Holden Calais Tourer 2019 review

It’s long, sleek and elongated, with a sophisticated air about it. There’s a sense of refinement that we haven’t seen for a while with Holden, and while it’s not your brash Aussie anymore, I don’t think anyone will mind that touch of European styling. Wagons have come a long way in design and they’re looking rather elegant.

Inside is good, too. There are leather seats in a pebbled leather that doesn’t look super luxe but it will wear well, so will still look like this in a few years.

The leather steering wheel feels nice under the hands, and the centre console is sleek with high gloss black accents and soft closing storage panel lids.

It’s all quite functional and everything is within reaching distance. The end result is good and it makes you feel good while driving it. 

There is loads of room in the front seat, both me and my tall husband had enough room in between us and there is a good amount of leg and head space.

The kids also have lots of space in the rear and I was able to lounge around on the back seat with plenty of room to spare between my knees and the seats in front.

My husband didn’t have to compromise on his seat positioning which he does have to in smaller cars. So everyone was comfortable.

And the boot is huge. A large 793L (to the roof) which I really needed this week as I had to transport a bunch of boxes from one end of Sydney to the other.

I think large boots are really underrated for families and it’s not until you regularly drive with a large boot that you see just how useful they actually are.

In the front you’ll get two cupholders plus a small, deep storage hole that I popped my water bottle into all week, and keys and a phone will fit in there, too. There is a decent sized centre storage bin with USB points and a bottle holder in each door.

Rear passengers get two cupholders in the centre armrest and their own air vents which is one of the first things my children notice if cars don’t have them, especially if we’re driving during summer. I found the air con quite loud, though it could have been just the car I was driving.

There is a power operated tailgate that is so handy to use especially when overloaded with groceries or you’ve got children hanging off both arms (so often the case!).

The Calais Tourer has advanced safety features covered as standard. You’ll get auto emergency braking, rear cross traffic alert, lane departure alert, blind spot monitoring and forward collision warning.

There are six airbags, plus two ISOFIX points and three top tether points for kids’ car seats. It gets the full five stars from ANCAP. 

It has two ISOFIX points and three top tether points for kids’ car seats.

The Holden Calais Tourer comes in at $45,990 before on-road costs. Fuel consumption is quite high (to be expected with the larger engine) at 9.1L/100km.

It’s covered by Holden’s five year/unlimited km warranty which matches other mainstream brands. Services are needed every 12 months or 12,000 km.