1993 Holden Barina from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

I've owned the car for about a month now. It's my first car, and I've been learning on it, and it's great.

The guy who owned it before me was the only owner, and he serviced it every 10,000ks, so it was in real good condition.

As far as I can tell, everything works on the car. Goes to show if you take the right care of your car, any car can be reliable really, but having had 2 previous MF model Barinas in the family, I have seen how reliable they can be.

It's all you need really. Fuel efficiency is great, and due to the good power to weight ratio, it actually takes off surprisingly quick.

Having owned and driven the previous MF model Barina, I can tell that there have been some good changes to ride quality, and handling. There's not as much body roll on this model.

As far as luxury goes, what can you expect from a 15 year old cheap 4 cylinder car? It still feels roomy inside despite it being a matchbox car. Everything is easy to reach, I don't have the model with A/C but I'm not bothered. It still has the original cassette player, which is good enough as it plays radio.

My only problem with the car is that it only has speakers in the front, and not in the back. Other than that, it's an extremely good car and I'd recommend it if you're thinking of buying one.

The engine has no power. Whoever wrote that the engine has potential is wrong.

How much power do you think you can get from an 1300 engine? I'll be honest, try a car with an engine size of 1600 to 2700. Get a Ford laser KF the 1.8l.

The Barina will rev nice in third to about 95 to 100 km/h, but once in fourth the car has no power left to keep powering on nicely. If you go up a hill, be prepared to drop back down a gear.

I have worked on the MH, and found that even removing the pollution controls and changing the air intake and exhaust systems, does very little to make this a beast.