1987 Holden Barina ML G13A 1.3 litre carb from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

A great first car, don't get one if you are tall though!!!

Faults:

Engine is fine, apart from some timing issues and needs a good tune-up.

Seats were dirty when I got the car and the drivers seat has a large tear in the side.

Right indicator circuit has been badly rewired when an alarm was installed and the right indicator light on the dashboard doesn't flash with the outside indicators.

Some surface rust is developing on parts of the body that are still in primer.

There is no spare wheel in the boot under the floor.

It has quite a small boot, and there isn't much headroom for people over 5'5"

General Comments:

The car does great wheel spins in the dirt! It's gearbox is tough and the clutch hasn't complained yet.

I have only done 24k's in it though so I haven't really been able to test it out yet.

I'm going to end up doing some mods to it later on, I'm even thinking of a Suzuki Swift GTi engine transplant! Then add a small supercharger (i hate turbos!) and then it will scream!!!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 12th October, 2006

1987 Holden Barina ML 1.3 from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Most of these are worn out

Faults:

Head gasket blew.

Rusted muffler.

Raspy exhaust.

Burns oil.

Lots of blue smoke (probably because I have thrashed the hell out of it), probably burnt valves.

Water leaks.

Red paint very faded on the roof.

CV joints starting to sound dodgy.

Waterpump.

Bits of trim falling off all the time, and so much more.

General Comments:

Pretty fast, rust ain't too bad (compared to other problems), good suit boy racer.

Cams rather noisy, seats are rather thin, not very roomy, very soft suspension.

Fun little runabout, despite its problems and its value.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd November, 2001

1987 Holden Barina GTi 1.3 DOHC 16v EFi from Australia and New Zealand

Summary:

Quickest 1.3 I've ever driven

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong, but it has started to blow a little blue smoke.

General Comments:

Goes really fast for a 1.3 litre. Faster than my old MK1 MR2. Puts most 1.6 Hatchbacks to shame ie. Civic SI.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 18th June, 2000

10th Apr 2006, 03:21

Holden never sold a Barina equivilent to the Swift GTi, so it is impossible that you have a Barina GTi.

9th May 2006, 04:32

Yes.. there is such thing, go to www.google.co.nz and search for Barina GTI in NZ only search; you will soon see that there are 100's of them here in NZ.