The Press | Friday, 29 August 2008

After more than a quarter century of Isuzu-sourced Rodeos, Holden has changed its staple work ute’s name to Colorado. DAVE MOORE has a drive.

They’re trying to ban rodeos in some countries. This may have something to do with why Holden has chucked the calf-riding, lariat-flicking associations of its working utility range’s previous name, and given it a new one: Colorado.

We’ll no longer have to think about sobbing kids with candy-floss in their hair, and Akubra-hatted cowhands being catapulted into the crowd at the sound of the name Rodeo.

Instead, we can now envisage tough, yellow hide boots, dusty canyons and the “click-hiss” of something refreshing, as work-shirted forearms are dragged across sweat- soaked brows.

Colorado. It sounds great, doesn’t it? It means ruby or red in Spanish and became attached to the American state of the same name because of its red clay dirt. Bearing in mind that a lot of Australia is that colour, too, it’s not a bad nameplate for a Holden working pickup truck, is it?

Just two years since its previous facelift, the Holden workute has undergone another one to coincide with this name change, and at the same time, the company has sensibly dropped all petrol engines in New Zealand. This means there are 18 Colorado models, across three specification levels: LX, LT and LT-R, with three body styles: single cab, space cab and crew cab, with a choice of 4×2 and 4×4 drivetrains, and five- speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions.

The common-rail turbo diesel engine given to the Rodeo two years ago is retained, and with good reason, for the DOHC 16-valve 3-litre unit is as docile or as lusty as your right foot dictates and with most of its work being possible under a very “soft” throttle, likely to be very economical. The VCDi engine makes 120kW at 3600rpm, and peak torque of 333Nm at 1600rpm for the automatic and 360Nm at 1800 rpm for the manual.

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Walking the Crossing When walking your water crossings its best to walk in the intended wheel tracks to find if there are any hidden rocks or potholes, as well as for checking the depth. Potholes at common crossings are often caused by previous 4x4 spinning their wheels after hitting a submerged rock. So if you find a pothole, check for submerged rocks. It's a good idea to place markers at these points so you can avoid them. Its been known for a vehicle attempting a relatively easy crossing to suck in water when a single pothole has caused the hood to momentarily dip below the water level, causing water to enter the air intake, resulting in hydro-lock and a damaged engine.