The Holden Trax can almost claim to be the vehicle that created the small SUV segment in New Zealand. If you remove the Suzuki Jimny from the scene - and let's face it, that vehicle has so much history its deserves to be a museum piece - pretty much everything else in the segment is younger than the Korean-built model.
The Holden Trax can almost claim to be the vehicle that created the small SUV segment in New Zealand. If you remove the Suzuki Jimny from the scene - and let's face it, that vehicle has so much history its deserves to be a museum piece - pretty much everything else in the segment is younger than the Korean-built model.
That speaks volumes about the growth in the popularity of small SUVs, which have taken over from hatchbacks as the small vehicles of choice. The sales figures underline all of that. In 2013 when the Trax was launched in New Zealand, there were 6947 small SUVs sold. Last year the number had doubled to 13,169.
The car companies are joining on this massive growth in popularity by introducing many excellent new models. Nissan Qashqai, Mazda CX-3, Suzuki Vitara, Mitsubishi ASX, Honda HR-V, Subaru XV and SsangYong Tivoli are just some of the small SUVs more recently launched to meet the growth in consumer demand for this new-age small car genre.
In amongst all of this remains the Trax - the veteran in the field even though it is not yet three years old. But that shows just how quickly the new vehicle market is changing these days.
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The good news for Holden is that the Trax continues to be popular. So far this year it has been selling at rate of better than two a day to maintain about a 9 per cent market share. That might be half the rate of the top-selling small SUV costing less than $40,000 which is the Mazda CX-3, but it's pretty good all the same, considering the vehicle is facing up to all those newer and flasher entrants.
And the Trax will be comforted to know it is soon be facelifted.
The refreshed model was unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show in early 2016, and it is expected to go on sale in USA in the fourth quarter. The model has a substantially redesigned front end complete with daytime running lights, and on the inside there's a new 7-inch screen for an infotainment system that's compatible with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The facelifted model also features a host of safety upgrades.
Holden New Zealand has confirmed that the facelifted Trax will come to New Zealand, arriving some time next year. The company can't confirm at this early stage whether our Trax will feature what the US model has, but we expect it will contain everything we outlined in the previous paragraph - because that's what is now aboard the larger Captiva SUV which was facelifted earlier this year. Make sense?
Maybe we should explain why the Trax was at the Chicago Auto Show in the first place. It's very much a world car, a General Motors vehicle that is also sold as a Chevrolet, Buick and Opel in other parts of the globe. So when the facelifted model was unveiled at Chicago it was as a Chevy. Our model, which is built in South Korea, is distributed in New Zealand and Australia as a Holden.
When Trax was first launched in New Zealand, the only models available were powered by a 1.8-litre petrol engine from the slightly larger Cruze. It came in for some criticism for this, because they 103kW/175Nm engine offered only adequate performance, while the Cruze could also be purchased with a 1.4-litre turbocharged engine that, while offering essentially the same amount of power as the 1.8, developed 200Nm of torque from a lower 1850rpm.
Fortunately it wasn't long before the turbo engine found its way under the bonnet of the Trax, It was a good move, because it transformed the Trax into a little SUV with purpose. And that's how things remain today - you can buy the Trax in entry $32,990 (currently $28,990 as a Fieldays special) LS form with the normally aspirated 1.8-litre engine, or you can spend another $4000 and get what is known as the Trax Turbo which comes with an LTZ level of specification and the turbocharged engine.
At the LTZ level the Trax comes with 18-inch wheels instead of the LS model's 16-inch versions, front fog lamps, rain-sensing wipers, a trip computer, pseudo leather seat trim, heated front seats, driver's armrest, and a few other bits and pieces such as chrome strip inserts in the door handles and a storage tray under the front passenger seat.
And of course the car also has the turbocharged engine, which is the same as that which powers the Barina RS hatch.
It's worthwhile comparing this engine's power and torque figures with the 1.8-litre engine. Whereas the two engines develop exactly the same peak power of 103 kilowatts, with the 1.8 it is reached at 6300 rpm while with the turbo it is reached at a much lower 4900 rpm. And while the 1.8 develops its 175 newton metres of torque at 3800 rpm, the turbo's 200 Nm is reached at 1850rpm and remains available right through to 4900 rpm.
As a result, the LTZ's drive is a lot more effortless. This Trax doesn't offer the sort of down-and-dirty performance that can often be associated with turbocharging - rather, the engine is nicely responsive at both urban and highway speeds which makes for an enjoyable drive.
The Trax' chassis is also calibrated for this sort of driving. Suspension has undergone Australasian tuning so it is quite soft in the interests of ride comfort over performance, and the electric power steering is calibrated for good on-centre feel.
Interior is comfortable, even if it does feature quite a bit of hard plastic, and the Holden does feature a large amount ot minor storage with cubby holes and bins all over the place. It also features the MyLink touch-screen information system which remains very good, although it will almost certainly be improved once the facelifted model arrives next year.
During our recent week with the Trax Turbo LTZ, we had to contend with foul weather every day as a result of the New Zealand autumn finally arriving in force - probably with winter mixed in as well. So we had to drive the Holden in conditions ranging from heavy rain and hail, to gale-force winds and thunder. The little SUV handled it all, and a major reason was because of the flexibility of that turbocharged engine.
It might be small in cubic capacity, but it is big in its ease of operation. And that's something that can be said of the Trax in its entirety.
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