First look: Barina facelift exposed

GM Holden has revealed a facelifted version of the South Korean-built TK Barina light-car range via its public website, almost two weeks ahead of an official announcement.

The Model Year 2009 Barina makeover is comprehensive, affecting all sheetmetal forward of the A-pillar.

Among the changes are a new nose and redesigned tail-lights and rear bumper, as well as the standard addition of side airbags to the dual front units already fitted.

A substantial upgrade of the interior – to bring the three year-old TK Barina hatch in line with the 2006-vintage Barina sedan – is the other big change to the 2009 range.

This involves material and trim alterations, swathing an updated dashboard, new centre console and a refreshed instrumentation panel.

Giving it a fresher look, a new grille, bumper and set of headlights are also featured on the sedan.

Underneath, Holden is believed to have introduced a number of suspension modifications to improve the TK Barina’s ride quality, as well as attending to the noise, vibration and harshness issues that have plagued the car, which is derived from the 2002 Daewoo Kalos.

Achieving a better crash-safety performance rating is also thought to be part of the Barina’s revamp.

In the powertrain department, it is unclear whether the 1.6-litre Family One four-cylinder petrol engine has come in for any alterations.

The current TK Barina’s twin-cam 16-valve unit delivers 77kW of power at 6000rpm and 145Nm of torque at 3000rpm, transmitting drive to the front wheels via a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic gearbox.

On European versions of the 2009 Barina – known as the Chevrolet Aveo – improvements have been made to the manual transmission.

While some markets have ABS brakes as standard, they may remain on the Barina options list to keep a low advertised price, although this may change soon to keep the Holden competitive against its ABS-equipped rivals.

According to a Holden spokesman, the company started shipping the 2009 Barina into dealers at the beginning of the month, but the company held off launching details until the end of this week, when its distribution network has enough stock.

This will be the last of the ‘legacy’ cars that Holden inherited after the formation of GM-DAT Daewoo Auto and Technology in 2002.

From next year, the slow-selling Viva – previously known as the Daewoo Lacetti –will be replaced by an all-new model built in South Korea but derived from the next-generation Opel Astra platform.

GM-DAT is also known to be working on the 2010 replacement for our current Barina, based on the mechanicals of the next Opel Corsa. It, too, will be sourced from South Korea.

Pricing for the 2009 Holden Barina will be announced shortly.

Read more:

Barina decision looms