8 days without any postings....and weeks without seeing a ZB on the road

[Badgerdog]

Great writeup Badge - oil detail makes sense. Know the roads myself so can relate to your commentary.

Wicked road up SH16 to Wellsford eh
Made for a pretty expensive trip for no reason other than a coffee but well worth the trip.

 

[wetwork65]

Wicked road up SH16 to Wellsford eh
Made for a pretty expensive trip for no reason other than a coffee but well worth the trip.

Yep - I don't drive this road with mum in the car!
Keep her to the main highway and through the tunnel.

 

[Badgerdog]

Yep - I don't drive this road with mum in the car!
Keep her to the main highway and through the tunnel.

lol not sure she would appreciate all the twisty bits.
I thought about coming back the main road and tunnel on a Sunday afternoon...one look at the traffic and yeah, NAH.
Another great drive out of Auckland is the Coromandel loop. About 400 km's but for anyone looking for a great driving experience that's a super day out. Best done during the working week when there's a lot less traffic. Overnight half way at Whitianga is always good fun too.

 

[wetwork65]

lol not sure she would appreciate all the twisty bits.
I thought about coming back the main road and tunnel on a Sunday afternoon...one look at the traffic and yeah, NAH.
Another great drive out of Auckland is the Coromandel loop. About 400 km's but for anyone looking for a great driving experience that's a super day out. Best done during the working week when there's a lot less traffic. Overnight half way at Whitianga is always good fun too.

Yes know this trip too - parents had a bach house at Coromandels. Now getting up to Cape Colville is a great trip but would be interesting to see how ZB torque vectoring etc copes with those roads. (Just to come back to the subject of this thread).

 

[Immortality]

Some of those roads have been fairly badly beat up in the last year or 2 with all the wild weather. Plenty of ongoing road works once you cross that bridge and go past the township.

 

[Badgerdog]

53k NZ for a Calais V is a bargain really.
Pretty sure they were asking over 60 for them, so nice work.

Thanks, yeah they're $63K incl on roads retail so just on 16% off $10,000 for a brand new car. I was a bit "lucky" because Giltrap North shore had a fairly high mileage Feb 18 demo on super special for $48K in white which I don't like but I played one off against the other. I say lucky because if I'd known what was coming I probably would have bought Giltrap's demo and saved myself another $5K and a ton of drama lol

Some of those roads have been fairly badly beat up in the last year or 2 with all the wild weather. Plenty of ongoing road works once you cross that bridge and go past the township.

They sure have ! SH16 not in that great shape either.

Yes know this trip too - parents had a bach house at Coromandels. Now getting up to Cape Colville is a great trip but would be interesting to see how ZB torque vectoring etc copes with those roads. (Just to come back to the subject of this thread).

Good question. I'm new to this whole torque vectoring thing. Works superbly with good power on climbing up a hilly twisty section of country road but what about coming down a steep hill and cornering with no power on but engine braking only ?

 

[Brettly-2008]

Although not first by a long shot, they were relatively early with airbags, ABS, ESC and self parking. As for the above - 99% bean counters - the engineering was the easy bit

Yep, early with seat belts and disc brakes (HR?), EFI (85), V6 and 4-speed auto standard (88), ABS (91), airbags (93), with IRS (90 VQs), always upping outputs and delivering bigger engines (EFI 5.0 in 88, 5.7 in 00, 6.0 in 06, LS2 15 into bread and butter models). Given how small our market was/is and how far from the parent company Holden is (and how little its R&D budget was), I don't think Holden ever really sat on its laurels too much... other than not developing an SUV, but even that couldn't save Ford. For many decades you had to buy Euro to get a better car

 

[Badgerdog]

Did a bit of digging to answer my own question on the torque vectoring. Looks like a pretty good system with torque vectoring by power and brake.
Under the heading Electronic stability control (ESC) page 227 of the model year 2019 owners manual
"ESC operates in combination with the Traction Control (TC) system. It prevents the drive wheels from spinning.
Torque distribution is a special feature that allocates the torque to the drive wheels before the ESC intervenes. When cornering the wheels on the inner curve are braked individually. Additionally engine torque will be delivered to the drive wheel on the outer curve. This reduces the tendency of understeer and improves traction when cornering fast"

It then goes on and on about various modes including a special competitive mode exclusive to VXR !
Normal sport mode, (available in Calais V) when activated "all wheel drive supports active dynamic driving of the vehicle"
Looks like engine sound enhancement intensifies interior engine sound...fake engine noise through the speakers...debateable whether that's a good thing.
Sport mode also adjusts shock absorbers, steering feel, and automatic transmission shift points optimised for dynamic driving.

Looks like its well worth hitting the sport button or VXR button for those with a VXR.

 

[wetwork65]

Did a bit of digging to answer my own question on the torque vectoring. Looks like a pretty good system with torque vectoring by power and brake.
Under the heading Electronic stability control (ESC) page 227 of the model year 2019 owners manual
"ESC operates in combination with the Traction Control (TC) system. It prevents the drive wheels from spinning.
Torque distribution is a special feature that allocates the torque to the drive wheels before the ESC intervenes. When cornering the wheels on the inner curve are braked individually. Additionally engine torque will be delivered to the drive wheel on the outer curve. This reduces the tendency of understeer and improves traction when cornering fast"

It then goes on and on about various modes including a special competitive mode exclusive to VXR !
Normal sport mode, (available in Calais V) when activated "all wheel drive supports active dynamic driving of the vehicle"
Looks like engine sound enhancement intensifies interior engine sound...fake engine noise through the speakers...debateable whether that's a good thing.
Sport mode also adjusts shock absorbers, steering feel, and automatic transmission shift points optimised for dynamic driving.

Looks like it's well worth hitting the sport button or VXR button for those with a VXR.

I'm getting more interested now - why is this not publicised by Holden to help sell cars?

 

[Badgerdog]

I'm getting more interested now - why is this not publicised by Holden to help sell cars?

Because their whole marketing team are a bunch of muppets ?

Gotta say the way this system works is very impressive and flatters even an average driver like me. Makes me look really good in the corners.
Just trust the chassis, tyres and the cars systems to do the business and push on harder in the corners. Grins a mile wide are guaranteed !