mmarshall

I was reading BBC's TOP GEAR magazine this afternoon. A British/American friend of mine, here in the U.S. gets paper-copies of it here in the U.S., and passes them on to me.....it's an excellent publication, IMO. One of the stories in it that really struck me was the Vauxhall Maloo. The moment I saw it, even before I read the actual article describing it, I could tell, in an instant, that it was a spinoff of the old Pontiac/Holden sport-truck concept we saw several years ago, before the Pontiac Division was axed. I remember, at the time, when Pontiac was axed, we discussed, in CAR CHAT, the possibilty of Chevy saving the concept as a new El Camino. Some of you older guys, like me, will probably remember the original El Camino and Ford's competing Ranchero (Lil4X, I know you will)

GM's Holden of Australia, of course, did the original Sport-truck concept, using (roughly) the same platform as for the RWD Monaro/GTO and G8/Commodore....also the platform for the new Chevy RWD Impala/Caprice not sold in the U.S. For awhile, I thought the Holden/GM sport-truck concept might be dead....but it looks like Vauxhall of Britain will be selling a limited-production of it as the Maloo. Too bad we won't be getting a version of it in the U.S......this is quite an interesting vehicle, and I'd love to be able to review and test-drive it. In Australia, of course, it will be sold under the original Holden nameplate.

(This, IMO, is one heck of a good-looking vehicle. It beats that ludicrous Chevy SSR by a mile)












(Check out that complete gauge-package on the upper-dash)

http://www.topgear.com/uk/vauxhall/maloo/verdict

http://www.topgear.com/au/hsv/maloo/specs?sort=power

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

NICE interior

SC400slide

iTrader: (11)

Wonder how much they cost!

mmarshall

Color-wise, like on the former (and related) Pontiac G8, a little too much black-monotone for my tastes. But, yes, I agree......the basic design, especially with the gauges, is excellent.

mmarshall

In Australia, roughly 60K in Australian dollars, starting around 55K or so.....whatever that converts to in U.S. dollars at any one time.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Love Ute's!

str8lucky

iTrader: (11)

Ol' Skool El Camino's rock, Not to fond of the new body style though.

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

Interior is nice, but exterior styling is too aftermarket and looks busy.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

I was able to testdrive a righthand drive, 6-speed Holden Monaro here in CA 10 years ago. Nice interior, great seats.& really soft comfortable ride. Being a former GMC sprint owner & long time Pontiac fan I was a potential prospect for the Poncho-Trucko & actually get to use my GM CC reward dollars.When the Holden project was canceled & then Pontiac was canceled I canceled my GM CC, didn't forsee ever using my $3,500 on a new GM vehicle purchase.

mmarshall

The Holden Monaro was sold here in the U.S. (in somewhat-re-worked form) as the Pontiac GTO, and the Holden Commodore as the subsequent Pontiac G8. I did test-drive (and review) a GT GT, but not the GTO. You mentioned that the Monaro you drove had a cushy ride. I didn't drive a GTO to verify it, but I suspect that probably wasn't the case with the GTO's suspension, which, of course, was designed for handling. As far as interiors go, the GTO's, to my tastes, was better then the G8's (a redone Commodore). The G8 interior not only had some flimsy parts, but was a solidly-black as the inside of a coal mine.

BTW, what's it like driving a right-hand-drive car and having to shift a manual-transmission with your left hand?...must be awkward, after learning it the other way. I can't remember the last time I've done that, though I once did drive an old right-hand-drive Rolls-Royce with an automatic. I also remember, when I was a pilot, that flying a plane from the right-seat in the cockpit was often quite different (and more awkward) than when you are used to flying in the left-seat....especially when you are trying to side-slip with opposite aileron/rudder on a cross-wind landing. Those of you who were pilots in side-seat cockpits will know what I'm talking about.

mmarshall

I bumped this thread back up from last summer to add that the Maloo seems to be on sale now in Britain with a 6.2L V8 making 425 HP (read about it today in TOP GEAR magazine)....though, strangely, it is not listed on Vauxhall's UK web-site. Again, it seems like a no-brainer to say that, in Chevy-trim, it would make a perfect El Camino SS.

Top Gear, BTW, loves it. Their only significant complaints were the atrocious (by European standards) gas-mileage and the (for them) too-quiet-exhaust....they felt it muffled the V8's classic exhaust-tone too much. I, of course, can't comment without driving it myself.

I had planned to ask the Chevy people about the possibility of an American-spec version at the recent D.C. Auto show, but, with all the other things I was checking out (and test-driving on the circuits there), it just slipped my mind (next year, I might carry some more notes with me). But, considering that the Chevy people there were pretty tight-lipped about the upcoming police-spec sedan SS (also from Holden), and had little to say about it, they probably wouldn't have said much about an American-spec El Camino off the same platform either. In fact, I probably learned more about the SS sedan here on CAR CHAT than I did at the show.

A shame, too..............Damn, that Maloo is one nice-looking vehicle. I was fortunate enough to have grown up with the original El Camino back in the 1960s....and the competing Ford Ranchero. Chevy put a lot of attention into the El Camino, making several true muscle-car versions, such as this one from 1969:



Ford also did a couple of Ranchero models in the late 60s with the big 390 and 428 V8s, but they never seemed as popular as the Caminos.


And, of course, the 6.2L V8 doesn't have to be used in the new Holden version either. If gas mileage is an issue (as it is sure to be in coming years), smaller powerplants can also be used.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

^^ It'd be a niche vehicle here, but I'd support it.

Marzabella

That is essentially aftermarket, HSV not Holden, you will not find a single piece of Holden badging on that anywhere.

These are the holdens

Base model Omega (LF1 HFV6)

and then the 6.0L V8 SS-V

mmarshall

I'm not sure it would just be a niche here. The original El Caminos went on, with decent sales, for over 20 years. A friend of mine, BTW, owned one with the Diablo package.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

That was over a 20 year span, the market has changed since the last few in 1987. As much as I like the idea, I can't help but think ones here would follow suit of the Subaru Baja.

Not too familiar with the Diablo package, what upgrades did it offer?