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Walkinshaw 550 pricing and specs confirmed: Holden Colorado finally becomes a Ford Ranger-crushing super ute!

Walkinshaw 550 super ute explored.

It might have come a couple of years too late, but Holden at last has a ute that can out-perform its dual-cab rivals like the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and the Nissan Navara, with the launch of the new Walkinshaw W550 performance pack.

Not a new ute, per say, but a performance pack that can be fitted to examples of the Holden Colorado built between 2018 and 2020 - or what would likely have become a new HSV SportsCat - and which both ups the grunt and adds some added performance kit.

It's yours for $13,990 (plus the cost of your Colorado, of course), with the Walkinshaw-designed performance pack upping the ute's outputs to levels that soar above the Ford Ranger Raptor and the new HiLux.

The Walkinshaw Performance Diesel Power Pack adds a Walkinshaw Performance Engine Calibration and High Flow Air Filter (all of which is covered by a three-year, 100,000-kilometre warranty).

You also get new and blacked-out 18-inch wheels and tyres, a suspension lift kit, new body styling (flared wheel arches, side steps, decals, front fascia and grille, bonnet scoops), as well as new front recovery hooks. Optional - and more expensive - extras include SupaShock hi-po suspension and AP Racing front brakes, which are intended for off-road.

The 550 in the name points to the torque output, but there's a twist. While Walkinshaw is publicly claiming 550Nm - a 20-per-cent increase on the standard Colorado's 500Nm from its 2.8-litre turbo-diesel engine - its engineers are privately confident the tuned dual-cab actually makes a fair bit more. Potentially enough, in fact, to claim the unofficial title of Australia's most powerful diesel dual-cab.

At 550Nm, it would already out-punch the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger (both 500Nm), and the Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara. In fact, only the Volkswagen Amarok TDI580 Ultimate could top it, with that ute producing a sizeable 580Nm from its V6 engine.

It's a transformative kit, and one that finally ups the Colorado to near-segment-leading levels of grunt.

Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold. But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul. And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard. When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House. But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others. More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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