New Holden Sportwagon II

Overview

Nothing compares

The new Sportwagon has more than looks going for it. The five-adult cabin is large, luxurious and packed with the latest in driving and entertainment technology. The expandable cargo area is meticulously designed to ensure easy and ergonomic access in even the tightest spaces. And a full complement of advanced safety systems - including Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and six airbags - is standard across the range.

Most important of all, the Sportwagon drives like a Holden should. Powered by your choice of V6 or V8 engine, and featuring the same linear control suspension as the 2006 Wheels Car of the Year winning VE Commodore sedan range, it handles with the ease and agility of a vehicle far smaller.

For families on the go. For business on the move. For the sheer pleasure of an endlessly satisfying journey to a destination only you know. Nothing compares with the all new Commodore Sportwagon.

Exterior

Once seen, never forgotten

Your eyes see a wagon. Your mind sees a sports car. Your imagination already has you behind the wheel. At a stroke, Holden design engineers have transformed the traditional wagon into an aerodynamic object of desire.

Fluid. Seamless. Peerless. The Sportwagon's streamlined body form sweeps from the tip of its sculpted nose, to the tail of the tapered roof that so cleverly disguises the spacious load area within.

Strikingly sleek and stylish, the vehicle's exquisite proportions are further accentuated by its next generation Commodore design DNA. The muscular wheel arches, the signature fender vents, the motorsport-inspired sloping stance - it's all there to admire, and be admired.

Is it the most stunning wagon to ever grace Australian roads? The answer is right in front of you. Once seen, never forgotten, the new Holden Sportwagon is an idea whose time has come.

Interior

Always accommodating

Because your needs can change from one minute to the next, the always accommodating Sportwagon adapts just as quickly.

Camping trip for two? The 60/40 split rear seats fold flush to give you a continuous storage area that is almost 2 metres long and has a 2000 litre cargo capacity. Family outing? Upright, the rear seats have room and comfort to spare for three adults. Golfing weekend with a couple of mates? Fold down one of the rear seats, stow your gear and go!

But it's not just size and flexibility that wins the space race for Sportwagon. To help reduce back strain, the cargo floor is elevated and the clever cargo blind can be raised and lowered while fully extended. Load hooks recessed into the floor and side walls combine with the four position cargo net* to ensure secure carrying and easy access. And a load area side lamp lights your way when the sun is down or the cargo blind is extended.

Ergonomics also come to the fore up front. The driving position offers a commanding view of the road. Instrumentation is clear, concise and conveys all essential information at a glance. While centre console controls come to hand effortlessly and operate intuitively.

You'll also take comfort in knowing Sportwagon's seats are generously bolstered, with rear passengers enjoying the added benefit of enhanced side support. And that every model across the range is equipped with a long list of standard features, including air-conditioning, power windows and a CD audio system. Calais V-Series with Light Urban leather appointed seats always accommodating.

 * The four position cargo net is standard on Calais and Calais V-Series, and available as an accessory on all other models.

Storage

It's not just how much you can store in the new Holden Sportwagon that will impress, but how easily you store it. Thinking outside and inside the box, Holden engineers have created a superbly functional and ergonomic cargo space that's easier for you to access from both within and out of the vehicle.

So throughout its development phase, they virtually crash tested the Commodore repeatedly, using advanced computer modelling, for six years. Crashed it with cars, trucks, walls and poles. From the front, the rear, the side and on angles. Not with just one crash test dummy, but with many, representing virtually every size and shape of driver and passenger possible.

The Commodore was also road tested more than any other car in Holden's history. Not only on test tracks, highways and city streets, but gravel tracks in the crippling heat of the Australian outback, and the icy roads of Sweden and New Zealand in winter.

The end result - of these, and the countless other computer modelled, prototype and development car tests - is not just a happy engineering and design department, it's a vehicle you can rely on to go - and keep going. In every respect, in every situation.

Anything less, and it wouldn't be a Commodore.