Faults:

To tell the honest truth, nothing, zero.

General Comments:

Bought car for our daughter's 16th birthday in New Zealand (70500 km), had it shipped over to Australia and it's still going strong (217500 km).

Was told in NZ that the exhaust was going, like 3 years ago, guess what?... it is still fine.

Recently had a cam belt, water pump and tensioners replaced. Also fitted a new battery, 17" tyres and mags, and have done an oil change and spark plugs myself. Fitted discs and pads twice so far. To be honest, do not trust garages; prefer doing the work myself.

Faults:

Left hand steering rack worn along with front engine mount. With a major service, total cost $650, so pretty good value & the car is now solid as a rock.

General Comments:

This little jigger was bought as a runaround to partner first a Holden SS ute I had, and now a LR Disco 2ES.

Being the SXi, it has loads of nice bits like leather steering wheel, audio controls on the wheel, metal interior handles, alloys etc. I've since upgraded the speakers, tinted the windows, added sound deadening plus a full K&N filter kit & slightly sporty muffler. Have also attended to a few broken clips etc.

The Barina (Opel Corsa C) beats the Japanese competition hands down for driving. It rides flatter, the seats are comfortable for longer trips & is very competently designed. I love the way the rear light design is integrated, as well as the thought that went into where all the shut lines should be.

We have a range of Japanese cars at work & I admit that they stand up to abuse better than the Barina would. But as a private buyer, I prefer to focus on the niceties of the design day to day. I get most of the benefits of a VW Polo or Peugeot 206, but without the costs a Euro badge attracts. Yes, it costs more to run than a Japanese car, but it's still inexpensive compared to some.

If you have a lemonade budget, I recommend one unless ultra rock bottom transport costs are your priority. I do low mileages, so that means the car gets very well looked after, & I realise that's not the case for all.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing at all. It's been bullet-proof so far.

General Comments:

Barina SRi (Opel Corsa SRi)

Great looking little car. It's quick, although sometimes feels a lot quicker some days than others.

Very reliable, is faultless except for rattling seatbelt clips.

Excellent looking interior, easy-to-use stereo and steering wheel mounted controls, plus cruise control.

Seats can sometimes feel a bit hard on long trips.

A/C can lack of bit of chill on excessive hot days (35c+).

Low front spoiler is hard to live with, need to be extra careful pulling into driveways or parking in bays with a gutter in front.

Overall a great little hatch, underestimated by many.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong so far.

General Comments:

We test drove several other small cars, including the Renault Clio, Honda Jazz, Mazda 2, and Peugeot 206. Holden's Barina was more comfortable, zippier, & roomier than the others.

For a 1.4 L, the Barina has plenty of grunt. It handles hills very well indeed.

To our surprise, the Barina is at least as economical as our previous car (a Suzuki Alto) and is doing about 300 km per full tank of petrol.

After 2 months of trouble-free driving, we are extremely happy with our purchase.