01.Introduction
Price: From $27,990 (base)
Contact: holden.com.au
Available as both a five- and seven-seater, the Holden Captiva Series II is a recent release into the small SUV market. For this quick review, both a CHOICE tester and CHOICE members the Nottage family put the five-seater through its paces.
Fuel usage claim vs measured per 100km
8.8L vs 9.0L
Acceleration to 100km/h
11.9s
Braking distance from 60km/h
15.2m
ANCAP rating: Not available.
Our home testers, the Nottages, took the Holden Captiva 5 for a spin one weekend, visiting a beach in Sydney and the river for swimming, as well as taking it on a shopping trip.
The family says
As a family of four, we found this car roomy enough, however it would be a bit of a squeeze to get two children and one adult in the back seat, despite the three seats - this wouldn't be comfortable over a long drive. It was easy to get the two kids in and out of the back seats, and the child seat anchors were easy to access and fit.
Our four-year-old daughter could reach the window controls in the back seat, but the locking mechanisms built into most new cars made this less of a worry. She also had enough leg room when the front seat was pushed all the way back. There was also enough luggage space for a larger double pram and we still had room left over.
The car’s interior isn’t really to our taste. The centre dashboard seemed half-finished, and despite having controls on the steering wheel, it didn’t have Bluetooth and hands-free connectivity. The fact that it had a small button for a park brake was a good addition, as it freed up the centre console between the driver and passenger.
The rev counter in the driver’s dash is unnecessarily huge, plus the side mirrors reflect the side vents, which was annoying, but the boot space and head room was appreciated.
CHOICE says
The leather-wrapped steering wheel is comfortable to hold and steering is reasonably good, not too light or heavy. The suspension is stable and didn’t feel rough or uncomfortable, however the car’s six-speed manual transmission was particularly notchy and engaging first gear was difficult. The clutch has a long travel which is a little annoying.
The front seats are supportive and comfortable – not too hard, not too soft – even on a long drive. The cabin is fairly well insulated from road, wind and engine noise. We didn’t like the way the rear-view interior mirror distorted the view.
The dashboard is dated, which is surprising for a recently released car, but the air conditioner did a good job of keeping the cabin at the right, pre-adjusted temperature.
Our car had a 2.4L, four-cylinder petrol engine which seems adequate for everyday running around and overtaking on highways. It was relatively quiet at high overtaking speeds.
The verdict
Despite having a button brake, and greater boot space and head room than their regular car, the Nottage family wouldn’t purchase the Captiva because it’s doesn’t offer much more space than their standard car, plus they really didn’t like the dashboard. Our tester didn’t like the clunky manual transmission. Although CHOICE hasn’t road tested the automatic version, we would recommend test driving it in place of the manual car.
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