That line was uttered by the villainous Mr. White in a memorable scene in the 2008’s Quantum of Solace. In that scene, James Bond intercepts members of the shadowy organisation Quantum as they watch the Puccini opera that lent its name to this Daewoo, also known as the Holden Epica and Chevrolet Epica. While I’ll vociferously defend Quantum of Solace’s merits as a film, I’m a little less enthusiastic about this Daewoo. That being said, the Tosca is no Diamonds Are Forever.
Quantum of Solace is often regarded as a forgettable or weak film in the Bond franchise. I beg to differ: while some of the plot elements are derivative of past Bond outings, it had a more serious tone, a credible villain with a compelling evil scheme, and plenty of stunning scenery. Even if you aren’t a fan, you must surely acknowledge some of the technical merits of the film like its beautiful locations and cinematography.
The same applies to the Tosca. It replaced the Daewoo Magnus, sold as the Chevrolet Epica in Canada and Suzuki Verona in the US. Unfortunately, Giugario wasn’t contracted again and instead the Tosca was a bland, in-house design. The interior, too, was devoid of style. Driving dynamics were nothing special, either – this was Daewoo’s attempt at a Camry and so there was noticeable body roll and unnoticeable steering feel.
In Australia, the Epica replaced the Opel-sourced Vectra which, although lacking a reputation for Toyota-esque reliability, was a polished, classy, and dynamic mid-size offering. To many, this felt like following Casino Royale with Quantum of Solace.
What were the Tosca’s redeeming qualities, then? Why, its inline six engines co-developed with Porsche, of course. Yes, really. Like its Magnus predecessor, the Tosca was available with two different, transversely-mounted inline six engines, a 2.0 and a 2.5. This was highly unusual for a mid-size sedan in the 2000s, with V6s being the preferred format. There wasn’t even a four-cylinder engine available in most markets, leaving the 2.0 six as the entry-level engine even in Europe.
Being as smooth and refined as inline six engines so often are, the 2.0 and 2.5 mills made for a refreshingly unique point of differentiation for this otherwise innocuous sedan. The XK6 engine family was designed under the stewardship of Daewoo’s then-chief engineer, Ulrich Bez, later the CEO of Aston Martin. Porsche, FEV and AVL were all involved as consulting engineers during development of the XK6 engines, which Daewoo touted as being the world’s most compact inline-six – the powerplant weighed just 332 pounds. The 2.0 produced 140 hp at 6400 rpm and 143 ft-lbs at 2600 rpm and the 2.5 produced 154 hp at 5800 rpm and 174 ft-lbs at 2600 rpm. While those figures were no better than four-cylinder engines in rival sedans, the Tosca managed to be fuel-efficient, too – with a combined rating of 25mpg in the 2.5, it shaded the four-cylinder Camry by 2mpg.
The Tosca/Epica wasn’t really sold on its engineering excellence, however. Instead, it followed the same old Daewoo formula: size a car a little bit bigger than its rivals, load it with equipment, and price it lower. The fact that it had decent build quality and adequate dynamics sweetened the deal. The lack of steering feel, style and low-end torque were less egregious when you saw this well-equipped, Passat-sized car had a Golf price tag in Europe, or when you considered a loaded Epica 2.5 sold for less than a base Camry in Australia. The Epica didn’t do anything glaringly wrong and was quite a pleasant car overall – even the tough critics in the UK auto press had nice things to say.
A GM/VM Motori-developed 2.0 common-rail turbo-diesel was also made available in 2008, coinciding with a minor but welcome facelift. It produced 147 hp at 4000 rpm and 236 ft-lbs at 2000 rpm and was mated to a six-speed automatic. With a 0-60 time of 9.7 seconds, it was around 0.2 seconds quicker than the 2.0 six. In Australia, the little six had only been available with a five-speed manual and so was quietly shelved due to slow sales; it remained available, however, in Europe.
As Mr. White would later say in Spectre, “You’re a kite dancing in a hurricane.” That was a sound warning for the Tosca: in Australia, it competed in a hollowed-out mid-size segment dominated by the Camry, while in Europe it was the flagship for the fledgling Chevrolet brand that had subsumed the old Daewoo lineup. The Epica didn’t sell any better in Australia than its Vectra predecessor, despite costing up to $10k less. Throughout Europe, it was outsold by the more expensive Hyundai Sonata. It did, however, best its other American-badged rivals, the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger. In both markets, it was eventually replaced by the GM-developed, Korean-built Malibu.
I spent a lot of time looking down my nose at the Holden Epica for being such a mediocre sequel. It turns out, however, it wasn’t all that bad. It was no Casino Royale, mind you, but it deserved a re-watch.
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I never really thought Quantum Of Solace was bad. It’s definitely the worst of the Craig era films, but all of them have a baseline quality to them that surpass the lesser Bond flicks, like Tomorrow Never Dies. That was a truly terrible one, especially since it came after Goldeneye.
Yes the Holden Epica sold in NZ though I cant remember the last time I saw one, they were just another badge engineered Holden, the only people I know who ever drove one was my BIL and Sister they were inflicted with an Epica rental in Jordan and it was returned and replaced by a Peugeot 407, the Epica shut down due to lack of oil, other than that Ive had no contact with the cars. No doubt I’ll see one while out today such is the CC effect around here.
The Epica was a horrid thing that no one wanted. I remember when they were being introduced, the Holden rep came and told us all the Epica would turn Camry on it’s head. It didn’t. I actually never sold one. Back into the garbage chute with the Captiva and Viva thank you.
KJ in Oz
Just saw one of these yesterday, on interstate plates so it got here okay. I wondered what manner of Holden it was with those funny headlights (I didn’t remember them), then saw it was a big Daewoo. I’ve only seen a handful of these, and none for years. Sorta the answer to a question no buyers were asking. Holden had never been strong in the mid-size sedan segment since the days of the old Torana. Once word got around that the new sub-Commodore Holdens were now Daewoos (seen as the worst Korean car) instead of Opels (great cars but maybe not your flavour), buyers evaporated despite the cheap pricing.
This is a car project which Companies’ sales managers love, something cheaper than the rivals, with no any bonds to be created with owners, no tradition, no family feeling, nothing to attach it strongly to the buyers and with a short life span to last time enough to pay itself and then disappear from the streets to the point everybody will totally forget about that two or three years later.
Like you, I’ve never given this much thought, if any.
We still see the occasional Chevy Epica, usualy working as a taxi unsurprisingly
Seen separately Casino Royale is a pretty good movie, and Quantum of Solace is kind of weak. Watched back to back as one epic story, I’ll probably pick them as my favorite Bond film(s).
Here in Portugal, we also have some Epicas, working as taxis. But that was also the fate of the Cruze wagon (which I rode in and found a surprisingly nice car).
About the styling, I’m on the opposite side, I’ve always found it quite a handsome car, much better looking than the Magnus/Evanda.
And we’re glad we didn’t get the Tosca name here, because tosca/tosco meens “crude” or “badly made” in Portuguese
Back in my childhood it used to be a candy bar, noted for the ad slogan “Where’s Oscar? Gone for a Tosca!”. So not a name to be taken seriously.
There just happens to be one of these in my apartment parking garage in the Epica’s home country. Rough shape, covered in a half inch of dust, windows now opaque. Hasn’t moved in 4 years. It’s got a nice Thule rack on it, though. Worth more than the car, would have been long stolen in most other countries. (The rack, not the car).
Any car with an inline six is more interesting than average. Any Bond film is better than average. So I think you made a good pairing.
I do appreciate the info on where I can buy (used) the 2.5L engine of the Epic 2007.
Thank you so Much
John
Austin, TX