Black truck brightens up the fun for family

Thwarted by a lack of snow, CAMERON WILLIAMSON turned left at Taupo and found a new family friend.

As the Sky Tower receded in the rear-vision mirror, the man on the radio said there wasn't much snow on the mountain we were heading for. School holiday crowds were fighting over patches of icy piste and the weather was closing in.

So we made the easy decision to turn left at Taupo, take a dip in De Bretts hot pools and head for Hawkes Bay. We needed to clock up some kilometres in the black truck.

In our family, everything bigger than a station wagon gets called a truck. From the humblest Hi-Lux to the luxest Range Rover, a truck is a truck is a truck.

So when the youngsters laid eyes on the high-hipped, all-black lines of the Holden Frontera it was never going to be anything but "the black truck."

But after it had performed every job required of today's family-sized, off-road-capable 4WDs with distinction, it forced us to rethink the truck category. Compared with the farm-track gravel-run in Uncle Johnny's Bedford, the only truck-like attribute was its ability to carry everything for a central North Island road-trip and still have room for the kitchen sink.

The Frontera, Holden's answer to the midsize family 4WD category, is a rebadging of the capable Isuzu Wizard. The five door petrol or diesel clocks in at $54,990, in the same price bracket as the Freelander? Terrano? Bighorn?

The first impression was of a well-balanced, substantial five-seater with minimal fuss in the design department. Flush headlights, body-coloured bumpers, spare wheel tucked under the tail and moulded roof rails mean business.

That was confirmed with the powertrain: a free-revving 24-valve 3.2-litre V6 (a 3.0-litre turbo diesel is the alternative) pushes through a four-speed automatic gearbox with electronic "winter" and "power" settings. And when you hit the metal or dive in to ford a river, 4WD can be selected "on the fly." Well-shod on 15-inch alloys with fresh rubber, the Frontera looked ready for a fun trip.

Around the back, the best news is a rear screen which pops open in a manner reminiscent of the old Holden Special. Only this time it's supported on gas struts. The tailgate is side-hinged like a fifth door - handy for clear boot access and easy on the back and only occasionally inconvenient, like when loading from the passengers' side or when backed up too close to the wall or the car behind.

Perhaps the most crowded space these cars should be parked in is the paddock at the polo grounds, but I expect a few will be found in the tight corners of city parking buildings.

It's a small niggle because, with the spare stowed below, the boot space swallowed two big bags, foodbox, chillibin, the sugar sack with the grill rack and Thermette for those roadside cook-ups and still had rigid shelf space for a dozen wine bottles.

Plenty of room in the petrol tank, too. Even with judicious use of the kickdown and the thrill of employing the torquey 140kW of power, the best sport over 4000 revs was watching the petrol gauge plummet.

We just squeaked into the the sunny Esk Valley after 445km on the road, and the Frontera swallowed $58 of unleaded fuel (52 litres). At the next fuel stop, just before we left the bay three days later, we'd done 750 km of rural and urban driving and used $106 of fuel: roughly 12.5 l per 100km.

The Frontera not only looked smart among the manicured vines of some of New Zealand's finest wine country, it took us up Te Mata Peak without blinking, over the rocks and into the Tukituki riverbed, and around the curly backroads of the coastal country without loosing its composure.

The only test it failed was attempting a steep slope of frost-encrusted long grass, which would have tested most rubber-shod vehicles.