Want to buy one of the cheapest sedans on the market? Holden may have your answer. It’s practical, fun to drive and backed up with a three year/100,000 km warranty. Yes, it’s the new Holden Barina Sedan. Keen pricing and a good splodge of features make the Holden Barina Sedan an interesting alternative for 2012.

Design features boast some handy stuff like a compact deck-lid and dual element tail lights. Most features, however, are similar to the Holden Barina Hatch. Now, the competitive pricing does include some excellent kit which includes: Bluetooth, cruise control, and loads of safety bits and pieces that have given the small Holden Barina Sedan a five-star safety rating.

What’s the Holden Barina Sedan like to drive? With compact dimensions, and little front and rear overhang, the small sedan is conducive to decent handling. Boasting power steering, the little Barina is accurate, and the travel in the shocks copes well with road wrinkles. Suspension set-up shows off a McPherson strut front suspension and torsion beam rear suspension that has been tuned to balance ride comfort with handling agility and stability.

Seating is roomy enough – certainly for four big adults. And you’ll find the seats are comfortable and smartly upholstered in a leather/cloth material. Headrests for the rear seat passengers, three point seat belts in the back, cup holders and plenty of storage pockets give the Holden Barina Sedan plenty of charm and practicality. Opt for the Sedan over the Barina Hatch, and you’ll love the class leading 500 litres of luggage space for the boot.

Dash materials are cheap but nicely detailed, with a prominent central dash display that houses the controls for the heating, audio system, Bluetooth and air vents. The chunky steering wheel fits snugly into the hands of the driver, while the steering wheel has audio buttons and cruise control functions on the steering wheel’s face. Distinctly modern, the delightful Holden Barina Sedan takes design cues from exciting new sources such as a motorcycle-inspired instrument cluster with ice-blue illuminated LED backlighting. Integrated into the dash, the instrument cluster displays all the necessary driver information including an analogue tachometer, digital LED backlit speedometer, odometer and fuel gauge. It’s very cool!

Add Bluetooth phone and audio, USB input with iPod connectivity and, really, the Holden Barina Sedan packs a solid punch with the amount of excellent features and techno guff for a price tag of well under $20k.

Let’s take a closer look at the car’s safety credentials. The Holden Barina Sedan works with ABS and ESC that can apply individual braking to control oversteer or understeer. TCS detects if either front wheel has insufficient grip, and the system adjusts acceleration force and brake force accordingly. Passive safety features are deployed in the event of a crash. The all-new Holden Barina Sedan has the ability to deploy front or side impact airbags for the driver and front passenger as well as full length side curtain airbags for both front and rear passengers. The Barina Sedan incorporates an extremely strong, stiff body structure. With this sort of strength in the Holden Barina Sedan’s DNA, the car is a class leader in safety.

Engine power comes from an apt 85 kW, four cylinder, DOHC, petrol engine. This power is linked to the choice of a five-speed manual or six-speed automatic gearbox to get your Barina up and going. It is the class leader in terms of out-and-out power. The equivalent Toyota Yaris, Suzuki Swift GA, Hyundai i20 and Mazda 2 Neo all pitch short of the Barina’s healthy 85 kW/155 Nm mark. Expect a sprint to 100 km/h to take around 11 seconds for the manual version. The reality is, when you load all the cars up with people and luggage, the gruntier Barina will handle the heavier loads with its greater torque and power output. Average fuel consumption works out to be about 7 litres/100 km – depending on your driving style.

You’ll note that the Holden Barina Sedan and Barina Hatch have sharp styling that sets them both apart in the small car world. The current Holden Barina models include the:

• Barina Sedan five-speed manual
• Barina Sedan six-speed auto
• Barina Hatch five-speed manual
• Barina Hatch six-speed auto

For any more information on the Holden Barina Sedan 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 quote 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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