1996 Holden Barina swing review from Australia and New Zealand

Major loss of power associated with tappet noise, from ~80 000 km. Small holes transporting oil from the engine block to the camshaft became blocked, causing damage to the cams. Its therefore important to keep the oil clean on this car - not sure if that's a design flaw or due to exceptionally low maintenance effort by previous owners.

Car repeatedly overheated from about 100, 000 km, especially when travelling at low speeds. This turns out to be a common problem (e.g. 3 Barinas to our local mechanic within a fortnight) - the radiator gets blocked and needs to be reamed out.

Intermittent complete loss of power from about 124 00 km, during longer drives. This seems to be because a valve that equalises pressure into the petrol tank has failed. (In this model the valve is not on the petrol cap as in many other cars). Cheap solution: just don't screw in your petrol cap fully.

Difficult (or impossible) to start on wet mornings, sometimes. Seems to be a petrol or air problem rather than an electrical one. No suggestions for fixing that - mechanics can find no faults.

Failure of high beam switch at ~80 000 km.

Very fuel efficient, when it goes at all. Even more fuel efficient when stuck in the driveway.