Holden puts in more Spark

The Holden Barina Spark is no more – long live the Holden Spark, says Damien O’carroll.

With the latest incarnation of its littlest car, Holden has dropped the “Barina” part of the Spark’s name, which is probably for the best really, as it adds some distance between the new car and its less than ordinary predecessor. While Holden received a “could try harder” mark for the Barina Spark, it has gone all out with the new Spark in order to make it a more appealing proposition in the city car segment. To this end Holden held the launch of the Spark at its Lang Lang proving grounds just outside Melbourne to highlight the local input in the small European-designed, Korean-built car. This included localisation of the suspension and steering settings. Traditionally cars in the city segment have been fairly basic affairs, with the likes of the Mitsubishi Mirage and Suzuki Celerio packing relatively low-powered threecylinder engines, basic equipment levels, and functional styling. The Spark on the other hand, brings more power and more standard equipment than has been available in segment previously, at – and this is the really interesting bit – the same price as the lower powered and equipped opposition. The Spark comes to New Zealand in two guises, LS and LT, with a choice of five-speed manual or continuously variable transmissions in LS guise. The top-spec LT is auto only. Both models are powered by Holden’s all-new European-developed 1.4-litre fourcylinder engine that produces 73kw of power and 128Nm of torque (120Nm in the manual LS) in a segment that traditionally hovers around the 50kw mark, easily making the Spark the most powerful car in the segment. The LS comes standard with 14-inch steel wheels, six airbags, cloth seat trim, front electric windows, steering wheel audio controls and a trip computer, but its real party trick is the standard inclusion of not only Holden’s excellent Mylink infotainment system and a seven-inch touchscreen, but also Apple Carplay and Android Auto. This brings not only full Smartphone integration to the Spark, but also features such as Internet radio streaming, voice control, and satellite navigation, to a car that is priced from $16,490 for the manual LS. The LS auto costs an extra $1,500 and features the same specification, while the top-spec LT lands at $19,990 and adds 15-inch alloy wheels, a leather wrapped steering wheel, “Sportec” artificial leather seats, rear power windows, chrome exterior highlights, rear parking sensors, a backing camera, cruise control, fog lamps and keyless entry and push button start. While the Spark is easily the most powerful car in its segment, it is still not exactly a powerhouse on the road. The manual in particular needs to be rowed along to get the best out of it off the line. The CVT models are better in this regard (with their fractionally greater torque) largely because the auto ‘box removes the chance of you shifting at just the wrong moment and slipping off the torque wave into a hole of breathless unresponsiveness that lurks around the very top and very bottom of the Spark’s rev range. The continuously variable transmission itself is actually one of the better ones in the segment, with Holden following the current trend in CVTS by programming fake “gear shifts” when at open-road speeds to break up the awful tendency of a traditional CVT to flare. Even with these improvements, however, the Spark still has a slight tendency to whine and drone, and it is a bit sluggish off the line, but it remains well-matched to the engine, with a particular affinity to responsive city driving. Which is, after all, where the Spark is particularly aimed. Where the Spark truly surprises, however, is out on the open road, where it shows off a remarkably mature and impressively wellresolved ride that could easily come from a car a size or two bigger. The interior is impressively spacious (with surprisingly good rear leg room for such tiny car) and, while dominated by black plastics, is of decent quality and an attractive, if largely unadventurous, design. The new Spark is a far, far superior package to the uninspiring Barina Spark it replaces, not only setting new standards for its segment in power and ride quality, but also bringing a new level of technology into the price range.