Lewis Shaw
Chris Harris went on holiday to Australia and couldn’t resist sampling some of the local produce. Enter 577hp HSV Maloo ute.
I suppose we ought to figure out whether we’re going to call it a ute or a pick up, right? Well, it’s not American or very truck-like and it’s made in Australia. So that’d be a ute then. There settled that, now more about this mental green machine.
It’s Australian so it must have a massive V8, right? Indeed, the Maloo GTS is fitted with the 6.2-litre supercharged V8 from the Camaro ZL1 which means 577hp through the rear wheels that, unless you shove a sheep in the back, have barely any weight over them. Still, it’s got sticky Continental tyres, a limited slip differential and a monster set of stoppers.
It may have started out life as a piece of farm machinery, but this HSV Maloo ute will hit 62mph in about 4.4 seconds – the same as a BMW M5. This green meanie is the fastest pick up in the world and it could only come from Australia.
Apart from the transmission which is either a six-speed manual or torque converter auto, the whole package is actually rather sophisticated. Seriously! Even Chris Harris thinks so…
