Yugos were made up till 2008! I'm from Serbia, living in its birth town. Yugos are still a very common sight, I see at least 50 every day, I even daily drive one! Even other Zastava cars like Zastava 101 (the Fiat 128 hatchback), Yugo Florida (marketed as Yugo Sana) and others. They are not as bad as people think they are. Driving one in Serbia is still a good financial choice, parts are still easy to find (at least the regular parts, finding something exotic like fog lights or GVX bumpers is a very hard task), people even convert them to run on LPG, so they end up being cleaner than many new cars! So, Yugo was never bad, it was just unsuited for American market.
What you say has a lot of truth to it. We Americans [ North America] drive ❗️ Instead of around some little village, to town and back, we can easily drive 80 kilometers a day, and much of it at 80-100 kph. City streets, too are, are stop and go up to 64 kph, then stop, then 64 kph, ….. [ although Roundabouts are gaining popularity]. So a car that is “good [ enough] in other countries, just aren’t good at all in North America. 📻🚗🙂
My great uncle bought a 1988 you go GV with air-conditioning at a Ford dealership in Colorado. Later on when he ended up moving to Kansas, he didn’t have anywhere to store it. I always thought it was a fascinating little car so they gave it to me. I actually had it running just a couple of years ago again. The only thing mine needs is a carburetor rebuild and a new alternator and starter. My uncle had done that timing belt service at 40,000 and then at 80,000, and I have 84,000 now. Although whatever age is on the timing belt might be a problem. But I honestly am in the process of getting it in a little better condition and somewhat restoring.
Cool. I don't think it will ever hit "collector car" status, but you know what, if you're so inclined, do some videos on it. the walk around before, and as you do work on it to get it running again! I'd love to see them myself!
You left out that they also made buses and motorcycles. The We go and the I go. Sorry, I am the proud owner of a Yugo that I drove probably a hundred thousands miles. It did me well driving to college and back. Yes, helped me to learn how to work on cars. So? Just, like any other vehicle you need to do the maintenance and you will be fine. It didn't hurt that my first car was a Fiat Spyder either. Peace.
I was working at a Mitsubishi dealer in the early 90 and a Yugo was trained in and I did get to drive it. It was just a short drive but you could tell that you definitely got what you pay for. Not a car to take on a long trip or on the highway fell like a kiddy car.
I remember watching MotorWeek's review of the Yugo and Hyundai Excel (both in the same episode!), and told my dad to watch it. He reneged on his plan to buy one for my older sister, and bought her a Ford Escort Pony instead...I remember installing a $30 Kraco casette stereo with two speakers and a radio antenna in that car to get around the radio delete 🤣 (this was before I ever had my learner's permit!)
My parents bought a 3 year old Yugo back in the day with around 30,000 miles for $600. Haha. They had it a number of years and only needed a transmission mount besides maintenance items. Still just very basic transportation. Lucky never in an accident!
Maintenance is one factor to keeping a car on the road I would say a major one although some cars are more prone to problems than others I really don't believe historically this was worse car out there it sounds crazy but I thought it was nice it reminded me of the Ford model t .
Our local Ford dealer who is still Rusty Eck Ford today was called, Rusty Eck Ford, DMC, and Yugo. (Rusty Wreck the dealership was referred to but mostly because it rhymed.) I still remember as a teenager what we said about the Old Fiat from Mr. Bricklin. I mean Yugo from the cool DeLorean of Canada type car. "I will go where ever you go, but I won't go in a Yugo"
I think the tell-all in your video is that "people who owned one would by another one". Because there wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with them. Like, at all. They were basic transportation, and if you could be bothered to do consistent basic maintenance on them (which, obviously, some US Americans could not), they will not die on you, ever. And they were dirt cheap, and economical. And if they do break, you can fix them with a hammer and a piece of string.
My memories of the Yugo include seeing one on a used lot in 1989 for $995 (great resale!), and another on a flatbed full of crushed junkers in '91 (great longevity!). If you haven't already, I encourage you and other subscribers to plug "Zastava Koral" into your search engine of choice to see "what might have been" in the USA, and what was sold in other markets until 2008.
Not sure if you knew this but Zastava tried to rebrand as ZMW (Zastava Motor Works). Of course the similar named automaker from Munich threatened to sue.
My ex decided we had to buy a Yugo. Mostly it was because our Pinto was a mess, but also every time we went to Europe we'd wind up renting a Fiat Panda, which is essentially the same car. We got an '88 GVX top of the line and it was pretty dire. We broke up, not because of the car, and I moved to California. At the time it was over $500 to upgrade the Yugo to CA emissions standards and I just couldn't swing it. So we left it back at the Ford dealer in the dead of night. Ford sent a single letter saying "you can't do that!" but for being a voluntary reposession, nothing ever happened. Ford ate the car and ultimately never said boo. It was not a well car. The steering would stick and all the knobs fell off
Basic maintenance is the key to keeping any vehicle reliable. Common sense also helps. I have a book on the history of the Yugo. Fascinated with strange and unusual things. 😀❤️
That's pretty funny! I don't completely agree. *apparently* with routine maintenance the break-downs are managable by roadside mechanics. They're not *exactly* disposable......
I bought a used Yugo in the early 90's for dirt cheap. Drove it for a couple years before it fell apart. Enjoyed it for a time, but really took a lot of ribbing for it!
Back in 1986, whilst I was in college, I was invited to take part in an hands-on automotive survey regarding economy cars. This was the first time I had encountered a Yugo up close as it really wasn't something that I was remotely interested in; my daily driver at the time was a Rabbit GTI, so even the best economy cars didn't have much appeal to me. But I was a starving college student that happened to be an automotive enthusiast so I took part - hey, $25 is $25... I remember using some of that money to buy the launch issue of 'Automobile' magazine, David E. Davis' then-new venture. There were two main things that stuck in my mind regarding the quality of the Yugo. First, it was the first brand-new car that I had ever seen that had multiple runs in the paint, and paint so thin in places that you could see down to the primer (or maybe that was just bare metal) The second thing was the quality of the cloth on the seats. You know that ultra-cheap, ultra-thin terrycloth used on low-quality beach towels? Yeah, that's what the cloth felt like. I could see it being worn out or easily torn in a matter of months. The survey company didn't tell us initially who was sponsoring the survey, but afterwards I found out that it was Honda. I don't remember all of the other brands were there - probably Toyota, Hyundai and a few other of the usual suspects - but I do remember Honda being the best of all of the cars that were featured, and Yugo being, well, absolute bottom of the barrel. Yes, it was cheap, overwhelmingly so, and you were constantly reminded of that fact with every look and feel. I've owned some crap cars in my time including an extremely low-spec, beat up and dented on every body panel Ford Windscar (3.0l cast iron lump, no A/C, no power windows, no power locks, no power mirrors, single slider, no defroster (you got the grid but not the switch) - I doubled the value of that car by putting in a $10 factory radio off of eBay that had a cassette deck so I could run a tape adapter for my iPod. As depressingly terrible and uninspiring as that PoS was, it was leaps and bounds beyond that brand-new Yugo I had the pleasure of checking out in 1986. I got the Ferd for $1 and managed to sell it a few years later for $350, an amount that probably paid for the antidepressants necessary to drive it. My parents warned me not to drive too slowly through their neighborhood as the neighbors may call the cops on me for allegedly casing the area. Whilst I was unemployed for a spell it did get some use as the local homeless population discovered that it was not possible to lock the slider so they slept in it; at least it was useful for somebody...
Interesting story! Shame that Honda didn't include the VW Rabbit itself in the the survey. Oh well. I guess VW have cut back on the Golf's interior with every step from the Mk4, 5, 6, 7, and now 8 to the point where it is not really superior to other economy cars anymore.
Yugo was a nice and contemporary hatchback of the era between late '70ies and '80ies, as a matter of fact more like '70ies than '80ies. That was one of the designer concepts for Fiat 128 that Zavodi Crvena Zastava purchased from Fiat to sell as it's original design of the final product, but fact is that a Yugo was a Fiat to it's core. But Yugo was not a Soviet monopolist car, at domestic Yugoslav market that car had a competitor of contemporary western models, but in order to protect a Zastava-Yugo factory a Yugoslav government try to impose a protective fees and customs for imports of western models. Answer of some western car manufacturers was a assembly lines of some of their models in Yugoslavia, so VW, Opel, Renault, Citroen and Fiats assembled under Fiat brand at the same Zastava-Yugo factory were sold as the domestic cars made in Yugoslavia, so no a protective fees for those cars. And a poor Yugo-pljugo (Yugo-sucker) only had a chance to conquere the rock bottom of it's domestic market. However, even in that segment Yugo had a strong competitors in Soviet VAZ Lada-Žiguli and PZ Fiat Polski, those cars were cheap sedans and station wagons, and Fiats as well, and Zastava-Yugo assembled Lada as domestic Yugoslav car, probably to strangle a Yugo was only a small hatchback. So in order to survive Yugo suppose to be cheap, the cheapest one, and the most accessible car, that means a car were downgraded, and there was no a quality control what so ever. That means that a brand new Yugo directly from the assembly line was a car DIY project. It was highly desirable to dissemble a new Yugo in order to reassemble it correctly, just for a quality control reason, and if you do so you gonna get a decent and durable small hatchback. All of those still seen on the roads of ex Yugoslavia had a such a treatment of their respective owners. So as a Yugo owner, you have an opportunity to pass a learning curve to become a car mechanic. And if you already have an dissembled Yugo, you had an opportunity to upgrade it. Yugo was a Fiat, Italy is just a short ride avay, and Abarth car tuning kits all custom made for Yugos were must have, an engine tuning kits, brakes and suspension and car body tuning kits, you name it. You could make a real small Abarth beast from it. But by all means a Yugo was considered as a crap, even in Yugoslavia, it was a product of socialist planning economy, but that crap was usually "my first car", but as crap it had some potential if you invest a further work and money in it.
@@AllCarswithJon I had one back in the 80's. they are actually pretty damn good little cars and mine has never left me walking. its a hoot at the Cars & Coffee meets here in Austin! I also have a 79 Versailles, my first car 1980 Honda Accord LX, 1989 Nissan Pulsar, 64 Corvair, and 1984 Dodge Rampage. oh, my 85 Celica GTS convertible I've had since 1996.
My only memory is walking around Pik A Part A junkyard in California I was looking for a front end suspension for a Mustang 2 and I saw a Yugo with 35K on it...and very few pieces missing
Never owned a Yugo, but vividly remember its inception and going to a local Nissan dealer who sold them to look at one with a friend. From what I recall it was tiny and appeared flimsy. I think we test drove it?? Anyway, ironically Im of Serbian heritage and remember how my father was initially intrigued by the car. Never had any other interaction with it. As a side note, we did own one of the first Hyundais. I believe it was an 87 Excel. It was meant to be first car. Remember driving it home. The engine was loud and buzzy. I also recall it having a digital clock which impressed me at the time. The excitement was short-lived as it unceremoniously stalled out in the middle of traffic a few hours later while riding around with my brother and a few friends. My father was furious and stopped the check on it although the dealer graciously offered him a huge discount to keep the car. No deal. I think the cotter pin came out of the transmission. A linkage issue?? Haven't owned a Hyundai since. :)
Have you checked out Hyundais lately? They have really improved the quality and reliability of their products. I have a 2011 Hyundai Sonata. It's one of the best cars I ever had.
As I recall, the Hyundai Excel had a very poor reputation, comparable to that of the Yugo. But they worked on their engineering and ended up making very competent cars. Also, I remember renting a Turkish-made Fiat in Istanbul in 1995. Best Fiat I ever drove. They did a good job with that car.
@@glennso47 Unfortunately, Hyundais and Kias have a theft issue. Some kids have found a way to start these vehicles without a key. They carry cellular phones and a diagnostic programming tool and add software to start the car and drive away with it.
I can vaguely remember seeing these as a kid. I was born in January of 80. Seen a lot of changes in the automotive landscape. Even when I was young, I can remember hearing my dad speak of these cars and how bad they were. Great video. Very thorough. You cover so much information in such a short time.
My Uncle bought a YUGO sometime in the early 1990's.. One of the automatic versions.. Got to drive it once and it was the oddest car I had driven at that time.. felt like a lawn chair on a go-kart.. sorry only way I could describe it.. was just a odd feeling car to drive... Years later, (maybe '99), I knew a guy who had one and did a paper route with it.. he loved it but because parts were drying up he had to keep two other YUGO's in his yard just for parts to keep the one going.. or so he told me.
I've only ever seen one yugo, but I'll say this, my mom had an 88 Hyundai, and it was actually worse than our Chevy chevette. She bought a Daytona after that, and it survived until she bought a 2000 Toyota echo that is still on the road today. Not sure if you follow aging wheels or Tavarish, but there's been a yugo circulating around youtube for a few years now and it just recently got a makeover and given to agingwheels :)
My dad bought a Vette in 1976 but sadly it was the Chevette with dealer mounted AC and we drove it to Breckenridge Colorado for a Ski trip from Kansas. He gave the car to my sister and went back to Mercury and Lincoln from then on. Four speed stick was the only saving grace as the automatic would never have climbed a hill. (Extra grand also.) Oh, the good old days. Remember Vapor lock?
My neighbor's son worked at a BMW/Mercedes dealership, as a mechanic. Some one traded in a Yugo, it was a good customer so they didn't want to refuse. It had maybe 100 miles on it, basically new, the dealer wanted nothing to do with it. They offered it for free, to all the employees, no one wanted it, but neighbor's son thought maybe his sister would like a free new car. He said it was the worst decision that he ever made. That customer who traded the yugo, bought it as a toy for his daughter, and regretted it also. But she got a nice Mercedes out of the deal.
The first Yugos were horrible. They improved quality as time went on, but it was too late. A friend of mine got one brand new. His mom’s boyfriend Co-signed. By 35,000 miles it was just worn out. He had the GVL, [ 1.3 L, 5 speed, A/C, ….]. It was always in the shop. But by 35,000, the transmission was going out [ and this, after 2 clutch replacements], the motor was already burning some oil, with blue smoke. Trim pieces fell of/ broke. Window winders snapped in half. The paint was delaminating [ clear coat from base coat], it was beginning to rust. The hatch hinges snapped…. And, you never seen anyone baby a car do much. It got so bad, that they took it directly to the Bank, handed them the keys, and the boyfriend took a hit on his Credit. [ oh, the front end was wearing out, as well.] 📻😱
Great video, love the channel. It didn't help sales when a Yugo was blown off the Mackinac Bridge and it made national news. How bad was the Yugo? Vega owners use to make fun of them, that's how bad!
@@AllCarswithJon No, the accident actually happened, Leslie Pluhar was driving along the Mackinac Bridge when her Yugo lost control and fell into the Mackinac Strait. The remnants of Hurricane Hugo went over Michigan, after the hurricane quickly made a beeline from Charleston, SC in just a few hours.
My friend had one. His mom’s boyfriend backed him, as he was 18 years old. Cute little car, fun to drive. He got the GVL The “L” stood for “ Luxury “. By 37,000 miles, it was just wore out. Pieces broke off, clutch went. Motor was worn out, burning oil ( rings were worn out). Electrical problems, breaks wore out, and problems with a rear break hanging up..... It was so bad, that they took it back to the Bank, parked it and handed the keys over to the bank manager, and his credit was bad for 7 years. One point overlooked. The last of the Yugos had been reworked and had MUCH better quality. Some of them pushed over 150,000 miles- no problems. 📻🙂
A friend who was employed by Xerox as a service representative bought one because he thought he could make money on his mileage reimbursement. He turned it back in on the state lemon law.
The only good thing Yugo had over the Chevrolet Sprint was that at least the Yugo had a four cylinder engine instead of a three cylinder engine. To me, both cars are not worth having at all.
The story we had here in Michigan, I don’t remember the year but the local news reported that on a windy day a Yugo got blown off the Mackac bridge killing the driver.
Thankfully Hyundai has exponentially improved their quality to where they can compete quite well with the best of them. So has KIA. They are great cars now.
I recall test driving one brand new not driving it well due to it being a stick shift and honestly that car felt so cheap it seemed like the turn signal stalk was about to fall off.
I test-drove a Yugo in (I believe) 1988. The salesman took the wheel and I went for the ride. Minutes later, he invited me to take the wheel, so I grabbed the lifting bar to exit the car, and the handle broke as if it were made of peanut brittle. Embarrassed by breaking the Dealer's car, the salesman said something like "Don't worry, we keep a box of these". I bought a 1987 Ford Escort GL instead.
I saw some Yugos in Serbia, moreso than in Croatia. They were still running, some were close to 40 yrs old. They look like tin cans and sound like it! With Serbia and Croatia having annual mandatory car inspections, vehicles are constantly fixed and have quite intense testing requirements to allow them on the roads. Not a vehicle.i would want but you're liable to find them in smaller towns and farming communities.
Hope you make a Hyundai Excel video . I work for a Korean boss . And many in Korean community bought a Hyundai Excel out of sheer Nationalism. To help their fellow countryman. Even though every single one of them admit how bad was the Gen 1 Hyundai
I remember an ad from a Cevy-Dealer, which also sold Yugos, in the Los Angeles Times in Summer 1988, that said „Buy a 1988 Chevrolet and get a Yugo for free.“
Zastava was reorganized in about 2000, and successfully produced self-designed and licensed Fiat cars until 2016 or 2017. I understand that the company went bankrupt in May 2017.
The biggest mistake for Zastava was having a deal with Bricklin IMO. The guy was ambitious but dumb as hell when it comes to the strategy. No proper maintenance, limited spare parts ability. And actually the last but not least problem - only one model availability. Lada faced similar service problems in Canada but in the late 80's they actually got read of the partner and built proper dealership with three models (Signet, Samara, Niva).
Thanks, John, indeed, a very interesting summary of that peculiar East-West automotive project. Just a footnote to where you say that Yugoslavia was a "communist nation". This is only partly true. Indeed, after World War Two Yugoslavia was overtaken by the Communists led by the iron hand of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, but he cultivated a peculiar species of Communism that was in some ways differed from what you could find in the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, Cuba, etc. While still Communist, the economy had some capitalist features and, for example, Yugoslav workers could travel to Gastarbeit in Western countries, such as Italy. So, in a way Yugoslavia was "between and betwixt", not a Western country, but not a Soviet-dominated standard communist state either...
Thanks for the video "British quality expert" HAHAHAHAHA it is a good one. I remember very well the Yugo in Canada. It was sold in the same period as Russian Lada Signet (Fiat 124 build under license) Skoda 120 (checkoslovak built and rear engine) and Dacia 1300 (License built Renault 12) They all packed up in the late 80's "Merci"
Thanks for sharing! We never had the Lada or Dacia here in the US :( My grand parents were Canadian and I'm surprised I didn't know Lada's were ever available up ther!
@@AllCarswithJon Yup! And sometimes the owner of those “commy” car had trouble get gasoline while travelling to USA for a vacation. The Garage owner did not want to serve gasoline for car made in a communist country.
The Tatra 613 was a better car with rear mounted V8 air-cooled engine manufactured by Czechoslovak manufacturer Tatra from the 1970s to the 1990s, Fidel Castro favorite car. The Russian car ZIL-117 was better to.
Many from Eastern Europe say the Yugo was dependable - they had worse cars. You have to replace the timing belt more frequently than other cars of the era. Many people say they are easy to maintain and not all that bad of a car, if you maintain them. If you treat it as deposable, then it is. Compared to a Corolla its not a good car but for for the price they could get you from A to B. The Yugo is closely related to the Fiat 127, which wasn't all that bad of a city car in Europe. But European city cars were not generally suited to American driving conditions. Its probably as good of a car as a Ford Model T, the Yugo was wrong for the U.S. in the 1980s. Many considered the Geo Metro as disposble too, but they were pretty dependable and low maintenance and can go 300,000 miles.
Thanks for the comment, appreciate it. I remember the old Geo Metro and always liked them because they were such simple cars. Two memories, the first is watching one being started on a cold morning and with the 3 cylinder engine you could see individual "Puffs" come out of the tiny tailpipe! The second was when I was in the market for a car and drove one, and told the saleman it just wasn't enough car. It was the wrong size of cheap and fun. :)
@@AllCarswithJon Cars like the Yugo are meant for short trips in places where people used mass transit on a regular basis. They weren't meant for U.S. freeway and distance cruising. In short, the Yugo failed for many of the reaons that the Fiat 500 failed in the U.S.. Compared to the Yugo, the 500 is actually a pretty good little car. Americans just don't like little cars. Manufacturers don't like small cars because they have so many regulations these days, a "cheap" car today has far more content than when the Datsun 510 was popular. There is a lot of steel in todays small cars for crash protection. A Fiat 500 can weigh up to 2,500 pounds due to the safety regulations, they don't get the fuel economy that the small size suggests. With the passenger seat removed you can haul 8 foot lumber in a Metro with the hatch closed - with 10 foot lumber the hatch needs to be cracked open. My Metros never ceased to amaze me. The Suzuki G10 is a very durable motor, its a popular engine for ultra light aircraft. I'd have liked to have seen a four valve version of the G10 like some of the Daihatsu cars had (not in U.S. versions). The 2002 federal crash regulations ended this generation of Metro/Swift in the U.S. I still have four Metros and won't get rid of them as I think nothing like them can ever be built again.. I bought them well used and put another 150,000 miles on them. At one time you could get low cost JDM motors for Metros. I still have a JDM motor that I should install. Generally, if the oil has been regularly changed, at 350,000 miles you can run a ball hone through the cylinders and re-ring the motor and go for another few years. If the costs of EV batteries drop enough I may convert one of my Metros to an EV. Spending $5K on an EV conversion with 100 mile range would be frugal compared to buying a Tesla, but its still too much for me! Prices on Metros rose during the Covid lockdowns as people without jobs are looking for cheap transportation that they presume that they can repair themselves - they usually can. Americans don't like small cars in general and seem to especially not like hatchbacks. I recently got a set of front control arms for a Metro - parts prices for forgotten cars can be cheap as warehouses want to get rid of old inventory. You can rebuild control arms of Metros by adapting various ball joints from other cars. You can swap in more powerful Honda motors too. The Metro is basically an improved original generation Mini Cooper that is still mini and more reliable, but they were marketed as a pizza delivery guy's car and GM never tried to produce a rally car version - a four wheeled motorcycle, so to speak that only a few Americans actually wanted anyway.
I live in Niles also and have a Yugo stored in my garage. It was my daily driver for years to Pittsburgh and back and then in Columbus. I plan to fire it back up again in the near future. And yes, Rock Auto usually does me well.
I don't remember exactly, I think my mom kept it for about 9 years and got a Cadillac? It was okay comfortable and extremely reliable. I only recall two issues: first was a computer that controlled the fuel mixture went bad, and the second was a bolt in the alternator bracket loosened and fell out and needed to be replace. That second one was at about 100k miles as I recall.
I Have a interesting one I'm from a small town in the North called And if you are from the northern States you are aware of what ice Drag Racing is we have some lunatics up here who will run 8 second drag cars on ice and there is a man from my town who has a Yugo with a ls swap It was featured on 1320 videos and I have seen the current person a couple of times and to see the engineering that goes in to making this car not a piece of garbage is pretty incredible It's also quite terrifying to see 1 with 500 horsepower and nighttress pushing on ice lol
A friend of mine had one in 87 he let me drive it frequently it stalled on a hill so I put it in reverse let off the clutch so I could kickstart it that totally destroyed reverse gear in that car but who needs reverse when the car is so easy to push
The Yugo received the nickname “Commie car” from me after my first experience with one. It was not a flattering nick name. I needed to rent a car one day in the late 80’s and it had to be cheap. So I rented a brand new Yugo. For some reason, I remember the miles on it when I picked it up. 62 miles. I drove it for 2 days until I got my car back. Wow! What a crummy car. It was a brand new car which was terrible in almost every way. Most things sorta worked, but they worked poorly. The heater controls were ineffective, the rear window defogger, while it did come on, could not clear the rear window, the upholstery even though brand new, looked old and ratty, the plastics were terrible. And the color was a terrible mustard butterscotch tone. The wipers worked, in that they came on and moved back and forth, but clearing the windshield was not effective. The heater came on, made noise, but heat was marginal at best. And the list goes on. It was not an acceptable, let alone a halfway decent car. The only bright spot was the engine. It showed the spunk and zing that little Italian cars were known for at the time in their other little cars like the 850 spider and x/9 convertibles, but held back by the rest of the car.
Thanks for the memories. Funny, remember that automakers like rental fleets not just for the sales numbers, but as a way to introduce people to their cars! Guess that didn't work for you and the Yugo? LOL. Oh, and I'll say that "mustard butterscotch" is brilliant - it paints a particularly unfortunate picture in my mind. :)
@@bosanskislavonac I'm sure most Eastern European cars are bad. However, I consider the Yugo the worst of them all. Just my opinion. I'm sure you see other cars that are worse than the Yugo to you. That's fine. I can accept that.
Yugo was not so bad. Extremely cheap, poor quality, but it did the job. In a fact it wasn't very unreliable mechanicaly because it was simple. There were much worse cars in East Europe, trust me 😄 (like Trabant). Understandably for Americans it was completely shit comparing to American brands. It was a car made for poor working class and it was massively produced. You need to understand that they needed to mobilize people, but you cant do that with expensive cars if workers wages are bottom low.
Yes, I remember these when they were new! Never drove or rode in one. The last time I saw one was in July 2017 in Newport Washington. We were returning from a trip to Alaska in my 78 Pinto, that I bought new and are still driving . I have the Yugo in my video at 3:54. ua-cam.com/video/_toFqlPV0UQ/v-deo.html
My dad almost bought one back before I was born in the late 80’s after seeing a coworkers new one luckily the coworkers started falling apart before my dad pulled the trigger
What are you call a Yogo with a sunroof. A skip,,,,, The word was when NATO started bombing they looked for the Yogo factory to save the world from Yogos
I remember a comedian who said that he saw a Club in a Yugo. So he stole the Club. I think that's what you called that they that locked on the steering wheel so the car can't get stolen
There was a difference between socialist and communist, and yugoslavia was socialist. Also many many cars have to be adopted to other markets , american in europe can't have the same lights, european can't have the same bumpers in usa , etc ... and yes the car was supposed to be small, for european roads. Also try driving some british Reliants ...that was pure crap
The Yugo is without a shadow of a doubt the absolute worst car ever made! Most cars you can survive in a 35mph collision! Not the Yugo! It was cheaply made and was a slow joke of a car! I will never recommend anyone ever buy this car!!!
i own a 1987 yugo gv i really like my car. i must add that i am a life long mechanic and enjoy working on it and its fun to drive
May I ask where abouts you're from? are you in the US or somewhere in the world where parts would be easier to get?
Yugos were made up till 2008! I'm from Serbia, living in its birth town. Yugos are still a very common sight, I see at least 50 every day, I even daily drive one! Even other Zastava cars like Zastava 101 (the Fiat 128 hatchback), Yugo Florida (marketed as Yugo Sana) and others. They are not as bad as people think they are. Driving one in Serbia is still a good financial choice, parts are still easy to find (at least the regular parts, finding something exotic like fog lights or GVX bumpers is a very hard task), people even convert them to run on LPG, so they end up being cleaner than many new cars! So, Yugo was never bad, it was just unsuited for American market.
What you say has a lot of truth to it. We Americans [ North America] drive ❗️
Instead of around some little village, to town and back, we can easily drive 80 kilometers a day, and much of it at 80-100 kph. City streets, too are, are stop and go up to 64 kph, then stop, then 64 kph, …..
[ although Roundabouts are gaining popularity].
So a car that is “good [ enough] in other countries, just aren’t good at all in North America.
📻🚗🙂
My great uncle bought a 1988 you go GV with air-conditioning at a Ford dealership in Colorado. Later on when he ended up moving to Kansas, he didn’t have anywhere to store it. I always thought it was a fascinating little car so they gave it to me. I actually had it running just a couple of years ago again. The only thing mine needs is a carburetor rebuild and a new alternator and starter. My uncle had done that timing belt service at 40,000 and then at 80,000, and I have 84,000 now. Although whatever age is on the timing belt might be a problem. But I honestly am in the process of getting it in a little better condition and somewhat restoring.
Cool. I don't think it will ever hit "collector car" status, but you know what, if you're so inclined, do some videos on it. the walk around before, and as you do work on it to get it running again! I'd love to see them myself!
Midwest bayless and other fiat classic suppliers have all the parts you need
You left out that they also made buses and motorcycles. The We go and the I go. Sorry, I am the proud owner of a Yugo that I drove probably a hundred thousands miles. It did me well driving to college and back. Yes, helped me to learn how to work on cars. So? Just, like any other vehicle you need to do the maintenance and you will be fine. It didn't hurt that my first car was a Fiat Spyder either. Peace.
I was working at a Mitsubishi dealer in the early 90 and a Yugo was trained in and I did get to drive it. It was just a short drive but you could tell that you definitely got what you pay for. Not a car to take on a long trip or on the highway fell like a kiddy car.
They Fiat 500L sold in the USA was built in the old Zastava plant.
I remember watching MotorWeek's review of the Yugo and Hyundai Excel (both in the same episode!), and told my dad to watch it. He reneged on his plan to buy one for my older sister, and bought her a Ford Escort Pony instead...I remember installing a $30 Kraco casette stereo with two speakers and a radio antenna in that car to get around the radio delete 🤣 (this was before I ever had my learner's permit!)
My parents bought a 3 year old Yugo back in the day with around 30,000 miles for $600. Haha. They had it a number of years and only needed a transmission mount besides maintenance items. Still just very basic transportation. Lucky never in an accident!
Also you are correct if the maintenance was followed it was decent for reliability. Local lady had a red one for years and years .
Maintenance is one factor to keeping a car on the road I would say a major one although some cars are more prone to problems than others I really don't believe historically this was worse car out there it sounds crazy but I thought it was nice it reminded me of the Ford model t .
Our local Ford dealer who is still Rusty Eck Ford today was called, Rusty Eck Ford, DMC, and Yugo. (Rusty Wreck the dealership was referred to but mostly because it rhymed.) I still remember as a teenager what we said about the Old Fiat from Mr. Bricklin. I mean Yugo from the cool DeLorean of Canada type car. "I will go where ever you go, but I won't go in a Yugo"
I remember the ads. As a new driver who wanted a car, it was appealing. But we couldn’t even afford a Yugo.
I think the tell-all in your video is that "people who owned one would by another one". Because there wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with them. Like, at all. They were basic transportation, and if you could be bothered to do consistent basic maintenance on them (which, obviously, some US Americans could not), they will not die on you, ever. And they were dirt cheap, and economical. And if they do break, you can fix them with a hammer and a piece of string.
My memories of the Yugo include seeing one on a used lot in 1989 for $995 (great resale!), and another on a flatbed full of crushed junkers in '91 (great longevity!). If you haven't already, I encourage you and other subscribers to plug "Zastava Koral" into your search engine of choice to see "what might have been" in the USA, and what was sold in other markets until 2008.
Two men and a Yugo in Oakland CA got arrested followed by a push by shooting
Not sure if you knew this but Zastava tried to rebrand as ZMW (Zastava Motor Works). Of course the similar named automaker from Munich threatened to sue.
My ex decided we had to buy a Yugo. Mostly it was because our Pinto was a mess, but also every time we went to Europe we'd wind up renting a Fiat Panda, which is essentially the same car. We got an '88 GVX top of the line and it was pretty dire. We broke up, not because of the car, and I moved to California. At the time it was over $500 to upgrade the Yugo to CA emissions standards and I just couldn't swing it. So we left it back at the Ford dealer in the dead of night. Ford sent a single letter saying "you can't do that!" but for being a voluntary reposession, nothing ever happened. Ford ate the car and ultimately never said boo. It was not a well car. The steering would stick and all the knobs fell off
Basic maintenance is the key to keeping any vehicle reliable. Common sense also helps.
I have a book on the history of the Yugo. Fascinated with strange and unusual things. 😀❤️
Thanks for sharing!
I looked at Yugo as the automaker version of the disposable camera
That's pretty funny! I don't completely agree. *apparently* with routine maintenance the break-downs are managable by roadside mechanics. They're not *exactly* disposable......
@@AllCarswithJon That's a great way of looking at it
I bought a used Yugo in the early 90's for dirt cheap. Drove it for a couple years before it fell apart. Enjoyed it for a time, but really took a lot of ribbing for it!
Thanks for sharing! I assume the comments you got were like "hey, cool car" or "love the ride"? :)
Back in 1986, whilst I was in college, I was invited to take part in an hands-on automotive survey regarding economy cars. This was the first time I had encountered a Yugo up close as it really wasn't something that I was remotely interested in; my daily driver at the time was a Rabbit GTI, so even the best economy cars didn't have much appeal to me. But I was a starving college student that happened to be an automotive enthusiast so I took part - hey, $25 is $25... I remember using some of that money to buy the launch issue of 'Automobile' magazine, David E. Davis' then-new venture.
There were two main things that stuck in my mind regarding the quality of the Yugo. First, it was the first brand-new car that I had ever seen that had multiple runs in the paint, and paint so thin in places that you could see down to the primer (or maybe that was just bare metal) The second thing was the quality of the cloth on the seats. You know that ultra-cheap, ultra-thin terrycloth used on low-quality beach towels? Yeah, that's what the cloth felt like. I could see it being worn out or easily torn in a matter of months.
The survey company didn't tell us initially who was sponsoring the survey, but afterwards I found out that it was Honda. I don't remember all of the other brands were there - probably Toyota, Hyundai and a few other of the usual suspects - but I do remember Honda being the best of all of the cars that were featured, and Yugo being, well, absolute bottom of the barrel. Yes, it was cheap, overwhelmingly so, and you were constantly reminded of that fact with every look and feel.
I've owned some crap cars in my time including an extremely low-spec, beat up and dented on every body panel Ford Windscar (3.0l cast iron lump, no A/C, no power windows, no power locks, no power mirrors, single slider, no defroster (you got the grid but not the switch) - I doubled the value of that car by putting in a $10 factory radio off of eBay that had a cassette deck so I could run a tape adapter for my iPod. As depressingly terrible and uninspiring as that PoS was, it was leaps and bounds beyond that brand-new Yugo I had the pleasure of checking out in 1986. I got the Ferd for $1 and managed to sell it a few years later for $350, an amount that probably paid for the antidepressants necessary to drive it. My parents warned me not to drive too slowly through their neighborhood as the neighbors may call the cops on me for allegedly casing the area. Whilst I was unemployed for a spell it did get some use as the local homeless population discovered that it was not possible to lock the slider so they slept in it; at least it was useful for somebody...
Thanks for the comment and sharing some memories with us!
Interesting story! Shame that Honda didn't include the VW Rabbit itself in the the survey. Oh well. I guess VW have cut back on the Golf's interior with every step from the Mk4, 5, 6, 7, and now 8 to the point where it is not really superior to other economy cars anymore.
Yugo was a nice and contemporary hatchback of the era between late '70ies and '80ies, as a matter of fact more like '70ies than '80ies. That was one of the designer concepts for Fiat 128 that Zavodi Crvena Zastava purchased from Fiat to sell as it's original design of the final product, but fact is that a Yugo was a Fiat to it's core.
But Yugo was not a Soviet monopolist car, at domestic Yugoslav market that car had a competitor of contemporary western models, but in order to protect a Zastava-Yugo factory a Yugoslav government try to impose a protective fees and customs for imports of western models. Answer of some western car manufacturers was a assembly lines of some of their models in Yugoslavia, so VW, Opel, Renault, Citroen and Fiats assembled under Fiat brand at the same Zastava-Yugo factory were sold as the domestic cars made in Yugoslavia, so no a protective fees for those cars.
And a poor Yugo-pljugo (Yugo-sucker) only had a chance to conquere the rock bottom of it's domestic market. However, even in that segment Yugo had a strong competitors in Soviet VAZ Lada-Žiguli and PZ Fiat Polski, those cars were cheap sedans and station wagons, and Fiats as well, and Zastava-Yugo assembled Lada as domestic Yugoslav car, probably to strangle a Yugo was only a small hatchback.
So in order to survive Yugo suppose to be cheap, the cheapest one, and the most accessible car, that means a car were downgraded, and there was no a quality control what so ever.
That means that a brand new Yugo directly from the assembly line was a car DIY project. It was highly desirable to dissemble a new Yugo in order to reassemble it correctly, just for a quality control reason, and if you do so you gonna get a decent and durable small hatchback. All of those still seen on the roads of ex Yugoslavia had a such a treatment of their respective owners.
So as a Yugo owner, you have an opportunity to pass a learning curve to become a car mechanic.
And if you already have an dissembled Yugo, you had an opportunity to upgrade it. Yugo was a Fiat, Italy is just a short ride avay, and Abarth car tuning kits all custom made for Yugos were must have, an engine tuning kits, brakes and suspension and car body tuning kits, you name it. You could make a real small Abarth beast from it.
But by all means a Yugo was considered as a crap, even in Yugoslavia, it was a product of socialist planning economy, but that crap was usually "my first car", but as crap it had some potential if you invest a further work and money in it.
1k subscribers!!! Keep at it!
So close! Thanks for the comment!
ive had my 1988 Yugo for 13 years. its needed very little. 100% rust free and still cold ac!
Thanks for the comment... so you bought an '88 Yugo in.... 2009??? May I ask why? :)
@@AllCarswithJon I had one back in the 80's. they are actually pretty damn good little cars and mine has never left me walking. its a hoot at the Cars & Coffee meets here in Austin! I also have a 79 Versailles, my first car 1980 Honda Accord LX, 1989 Nissan Pulsar, 64 Corvair, and 1984 Dodge Rampage. oh, my 85 Celica GTS convertible I've had since 1996.
Knew a girl in highschool who had a Yugo, she had it for 2 years, never broke down or had any issues, till she totaled it.
My only memory is walking around Pik A Part A junkyard in California I was looking for a front end suspension for a Mustang 2 and I saw a Yugo with 35K on it...and very few pieces missing
Never owned a Yugo, but vividly remember its inception and going to a local Nissan dealer who sold them to look at one with a friend. From what I recall it was tiny and appeared flimsy. I think we test drove it?? Anyway, ironically Im of Serbian heritage and remember how my father was initially intrigued by the car. Never had any other interaction with it. As a side note, we did own one of the first Hyundais. I believe it was an 87 Excel. It was meant to be first car. Remember driving it home. The engine was loud and buzzy. I also recall it having a digital clock which impressed me at the time. The excitement was short-lived as it unceremoniously stalled out in the middle of traffic a few hours later while riding around with my brother and a few friends. My father was furious and stopped the check on it although the dealer graciously offered him a huge discount to keep the car. No deal. I think the cotter pin came out of the transmission. A linkage issue?? Haven't owned a Hyundai since. :)
Thanks for the memories! Ah, 1987, when a 'digital clock' was a feature. :) Cars have come a long way! hahaha
Have you checked out Hyundais lately? They have really improved the quality and reliability of their products. I have a 2011 Hyundai Sonata. It's one of the best cars I ever had.
@@AllCarswithJon Especially Hyundai and Kia. They are some of the best cars on the road now.
As I recall, the Hyundai Excel had a very poor reputation, comparable to that of the Yugo. But they worked on their engineering and ended up making very competent cars.
Also, I remember renting a Turkish-made Fiat in Istanbul in 1995. Best Fiat I ever drove. They did a good job with that car.
@@glennso47 Unfortunately, Hyundais and Kias have a theft issue.
Some kids have found a way to start these vehicles without a key. They carry cellular phones and a diagnostic programming tool and add software to start the car and drive away with it.
I can vaguely remember seeing these as a kid. I was born in January of 80. Seen a lot of changes in the automotive landscape.
Even when I was young, I can remember hearing my dad speak of these cars and how bad they were.
Great video. Very thorough. You cover so much information in such a short time.
My Uncle bought a YUGO sometime in the early 1990's.. One of the automatic versions.. Got to drive it once and it was the oddest car I had driven at that time.. felt like a lawn chair on a go-kart.. sorry only way I could describe it.. was just a odd feeling car to drive... Years later, (maybe '99), I knew a guy who had one and did a paper route with it.. he loved it but because parts were drying up he had to keep two other YUGO's in his yard just for parts to keep the one going.. or so he told me.
I am impressed that anyone could have found an automatic Yugo. I have never seen one, ever. Still wouldn't have wanted the car, though.
I've only ever seen one yugo, but I'll say this, my mom had an 88 Hyundai, and it was actually worse than our Chevy chevette. She bought a Daytona after that, and it survived until she bought a 2000 Toyota echo that is still on the road today. Not sure if you follow aging wheels or Tavarish, but there's been a yugo circulating around youtube for a few years now and it just recently got a makeover and given to agingwheels :)
My dad bought a Vette in 1976 but sadly it was the Chevette with dealer mounted AC and we drove it to Breckenridge Colorado for a Ski trip from Kansas. He gave the car to my sister and went back to Mercury and Lincoln from then on. Four speed stick was the only saving grace as the automatic would never have climbed a hill. (Extra grand also.) Oh, the good old days. Remember Vapor lock?
My neighbor's son worked at a BMW/Mercedes dealership, as a mechanic. Some one traded in a Yugo, it was a good customer so they didn't want to refuse. It had maybe 100 miles on it, basically new, the dealer wanted nothing to do with it. They offered it for free, to all the employees, no one wanted it, but neighbor's son thought maybe his sister would like a free new car. He said it was the worst decision that he ever made. That customer who traded the yugo, bought it as a toy for his daughter, and regretted it also. But she got a nice Mercedes out of the deal.
I've never seen a Yugo in my area but my friend had the early years Hyundai excel, boy that car can take a beating!
The first Yugos were horrible. They improved quality as time went on, but it was too late.
A friend of mine got one brand new.
His mom’s boyfriend Co-signed. By 35,000 miles it was just worn out.
He had the GVL, [ 1.3 L, 5 speed, A/C, ….].
It was always in the shop. But by 35,000, the transmission was going out [ and this, after 2 clutch replacements], the motor was already burning some oil, with blue smoke. Trim pieces fell of/ broke.
Window winders snapped in half. The paint was delaminating [ clear coat from base coat], it was beginning to rust. The hatch hinges snapped….
And, you never seen anyone baby a car do much.
It got so bad, that they took it directly to the Bank, handed them the keys, and the boyfriend took a hit on his Credit.
[ oh, the front end was wearing out, as well.]
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Great video, love the channel. It didn't help sales when a Yugo was blown off the Mackinac Bridge and it made national news. How bad was the Yugo? Vega owners use to make fun of them, that's how bad!
Thanks for that! Ultimately the 'blown off a bridge' articles were proven wrong... but the damage was done!
Agreed. Take a disliked car, add any bad rumor and that will pretty much kill it.
@@AllCarswithJon
No, the accident actually happened, Leslie Pluhar was driving along the Mackinac Bridge when her Yugo lost control and fell into the Mackinac Strait.
The remnants of Hurricane Hugo went over Michigan, after the hurricane quickly made a beeline from Charleston, SC in just a few hours.
My friend had one.
His mom’s boyfriend backed him, as he was 18 years old.
Cute little car, fun to drive. He got the GVL
The “L” stood for “ Luxury “.
By 37,000 miles, it was just wore out.
Pieces broke off, clutch went. Motor was worn out, burning oil ( rings were worn out). Electrical problems, breaks wore out, and problems with a rear break hanging up.....
It was so bad, that they took it back to the Bank, parked it and handed the keys over to the bank manager, and his credit was bad for 7 years.
One point overlooked.
The last of the Yugos had been reworked and had MUCH better quality.
Some of them pushed over 150,000 miles- no problems.
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As a teenager we said the letters stood for: Good Luck Vehicle and they still got them mixed up. GVL
A friend who was employed by Xerox as a service representative bought one because he thought he could make money on his mileage reimbursement. He turned it back in on the state lemon law.
Dont forget the Chevrolet Sprint with its 48hp
The only good thing Yugo had over the Chevrolet Sprint was that at least the Yugo had a four cylinder engine instead of a three cylinder engine. To me, both cars are not worth having at all.
I think the local gun shop down the street still sells new Zastava AK rifles.
The story we had here in Michigan, I don’t remember the year but the local news reported that on a windy day a Yugo got blown off the Mackac bridge killing the driver.
Advertising slogan: I'm not going, Yugo!
Sadly it was more reliable than the first gen Hyundai Excel
Thankfully Hyundai has exponentially improved their quality to where they can compete quite well with the best of them. So has KIA. They are great cars now.
The Yugo was a Fiat 128 that was sold (design , complete factory etc. )to Yugoslavia.
I remember checking out the Yugo at our local car show.....lol....door cards was NOT overstated.
How do you triple the value of a Yugo? Install new tires!
I recall test driving one brand new not driving it well due to it being a stick shift and honestly that car felt so cheap it seemed like the turn signal stalk was about to fall off.
I tried a new one door panels were cardboard the shifter had so much play the salesman couldn't find the gears
I test-drove a Yugo in (I believe) 1988.
The salesman took the wheel and I went for the ride.
Minutes later, he invited me to take the wheel, so I grabbed the lifting bar to exit the car, and the handle broke as if it were made of peanut brittle.
Embarrassed by breaking the Dealer's car, the salesman said something like "Don't worry, we keep a box of these".
I bought a 1987 Ford Escort GL instead.
I am a new subscriber. I like your channel in a way like Drachinifel, but for cars.
Thanks and welcome
I saw some Yugos in Serbia, moreso than in Croatia. They were still running, some were close to 40 yrs old. They look like tin cans and sound like it! With Serbia and Croatia having annual mandatory car inspections, vehicles are
constantly fixed and have quite intense testing requirements to allow them on the roads. Not a vehicle.i would want but you're liable to find them in smaller towns and farming communities.
Hope you make a Hyundai Excel video .
I work for a Korean boss .
And many in Korean community bought a Hyundai Excel out of sheer Nationalism.
To help their fellow countryman.
Even though every single one of them admit how bad was the Gen 1 Hyundai
My sister had a Excel in the 90s. That car was so gutless.
I remember an ad from a Cevy-Dealer, which also sold Yugos, in the Los Angeles Times in Summer 1988, that said „Buy a 1988 Chevrolet and get a Yugo for free.“
Zastava was reorganized in about 2000, and successfully produced self-designed and licensed Fiat cars until 2016 or 2017. I understand that the company went bankrupt in May 2017.
My father was the only Yugo dealer in West Virginia
Imagine them bringing it back and it resembling the Mini Cooper
The biggest mistake for Zastava was having a deal with Bricklin IMO. The guy was ambitious but dumb as hell when it comes to the strategy. No proper maintenance, limited spare parts ability. And actually the last but not least problem - only one model availability. Lada faced similar service problems in Canada but in the late 80's they actually got read of the partner and built proper dealership with three models (Signet, Samara, Niva).
Yugo, they didn't do well on the Mackinac Bridge during high wind situations.
I'd like to get a hold of one of the X's and swap in a Coblat SS supercharged motor with a 6 speed manual.
Thanks, John, indeed, a very interesting summary of that peculiar East-West automotive project. Just a footnote to where you say that Yugoslavia was a "communist nation". This is only partly true. Indeed, after World War Two Yugoslavia was overtaken by the Communists led by the iron hand of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, but he cultivated a peculiar species of Communism that was in some ways differed from what you could find in the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, Cuba, etc. While still Communist, the economy had some capitalist features and, for example, Yugoslav workers could travel to Gastarbeit in Western countries, such as Italy. So, in a way Yugoslavia was "between and betwixt", not a Western country, but not a Soviet-dominated standard communist state either...
Thanks for the video "British quality expert" HAHAHAHAHA it is a good one. I remember very well the Yugo in Canada. It was sold in the same period as Russian Lada Signet (Fiat 124 build under license) Skoda 120 (checkoslovak built and rear engine) and Dacia 1300 (License built Renault 12) They all packed up in the late 80's "Merci"
Thanks for sharing! We never had the Lada or Dacia here in the US :( My grand parents were Canadian and I'm surprised I didn't know Lada's were ever available up ther!
@@AllCarswithJon Yup! And sometimes the owner of those “commy” car had trouble get gasoline while travelling to USA for a vacation. The Garage owner did not want to serve gasoline for car made in a communist country.
The Tatra 613 was a better car with rear mounted V8 air-cooled engine manufactured by Czechoslovak manufacturer Tatra from the 1970s to the 1990s, Fidel Castro favorite car. The Russian car ZIL-117 was better to.
Your parents bought a MUSTANG ??????
with kids in tow? That’s a story in itself.
Well I was 16 so it wasn't like they were concerned about getting a child seat in it. :)
Well sir I don't blame you there I wouldn't mind having a Yugo also i wonder if yugos are considered a collector cars
Many from Eastern Europe say the Yugo was dependable - they had worse cars. You have to replace the timing belt more frequently than other cars of the era. Many people say they are easy to maintain and not all that bad of a car, if you maintain them. If you treat it as deposable, then it is. Compared to a Corolla its not a good car but for for the price they could get you from A to B. The Yugo is closely related to the Fiat 127, which wasn't all that bad of a city car in Europe. But European city cars were not generally suited to American driving conditions. Its probably as good of a car as a Ford Model T, the Yugo was wrong for the U.S. in the 1980s. Many considered the Geo Metro as disposble too, but they were pretty dependable and low maintenance and can go 300,000 miles.
Thanks for the comment, appreciate it. I remember the old Geo Metro and always liked them because they were such simple cars. Two memories, the first is watching one being started on a cold morning and with the 3 cylinder engine you could see individual "Puffs" come out of the tiny tailpipe! The second was when I was in the market for a car and drove one, and told the saleman it just wasn't enough car. It was the wrong size of cheap and fun. :)
@@AllCarswithJon
Cars like the Yugo are meant for short trips in places where people used mass transit on a regular basis. They weren't meant for U.S. freeway and distance cruising. In short, the Yugo failed for many of the reaons that the Fiat 500 failed in the U.S.. Compared to the Yugo, the 500 is actually a pretty good little car. Americans just don't like little cars. Manufacturers don't like small cars because they have so many regulations these days, a "cheap" car today has far more content than when the Datsun 510 was popular. There is a lot of steel in todays small cars for crash protection. A Fiat 500 can weigh up to 2,500 pounds due to the safety regulations, they don't get the fuel economy that the small size suggests.
With the passenger seat removed you can haul 8 foot lumber in a Metro with the hatch closed - with 10 foot lumber the hatch needs to be cracked open. My Metros never ceased to amaze me. The Suzuki G10 is a very durable motor, its a popular engine for ultra light aircraft. I'd have liked to have seen a four valve version of the G10 like some of the Daihatsu cars had (not in U.S. versions). The 2002 federal crash regulations ended this generation of Metro/Swift in the U.S. I still have four Metros and won't get rid of them as I think nothing like them can ever be built again.. I bought them well used and put another 150,000 miles on them. At one time you could get low cost JDM motors for Metros. I still have a JDM motor that I should install. Generally, if the oil has been regularly changed, at 350,000 miles you can run a ball hone through the cylinders and re-ring the motor and go for another few years. If the costs of EV batteries drop enough I may convert one of my Metros to an EV. Spending $5K on an EV conversion with 100 mile range would be frugal compared to buying a Tesla, but its still too much for me! Prices on Metros rose during the Covid lockdowns as people without jobs are looking for cheap transportation that they presume that they can repair themselves - they usually can. Americans don't like small cars in general and seem to especially not like hatchbacks. I recently got a set of front control arms for a Metro - parts prices for forgotten cars can be cheap as warehouses want to get rid of old inventory. You can rebuild control arms of Metros by adapting various ball joints from other cars. You can swap in more powerful Honda motors too. The Metro is basically an improved original generation Mini Cooper that is still mini and more reliable, but they were marketed as a pizza delivery guy's car and GM never tried to produce a rally car version - a four wheeled motorcycle, so to speak that only a few Americans actually wanted anyway.
Yugo the poor man's Toyota.
i'd have expected you to have owned a yugo
i live in niles,ohio parts can be had from over seas,rock auto and ebay
I live in Niles also and have a Yugo stored in my garage. It was my daily driver for years to Pittsburgh and back and then in Columbus. I plan to fire it back up again in the near future. And yes, Rock Auto usually does me well.
Yugoslavia was nowhere as bad as the GM X cars or the Vega or the pinto or the corvair
What happened to that Mustang your family bought...?
I don't remember exactly, I think my mom kept it for about 9 years and got a Cadillac? It was okay comfortable and extremely reliable. I only recall two issues: first was a computer that controlled the fuel mixture went bad, and the second was a bolt in the alternator bracket loosened and fell out and needed to be replace. That second one was at about 100k miles as I recall.
I Have a interesting one I'm from a small town in the North called And if you are from the northern States you are aware of what ice Drag Racing is we have some lunatics up here who will run 8 second drag cars on ice and there is a man from my town who has a Yugo with a ls swap It was featured on 1320 videos and I have seen the current person a couple of times and to see the engineering that goes in to making this car not a piece of garbage is pretty incredible It's also quite terrifying to see 1 with 500 horsepower and nighttress pushing on ice lol
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@@AllCarswithJon Seeing the thing in person is something you can't describe with words but the video does It justice lol
A friend of mine had one in 87 he let me drive it frequently it stalled on a hill so I put it in reverse let off the clutch so I could kickstart it that totally destroyed reverse gear in that car but who needs reverse when the car is so easy to push
reverse gear destroyed by popping the clutch.... wow
Drowning Mona was an example of a town full of yugos. 😆
The Yugo received the nickname “Commie car” from me after my first experience with one. It was not a flattering nick name. I needed to rent a car one day in the late 80’s and it had to be cheap. So I rented a brand new Yugo. For some reason, I remember the miles on it when I picked it up. 62 miles. I drove it for 2 days until I got my car back. Wow! What a crummy car. It was a brand new car which was terrible in almost every way. Most things sorta worked, but they worked poorly. The heater controls were ineffective, the rear window defogger, while it did come on, could not clear the rear window, the upholstery even though brand new, looked old and ratty, the plastics were terrible. And the color was a terrible mustard butterscotch tone. The wipers worked, in that they came on and moved back and forth, but clearing the windshield was not effective. The heater came on, made noise, but heat was marginal at best. And the list goes on. It was not an acceptable, let alone a halfway decent car. The only bright spot was the engine. It showed the spunk and zing that little Italian cars were known for at the time in their other little cars like the 850 spider and x/9 convertibles, but held back by the rest of the car.
Thanks for the memories. Funny, remember that automakers like rental fleets not just for the sales numbers, but as a way to introduce people to their cars! Guess that didn't work for you and the Yugo? LOL.
Oh, and I'll say that "mustard butterscotch" is brilliant - it paints a particularly unfortunate picture in my mind. :)
Didn't yugo have a sister called the wego, it was a four-door version of the Yugo.
Ford Tempo
Mercury Topaz...
The car of the...future
Oh, BTW! You got a story about the Pikachu on the bookshelf? Pretty cool! 👍
Good eye! No, I don't. One of my sons bought it for me years ago, and I keep it where I can see it. :)
I actually owned one of those disasters. That's all I can say.
Yugo wasn't just the worst car sold in America! It was the worst car ever made, period!!!!
Look at Doug DeMuro's review of the Trabant before you make that assessment...
@@brentboswell1294 I know all about the Trabant! It is in the top 3 of the absolute worse cars ever! Worse than the Yugo? I don't think so!!!!
There are much worse cars than Yugo, trust me. Look at East European cars
@@bosanskislavonac I'm sure most Eastern European cars are bad. However, I consider the Yugo the worst of them all. Just my opinion. I'm sure you see other cars that are worse than the Yugo to you. That's fine. I can accept that.
Q:
You know why the British don't build computers?
A:
They can't figure out how to make them leak oil 🛢️.
LOL.
When a British computer goes bad (because they did have some back in the day) and smoke comes out... is that the oil burning off? 😀
The Citroen 2CCV was cheap and ugly, but sold for years!
Yugo was not so bad. Extremely cheap, poor quality, but it did the job. In a fact it wasn't very unreliable mechanicaly because it was simple. There were much worse cars in East Europe, trust me 😄 (like Trabant).
Understandably for Americans it was completely shit comparing to American brands. It was a car made for poor working class and it was massively produced. You need to understand that they needed to mobilize people, but you cant do that with expensive cars if workers wages are bottom low.
I knew someone that had one...piece of junk
A good proletariat car 🚙
Yes, I remember these when they were new! Never drove or rode in one. The last time I saw one was in July 2017 in Newport Washington. We were returning from a trip to Alaska in my 78 Pinto, that I bought new and are still driving . I have the Yugo in my video at 3:54. ua-cam.com/video/_toFqlPV0UQ/v-deo.html
My dad almost bought one back before I was born in the late 80’s after seeing a coworkers new one luckily the coworkers started falling apart before my dad pulled the trigger
I almost got a topaz back in the day! The interior color matching the exterior just turned me off! 🤣🤣🤣
Worst ? What do you want for 3999 $ new car 1985 ?
Ford tempo
yugo= fiat 127. now they import the fiat 500 xl
What are you call a Yogo with a sunroof. A skip,,,,, The word was when NATO started bombing they looked for the Yogo factory to save the world from Yogos
I remember a comedian who said that he saw a Club in a Yugo. So he stole the Club.
I think that's what you called that they that locked on the steering wheel so the car can't get stolen
I used to own one. Fun to zip around town. Death trap on the highway.
There was a difference between socialist and communist, and yugoslavia was socialist. Also many many cars have to be adopted to other markets , american in europe can't have the same lights, european can't have the same bumpers in usa , etc ... and yes the car was supposed to be small, for european roads. Also try driving some british Reliants ...that was pure crap
Because GM sucks! AMC was the best!
The Yugo is without a shadow of a doubt the absolute worst car ever made! Most cars you can survive in a 35mph collision! Not the Yugo! It was cheaply made and was a slow joke of a car! I will never recommend anyone ever buy this car!!!
Subaru is part of Nissan