2004 Holden Barina SXi 1.4 twinport from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

This is a good car, spoilt by the manufacturer’s indifference and greed when pricing their parts

Faults:

The Barina is a UK Corsa badge job.

Bought our December 2004 Barina SXi in February 05. An unwanted prize with 00025 kms on the clock.

Now driven to 105,000 kms on the clock. Completely standard with no add-ons fitted.

A good car to drive. Has consistently returned 6 liters to 100 kms.

Haven’t bothered with services, but do change the oil and filter every 15,000 kms. And check the items specified on the service schedule. This has included a change of plugs with gap checking with one air filter change. Tyres changed at 70,000 kms.

Windscreen wipers stopped and were fixed under warranty. Now due for a new set, which have just been bought on UK eBay.

Bad and poor points:

Engine became noisy about 70,000 kms – timing chain tensioner – this is just a nuisance, as it costs so much to fix. A bit too much road noise from the tyres.

Seats now feel soft and lacking support.

At 102,000 kms, the first and second gears would not select. I am indebted to:-

http://www.corsa-c.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?245430-Common-Mechanical-Problems site and the associated eBay seller who is mentioned.

The local GM garage quoted NZ$383.00 for the GM part – still the plastic variant and $45.00 to fit. The 19.95 pound sterling part from eBay was NZ$81.00 with postage, and the garage pushed its fitting cost up to NZ$95.00. The linkage is a bit stiff – I presume that the mechanic didn’t fully follow the instructions.

GM Holden – completely uninterested, and I am astounded that they should let the fault, obviously well known to them and which does concern safety, remain unfixed. I would not consider another GM car due to this attitude.

General Comments:

Good build with air con, alloys, mudflaps.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 20th March, 2010

25th Mar 2010, 03:47

So you didn't follow the service schedule, something goes wrong and you are surprised that Holden are disinterested in assisting you? Just catch a bus.

5th Aug 2014, 10:55

I completely agree, they haven't followed the service intervals, and the timing belt tensioner is one of those things. They just need adjusting, as opposed to belts which require replacing. The road noise from the tyres is simply the tyre choice and no fault of the car whatsoever.

Cars require maintenance, and often certain things are rectified due to service bulletins newly released, which are done at scheduled service intervals.

2004 Holden Barina SRi 1.8 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Reasonably priced pocket rocket

Faults:

I bought my SRI from work (A Holden Dealership, I won't name it) about 1 year and 4 months ago, and so far I have had to replace the following.

BODY CONTROL MODULE.

ABS CONTROL MODULE.

AND NOW MY COMPRESSOR FOR AIR CON.

Grand total plus labour, nearing 4 grand LOL.

I'm just lucky all the above parts were covered by my warranty.

But my speedo used to hit 220kms when I was standing still in the car park, and it was adding kilometers to the clock as if it was traveling at that speed. (still have to contact Holden over this matter) because it added over 1000ks to the clock when it was doing it.

But it's all fixed now touch wood LOL.

General Comments:

The car is a good car once you get around the computer and ECU problems, but I'm sure there are a lot of other manufacturers out there that have similar problems.

The car handles great around corners with minimal understeer, a bit bumpy over pot holes (don't drive over them) and railway tracks, and the front spoiler is very low, so watch out for those concrete blocks in parking spaces.

Punchy 1.8 ltr motor is responsive in almost every gear, and good on fuel provided you don't have a lead foot.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th January, 2009

2004 Holden Barina XC 1.4 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Hugely disappointing

Faults:

A squeak in rear brakes upon getting in and out of the car, took to Dealer and they packed brake backing plate with grease which stopped the problem for 2 months.

Damage to fuel line after servicing, lost all fuel and sat by side of road waiting for 5 hours for a tow.

Noticed left back tyre wear on inside of tyre and having a solid axle this should not have occurred. We were told to get a wheel alignment ourselves as Holden would not do this for us. Found it was 2 degrees negative camber and 7 degrees toe in, which means the whole back axle and locating bars were bent and had to be replaced.

This has since led to the steering column and now the steering rack having to be replaced and it is not hard to draw a connection there.

All in all we have had 27 visits in the 2 years we have owned the car and are still fighting Holden over the rear brake squeak, the unadjustable hatch and the tyre wear that has been created that they don't want to own up to. They state that this is normal for this vehicle. Yeah right!

General Comments:

The car drives well and has only broken down when the fuel line was blown off as the clips were broken, it has good economy and looks good, but with the multitude of warranty problems and the warranty about to expire we are wondering how deep our pockets will have to be to keep this car running safely. Plus the squeak is driving us crazy.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 12th January, 2007

13th Sep 2010, 23:59

Total crap. Same brake problem in the rear brakes. Timing chain noise. Now idling badly. Lots of other problems with this car. A total lemon. And Holden should have done a recall on this model.

For me, this car goes in for trade in on the weekend and I will never ever buy another Holden.

30th May 2014, 02:03

Sorry you were not happy with the car. Ours has been a dream; yes the brakes squeal when backing out of the drive, but braking is not affected by it.

Motor has had the timing chain done and is as sweet as the day we picked it up. Has done 150,000 km, after initial service, all servicing done by me, dealers can't be trusted. I do oil, fuel and air filters, second set of spark plugs still in it, regular oil changes.

15 inch low profile tyres are ridiculously expensive, and Hankook were duds, out of round. Pirellis are too expensive to think of using.

In its tenth year we have just had the nylon gear selector gates replaced, as 1st, 2nd and reverse were difficult to select without lifting the collar.

Overall, very happy with the car, has been good value, mostly because it wasn't serviced by dealers.