Think about your friends. Are any of them looking to buy a new car? Have they considered the new 2006 Holden Barina? Now think some more, are they really your friend? If the answer to this question is 'yes', then you should strongly urge them to cross the Barina off their shopping list.

Why, you ask? The answer is simple. The 2006 model is a cheaply produced re-badged Daewoo Kalos that has scored one of the worst results in recent crash testing history. In independent crash tests carried out by the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), the 2006 model Barina scored an under-whelming two stars, down from the four star safety rating awarded to the previous model. This is an historical event, but for all the wrong reasons.

The experts can probably expand upon this a lot more eloquently than I can. Enter RACV chief engineer Mr Michael Case. “Two stars is a very poor result, when most vehicles in this market segment, and really most other market segments, are scoring at least four stars and increasingly five stars, the industry standard is four stars. We encourage customers to look to buy vehicles with four stars in ANCAP crash tests, and five stars where possible.” NRMA’s Vehicle Expert, Mr Jack Haley, warns that car buyers need to “be aware that the new model Barina is a completely different vehicle to the previous 4-star model and is built in a different country. New car buyers may not have expected the new Barina to be a 2 star rating when the previous model achieved 4 stars."

There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the new Barina's country of origin. The 2006 model Barina is a re-badged Korean sourced Daewoo Kalos. The previous European sourced Barina was based on the Opel Corsa model. But to me, this isn't about country of origin. Personally, I couldn't care less where the car is built. A crap car is a crap car, no matter where it comes from. The fact of the matter is that the previous model scored a good four star result, and the new version (which consumers could be forgiven for assuming is newer, and therefore safer) drops two stars and achieves one of the worst results of any modern car. 

All things considered, the two star result for the new vehicle, and the significant drop in the level of safety it provides, should not be a surprise to anyone. It certainly wasn't a surprise to Holden.

"I am concerned by the publicity. First of all, I was not surprised at the Australian NCAP results as the Euro NCAP results were very similar in Europe a couple of months earlier. But it was a little surprising to our technical community. We had a better internal result. Both tests are exactly precise yet there’s variation in the results. Let me say, though, I am very confident of the safety of the Barina. That’s one test." says Mr Denny Mooney Chairman and Managing Director of GM Holden.

Holden achieved a better internal result? You really have to wonder, if a better result was achieved 'internally', why don't Holden release their own data and see if that stands up to independent public scrutiny? It's one thing to claim that a better result was achieved internally, its a completely different thing to release these results into the public domain. What would the legal and social ramifications be if the results highlighted that Holden knowingly released a vehicle into the Australian market that was known to them as under performing in terms of safety? How would it effect Holden's bottom line?

When it comes to the Barina though, Mr Mooney is prepared to stand by his product, "I drive the car, I have my daughter drive the car and there is no problem." That's all fine and dandy... up until the point someone t-bones you at an intersection or you run off the road. I wonder if Mr Mooney would be just as happy to be driving his Barina if he knew he was going to be involved in a crash. I wonder if Mr Mooney would be as 'confident' in the Barina's safety performance if his daughter was sitting in the drivers seat during a standard crash test like the one on youtube.com below?

Don't get me wrong, Holden make some good products. It's just a shame that the new Barina isn't one of them.

Bottom line, for around $14K new (more if you want to add on things like ABS), consumers can get a lot more for their money. The used car market alone is full of better quality and safer alternatives.

Still want a Barina? Watch the video here:

Barina Reviews:   The Australian, Drive - Bill McKinnon, Drive - Bruce Newton, AutoSpeed

Other sources of car buying information: ANCAP, RACV, TAC, VicRoads, Choice Magazine