Fuel and insurance costs will be the bad news for owners of the Monaro. Residual values should be pretty good, particularly with production ending in April 2006 (although Vauxhall will ensure enough stock in built up to sustain sales until September 2006) and Vauxhall servicing costs should be acceptable.

With its powerful V8 petrol engines and an average fuel consumption figure of just 18mpg, it’s no surprise that Monaro gets such a low eco score. It emits 363 g/km CO2, which although is about average for a sports coupé, is very poor compared to the average family car. A Mondeo, for example, will typically emit about 180 g/km CO2. Fortunately, buyers of these sorts of cars tend to do fewer miles per year than those that own average family cars.

The mechanical components are all tried and tested and, in Australia, Holdens offer a good level of reliability which we would expect to see repeated over here.