Cars had carburetors then. In order to pass emissions standards, they had to tune them very lean. Adjusting the choke on the carburetor would have straightened that out.
I grew up in the 67-85. My grandparents bought my sister her first car in 1981, an Oldsmobile Omega. It was a very very good car. She drove it until 1988 when she gave it to me when I joined the Navy and needed a beater car. The interior was plush with very nice dash and appointments. Shannon ordered something real rare for the time, a black interior with dark brown burlwood trim combined with very nice chrome accents. The exterior was silver with a 1/4 rear soft top. The two issues we had were (1) paint… the silver on all GM vehicles of that time faded quickly and flaked off leaving the grey primer. (2) the 4 cylinder engine blew a head gasket and we would have to drain the oil, add metal shavings and a lake plug to the radiator which would clog up the water leak into the oil. I drove it that way for 4 years. Took it to a junk yard for salvage at 189,000 miles.
Here's a contrarian retrospect. I bought a 'brass hat' X-11 in '81 as a demo car. Drove it all over the nation, did a couple mods and back in the day, it was a blast. Had in NY, sold in in San Diego. Once the brake recall was done, it was fairly reliable for the times.
These truly were garbage cars. My parents had the Buick Skylark equivalent and it had so many problems the car was virtually rebuilt by the time they got rid of it three years later. That same year (1980) they also bought a Toyota Tercel, also a first-year model. It had ONE problem in seven years of ownership, and went through endless hell between New England and western New York winter weather. They vowed to never buy American again.
They released it far too early, in April 1979. They should have taken an extra 6 months to work the kinks out of the design. The Nova and its sister cars were still selling well enough that waiting and refining the car a bit more should have been no problem.
There is a story of a Chevrolet Vega that had a frozen transmission in Park on the transport. They had to get a tow truck to drag it off the truck. Personally I would have sent it back. The Citation rear brakes locked up which caused the car to spin out on the road even at a low speed. On a positive note the Citation was excellent in snow. It could get out of anything Mother Nature threw at it.
Citation was rushed to market for this reason. The test drivers and engineers wanted some more time to iron out the faults but the higher ups wanted to beat Chrysler to market no matter the cost. It worked at first selling 800 thousand cars in the first year. By the second year that figure dropped by 50% and it tumbled fast. This car basically spoon fed GM's customers to the competition.
I had forgotten the cars of the 1980s when I was in high school. Hey look, the new Chevys only have 12 defects on average. This is their best year yet.
GM had a massive hit on their hands but let it down with the usual quality control/cost cutting bean counter nonsense. It still goes on to this day but not nearly this bad. These cars, the Vega, the 5.7 diesel, the Cadillac 8-6-4 and the HT 4100 helped destroy GM's once great market share leaving them a mere shadow of there former selves today!
The thing about these were they were very small cars for the time with a huge amount of interior room. They were lighter and had smaller engines, so they got much better gas mileage than most cars at the time. Most foreign cars at the time were way too cramped. They had to copy what our car makers were doing right in order to sell as well as they later ultimately did.
Yeesh. 50% more on top of the car's price just for the things we take for granted today. Things like A/C, auto transmission, and FM stereo with cassette deck. Nice mark up on that stuff.
I wonder if the good handling comments are because Bob got one of the "doctored up" press cars that ended up not being representative of what was sold to the public.
I wonder if this was one of the cars GM gave to the press with equal-length half shafts that would not be available to its customers (Car and Driver raked them over the coals for that). Once they got the bugs out, this was not a bad car. My father's '81 ran perfectly and had only a few minor problems over the 120,000 mile he kept it. The only major annoyance on this no-AC car was a heater that wouldn't quite shut off during the summer; I ended up putting a garden-hose shutoff valve in the heater hose that we closed in the spring and opened in the fall.
As with all GM vehicles I owned I had to pump the gas while the key was turned and had to hold the pedal down a little to keep it running. If I pumped the gas before turning the key like mechanics recommend it would take forever for it to idle. Wouldn’t stay running when cold if I didn’t help it.
I bought a 1973 Chevy Vega in 1981 with 37k miles on it... It seriously failed it 50,000 MI. It was my last American car for many years. I now drive a 2011 Kia soul brand new and it now has 217,000 mi on it still running like the day I bought it.
Hey Guys, we've got someone wanting to review our new car! Hey lets send them that second rate model in the corner - that will get us a wonderful response from the reviewer!
Not true. Maybe the 1980 or early 81. I had an 85' for many years. I was the second owner. Third if you can't my parents owning it. It was very reliable. The issues it had, only developed after the car was something like 15 years old and they were minor.
If I remember well what I read GM gave automotive journalists a Chevy Citation that was fixed and “reengineered” by GM in house mechanics in order to work better than the normal Citation to be sent to dealerships. Yet still the corrected Citation had trouble starting and was full of rattle noise. I can imagine how bad a Citation would be without the factory team corrections…. Probably a lot worse than the Fiat Strada Bob also tested…
I miss green interiors! My uncle had two Citations in a row as company cars, the first one was lousy and the second much better. Another cousin had multiple X-11s, all bought well used, that served him well. Neither one had to eat the depreciation that would've been the final insult to someone who bought one new.
These were terrible cars, in the early years any X Cars were bad in build quality and reliability. The orders were pouring in for the brand new 1980 Chevrolet Citations but unfortunately came all the recalls for brake system problems and fuel fires as well as build quality issues, the X Cars only had a 5 year run and unfortunately by the time the issues were gone the damage was already done. They were replaced more of a less by the A Body cars, aka the Chevrolet Celebrity.
@@emeyer6963 that`s correct. My aunt and uncle purchased one of these in 1980 and it was junk from day one. They had this car four years. Their Citation was eventually traded for a Ford Thunderbird. That car had some minor issues but nothing like the Citation. Today my uncle likes Toyota`s and my aunt prefers Volkswagen`s.
@@emeyer6963: They certainly did for many years to come. Later that decade, they had rebadged a Corolla and called it Nova. They had already been selling an Isuzu as a Chevy "LUV". All the Chevy GEO cars were Toyota's or Suzuki's, and some Saturn Vue SUV's had a Honda powertrain.
What a complete piece of junk....brand-new right out the box it had problems. Parents had an '82 in the late 80s and it only lasted a years or so. Not to mention being in Ohio it just fell apart.
It's a carbureted engine! You have to set the choke before you start it! You have to be smarter than what you're operating, too. I could have got that car to start on the first attempt...
I missed that, and I apologize. With that being an early production model, I can bet that GM had to do a few things to it after your test, especially the starting issues.
Bob hit that bump so hard it shook the camera for the rest of the segment.
The only thing missing is the
"Not starting" light on the instrument panel.
The GM quality that made Toyota famous.
Yes, those Toyotas were so wonderful that they rusted out after two years... like there other Japanese counterparts
@@andrewcolsen dude can I assume you live in Alaska…all cars rust in that area.
More like the GM quality that made Chrysler famous.
Clever !
we had one for years and it didn't have any of these problems. The x cars were the perfect combination of size and economy.
Welcome to the early 80's- when brand new American cars had trouble starting 🤪
Cars had carburetors then. In order to pass emissions standards, they had to tune them very lean. Adjusting the choke on the carburetor would have straightened that out.
@@sasz2107 The electronically controlled carburetors that arrived in 1981 did a lot to improve the cold-start behavior of most GM engines.
These are absolutely priceless.
Keep 'em coming!
I grew up in the 67-85. My grandparents bought my sister her first car in 1981, an Oldsmobile Omega. It was a very very good car. She drove it until 1988 when she gave it to me when I joined the Navy and needed a beater car.
The interior was plush with very nice dash and appointments. Shannon ordered something real rare for the time, a black interior with dark brown burlwood trim combined with very nice chrome accents. The exterior was silver with a 1/4 rear soft top.
The two issues we had were (1) paint… the silver on all GM vehicles of that time faded quickly and flaked off leaving the grey primer. (2) the 4 cylinder engine blew a head gasket and we would have to drain the oil, add metal shavings and a lake plug to the radiator which would clog up the water leak into the oil. I drove it that way for 4 years. Took it to a junk yard for salvage at 189,000 miles.
Tesla quality decades ahead of its time.
Here's a contrarian retrospect. I bought a 'brass hat' X-11 in '81 as a demo car. Drove it all over the nation, did a couple mods and back in the day, it was a blast. Had in NY, sold in in San Diego. Once the brake recall was done, it was fairly reliable for the times.
The early press cars were notoriously far more carefully prepared than the rushjob production '80 models. I suppose the brass-hat cars were too.
My dad had one what a POS! His next car was you guessed it a Honda.
And the Honda rusted out after two years...
Wow comparing Chevy to a Honda is like comparing a hamburger to a filet.
I have one and it's great. I've never had any issues since I restored it.
Unfortunately, I owned two of these rolling garbage cans😢
If you're in your 40s now you knew an old lady that drove one of these lol
These truly were garbage cars. My parents had the Buick Skylark equivalent and it had so many problems the car was virtually rebuilt by the time they got rid of it three years later. That same year (1980) they also bought a Toyota Tercel, also a first-year model. It had ONE problem in seven years of ownership, and went through endless hell between New England and western New York winter weather.
They vowed to never buy American again.
What a stupid idea putting the radio vertical.
God, giving me horrible flashbacks of being a kid in the 80's when it seemed as if everyone was always having "car trouble".
Just like with the original Vega, GM could have had a really great car, but they decided to cut corners and build it on the cheap.
They released it far too early, in April 1979. They should have taken an extra 6 months to work the kinks out of the design. The Nova and its sister cars were still selling well enough that waiting and refining the car a bit more should have been no problem.
The only difference between the Citation and a Vega is that the engine wouldn't wouldn't blow apart at 40- 50,000 miles. 😂
Damn, the quality of new cars back then. It didn't even want to start 😬
There is a story of a Chevrolet Vega that had a frozen transmission in Park on the transport. They had to get a tow truck to drag it off the truck. Personally I would have sent it back. The Citation rear brakes locked up which caused the car to spin out on the road even at a low speed. On a positive note the Citation was excellent in snow. It could get out of anything Mother Nature threw at it.
The Phoenix dash was superior.
GM's "X" body cars---making import buyers for life.
Well Said
You'd be better off to wait for next year's k cars....
Citation was rushed to market for this reason. The test drivers and engineers wanted some more time to iron out the faults but the higher ups wanted to beat Chrysler to market no matter the cost. It worked at first selling 800 thousand cars in the first year. By the second year that figure dropped by 50% and it tumbled fast. This car basically spoon fed GM's customers to the competition.
I had forgotten the cars of the 1980s when I was in high school. Hey look, the new Chevys only have 12 defects on average. This is their best year yet.
“Sporty” styling...? My how the times have changed.
Sporty...for a turtle
GM had a massive hit on their hands but let it down with the usual quality control/cost cutting bean counter nonsense. It still goes on to this day but not nearly this bad. These cars, the Vega, the 5.7 diesel, the Cadillac 8-6-4 and the HT 4100 helped destroy GM's once great market share leaving them a mere shadow of there former selves today!
Thanks so much for your myriad comments on various cars. You are a fountain of knowledge about automobiles and eloquent as well!
All True !
The K cars were way better
K stand for Krap?
@@litespeedga They came with a (5) year warranty.
That’s like saying a baby’s diaper smells better then a Ga dumpster in July
17.5 mpg with the 4cyl. Same as my Silverado with the 5.3.
Vs the 1980 Silverado 4wd that got 7.5 mpg with the 5.7L 350 V-8.
The thing about these were they were very small cars for the time with a huge amount of interior room. They were lighter and had smaller engines, so they got much better gas mileage than most cars at the time. Most foreign cars at the time were way too cramped. They had to copy what our car makers were doing right in order to sell as well as they later ultimately did.
Omg 1980 wow loved it
Adjusted for Inflation for September 2018: Estimated Base Price $4700 = $16,089.04; Estimated Price as Tested $7,000 = $23,962.40
I just bought a 2018 Mazda 6 Touring for $23300 new.Automakers have come a long way since 1979
1:15........WHAT THE.......... Was this thing actually OINKING/SNORTING as you were backing out of the driveway?!!!!!
It's like a pig xD
It's from the front struts.
Big fan of Bob Mayer back in the day. Owned an 83 with the 6. 2.8 I believe.
Thanks, Moises!!!
$7K for this crap what was beyond crazy even back then.
The infamous X body cars. Probably one of GM's worst vehicles ever.
The Vega stands alone for that honor.
Yeesh. 50% more on top of the car's price just for the things we take for granted today. Things like A/C, auto transmission, and FM stereo with cassette deck. Nice mark up on that stuff.
I know! They nickle-dimed you for everything back then.
I wonder if the good handling comments are because Bob got one of the "doctored up" press cars that ended up not being representative of what was sold to the public.
Love it I grew up with this car wish I can find one
I wonder if this was one of the cars GM gave to the press with equal-length half shafts that would not be available to its customers (Car and Driver raked them over the coals for that). Once they got the bugs out, this was not a bad car. My father's '81 ran perfectly and had only a few minor problems over the 120,000 mile he kept it. The only major annoyance on this no-AC car was a heater that wouldn't quite shut off during the summer; I ended up putting a garden-hose shutoff valve in the heater hose that we closed in the spring and opened in the fall.
Sold like hotcakes for 2 years, then the problems reared their ugly head, and drove customers to the imports!
These were very bad cars.
As with all GM vehicles I owned I had to pump the gas while the key was turned and had to hold the pedal down a little to keep it running. If I pumped the gas before turning the key like mechanics recommend it would take forever for it to idle. Wouldn’t stay running when cold if I didn’t help it.
That was the two barrel carburetors. GM’s four barrel Rochester carburetors were much better.
Ah, the good old days.
These are cool cars to care about nowadays
And nowadays they all look the same
The Citation caused me to become a lifelong Toyota customer! Worst car I ever owned.
I bought a 1973 Chevy Vega in 1981 with 37k miles on it... It seriously failed it 50,000 MI. It was my last American car for many years. I now drive a 2011 Kia soul brand new and it now has 217,000 mi on it still running like the day I bought it.
@@robertfaulkner7152 The Vega stands alone as GM & Detroit crap.
Absolute JUNK! Still neat though.
Brand new car. Won't start. Front end noises. Honda and Toyota should've been cutting the Big Three commission checks.
Car so bad even the videotape malfunctioned. I thought these were pretty cars, but flawed to no end.
I had two of these,both were junk.
so wheres the video for the Ωmega ?????
Hey Guys, we've got someone wanting to review our new car! Hey lets send them that second rate model in the corner - that will get us a wonderful response from the reviewer!
I knew two people who had citations...horrible reliability.
Not true. Maybe the 1980 or early 81. I had an 85' for many years. I was the second owner. Third if you can't my parents owning it. It was very reliable. The issues it had, only developed after the car was something like 15 years old and they were minor.
If I remember well what I read GM gave automotive journalists a Chevy Citation that was fixed and “reengineered” by GM in house mechanics in order to work better than the normal Citation to be sent to dealerships. Yet still the corrected Citation had trouble starting and was full of rattle noise. I can imagine how bad a Citation would be without the factory team corrections…. Probably a lot worse than the Fiat Strada Bob also tested…
I miss green interiors!
My uncle had two Citations in a row as company cars, the first one was lousy and the second much better. Another cousin had multiple X-11s, all bought well used, that served him well. Neither one had to eat the depreciation that would've been the final insult to someone who bought one new.
That car was a real piece of crap
these x cars were ugly,unreliable,under powered,clunky and terrible to work on
Too bad about the ruined last half of the video.
I know... but sometimes 39 years will do bad things to old video tape! All in all, I've been pretty lucky!!
@@thecardsaysmoops The Citations didn't last too long either.Maybe they should of been built by the video tape company instead of Chevy
Lots of buyer's of these turds left GM for an import car at next purchase and haven't been back again.
Sporty? Uh....no lol
These were terrible cars, in the early years any X Cars were bad in build quality and reliability. The orders were pouring in for the brand new 1980 Chevrolet Citations but unfortunately came all the recalls for brake system problems and fuel fires as well as build quality issues, the X Cars only had a 5 year run and unfortunately by the time the issues were gone the damage was already done. They were replaced more of a less by the A Body cars, aka the Chevrolet Celebrity.
I remember how lousy these old Citations were.
GM sold a lot of cars for Toyota and Honda after people drove this junk for a few years
@@emeyer6963 that`s correct. My aunt and uncle purchased one of these in 1980 and it was junk from day one. They had this car four years. Their Citation was eventually traded for a Ford Thunderbird. That car had some minor issues but nothing like the Citation. Today my uncle likes Toyota`s and my aunt prefers Volkswagen`s.
@@emeyer6963: They certainly did for many years to come. Later that decade, they had rebadged a Corolla and called it Nova. They had already been selling an Isuzu as a Chevy "LUV". All the Chevy GEO cars were Toyota's or Suzuki's, and some Saturn Vue SUV's had a Honda powertrain.
@@mgp870 Volkswagon quality is worsening. Now they are a union shop in the USA.
What a complete piece of junk....brand-new right out the box it had problems. Parents had an '82 in the late 80s and it only lasted a years or so. Not to mention being in Ohio it just fell apart.
Fully loaded. What in the heck made this car fully loaded for it to be $3,000 dollars more?! Lol. Raggedy American cars 🚗!
It was an oversized chevette...chitvette 🤣😂🤣
It's a carbureted engine! You have to set the choke before you start it! You have to be smarter than what you're operating, too. I could have got that car to start on the first attempt...
Do you actually think I wasn't aware of setting the choke? Of course I did that. There's even a shot of my foot coming off the accelerator.
I missed that, and I apologize. With that being an early production model, I can bet that GM had to do a few things to it after your test, especially the starting issues.
@@carwrtr1 No problem. Thanks for being interested AND for commenting!
17.5 mpg for a 4 cyl??? seriously?? GM Junk
Remember the GM Mark of Excellence ? Those were the days our children will never experience.