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March 7th, 1998
 Jackaroo finds the 90’s - at last |
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 It had
become a question; when would Holden and Isuzu-GM give Jackaroo a face-lift? Mechanically it could hold its own, but Holden Jackaroo had become a good 4WD wagon in need of an equally good plastic surgeon. But the basic bodyshell and full chassis still met or exceeded all known requirements, so I-GM’s designers were given new pencils and told to bring Jackaroo into the nineties… All sheetmetal forward of the windscreen is new, but their cleverest work was done on the silver plastic side-panels. Subtle contouring and shaping, with flattened planes where curves might be expected, make Jackaroo somehow manage to look a shade bigger. In a slick bit of packaging, the smooth new face has its grille jutting forward more aggressively and the headlights were given a sleeker new shape. No big changes to the double wishbone/torsion bar front suspension or the 4-link rear end, which had both already been well and truly sorted out. And the part-time 4WD transmission, in manual or automatic form, could hold its own against the best of them.
Tested was the mid-range SE, the model likely to attract the majority of buyers. Jackaroo has always had adequate legroom front and rear, decent shoulder room (no squeezing), and while no-one has to sit over the rear axle, rear passengers still have room to stretch out. Both SE and Monterey now come standard with a third row seat that expands capacity to seven adults. Driver accommodation includes a height-and-thigh adjustable seat combining with tiltable steering to provide a comfortable position. And the high viewpoint, one of the major reasons many people choose a big 4WD in the first place, remains intact.
Equipment is a bit confusing, but only because the SE has almost the same gear on board as Monterey - alloy wheels (Monterey gets a different pattern), cruise control, power windows and mirrors, remote locking, front seat armrests, moquette fabric trim. And that’s added to the already long standard list which includes dual airbags, four-wheel ventilated disc brakes, power steering, air conditioning, tinted windows (different colour for SE and Monterey), Eurovox 6-speaker radio/cassette - the options list is quite short. Jackaroo is not too short on interior space, though. The cargo area, accessed through offset barn-doors, is reasonable when the two fold-up rear seats are down and ready for use. But with those rear perches folded up against the side windows, it offers a generous enough load space.
There was, however, a bit of noise from under the hood - perhaps a little too frequently. That bigger V6 has both poke and grunt available in abundance, and responds readily to the throttle. (Cruise control is a handy inclusion in the equipment list…) Such enthusiasm with the accelerator has to be tempered with awareness of the handling, of course. Like any medium-size 4WD wagon, Jackaroo is no sportscar and has enough bodyroll to indicate that it should not be driven like one. But driven according to its nature, it does have a nicely predictable feel in corners while maintaining a reasonably high level of ride comfort. While a typical Jackaroo might not get its tyres off the bitumen too often, it’s reassuring to find that Holden’s advertising is not just hype - with the front wheels brought into play, this really is a rather efficient off-road wagon. The V6’s peak torque arrives at a fairly high 3100 (near-perfect for highway cruising), but great gobs of it are also available at lower rpm, which enables the wagon to crawl over heavy terrain. In soft, heavy sand the V6 requires a careful foot, simply to avoid digging in with excessive wheelspin at low speed, but it’s easily managed. And the engine speed-sensitive power steering (which has a good feel on the road) maintains control with barely a trace of kick-back. There is actually nothing new about its off-road ability, which was already proven, but the bigger V6 has made this medium 4WD even more at home on the highway. And its facelift has allowed Jackaroo to finally look right for the nineties. |
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But the 3.2 litre quad-cam V6
was punched out to 3.5 litres, for an extra 28kW of power and 50Nm of torque. That gutsy
engine is standard across all three petrol models, from the basic Jackaroo to the SE (also
available with a 3.0 litre turbodiesel), or the range-topping Monterey.
I was rather taken by the
location of the front passenger's `Jesus bar' hand-hold; alongside the seat on the
console, it's quite a bit easier to hang onto if Jackaroo is taken into the rough stuff.
I’m not sure what was done to
the insulation, but this new model is markedly quieter. Its bluff shape still ensures a
bit of wind tumble around the door pillars, but road noise is definitely lower.
Nuts`n'Bolts - Holden Jackaroo SE