Holden Adventra Car Review & Road Test

The Holden Adventra is part of the AWD revolution released by Australia’s biggest family car manufacturer, Holden, as a crossover four-wheel drive wagon. In fact the Holden Adventra has beat Ford to the line as Australia’s first locally developed and engineered AWD crossover, due to Ford’s insistence of using only 5-cylinder engines in the Territory.

The engine
The Holden Adventra is a mix of the traditional wagon with a go-almost-anywhere all-terrain traction. It claims to please all those having a passion for outdoors by being more than a jacked up wagon. This is because it has the ability of getting off the beaten track with a 4WD system that is tailored for local conditions. Moreover, with the V8 engine promising that all the wheels get plenty of torque, the Holden Adventra is indeed off to a good start!

The Holden Adventra tends to offer a feel familiar to its rear wheel drive siblings whilst also offering better road holding capabilities. The reason for this familiarity is most likely because of the calibration of Holden’s ‘Cross Trac’ full time AWD system. Here the torque is split 38% to the front wheels and 62% to the rear wheels. This new AWD system proved to grip well in the wet under heavy acceleration and on rapid escapes down bumpy unsealed roads. Surprisingly you feel like you have better control on the road with the extra height of the Holden Adventra.

Great towing capacity
The Holden Adventra has good reserves of power while overtaking on the highway, crossing shallow creeks and heading up steep inclines. This is all because of the high torque level the V8 Holden Adventra has. The Holden Adventra also has a towing capacity of 1600kg, which can be increased to 2100kg when needed. So it is very much equipped for hauling boats, caravans and other such heavy loads.

Great suspension
The Holden Adventra uses Bridgestone Turanza tyres that are specially developed for the Adventra to handle loose stones and other light off road conditions. However, it is more geared towards sealed surfaces. This is why it has a rollover angle of 54 degrees in its favor (to comply with the official definition of 4WD). The suspension travel in the Holden Adventra is longer and more durable than usual making it a softer ride then most passenger cars. This leads to a more comfortable ride over potholes, speed humps and in general, cruddy roads.

Holden Adventra boasts upgraded brakes
The Holden Adventra has upgraded brakes,(302mm vented discs front and 286mm solid discs for the rear), to deal with it’s extra weight. In addition to this, and to match its rugged intent, the Holden Adventra has a more robust cooling system with chassis reinforcements like a protective undertray (front and rear) making the cut too. While serving a purpose as a protective plate, it looks great too!

The engine behind the Holden’s power train range is the Canadian-built Generation III Chevrolet small block. An extremely popular and time tested engine.