My 16th birthday was a great day. It started out as any other birthday did with presents, calls from relatives and, of course, a breakfast of my choosing. The only thing that made it different was the excitement, as I was booked in at 9 o'clock sharp for my Ls test.

Never have I been quite so nervous in my entire life. But unlike every other test I'd done up until that point, I'd studied, visualised, and become one with the subject matter. I was ready, willing and able.

Thankfully, I passed. Just. And when I say 'just', I mean there were two sections, and you could only afford to get two questions wrong in one and one question wrong in the other. I don't remember what the questions were, but if I were to guess it was something like "How much distance should you give a bicycle at 60km/h?", and I was probably confused that there wasn't "They shouldn't be on the damn road in the first place" as an answer.

Rivalries aside, I was handed a piece of paper that gave me a taste of what I had been dreaming of for years, which was total driving freedom. With that piece of paper handed over, my Dad slapped some L-plates on his Berlina station wagon and handed me the keys.

This Berlina station wagon wasn't just any Berlina. Holden used to have a program called Holden by Design, and you could configure any car to your liking. So naturally, my Dad had thrown a 5.7-litre LS1 V8 in it. Y'know, the one out of the Corvette at the time.

I loved that station wagon, and for good reason. It belted out dollops of power in such a quiet and civilised fashion. I drove it for the majority of my time as an L-plater, trying to get as much enjoyment as possible before the power restrictions came in as a P-plater. So you can imagine how I felt a few months ago when the opportunity came to have a V8 Holden of my very own.

There are many things I could say about my 2002 Holden Caprice that, if you're an Aussie petrolhead, you probably already know. It's quiet, it's comfortable, and holy crap is it fast. But what you simply cannot prepare yourself for is how unbelievably vast it is. It's almost as if the design team put away a few schooners and decided to prank their superiors by pitching something obnoxiously long, and were surprised when they were given the green light.

If you're unfortunate enough to suffer from anxiety, you'd collapse driving it through a carpark. If you want to use that V8 to duck around someone on a roundabout, you have to check four or five times that you actually do have enough room to merge before you do it. It's extreme in every measurable way, and you know what, I simply adore it.

My primary use for it is driving between Brisbane and Tamworth, and I simply cannot imagine a better car to do it in. The throttle is so alive and responsive, the gearbox always seems to know which gear you need for the best input of power at any time, and the engine sounds off with the greatest note of induction noise you've ever heard. The New England Highway can be an unforgiving section of road, and yet the Caprice eats it up, shrugs, and wonders what is coming next.

The fuel economy isn't half bad either. I mean, it's no Prius, but around town she'll do about 550km, and on a trip, more like 750km. The features are excellent as well. It came from the dealer with electric front leather seats with memory, dual-zone climate control, cruise control, CD stacker, tape player, Bluetooth and, my personal favourite, a little counter in the trip computer that tells me the exact amount of litres of petrol the engine has blown up.

No complaints about the car at all, for 200,000km on country roads, she's looking alright. The only thing that I will say is that the GPS's graphics are noticeably dated and look like an arcade racing game. Every few kilometres I have to fight the urge to insert a gold coin to keep it going.

Some people will tell you that hatchbacks or crossovers are fine vehicles for road trips – don't believe the hype. Just ask all of the people I've left in the dust on the motorway. If you're regularly taking long drives throughout this vast country, there is basically no contest. Get yourself into a Caprice, trust me, you will absolutely love it.

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