Holden: Cuckoo could do better

The Holden Barina comes with a cheap price tag but unfortunately the performance, fit and finish all suit the price. Photo / Supplied

It's difficult to be objective about Barina, given the slick sleight-of-hand Holden used to originally introduce it. Instead of replacing the European-sourced Barina with its immediate successor it introduced a cuckoo to the nest - a rebadged Daewoo Kalos.

Holden got a lot of flack for that 2006 swap. Not so much because of the car itself, but because the name encouraged potential buyers to think of the previous, and much better model. The Euro car handled well and scored four NCAP crash test stars in 2001. Whereas the rebadged Kalos gained just two stars.

But calling it Barina deliberately painted the little Korean with a reputation that it couldn't match, and created inbuilt disappointment for anyone who'd previously driven the better car.

Fortunately the three-door 'Barina' scored four stars in crash testing late last year, representative of changes Holden says took place in the five-door version too.

My test model was the latter variant, fitted with the standard 1.6-litre, 76kW/145Nm engine.

It's attractive enough, but no longer big for the class. It's shorter, narrower and lower to the ground than a Honda Jazz, yet 75kg heavier. Holden ripostes with price; the Barina's under $20,000, the Honda $5000 more.

But you can't ignore that low price. The cabin is pleasantly laid out but the materials feel cheap.

Start her up, select a manual gear and you find a very sloppy lever action, but what do you expect?

Under way the car is noisy, and although she'll cruise at 100, engine response is relaxed at best.

The problem with this car is that you can't forget it's cheap, despite the occasional flourish. Steering-wheel stereo controls are nice; alloy wheels at this level are impressive; there are four airbags, ABS and air conditioning, all at under $20,000.

Yet unless price literally is your bottom line, you can do better, without spending that much more.

The excellent Mazda2 starts at about $1500 above the Barina, but it's a better handler with more airbags. There's Kia's roomier Rio for $2000 more or Hyundai's basic 1.4 Getz, which has a better chassis and exchanges the alloy wheels for stability control.

HOLDEN BARINA:

We like
The cheap price tag, which includes alloy wheels.

We don't like
The fact that performance, fit and finish all suit the price.

Powertrain
1.6-litre four, 76kW at 5800rpm, 145Nm at 3600rpm, five-speed manual drives front wheels.

Performance
0-100kph not available; 7.0l/100km (claimed).

Safety
ABS, four airbags.

What it's got
15-inch alloy wheels, remote central locking, air con.

Length, boot volume, tank sizes:
3920mm, 220-litre boot, 45-litre tank.