Matt's ZB RS-V wagon long term review

[StrayKiwi]

They do look good in black. Missus car is a black RSV. Wanted to option up to VXR wheels but can’t be done. Wheels can make a car.
How can people say they don’t look good?

I wouldn't bother putting 20"s on the RS-V. The adaptive dampers in the VXR make a massive difference in making the ride comfortable, even if it's still a little on the firm side. I'd suggest it's the main reason the Calais-V doesn't come with 20"s.

Just discovered the RSV has heated seats! Very cold in Melbourne at the moment and this afternoon I ducked out to get some milk and other bits and pieces, and as usual on a cold day and a short trip was thinking I'd be home again before the cabin warmed up properly. However after about 5 mins I noticed the seat base warming up quite nicely - kind of like standing with one's back to the fireplace. Anyway quite a nice surprise, they seem to turn on automatically if its cold. If I hadn't experienced them I would have said they were a solution looking for a problem. But quite impressed now.

Come summer you'll wish you had ventilated seats.

 

[uz3r]

I wouldn't bother putting 20"s on the RS-V. The adaptive dampers in the VXR make a massive difference in making the ride comfortable, even if it's still a little on the firm side. I'd suggest it's the main reason the Calais-V doesn't come with 20"s.

The Calais V does come with 20" wheels doesnt it? The lack of adaptive dampeners in the Calais V was one of the negatives highlighted in reviews (after all the Calais is supposed to be a cushy luxury experience)

 

[DG355]

The 20’s do look to be available on the Calais. A little more restrained in styling than the VXR.

 

[MattSAU2XR8]

I'd also steer away from the 20's unless you have adaptive shocks. They do look good, but an inch of sidewall is a lot to lose when you're already starting with 18's. I've actually been considering whether to go to the 235/50/18 size as per the Tourer when my tyres are up for replacement - admittedly could lose a bit of turn in and absolute cornering grip, but hard cornering probably only makes up 1/2 a percent of my driving, and I'd enjoy the extra cushioning the rest of the time. As I recall even V8 Supercars only use 17's or 18's anyway. Its a pity car makers don't just make the wheel arches a little smaller so that sensible size wheels look OK. As regards how much sidewall (and cushioning) you get:
- 17's have 12.4 cm (225/55)
- 18s have 11 cm (245/45)
- 20s have 8.6 cm (245/35)
- 18's on Tourer have 11.8 cm (235/50)
I think the designers probably settled on the 17 inch size on the LT as large enough rim diameter to accommodate adequate brakes, and large enough sidewall for adequate comfort, although a little wider and stickier might have helped to limit wheelspin. And given 355 mm Brembos fit under 19's with some room to spare on a VE/VF Commodore, the 345 mm Brembos on a ZB should probably be able to fit under a well designed 18. So its probably just about aesthetic appeal, as opposed to performance, like racing stripes...
Here's an article looking at the effect of wheel diameter and performance, main point being that 17's and 18's seem to the the sweet spot on a smaller car like a Golf, so fair to say that 18's and 18's might be the sweet spot for a larger car:

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15130598/upsized-wheels-tires/

 

[StrayKiwi]

The Calais V does come with 20" wheels doesnt it? The lack of adaptive dampeners in the Calais V was one of the negatives highlighted in reviews (after all the Calais is supposed to be a cushy luxury experience)

@Badgerdog as a Calais-V owner would be the authority but I am fairly sure that in NZ the Calais-V only has 18"s. If memory serves, he even got the dealer to put 17"s on his car.

As for the adaptive damping thing, yes I did wonder why it wasn't available as an option on the Calais-V, but my speculative answer is, the car simply didn't need them to give the ride quality the Holden engineers were looking for so they saved themselves and the buyers some money.

 

[DG355]

There was a comparison on the short lived, with good reason, Top Gear Australia. 18’s were also quicker.

 

[MattSAU2XR8]

Just an update on fuel economy, service reminder, spare tyre, and lumbar support...

Presently in transit from Melbourne to Alice Springs for a new job. Car is definitely more comfortable overall than the VE SS for long distance travel.Runs podcasts and music nicely from my Iphone to keep me occupied.

Fuel economy has been interesting... Around town in Melbourne doing very short trips each day, i.e. 10 kms round trip to shops with average speed of 29 km/h fuel economy is not good, about 16 litres per 100 kms, fortunately 91 octane, so not as bad as VE SS that was using close to 20 of PULP for same job. On the highway though much better - about 8.2 litres per 100 km with car loaded to the roof with stuff I'm taking with me and a slow leak in right front tyre...

Oil change service reminder also interesting. Supposedly car has 12,000 km service intervals. I'd noticed that over the course of 1500 kms since last service that it had gone down to 80 % oil life remaining, which would suggest an oil change interval of 7500 kms which would be annoying. But then driving from Melbourne to Leeton in NSW which was about 500 kms at a steady 100 to 110 km/h it didn't love at all. So obviously car considers highway work to be much easier on the oil, or better from point of view of condensation, or whatever.

As regards the slow leak in right front tyre this was quite annoying, went flat overnight staying in Leeton. Fortunately had a foot pump so was able to pump it up (without driving on it flat) and take it to Bridgestone in Leeton who fixed it promptly for $30 - very happy with this. Then went and bought a can of tyre weld and a tyre plug repair kit for $30 all up so if needed I can probably fix one at the side of the road rather than stuff around with the space saver. My car does have a space saver (as opposed to glue kit) but even this seems like a much less than ideal solution - even a Kia Cerato has a proper spare wheel.....And I imagine it might be hard to find a replacement Conti Sport Contact in Port Pirie for example if I limped in there on the space saver...

Finally lumbar support - or lack thereof. The car does have an electrically adjustable 'lumbar support' built into the seat but unfortunately is closer to 'sacral support'. As some manufacturers, eg. Leyland in the early '70s would be aware, the lumbar spine starts at approximately one's belt line and continues up to the base of the ribs, so support means applying some extra padding between these two points. Unfortunately on the ZB, and my previous SS, the pressure is applied AT the belt line which is too low and curves one's back the wrong way. Have gotten around this OK by just wedging a small piece of sheepskin behind me - not a lot of extra support needed.

So summarising for today - economy and oil life not great in town but is great in country - and spare wheel a bit of a pain is per other new cars.

 

[Badgerdog]

Calais V comes as standard with 20 inch wheels. I asked the dealer to swap these with the 18's on an RSV and am very pleased I did.
Probably lose a little bit of precision with the handling when you're getting up it but the far greater percentage of time when driving normally the extra comfort is much more preferable.

The oil life thing - As I understand it the algorithm the ECU uses to determine the rate at which the oil life is depleted includes :-
The number of cold starts
The Oil temperature
The revs
Lots of short trips has always been considered by most manufacturers to represent "severe duty cycle" so when one engages in this sort of thing like I regrettably do over winter the oil life monitor recedes at quite a pace.
Longer steady speed trips, especially very long trips in the country have a very minimal effect on the oil life relative to the miles driven.

P.S. Nothing wrong with the operation of your oil life monitor, it seems very similar to my one. I've done 4800 km's and oil life remaining is 36%.
So 4800 km's has used 64% of the oil's life (4800 / 0.64) = 7500 km's, same as yours. The issue is it would appear we both do lots and lots of short trips.

 

[StrayKiwi]

Two comments Matt:

1) People bag the seats in the VXR but after spending time in them driving cross country I wouldn't change them, the longer you are in them the more comfortable they get. Just don't press the massage button by mistake like I did
2) The LGX V6 in the ZB range uses cylinder deactivation when cruising on the open road, but Holden doesn't advertise it. That's the only explanation for a 3.6L engine returning such reasonable mileage.

 

[Badgerdog]

Try driving on the open flat country road at 85 - 90 k.p.h. Revs are just 1200 in ninth gear and the cylinder deactivation thing really comes into play.
Can easily get into the 6- 7 liters per 100 km's zone if one really wants to be a fuel miser but where's the fun in that !