Holden confirms Barina RS

Holden has given its baby Barina a much needed boost. The turbocharged Barina RS has been confirmed for Australia and is due to arrive in local showrooms next month. Price is yet to be confirmed but expect an RRP between $20,000 and $25,000. Significantly this undercuts the Ford Fiesta ST hot hatch which starts at $25,990 and the Volkswagen Polo GTI which costs $27,990.

However, the Barina RS is more of a “warm hatch” powered by a comparatively small 1.4-litre turbo engine (103kW/200Nm) compared to the Ford’s 1.6 turbo (147kW/290Nm) and the VW’s turbo and supercharged 1.4 (132kW/250Nm). But it is said to still offer zippy performance in an otherwise hum-drum category.

The Holden Barina RS will be sourced from South Korea along with the rest of the Australia-bound Barina range, but a US-built version has already been on sale in North America for more than a year. Sold as the Sonic in the US (made in Michigan about 50km north of Detroit, the first Chevrolet small car made in the US in 40 years) it has received mostly positive reviews from an audience that customarily does not embrace small cars.

Car and Driver magazine said: “We’re not quite ready to break out the ‘super’ prefix for the Sonic, but it does appear to mark the return of the American small car. This is not the second coming of the Volkswagen GTI, but the Sonic turbo injects some serious fun in a segment that usually puts performance on the back burner.”

Among the few criticisms of the car, the magazine said it had a noticeable turbo lag, or delay in power delivery, at low revs compared to other models. Motor Trend magazine said: “Buyers hoping for a high-strung, highly caffeinated Sonic will likely wish for more performance. But compare the Sonic RS to other segment players, and the sum of its parts becomes hard to match.” Even the stern Consumer Reports rated it “very good”.

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling