Holden Spark review: Grown-up baby ride

Five things Richard Blackburn learned about the Holden Spark.

2016 Holden Spark LS. Picture: Joshua Dowling.

1 Mini no longer means tinny

Once upon a time the bottom of the new car market was the bottom of the barrel. The Spark doesn’t feel cheap and cheerful. Doors close with a reassuring thud, the dash and door plastics don’t look and feel like a cheap outdoor setting and the seat materials look as if they will wear well. That also translates to the way it drives. It doesn’t buck and pull at the steering wheel if you hit a bump mid-corner, or porpoise over speed humps. In short, if feels grown up.

2 It won’t stay this price for long

The Spark is well equipped for a starter car but price is king at this end of the market and the Spark’s drive-away tag pushes it into the clutches of well-known brands in the segment above, including the Suzuki Swift, Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio. It also looks expensive against other tiddlers like the Suzuki Celerio, which is more than $2500 cheaper. If you want cruise control, rear park assist and rear-view camera that’s another $750. Car companies always try to hold the high ground with their introductory pricing but this end of the market isn’t growing and competition is fierce.

3 It will win them over in the showroom

Buyers who have done their homework on rivals will be immediately impressed by the seven-inch colour touchscreen. Its rivals don’t have it and it will tempt the tech-savvy first car buyer. Better still, the screen can mirror an Apple or Android smartphone, giving you Google Maps, Pandora and Spotify at your fingertips and providing a familiar interface for phone and text messages (when you’re stationary of course). The rest of the cabin looks suitably modern and user-friendly, with steering wheel controls for the audio and phone.

4 It’s not slow as a wet week, even with a CVT

There was a time when if you bought a city runabout, you needed to buy a manual and wring its neck to keep up with the traffic. Rivals have gone down the path of super-frugal three-cylinder engines but the Spark has a reasonably strong 1.4-litre four-cylinder. The numbers aren’t spectacular — 73kW/124Nm — but it gets along all right and the CVT keeps it in the sweet spot for overtaking and hills. It was at least a second quicker than rivals in our 0-100km/h tests.

5 It’s not perfect but at this price, nothing is

The lack of a reversing camera, sensors and cruise control make it less than ideal for long-distance touring on the one hand and negotiating the urban jungle on the other. It also misses the odd item found on rivals and the three-year warranty puts it behind the Mitsubishi Mirage (five years) and Kia Picanto (seven years).

HOLDEN SPARK LS

PRICE $16,690 drive-away

SAFETY 6 airbags, ★★★★★

ENGINE 1.4-litre 4-cyl, 73kW/124Nm

TRANSMISSION CVT; FWD

THIRST 5.5L/100km