LIGHTNING may strike twice for Holden, because the Captiva 5 is following in the successful footsteps of the Cruze small car in offering Australian compact SUV buyers a hard-to-ignore value-for-money proposition. But is a sharp sticker price and lots of standard features enough in a segment choc-a-block full of competitors as diverse as the Mitsubishi Outlander and Volkswagen Tiguan? And should the Toyota RAV4 and Subaru Forester be worried?
The Road to Recovery podcast series

Holden MX Frontera Sport 2DR Hardtop
Released: February 1999
Ended: July 2002
Family Tree: CaptivaDERIVED from the previous generation Isuzu-designed Holden Rodeo one-tonne truck, the Frontera two-door wagon was the company’s half-hearted attempt to cash in on the booming compact SUV craze that began in the mid 1990s. But the light truck chassis combined with a hard ride and heavy steering made for an un-sporty drive, while the 96kW/195Nm 2.2-litre Ecotec four-cylinder engine/five-speed manual gearbox combination struggled to push the Frontera Hardtop along. At least a 151kW/290Nm 3.2L V6 petrol unit aided the four-door wagon version. Sales stiffed, not surprisingly. At least this second-generation Frontera was more reliable than the risible earlier edition released in 1995.
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