Holden Barina: top value city car in low-speed collisions

By David Zalstein | July 26th, 2012

FIND DEALS

The Holden Barina has been found to be the best value small car according to an NRMA Insurance crash test program focused on low-speed collision repair costs.

The Holden Barina topped the group of nine of Australia’s top selling small cars in the bumper tests conducted at the Insurance Australia Group (IAG) Research Centre. Going up against the Nissan Micra ST-L, Ford Fiesta LX, Suzuki Swift GL, Volkswagen Polo 77TSI Comfortline, Hyundai i20 Active, Mazda2 Maxx, Honda Jazz VTi and Toyota Yaris YRS, the Barina proved the best value for money with a total repair cost for a front and rear collision of $2574, 14.3 per cent of its new purchase price.

The Nissan Micra claimed second place with figures of $6056 and 35.6 per cent, ahead of the Ford Fiesta with a total equaling $8850 or 42.4 per cent of its purchase price.

The most expensive car to repair was the Toyota Yaris, with a total cost of $13,440 equating to a significant 70.8 per cent of its new car value.

The test sees vehicles moving at 10 km/h contact a standardised bumper beam with a flexible, energy-absorbing cover that replicates a real vehicle bumper.

Robert McDonald, Head of Research NRMA Insurance said the low-speed crash test program was designed to urge car manufacturers to make improvements to bumper bar design to help to keep collision repair costs affordable.

Type of Vehicle	Front & rear bumper repair cost	Repair costs as percentage of purchase price*
Holden Barina (5 door hatch)	$2,574	14.3%
Nissan Micra ST-L (5 door hatch)	$6,056	35.6%
Ford Fiesta LX (5 door hatch)	$8,850	42.2%
Suzuki Swift GL (5 door hatch)	$8,929	48.6%
VW Polo 77TSI Comfortline (5 door hatch)	$11,037	51.4%
Hyundai i20 Active (3 door hatch)	$9,031	53.2%
Mazda2 Maxx (5 door hatch)	$11,320	58.5%
Honda Jazz VTi (5 door hatch)	$13,754	69.5%
Toyota Yaris YRS (5 door hatch)	$13,440	70.8%

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Clovermcskavatz

I’d rather have the car written off than repaired.
- Dave S
  
  And that’s why some premiums are so high.
Save It For The Track

Interesting. Wonder what the premium is on a Yaris then? After three years have a minor ‘bump’ and it’s a write-off. laughable really.
- rentakeyboard
  
  Maybe thats how Toyota keeps all them Nannas coming back in such high numbers!!!
- Smart US
  
  the most alarming on this situations is – do you want your wife/gf with kids to sit in these cars at 20-30km/h crash?? or 60km/h crash… what is this 5 star rating good for?? its like traveling in a fabric tent…. go BIG cars!!!
  - Gibbut
    
    all this test proves is that the barina has NO METAL behind the plastic bar that needed to be straightened / repaired. plastic is cheaper / easier than metal to replace.
    - Captain Nemo®™
      
      Gibbutts your comment proves you know very little about cars. If the Barina had no metal behind the bumper it would have had MORE damage not less. The Jazz & Yaris don’t have rear bumper beams to save costs thats why they had more damage. Try to put your brain into gear before posting next time.
Phil

Why bother repairing a 10kmh cosmetic bump on these cheap cars?
Better they run a program to teach people there are finer things to spend money on than spending thousands on a small scratch/dent on a cheap car.
- Sydlocal
  
  If you saw how badly damaged the Yaris was with this “minor” 10km/hr bump, you would see that it had to be repaired to be able to legally drive it on the road again. It was much more than just a small cosmetic scratch/dent. Bit of a joke really.
  - Phil
    
    I did see it.
    
    Slightly dislodged front bumper and bonnet lid and dislodged rear bumper. The front end would be perfectly legal as long as the bonnet was still holding itself down – a fiddle with the catch and a mallet should fix that. The rear bumper might not be roadworthy as it was but I’m sure it could be reattached to a roadworthy settings with a little fiddling. The Jazz had more damage with the bonnet lid actually slightly crumped! Barina didn’t seem to have any damage at all.
    
    But I’m sure Toyota fans will ignore this and keep claiming Toyota’s are cheap to repair.
    - Sydlocal
      
      Both headlight mounts were broken causing the whole assembly to move all around the place. That for starters is illegal/unroadworthy…
nickdl

At least the ugly nose on the Barina is good for something then!
- Mattyman
  
  Some people are impossible to please…
mo

I am SO GLAD people are looking into this. The cost of repairing vehicles for small dings is absolutely ridiculous. Cars have become obscenely fragile and parts prices from some manufacturers border on insanity.
Able

The only thing I got out of this was ‘buy a Barina if you plan to have many low speed dings’…
- TR
  
  Actually, a Barina will save you money not needing low speed impact repairs or insurance claims, people who buy these cars are on a budget so this will be a big selling point.
Legnab

Who drives these , i have seen about 5 on the road . looks tinny .
Des KSA

Here’s all the results from the NRMA website.Holden Barina (5 door hatch) $2,574 14.3%Nissan Micra ST-L (5 door hatch) $6,056 35.6%Ford Fiesta LX (5 door hatch) $8,850 42.2%Suzuki Swift GL (5 door hatch) $8,929 48.6%VW Polo 77TSI Comfortline (5 door hatch) $11,037 51.4%Hyundai i20 Active (3 door hatch) $9,031 53.2%Mazda2 Maxx (5 door hatch) $11,320 58.5%Honda Jazz VTi (5 door hatch) $13,754 69.5%Toyota Yaris YRS (5 door hatch) $13,440 70.8%
BP

Go Barina!!! Something positive about this gen-model
Ethykfjf

so now what can all the holden hating trolls that flock to this web site whine about.
I guess they’ll just make up bs like they usually do
- Stitch
  
  Dude. Nobody cares about the Barina. Nice try though.
  - TR
    
    Good to see you cared enough to submit a response
- Gibbut
  
  they will find plenty of other LEGIT things to whine about.
Hung Low

Buy a bull bar for the Yaris. All these disposable cars do is rev up insurance premiums.
- rentakeyboard
  
  Doesnt this make Yaris a disposable car?
- Guest
  
  Probably the bull bar would detached itself and kill all the occupants in the Yaris, mate!
Shak

A little off topic here, but while my car was in for servicing yesterday it was dinged by another stupid customer in her RX (go figure). Lexus said they would fix it free of charge because it was in the centre when it happened. Out of curiosity i asked how much it would cost, and the centre manager said approximately $5000! It was only one ding in the rear left hand side door. he said they would essentially have a new door panel flown in and respray about 5 panels. I was pleased with the effort they are going to, but i think its a bit excessive.
Basil Exposition

Damn, the ugliest car is cheapest to fix, can’t even write it off.
- Gibbut
  
  and the most likely to kill you in an accident
  - Guest
    
    …& how is that so? Any statistics or examples?
Johnson

I only get my facts from Car Advice comments so I must admit that I am slightly bewildered now. This must be a misprint as I know that Toyota repairs and parts cost approximately 1/18th of VW parts yet the VW is cheaper to repair, I call for an inquiry.
- Shak
  
  Look through a few other articles and you’ll see how badly damaged the Yaris was compared to the other cars. Its not just about repair costs in general, but specifically about how much low speed bumper impacts cost to repair in general.
- Guest
  
  The Toyota Yaris front and rear end are predominantly made of plastics and resins just like your Tamiya model cars. They crumple like thin biscuits in a 10 km/h collision – therefore there are more parts to replace.
  On the other hand, the VW is built like a Tonka toy – all metal. A 10-yr old can throw it onto the floor and the floor will come off worst.
  No need for inquiry. Case closed!
Dave S

It’s a big thanks to the light car segment for giving us disposable cars.
Gibbut

what a joke. this has been rigged bigtime. was this staged by holden??

my old jazz had the front bar, a guard, radiator support panel, headlight, grill, radiator and air cond components replaced for $5500

something fishy going on here~!
- rentakeyboard
  
  Do you really think the NRMA would put their reputation on the line to satisfy Holden?
  
  If anything I think the NRMA actually overrates Toyota!!
- Guest
  
  No conspiracy theory here, mate! Go on, move along!
  No old boys club here either! – nod nod wink wink!
  NRMA (…as one of the biggest car insurer in Australia) is looking to reduce the number of light car write-offs by conducting this test. More than 70% of all accident claims are in the 10 km/h crash category. It’s a wake-up car for car manufacturers to beef up! Otherwise look for comprehensive insurance premiums to increase significantly for the Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz & Suzuki Swift after this public report. It would then be similar to the Subaru WRX and Nissan SX200 where the insurance premiums is prohibitively high compared to the purchase cost. Holden Barina is just the accidental beneficiary of this test.
  $5,500 seemed reasonable until I got to the part “radiator and air cond components” – Are you sure? Also, are those parts sourced from dealerships or from some dodgy scrapyard? Let’s compare apples with apples here. NRMA report says parts are sourced from dealers.
Gibbut

also makes me wonder why there are so many barinas and micras written off in the auction yards with VERY little damage?
filippo

Must be a disappointment for those poor sods who have bought a Barina and noticed how poorly it drives and how awful the fuel economy is.
- Monkeyman
  
  Have one low speed bump and the cost difference is free fuel for a couple of years . The new barina as tested here doesn’t handle significantly worse than any of these other lunch boxes .
  - Guest
    
    Just one more reason Holden should put in the 1.4L turbo engine from the Cruze SR into the Barina. It would be a ultimate fast light car and just as safe in a 10 km/h accident. C’mon Holden! Give us one more reason after safety to buy the Barina – Vroom, woosh, psst!
  - filippo
    
    You’re right Monkeyman, crashing this little gas-guzzler would be satisfying even if it doesn’t write it off.
Guest

What the CarAdvice article doesn’t say here about the NRMA test study is that the Honda Jazz, Suzuki Swift & Toyota Yaris had their rear bumper absorption beam deleted in Australia by their Manufacturers to save costs even though they are included in other overseas markets and are standard items for European markets. The Mazda 2 initially deleted the rear bumper absorption beam when it sourced from Thailand and did not refit it after it reverted sourcing from Japan. It was after feedback from the insurance industry that the Mazda 2 rear bumper beam was reintroduced. The Ford Fiesta has a foam section behind the rear bumper instead of a metal beam.
Because of this deletion of the rear bumper absorption beam, the rear damage costs exceeds the frontal damage considerably for the Honda Jazz, Toyota Yaris and the Suzuki Swift. The Mazda 2 rear damage is $2K less than the frontal damage due to the rear bumper absorption beam. The Fiesta’s foam section doesn’t really protect the rear bumper from damage either. The rear damage costs as much as the frontal damage for the Fiesta.
The 10 km/h collision damage costs reflects really on 2 major items; one, the amount of damaged items and two, the spare parts costs. Not surprisingly, Honda, Toyota, Mazda & VW are the most expensive of the lot. If a 10 km/h collision can cause already so much damage, it is quite frightening to know how much more damage a light category car can take in a higher speed collision.