...and holden ss utes....they look really smart , sound great and go quite well apparently....i wonder why theyve never taken off in the UK?
have they ever been imported here or is it an Aussie only market?

 

Imports only really mate, and as for why they've not taken off ?

Try fuel prices in the UK !

 

That's a shame. Its the only ford I've ever seen that id buy!

 

Love Aussie utes. Ford falcon xr8 or the xr6 turbo.

 

I seen a big black mean looking holden ute today badged as 5 litre supercharged on 22's. What a noise it made away from the lights...!

 

That's the problem - 5 litre V8 in the UK....real shame as they;re weapons. I'd love a Monaro which is a Ute saloon basically, but it's the same problem.

 

It begs the question how does every other government manage without crippling drivers....

 

I've lived in Holland when tax on your wages was 55%....swings and roundabouts as they say. Were not that bad here. Fuel in australias the same price on the board but obviously dollars....1.35 a litre but the exchange rate I 1.76 dollars to the pound.....

 

Utes are good to look at...but with only 2 seats and no driver access to the rear, not always that practical.

Plus after a recent query, they are classed as light commercial here, so would also be subject to restricted speed limits on most roads

 

How come? Surely theyre car derived comercials like astravans etc?

 

They are the car with the back chopped off.

 

Yeah,car based pickups with the hydraulic colour coded load cover.

 

When the Commodore VE was sold over here as the VXR8 they also sold the pickup and the estate under the VXR8 banners. The prices of Ł45k plus means they didn't sell well. I'm not sure if you can get the current VF over here in anything other than the GTS saloon.

 

The ( ridiculous ) law states no restrictions apply to a car derived van with a GVW less than 2000kgs.

So a Ute isnt really a car derived van in that same sense and even if it does say that in the log book, it's GVW will not be less than 2000kgs given base unladen vehicle will be very close to 1600-1700kgs

FWIW, even pickup jeeps and cab jeeps are treated as light commercial and restricted limits apply.

Full door and seating jeeps are treated as normal cars.

 

Not a Ute but I have the Xr8 sedan, the Utes are far too light on the rear and spin up the wheels at the lights if you give them even a slight bit of welly.

 

My wife was over in Adelaide recently, they moan about the cost of fuel there but in reality its roughly half what we pay! There are still plenty of V8s, both saloons and utes there. The big difference here is how much the government gets from every gallon we put in !!

 

The utes that they race there seem to hold the road well. My Brother-in-law worked at Holdens in Elizabeth for 30 years. He owns a classic 1965 Ford Falcon ute which he takes to car shows.