I hate my Barina
A rare unlocked post as I don't care who reads this.
Holden has the Barina, back around 1998 my sister got a small 2 door one and it was great, it just kept going and fell into everything that my family had always said about Holden. So about 3.5 years ago I wanted to get a new smaller more fuel effective car the Barina was one of the first I looked at. After test driving I was sold and placed my order for my new Holden Barina.
Now here is where things went wrong.
I ordered a Hatch in Orange with the ABS brake pack, I did this around July at the end of November I FINALLY got my car. It was pretty and shiny and all anger over having to wait so long was long forgotten.
Soon however I started to have issues, in three years and 65,000Km I have had these issues
The baby saftey bolts/catches are in the WRONG WRONG WRONG place, you put a baby seat in this car and you can't fit anything in the boot as the strap goes across the boot in the hatch. It also stops the hatch cover from closing so you either have to remove it or lie it on top. Add to this the plastic covers snap off with little to no effort, in fact I broke 2 of them within the first 2 days of having the car!
I got brake shutter, and had the discs plained. Only to have it come back again, in three years I have gone through 3 sets of discs (which only one set was covered under warranty) and a number of brake pads. I am now having issues with the braking failing on me and as I can not reproduce the issue in the 5 mins the dealer wants to spend driving my car around the block they claim there is nothing wrong. Basically what happens is that I put my foot on the brake pedal, I hear and feel a clicking noise, I am unable to depress the brake all the way down and the car does not slow or stop, I then have to re align the car and pump the brake to get it to catch and hold. Feeling so safe every time I drive it!
The car would not come out of park, I was told this was a shift lock issue, I could not open the cap to insert the key to take the car out of shift lock so the car became un drivable. Once fixed I now have a loud click that sounds each time I engage or dis engage the brake. Again the dealer is telling me this is normal. I can also feel this this "click" through the gear shift.
The middle console light next to the gear shift lights up at random, I asked from day one for something to be done about this and nothing happened, in fact I was told it was working fine. Now AFTER the car has come out of warranty they admit there is an issue however I will be charged it fix it.
The air con rattles if on low speeds and I was told there is a 5cent coin in the air vent, I have tried to fit a 5cent coin in there but it is impossible, they refused to fix the rattle while the car was under warranty, however now they claim they can fix it again at my cost!
The brake peddle fell off and I had to super glue it back on.
My ABS brake light keeps coming on, again as I can't reproduce the issue with their service department in the 5 mins allotted time the issue does not exist. According to the manual this light coming on means my ABS has failed to work and has turned off.
The cigarette lighter NEVER worked. Again an issue I complained about from day one and again an issue that was never fixed, in fact one dealer said "Well you should not be smoking in your car anyway so there is no need for it" that is not the point the point is it should have worked!
The aircon refused to come off de mist setting. I have to pull the car over, turn it off, reset all the air con settings and turn it back on and even then there is only about a 1 in 3 chance of this fixing the issue. Again something I have complained about and gotten no where.
I have since found out that the Barina is not a Barina at all but instead a Daewoo. On doing some research all these are known issues of the Daewoo so all Holden did was slap their badges on a car that already had huge amounts of issues!
Add to all this that the finance that the original dealer set me up with was for a 5 year payment plan. I had been paying it for a few years when I went to check the amount remaining only to find due to some clerical error that I now owe MORE on the car then I originally borrowed to buy the thing, in fact I owe MORE on the car then the cost of a new one! (and before anyone asks yes I have down the lawyer route and gotten no where other then being billed by the lawyer to put me more in the sink hole!)
I am so tired of this car and all the money that I have had to throw at it over the years. I am about ready to scream. I know that I will NEVER buy another Holden and will actively let other people know about the crap that they are producing. If you are considering a new car run away from the Barina. Go do your research and you will find many people who are throwing money at this car and hating it!
Holden has the Barina, back around 1998 my sister got a small 2 door one and it was great, it just kept going and fell into everything that my family had always said about Holden. So about 3.5 years ago I wanted to get a new smaller more fuel effective car the Barina was one of the first I looked at. After test driving I was sold and placed my order for my new Holden Barina.
Now here is where things went wrong.
I ordered a Hatch in Orange with the ABS brake pack, I did this around July at the end of November I FINALLY got my car. It was pretty and shiny and all anger over having to wait so long was long forgotten.
Soon however I started to have issues, in three years and 65,000Km I have had these issues
The baby saftey bolts/catches are in the WRONG WRONG WRONG place, you put a baby seat in this car and you can't fit anything in the boot as the strap goes across the boot in the hatch. It also stops the hatch cover from closing so you either have to remove it or lie it on top. Add to this the plastic covers snap off with little to no effort, in fact I broke 2 of them within the first 2 days of having the car!
I got brake shutter, and had the discs plained. Only to have it come back again, in three years I have gone through 3 sets of discs (which only one set was covered under warranty) and a number of brake pads. I am now having issues with the braking failing on me and as I can not reproduce the issue in the 5 mins the dealer wants to spend driving my car around the block they claim there is nothing wrong. Basically what happens is that I put my foot on the brake pedal, I hear and feel a clicking noise, I am unable to depress the brake all the way down and the car does not slow or stop, I then have to re align the car and pump the brake to get it to catch and hold. Feeling so safe every time I drive it!
The car would not come out of park, I was told this was a shift lock issue, I could not open the cap to insert the key to take the car out of shift lock so the car became un drivable. Once fixed I now have a loud click that sounds each time I engage or dis engage the brake. Again the dealer is telling me this is normal. I can also feel this this "click" through the gear shift.
The middle console light next to the gear shift lights up at random, I asked from day one for something to be done about this and nothing happened, in fact I was told it was working fine. Now AFTER the car has come out of warranty they admit there is an issue however I will be charged it fix it.
The air con rattles if on low speeds and I was told there is a 5cent coin in the air vent, I have tried to fit a 5cent coin in there but it is impossible, they refused to fix the rattle while the car was under warranty, however now they claim they can fix it again at my cost!
The brake peddle fell off and I had to super glue it back on.
My ABS brake light keeps coming on, again as I can't reproduce the issue with their service department in the 5 mins allotted time the issue does not exist. According to the manual this light coming on means my ABS has failed to work and has turned off.
The cigarette lighter NEVER worked. Again an issue I complained about from day one and again an issue that was never fixed, in fact one dealer said "Well you should not be smoking in your car anyway so there is no need for it" that is not the point the point is it should have worked!
The aircon refused to come off de mist setting. I have to pull the car over, turn it off, reset all the air con settings and turn it back on and even then there is only about a 1 in 3 chance of this fixing the issue. Again something I have complained about and gotten no where.
I have since found out that the Barina is not a Barina at all but instead a Daewoo. On doing some research all these are known issues of the Daewoo so all Holden did was slap their badges on a car that already had huge amounts of issues!
Add to all this that the finance that the original dealer set me up with was for a 5 year payment plan. I had been paying it for a few years when I went to check the amount remaining only to find due to some clerical error that I now owe MORE on the car then I originally borrowed to buy the thing, in fact I owe MORE on the car then the cost of a new one! (and before anyone asks yes I have down the lawyer route and gotten no where other then being billed by the lawyer to put me more in the sink hole!)
I am so tired of this car and all the money that I have had to throw at it over the years. I am about ready to scream. I know that I will NEVER buy another Holden and will actively let other people know about the crap that they are producing. If you are considering a new car run away from the Barina. Go do your research and you will find many people who are throwing money at this car and hating it!