Those K cars had all the class and character of a washing machine, but they were never designed for class. Basic, cheap running transportation, for that they couldn't be beat. The K car and the mini van saved Chrysler's bacon. No experience with the GM X body cars. I did have a Chevy Celebrity I drove for work, but every other Chevy I had were V-8 powered Novas or Monte Carlos. Buddy of mine had a Vega POS, and another had the Pontiac version called the Astre. We called it the ashtray. The metal in those things was cheap. They'd rust in the showroom! I always thought Chevy should have made them a little better and offered a small V-8 like the Ford Maverick. I had a Maverick for a while. With the 302, they would really scoot. Also had one with the straight 6. That thing would go where mountain goats would avoid! 7mm
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
My folks bought an Aries K station wagon late 80's. I guess that's what you mean by k car? Ran great for a lot of years till my brother cross threaded a spark plug. I think they junked it after that, I don't remember. I wasn't big enough to reach the pedals or drive it so I have no idea except it ran for a lot of miles for us.
Buddy had a chevette in HS. Pulling the e brake and spinning tight turns on dirt was good clean fun for dumbass teenagers.
My dad also had bought an escort, can't remember the year but it was a 1/2 year model, manual transmission. Ran it a lot of miles and it ran good till it didn't. And getting parts was a mofo, because it was some odd year model. I want to say 85 1/2 maybe?
Haha, speaking of cheap transportation, early in our marriage my wife and I had a Dodge Colt Vista wagon which I think was basically a Mitsubishi. We were broke starting out and wanted to pay cash. That turned out to be a pretty good little car! It would haul a ton of crap, including sea kayaks on the top, got good gas mileage, and ran OK with the manual trans. Only issue we had was the A/C compressor went out out right before a trip from NM to Kansas City in July. That sucked but it never let us down.
Mercy ceases to be a virtue when it enables further injustice. -Brent Weeks
I've had a lot of cars by most standards. My "Old Man"'had a salvage, hence dealer license. When I was younger, I had a nice '72 Monte Carlo with a big block. Wasn't worth a damn in the winter, so I'd get something running decent and switch tags and insurance when it got ugly. Mavericks made pretty good winter beaters, usually sporting flames or "ZZ Top" stripes. After I had a family and got out of the service, I kept a good car for Sunday "Go to Meeting" for Wifey 1. I ran a cheap beater to work. I'd go with Dad to a dealers auction, buy something (always American, but no Brand loyalty) for 4 or 6 hundred bucks, and run it till something that cost money broke. Then I'd buy another. I did that for probably 30 years or more. Most of them, I wouldn't drive them where I couldn't tow them home! Only one that didn't pay for itself was an Olds Cutlass that blew shortly after I bought it. After Dad went on and I married Wifey 2, I can't do it now. I drive a 16 year old Ranger now. She's on her 3rd Subaru. She drives 40 miles to work, and had 2 Forresters that ran over 250 thousand miles with very little repair. Worst I've had was front wheel drive GMs with 4 cylinder. Just kinda crappy cars. Had 3 K cars over the years but for the most part I bought stuff I could work on. V-8s with drive shafts. I'm not claiming to be an expert, just sharing my experiences. 7mm
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
doing schit like that is why people stopped buying American
The Cimmaron was a Chevy Nova not a Cavalier.
I don't think it is. Read up on the Chevy J-Body
The Nova was a cross project between Chevy and Toyota - it was closer to a Corolla and because of that it was probably a decent little car.
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The differences between the Cimarron and the econobox Chevrolet Cavalier were few, and were all cosmetic. There have been successful badge-engineered luxury cars before, but these have always been cars which weren't too far off from the rest of what the brand had to offer. The Cimarron was not only obviously a Cavalier with Cadillac badges on it, it also clearly didn't belong in the Cadillac lineup. The gap between it and the next-smallest/cheapest car in the lineup was just too big.
have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings
The ultimate junk was the Cadillac Catera. NOt only was it junk but seriously overpriced Junk. The Cadillac product manager must have been laughing his nutz off after they launched that. No one mentioned the Yugo
Because they sell more of them Dumb Phugg and they are actually driven and not sitting in a mechanic shop. They last 10 to 1 .. Easy Peasy
In your dreams. Next time, try responding with facts - not fiction.
Prove otherwise or STFU. Ford is no longer selling sedans or will be shortly. Chevy keeps discontinuing sedans and cars. Oh the Horror, think of all the aggravation they are saving consumers.
Different Nova, not the re badged Toyota. You know, the real Nova. I hear Chevy couldn't sell them in Mexico, Nova sounds like no va that means doesn't go.
"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed-unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." James Madison
I had a Renault LeCar. i think I gave $300 for it. I hated it and flogged on it but it just kept on ticking. What a piece of doo. It made the Dodge Colt look like a prize.
It was almost like the American companies got together and said "Let the sh-tbox wars begin"
Geno
I know the Pinto was a cheap get by car, but it was about all I could afford when I got out of high school in 1979. I ran the wheels off of that thing, Turned out to be solid dependable transportation for many miles and years.
I submit for your consideration the turdlike Ford Grenada for the chittiest automobile of all time.
Not even in the same ballpark with the likes of a Vega. My brother and my friend Carl both drove Granada's for alot of years and alot of miles wth little trouble. The unsleeved aluminum engine in the Vega was absolute junk with a useful life of about 40,000 - 50,000 miles. By that time they were so worn they burned more oil than gas.
Dad always had a company provided car, was sales for a division of JNJ. I remember dad talking about a bunch of his counterparts ordering K-cars w/turbos. The turbos proved unreliable and very quickly made the non-approved list. I can also remember him being very unhappy when he had to go from a "Full-Size" RWD 3.8L V-6 Buick Century to the newer model w/3.0L and FWD.
My aunt, best buddy in high school, and my sister all had Citations. They were all pretty reliable.
Sister had a Dodge Omni and mom had a Plymouth Horizon, both were reliable and got around in the snow pretty well but uff-da were they ugly.
I can walk on water.......................but I do stagger a bit on alcohol.
The ultimate junk was the Cadillac Catera. NOt only was it junk but seriously overpriced Junk. The Cadillac product manager must have been laughing his nutz off after they launched that. No one mentioned the Yugo
That Catera was actually an Opel built in Germany.
Surprised no one has mentioned the Opel Manta.
In high school we stuffed a 351 Cleveland into a Pinto. We also built two Vegas. One had a 350 in it the other we put a 454 in.
Your mind is your primary weapon. Never let it get rusty.
My first new car was a 1980 Buick Skylark.X-car.4 door. Best car ever. 2.8 transverse mounted V6. I kept it for 4 years and then gave it to my dad. My dad kept it ..honed it.. until the mid 90s. Had over 2500000 and never used a drop of oil. Finally just rotted away. dave
Chevette , Chevrolet designers of the time must have been on drugs.
I drove beaters for years - never paid more than $3600 for a car until I was 45 years old. Back in the day I owned & drove three Chevettes and bought two others for spare parts. I found an easy way to patch a rusted out floor board was to use a kick panel out of an old aluminum storm door, tin snips, rubber mallet and some roofing tar.
I’m glad I did it. I saved a lot of money and was debt free at 50. I would not want to do it now.
"There's no schadenfreude like Hillary Clinton schadenfreude." - Tamara Keel
Bought my wife a new Dodge Aries in '87 A metallic rose color with a red interior with the 2.6 I4, automatic. Was the perfect travel car for us and good on gas. Put more than 180,000 on it and the only thing I ever had to do to it was replace a bad motor mount after about 8 years. Replaced the brakes once and then the regular oil changes. Had it for 10 years and then gave it to my niece without a scratch on it. She allowed it to develop an oil leak which resulted in a vehicle fire a year later.