Holden Barina hatch 2006 review

The high quality and smart looking Opel Corsa-sourced Barina is now gone and just looking at the replacement is enough to send a shudder.

Holden has replaced the well-designed and engineered Barina with a GM Daewoo product from Korea which starts life as a Kalos.

Holden are extremely sensitive about the adverse reactions to the Barina, which has gone down in quality but, at the same time, has also gone down in price.

The Opel Barina was (Holden claims) sold here at a loss so it could maintain a high presence in the entry-level new car market.

A five-door manual European-bred Barina CD was $15,990.

The Daewoo-sourced replacement is now essentially on the market for what is referred to in the industry as the used car price of $12,990.

It is a lean price but there remains margin in the new age Barina for the balance sheet to favour Holden.

Down to the nitty gritty, the Barina isn't so bad to manoeuvre around town.

It is easy to guide around tight spaces with a compact turning circle and easy steering.

The manual gearbox needs a bit of attention with a loose shifter and a vague take-up point with the clutch.

Its 1.6-litre engine spins freely but tends to run out of puff before too long.

While it may not be dynamically up to a European-built city car, the value equation becomes a whole lot kinder when the levels of standard equipment are taken into account.

The boxes which are already ticked for you are airconditioning, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, which is always a hit with female buyers, power front windows, adjustable steering wheel, six-way adjustable driver's seat and the single CD player is MP3 compatible.

Against some of its competitors the business equation is telling.

A 1.3-litre Yaris, of which Toyota sold more last month than Mitsubishi did of its mid-sized 380 sedan, starts from $14,990, the Hyundai Getz from $13,990, Kia Rio from $14,990, while the starting point for the European-sourced Ford Fiesta is $13,990.

Some of these prices may vary slightly depending on different deals and sales.

The Barina's cabin is a bit of a let-down particularly against the old one, with low-rent plastics and it certainly hasn't got the same feel of build quality and style which is in the Fiesta and even Daewoo's Korean compatriots the Getz and Rio.

On the flip side, if you've never driven the Opel Barina you will probably be asking what the fuss is all about.

And if buyers are happy then the new baby Holden probably isn't such a bad thing.