MANAGING expectations. It’s a phrase bandied about boardrooms and political meetings that essentially means under promise and over deliver.

With the sluggish, tinny, boring to drive and generally unsophisticated Barina Spark, Holden managed our expectations beautifully when it came to the new version, which dropped the confusing prefix and is now known simply as Spark.

The new Spark loomed on our road test schedule like a dreaded dental appointment and suddenly it was too late to cancel.

For that we are eternally grateful because the Spark has to be one of the best, most charming cars we have driven all year. Regardless of initial expectation.

A dentist might promise the perfect smile, but every journey in the Spark had our pearly whites beaming.

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