Model Update

Brand new and looking outstanding, the latest Holden Barina knows how to look suave and sassy. Holden’s Barina is excellent value for money – particularly when you consider the vehicle’s low price, interior room and class-leading performance (85 kW).

For those of you on a budget, you need not look further than the small Holden Barina. The little car’s fun drive and small- car practicality make it a sensible buy.

Currently, the Holden Barina is available as a 5-door hatch, though, no doubt, this is sure to extend in the near future to a sedan and 3-door hatch, as well. The 1.6 litre DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder is a petrol engine and is linked to a snappy five-speed gearbox or a six-speed automatic transmission.

Front and side impact airbags for driver and front passenger (five-star ANCAP safety result); air-conditioning and steering-wheel-mounted audio controls. All this for way under 18k!

Some cars have model names that are just numbers and letters. Some are named after other things, either in English or in another language. And for other cars, the developers make up a completely new name and let the car speak for itself without having to rely on the connotations of something like “Goldrush” or “Vampire Bat” (fictional examples!). One car that speaks for itself is the Holden Barina.

If I was to write a dictionary entry for “Barina”, it would read something like this: “A small sized car produced by Holden that is noted for its fuel efficiency, zip, comfort and convenience, alongside plenty of interior space. Comes in three variants: three-door hatch, five-door hatch and sedan.” Though, at the moment, the new little Barina is sold as a five-door hatch.

That may be enough to describe a Holden Barina for a dictionary entry, but it’s not enough for a prospective car buyer. If you’re considering buying a Holden Barina, you’ll want to have a few questions asked. What sort of engine does it have and what can it do? What’s it like inside, because I don’t want to be bored when driving around town. Does it have a good sound system? Is it safe? Is it economical? So – here are the answers.

All three variants of the Holden Barina come with a new, class-leading 1.6 litre DOHC engine with multipoint fuel injection and a five-speed manual transmission (six-speed automatic is available for those of us who don’t like the hassle of selecting gears). The little beast has a maximum power output of 85 kW at 6000 rpm and the little engine is a very free and willing unit. Torque is 155 Nm at 4000 rpm.

The Holden Barina is intended as a little city car rather than as a performance vehicle – Holden puts out other vehicles for that purpose – so these outputs are perfectly adequate for the Barina’s purpose. Nipping in and out of traffic, and into little parking spaces is easy with the responsive power steering, especially as the Holden Barina has a turning circle of a fraction over 10 metres making the car nice and manoeuvrable. The optional 4-channel, 4-sensor ABS brakes allow Smart, safe stopping.

Inside the Holden Barina, you will be comfortably seated in the cloth covered seats. The driver’s seat is adjustable six ways, and the front passenger seat is adjustable four ways, so getting comfortable is pleasantly easy. Holden has provided plenty of headroom and legroom inside the Barina, offering 1.06 m of legroom in the front and a little under 90 cm in the back, with the headroom being 99.5 cm in the front and 97.8 cm in the back. Not too bad if you need that extra half centimetre in your hairstyle.

Cargo space is respectable, with 290 litres in the boot with the seats up. The rear seats are 60/40 folding, so this space can be over doubled to 653 litres. Cabin comfort is ensured with air conditioning, and the driver can while away the time stuck at the lights with a drink (in the cupholders) or, if female, touching up lipstick in the vanity mirror in the sunvisor. Other dinky bells and whistles available as standard in the Holden Barina include the buzzer warning for headlights on, key reminder and seatbelt reminder.

What about the sound system? Well, the Holden Barina’s got a pretty reasonable one as standard: an MP-3 compatible CD/radio system with six speakers spaced around the interior and the controls mounted handily on the steering wheel. Music can be heard clearly and with plenty of “doof – doof” if required.

Saftey? Well, in a smaller car like the Holden Barina, this is very important. And the Holden Barina has pretensioned seatbelts in the front, retractable three point seatbelts for all three rear seats, head restraints all round, and front airbags for driver and passenger. Kiddy-locks are provided in the five-door hatch. Equipped with numerous active safety features like EBC, ABS, BA, EBD and TCS, you’ll be rocking along very nicely. Full side curtain airbags join with a full array of airbags in the front. It has the premium five star safety result in ANCAP safety tests.

When it comes to fuel economy, the Holden Barina gets a very big tick. On average, the manual and automatic versions of the Holden Barina consume, on average, a bit over 7.0 litres per 100 km.

One question not asked above but answered anyway: the Holden Barina looks pretty good, being a nice blend of curves and lines that have a slight Art Deco feel about them. Sitting on fifteen inch steel wheels with full flush covers and decorated in six snazzy colours (including an eye-catching orange), this vehicle looks plenty stylish around town.

Bluetooth and Bluetooth audio streaming are standard along with features like air-conditioning, USB input with iPod connectivity and cruise control. Check it out! This is a sharp looking set of wheels.

The current model series includes the:

• Barina 5-Door Hatch

For anymore information on the Holden Barina, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Holden dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

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