Holden Barina

**PumpkinZulu** · January 25th, 2014, 09:42 PM

Anyone own one? DH and I are looking at buying a 2012 hatch, as it seems to meet all our requirements, and plus we're both currently learning in one and we like the idea of driving the same make of car we learned in. If you have one, what do you love about it, and what don't you?

**xXHopeXx** · January 26th, 2014, 08:34 PM

My mum had one which I used to drive often. Not have a 2012, but one a little bit older.
Theyre a decent car for their price, quite small (obviously) but big enough for most things. My definite if you're buying would be to get the 4 door one (if 2 doors are still around) as getting kids in and out of a 2 door is a PITA. They're excellent on fuel, and great flit-about car as they're small, nifty and easy to drive.
The only negatives I have is that they *feel* cheap. Comparing it to a corolla or even a holden cruze, they have a very cheap feel about them, from the way the seats feel to the sound of the engine and feel of the car in general ITMS. I remember the car feeling as though it was all plastic and hard (as opposed to having some faux leather look and/or carpet trim with softness) It is a very stiff ride, but is to be expected of a car that small.

Another thing is if you all went driving together, the engine would kinda struggle on anything more than a slight hill. Small motors + family dont work as well. It'll still take you up hills, but it really wont like it and it would constantly be in high revs to cope.

For a single person or a couple, id definitely recommend, even as a second car, but for a family wanting a smaller car, id suggest a Holden Cruze, a ford Focus, or even a corolla for the simple space factor and engine size to cope with families, while still being a smaller car.

HTH

**Trillian** · January 27th, 2014, 09:13 AM

Once you learn to drive a car it doesn't really matter which type of car you end up owning. For a family, I'd say barina's are on the small side and if you went away anywhere all loaded up with gear for a holiday, it probably would struggle a bit. My barina was an awesome car, but yeah, didn't like the heavy-duty work. It was very cheap to run - back in the day when I owned it fuel was still only 75 cents a litre so it only cost me $25 to fill up and I would easily get 500km's of a tank of fuel. I imagine that they are still very economical to run though. The other thing thing I'd be thinking about is how will you go with two older girls in car seats for space? They have to be in a seat until they are 7 (in NSW anyway) and I just don't think that long term, barina's will be able to fit a growing family, assuming that you are making a long-term car purchase and not planning on trading up in 2-3 years. Would you be able to fit a pram and shopping in the back when you are all together? Would you be able to fit enough luggage in there for a weeks holiday with a pram etc?

I think for the investment and practicality, there are much better options out there than a barina.

**~Gee_Whizzy~** · January 27th, 2014, 09:38 AM

what's your budget PZ? I haven't owned a Barina but do have a Toyota corolla (2006) which is now DHs car. It was just too small for a growing family and we now have a Suby Forester as our 'family' car.

**PumpkinZulu** · January 27th, 2014, 10:08 AM

Our budget is $15k or there abouts. We're planning on buying a new and bigger car when I'm pregnant with #3 and the hatch will become 'my' car, in about 4 years. The back was pretty small actually, okay for now but yeah, school age would be an issue. We've also got the Hyundai i30 on our short list.

**Trillian** · January 27th, 2014, 10:34 AM

Definitely too small if you were planning on having a third bub and making that your run-around car. Would 3 seats even fit in a barina? And I can imagine how much it would suck arse to put three kids in carseats into a 2-door hatch...

**Wrangalove** · January 27th, 2014, 11:04 AM

just do a little research on the barina. they just had a major recall on the barina spark. i'm not sure why but i'm sure a little googleing will tell you why.

**~Gee_Whizzy~** · January 27th, 2014, 11:16 AM

Our budget is $15k or there abouts. We're planning on buying a new and bigger car when I'm pregnant with #3 and the hatch will become 'my' car, in about 4 years. The back was pretty small actually, okay for now but yeah, school age would be an issue. We've also got the Hyundai i30 on our short list.

my bil has a 2012 i30 hatch and loves it

very cheap to run (he has the manual diesel though)and services aren't too bad either. however sizing is not huge in it either. Most hatchbacks are not built for size so maybe looking at a smaller sedan would be a better option ( cruze, pulsar, corolla sedan)

eta: I prefer driving the corolla to the Suby and I use it whenever I'm out on my own or if it's just DH and I. I daresay once our girls are out of car seats all together ( that's where all the room disappears even with slim line seats.) we would be more inclined to use it.

**Astrid** · January 27th, 2014, 11:40 AM

Small cars like that are great for the person who is not the main driver of the children. We have had a Colt and a Swift, which were DH's for his driving too and from work. Only a couple of times a week one or two of the girls would be in the car. We found as the girls got older they complained more about lack of leg room for them.
The Colt was better for leg room, as the back seat could move back or forward. So you traded boot space for leg room. Could not with the SWift, but the boot had a nifty layered option.

The small car would not have worked for me being the main transporter of the children. Try getting the kids, the school bags and shopping in a small car. Also there is now the odd school friend.

Personally I would aim for the next size up at least.

**PumpkinZulu** · January 27th, 2014, 11:44 AM

Oh no no, run around for me or DH, alone. So like, me going to placements/clients, uni or anything like that. The new car would be the family car, old one would be the 'adults' car.

**Tinks** · January 27th, 2014, 11:53 AM

Get a Mazda 3 or Corolla over a Barina.

**LimeSlice** · January 27th, 2014, 12:17 PM

I think the Barina will be slightly too small for what you want. A Mazda 3, an Astra (which you can get in hatch, sedan or wagon) would be slightly bigger, but still offer you the fuel economy and ease of a small car.

**Phteven** · January 27th, 2014, 12:31 PM

I think a Corolla or Mazda 3 would be better than a Barina because they are a bit larger.
If you put a few names that you are interested in into google you will find the comparison tests which are quite helpful.

I had a hatch as the main car for me and the children for years and it was fine. No problems getting children and school bags and shopping into. I never quite understand why families are assumed to need large cars if they are not large families.

I got a bigger car but I regret it and I can't wait to sell it and go back to a hatch. That said, 5 door. Getting children in and out with no back doors is a PITA but I'm petty sure that you can figure that out on your own.

**TickToc** · January 27th, 2014, 12:35 PM

I have a 2013 Mazda 3 hatch (love it) but as we're a tall family (DP is 6ft 3, I'm 5ft 8 & DD is 5ft 7) we have noticed a lack of leg room now there is a rear facing capsule on the passengers side - the best seat is the drivers seat. It's manageable but I doubt we would take my car away for a weekend trip as by the time we pack baby knick knacks & luggage we'd be very loaded. Also there's only two clips available for car seats & if there was a way of securing a third seat I don't think it would fit. If we end up having another baby then as a family we would always go places in DP's 4x4 due to needing to fit 2 car seats & a tall teenager

My brother & SIL had a cruze diesel sedan that they loved but upgraded when baby n#2 was on the way due to lack of space in back seat (the 3rd seat became useless with 2 car seats) & they were tired of having to pull their pram apart to fit it in the boot.

Having driven i30's for work I suspect you would have the same problem.
I think a Barina would be too compact for you as a family of four & impossible if you have a third bub, but even the cars listed above would be (IMHO) too small for a family of 5, especially if you were to go away.

**Amaunet** · January 27th, 2014, 03:20 PM

I think Barinas are in the same category (euro import - Opel rebadge???) as Astra and Vectra. I know when I was getting rid of my. Vectra my mechanic warned me off those 3 models in particular. The Vectra was hideous to service and $$$$$ when getting on in km.

ETA - seems it depends on age! It's either an Opel or Daewoo rebadge unless it's quite new and the new one had pretty terrible reviews...

**Miss.September** · January 27th, 2014, 03:30 PM

My Aunty has the 2012 model but the sedan version. She downsized from a commodore. The sedan seems to be the size of the cruze hatch, and the boot space seems quite substantial for a small car. She loves it. She wanted a run around car to get her to and from work and to do her grocery run etc without being a fuel guzzler. She had no need to have the bigger car anymore. My uncle has a commodore wagon and if they need to do longer drives or go out with any of their family, they use his car.

**volcomkitty** · January 27th, 2014, 03:34 PM

Barina's haven't been part of GM Opel since the end of XC Barinas in 2005. The TK Barina that followed as with the current TM model are global GM cars, built in the GM Daewoo's plant. They are more simplified than the European version. I personably don't mind the TM model, but my suggestion would be look into a Lancer. They have good value for money, a good warranty reasonable service pricing. I've owned one and they have more rear leg room than a Mazda 3. They have a wider boot opening than a 3 and Cruze too, particularly handy for getting a pram in and out.

**LimeSlice** · January 27th, 2014, 04:41 PM

Good point on the Lancers.
We had a new one for month as a hire car a couple of years back, and it was fabulous. 2 car seats, easily fit a third, masses of boot space and we got all our suitcases, portacot, pram in it comfortably as well. It was great of fuel and definitely had some guts.