- Doors and Seats
2 doors, 4 seats
- Engine
5.7i, 8 cyl.
- Engine Power
270kW, 475Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (95) 15.3L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4XC
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
Used car review: HSV Coupe 4 2004-06
Less than the sum of its parts
Holden Special Vehicle's Coupe 4 model had a fair bit going for it on paper.
It was powered by a large-capacity V8, was all-wheel-drive and based on the sexy Monaro bodyshell; a car that made red-blooded Aussie males sit up and take notice.
Yet the car was a poor seller even by HSV's small-volume standards and failed to live up to its promise on the road.
What went wrong?
Let's look at each element in the recipe, because the Coupe 4 was one of those classic cases where the end result is less than the sum of its parts.
HSV's version of the Chevrolet LS1 engine was better than the cooking Holden stuff, but even HSV's magic touch couldn't alter a couple of LS1 realities.
The first of those was that even at 5.7 litres, the engine didn't really punch hard from low in the rev range. And that's precisely where you'd expect a big V8 to be doing some of its best work. Even before the test drive had arrived at the first traffic light, the reality had failed to match the expectation for many people.
The issue was made worse because of the intricate suspension and driveline of the all-wheel-drive Coupe 4. While two-wheel-drive HSV cars of that era could be fitted with effective exhaust headers to squeeze out 285 kilowatts, the Coupe 4 was stuck with a rather less efficient set of manifolds, so at 270 kW peak power was down on the rest of the HSV pack. Add the extra weight of the all-wheel-drive system and the Coupe 4 was less frisky than it should have been.
And HSV will soon tell you that charging a premium for a performance car that's actually down on performance compared with its stablemates is always going to be a tough row to hoe.
The LS1's other problem consists of a litany of quality issues that saw some engines with rattly top-ends and others with a frightening thirst for oil. Some had both.
Either way, the oil-burning woes were enough for many cars to have replacement engines fitted. HSV and Holden went above and beyond to sort things out for their customers, but the spectre of crook quality control has marred the LS1 experience for many.
The other problem was that the end product looked, well, wrong.
The all-wheel-drive platform was a fair bit wider across the front and rear track than a standard Monaro, so HSV had to resort to tacky looking wheel-arch extensions to make the car street legal. The guard flares might have looked pretty good on a mid-'70s SLR/5000 Torana, but on the Coupe 4, they were duff.
If all that wasn't enough to sink the car before it even hit the showroom, there was the problem of transmission choice. More specifically, the lack of it.
Holden only ever developed the all-wheel-drive platform with the four-speed automatic transmission in mind, so that's all that could be fitted to the Coupe 4 without a lot of costly redevelopment and validation. The result was that the very car that probably should have been available with a six-speed manual wasn't.
Add it all up and you can see why the Coupe 4 will not be remembered too fondly by HSV and its customers. But what was it like to drive?
Not terrific, actually, and while the engine is lazy off idle and the four-speed automatic does its best to spoil the fun, the Coupe 4 also feels heavy and dull in both a handling and seat-of-the-pants sense.
Rev it right up and the thing would eventually start to accelerate and the grip from the four-wheel-drive platform was an eye opener, but HSV buyers have traditionally been more aligned with wheelspin and instant gratification than tyre grip and subtlety.
If you've ever wondered why the all-new VE Commodore wasn't designed with an all-wheel-drive variant in the line-up, cars like the Coupe 4 are the answer.
What to pay
The Coupe 4 was a pretty expensive way into a Monaro-based car back in 2004. List price was just on $90,000, but it's doubtful that too many buyers handed the dealer that much money. In any case, prices have now dropped to closer to $60,000, but we'd keep an eye on the classifieds for the odd cheapie that turns up.
The competition
HSV would have you believe that cars like performance versions of Audi's A4 are in the same basket as the Coupe 4. They're not. In reality, all the Coupe 4 really competed against were other HSV models and Holden's Monaro. The same will apply to second-hand shoppers too.