factory sound system with something from Alpine or someone. That would really help bring the infotainment back into this century. Thanks for reading.