🏁SticKerS🏁 I had one 1999-2001, it was a fun, quick car "in town" that wasn't a total turd on the highway with 500# worth of people and ish in it. It only used gas if I DROVE it on the Interstate and drank it like a 20 year old does beer at a house party when I did that with a passenger. An additional 200# made a difference in quickness but helped in holding it in corners. Torque steer was there but easily controllable due to light weight and easy steering; braking was not scary, I don't remember them overheating but I also don't remember trying to find out when they would. It went through the snow well here in Milwaukee/Chicago area(s) as long as you understood momentum, ground clearance, and got comfy with it riding on top at 40+ mph. Im glad that I was never a passenger in it while passing a semitrailer on a slushy I-94 ride home.... It'd be a hoot-and-a-half as an auto-x car and I often thought it'd be F-U-N with some lightweight 14 or 15x6" rims with STICKY tires on it but that wasn't it's purpose for me. Yep, I'd LOVE to find another one, probably in white again, and use it as the street legal go-cart that it wanted to be. It's 1000# lighter than my Fiero GT (I'd have to look at the specs to compare performance) and 2500# lighter than my Impala SS('95) which gets half the mpg, is much more comfy, quicker, and faster. I wonder how it'd compare to the VW GTI or turbo Omni. It was a great commuter 21 years ago that'd be cool to still have; a huge difference compared to my other cars and truck at the time. Amazingly my long-bodied non-svelte 6'4"+ self was able to get in and out of it AND didn't hit my head without have to crank the seatback down to gangsta level. I wish the friend that I sold it to would've told me he was going to scrap it due to a "broken downpipe"......
The red '87 Sprint Turbo was the first car I ever owned. I bought it on my 16th birthday in 1990. These specs today don't make it sound very impressive, but hot DAMN that thing was fast. Front a dead stop, all my friends who had supped up trucks couldn't beat it, and even at highway speeds, if you hit the gas hard, you got pushed back into your seat. The turbo light came on NO MATTER HOW FAST you sped up, so that was a waste... but you know when the turbo really did kick in. You could really feel it.
A friend of mine bought one brand new in 87' we use to street race I drove a 84 Nissan 300zx. Let me tell ya that little sprint was no joke. It was fast. It gave me a run for my money. Those were the good ole days!!!
@@alphatrion100 , surprisingly, the second one was actually in the USA, but, aside from the badges, it looked practically identical to the hatchback form of the Geo Metro. The USA Suzuki Swift is also much harder to find than a Geo Metro as well.
On the contrary, they were very popular with people who did autocross and road rallies. The Sprint Turbo I currently own won it's class in the road rallies it was raced in.
the most interesting cars were never saved. Part of what makes them so fascinating now. Problem is, to this day plenty of morons think these 30+ year old cars should still be scrapped because they arent on their personal 5-car list of vehicles that "matter".
The headlights are so General motors, sort of wide eyed and downturned, I've never understood their styling to this day, virtually everything they make or have ever made is the opposite of what I like, they must have a very specific market in mind
What a fantastic times the 80's and 90's were for cars...Had an Ford Escort XR3i (105 BHP) and then a Peugeot 205Gti in the UK back then and went through a host of others during those times...fantastic affordable pocket rockets that were just great..
No they haven't, many FWD cars in non-sport spec versions today don't accelerate much faster then this, specially outside of US in places where these came from originally. Today's economy has twice the power and 2.5 times the weight of these....
Mine flipping Flied. If I could smoke AccordLXi, Integras, Beretta GTZ of the time with one I had a stop light race with mine at around 170k in the early 2000’s with a BMW ZR-1 and the guy was shocked I beat him byba good stretch. Sprint Turbos can really MOVE.
That's a very impressive acceleration time for just 70hp though. I've got the same amount of power, yet my car needs 8 seconds longer. This isn't all too surprising given the much lower weight due to lack of any kind of safety though.
The 80s be like "here's your turbocharged three cylinder." The 90s and 2000s be like "nah, four cylinders are where it's at." The 2010s be like "here's your turbocharged three cylinder". Funny how some things come back around.
Wrong, 3-cylinder Turbo was used for the last 27 years non-stop ! Mostly is JP where they make sense, they have a whole army of micro cars there that move more people then in America with 0.66l-1.2l i3 Turbo engines like the Suzuki Wagon R.
@Timothy Keith Believe it or not I saw one or two on cars dot com over the years but I'm sure you can arrange something yourself, K-cars is what they are called. Suzuki, Daihatsu, ect....they are smaller then a Honda Fit and should be fairly cheap to import since it's a tiny motor.
The green 'Turbo' readout in the tach is one of the coolest readouts I've ever seen! It's even cooler than the green 'Supercharger' light in the supercharged MR2 AW11! But, just imagine what a sleeper the Sprint would be with a Stage 1 tuning to 100hp and a set of good springs and shocks!
@@nlpnt Yep, the glorious Swift GTi, of the 2nd generation, with the 1.3 reaching 7500rpm, maybe more even! It's one of the best cars Suzuki has ever made!
That was such a dannged good looking little car. I saw tons of them back in the late 80's here in So-Cal. And man! Those full color matched wheels were awesome back then. Like my bike that had them wheel discs. 80's aesthetic man! Goodtimes. Even though it didn't have voltmeter and oil pressure gauges. 1:37 LOL! Damn, *brake* dancing was still a thing, but slowly dying.
Exactly what I was going to say... Imagine being at the dealer and it has 20 miles on the odo and that's what it sounds like.... Bet none of these were sold on days below 45 degrees lol.
Yeah Honda is great. The swift 1.3 gti could take on the crx 1.6 with 110hp though. From 0-100 i smoked them lol. The 115hp rare japspec model could probably match the 130hp crx model.
Wow! How time flies! 105 horses like seen in this car back then is the power level of a standard NA 1.5 liter cars nowadays, while turbo 1.5 liter engines like the ones on recent turbo crvs & civics has at least 180hp, similar power level of a 2.4 liter NA engine!
I literally never saw a single one of these on the roads in my neck of the woods in Ft. Worth during this time, not a single one. and if you can find one today in halfway decent shape, you don't have much. My '88 Mazda 323LX 5spd (non turbo) did just fine and was a nice place to be with power windows/locks, sunroof, cc, int wipers, etc; such a great car. Saw more Metros, Storms and Impulse than Sprints. Always had a soft spot for an Impulse because I wanted handling by Lotus.
This was my very first car I love it and I miss it $10 you can ride 2 weeks without running out of gas 46 mpg not even a stupid Prius get that . Mine was the red one .
Had a 1987 Pontiac FireFly Turbo! What a riot that car was! Bought it for $20.00 [yes $20.00] not running, took me a lot of time and loads of messages to figure what the problem was. Knock sensor. Drove that car to Redline everyday I owned it! Raced anyone at any red light, anywhere! Surprised loads of people with that Go-Kart! Sadly sold it, I miss it for sure. Chevy Sprint, Pontiac Firefly, Suzuki Cultus, find one, buy it and have a riot!
@@VL1975 The present time is the best for cars, it will only get better. Where in time can you buy stock trucks that do 0-60 mph in the 5 second range?
@@TheCarCrazyGuy The present is no very good for cars. Yes, we have faster cars, but they become ugly, heavy and boring. People interest for cars and motorsports in general is going down.
Problem is new cars and truck that perform at the 5 second or faster are too expensive for the average joe to afford. Additionally, new cars are way too complex. If they wanted to, cars and trucks could be manufactured to be fun, efficient, affordable, and easy to repair. Since they’re not, I personally don’t have a real interest in newer cars regardless of how fast they are.
6! SIX. S I X seconds faster to 60 MPH than the previous years car. Now that is an upgrade. LOL Sure it's stil just 9.5 to 60s but holy crap that's a huge drop in a year. LOL
@@economynotstable I had a 1.0/stick Metro, I can't imagine what a dog the auto was. That being said, the 5 speed 3 cylinder Metro would hit the rev limiter in 2nd before it hit 60 so a timed 0-60 run would've had to include a shift to 3rd.
These were the days when you had to leave GIANT gaps in traffic to merge safely. Imagine driving a 50hp car onto a freeway when a semi is doing 60 in the slow lane and it takes 15 seconds to get to that speed!!!
I bought a Chevy Metro brand new in '98 with the 16 valve 4 cyl engine. I put an SRD header on it and a couple other mods. A kid I worked with had a standard 3 cyl Metro that looked almost identical to mine. I'll never forget the first time he drove mine he was absolutely shocked by the difference 30 extra HP made in a 1900lb car. I got 16 years and 220k miles out of that thing it was legendary
@@economynotstable My uncle had a Swift GTI that he ran to almost 200000 miles before it got totaled in a wreck.He replaced it with a Metro that was out of a rental fleet and drove that one quite a while too
I remember going on a test drive in a sprint turbo when I was 14. I was with my mom while car shopping for a new car for my sister. I can recall my mom being totally surprised by the unexpected acceleration that the turbo gave the little car. My parents ended up buying a 1987 Pontiac Sunbird SE instead.
I had a standard 1986 red 5-door, with 3-cyl engine and AT (a concession to my new wife), my first and last new car. We bought it because it was cheap, and I would have preferred a MT, but it was fun to drive, and I LOVED IT!
Loved these when they were still around. I owned an Imark turbo in the late 90's ...even after owning many "better" cars since I still call it one of the coolest and most fun cars I've ever had. The downside to making "cheap" performance cars is they can easily get into the hands of people who either dont know or cant afford the extra maintenance and care that comes with them. That leads to most on the roads in poor running condition and the rep takes a hit...then sales go out the window. The late 80's were so great for variety, with everything today either being a truck or a pregnant rollerskate compact suv we may never see those times again
Everyone complaints about 0-60 This and that . All I can say is as a 85 crx si owner these 1700 pound Cars are fun and quick nothing like Modern cars.. you'd be surprised trust me ..now 2800 POUNDS IS LIGHT ..
If you were going to get a 1987 Chevy Spectrum turbo; might as well get a Isuzu I-Mark RS turbo because of the styling and a better interior. The Chevy Sprint turbo with intercooler was a true pocket rocket and had impressive numbers in 0-60 in its time. Great car.
Forward 33 years ad now we got same engine same turbo and intercoolers getting like almost same horsepower and torque and heaver vehicle with 400% cost ! . I would buy one of these way before i'd buy any new car with all the electronic nannies and maintenece and cost any day!! These were fun to drive and mpg were great compared to now.
The shop I worked at in the early 90s had a semi-regular customer with one of these and a personal license plate. IIRC, "2RC4U", Too Racy For You. While I would love one of these for Lemons, I still wonder how slow his previous car was, that he thought one of these was fast. Still a cool car, and would love to run one in in Lemons.
Were there any cars in 1987 which still *didn't* have halogen headlights or radial tires? According to Goodyear, all U.S.-built cars came with radial tires as standard equipment as of the 1982 model year. That leaves just trucks, and possibly some imported cars, as carrying on with bias-ply tires beyond that date.
I happen to drive one of these new, My cousin bought the white sprint turbo. I actually thought the car was quite the runner despite being so small. It had plenty of get up & go, & was great on gas!!!!
True, rust was most likely a problem, on the East coast(salty roads). Parents bought the '85 auto new, and it lasted over 15 years, rust-free. And yes, it could go over 75mph. Would occasionally race my sister's Nissan Pulsar getting to bowling alleys on O.C. Freeways. Sadly, engine died, couldn't afford to fix it. Mechanic where I used to live a few years ago had a convertible Geo Metro, pristine condition. Kept hoping he'd put a For Sale sign on it.
Isuzu, probably not, they were junk cars, the Sprint, Swift or Metro ( whatever you wanna call it ) was actually really good when it comes to the engine and trans, the issue was rust, my Dad had a 1989 Metro that he drove all through out college and a few years past that, and the engine out lived body because Geo Metro's are very rust prone on the floor pans, shock towers and the area in front of the rear wheels, they were still super crappy though, I think the real issue with these cars is how disposable the manufacturers make them, kinda like the new 3 cylinder Mirage.
You never see people cry how "little" power this motor made in times of performance restrictions but they never fail to cry to how a comparable era 5.0l V8 "only" made 215HP in 1987, which was more then enough for 99% of drivers to even handle safely then.
That complaint isn't about total power, it's about volumetric efficiency. 215 HP out of 5 liters IS pathetic, considering that the same company made a 3.0L V6 that produced 140 HP. And this was if you stuck with a pushrod engine. The Toyota Camry at the time was available with a 2.5L V6 that made 153 HP. Ford doubled the displacement to make only 62 more HP? Yes, 215 HP was quite a bit for the time and type of car. The problem was that they needed a 5 liter V8 to make it.
Great, both of you just confirmed what I said, the levels of lack of knowledge of this industry or history in both of you is staggering....I guess they should have strapped on a fully tuned V8 race motor from an '80s Indy Car, put out 125hp/liter, fail every stringent emissions test in the process and raise the price of every V8 car in line up 3-4 times. Cars from EU with V8s didn't put of much more, considering their restrictions were nothing like here at the time, ah and they also use 32 valve DOHC heads that make more power in any engine cylinder setup. Most V8s from the '80s only need a few parts (with which they would have come with if it was any other decade) to make very decent power, swap the fuel/air restrictions alone for something high flow and you'll have a whole another engine. There's nothing wrong with those motors other then the government/politics getting involved with them, 15 years before that they 500hp motors in road cars, in the '60 Ferrari doesn't even get close to that ! Learn some automotive history first....
Am I the only one that finds it funny to hear John Davis say Turbografx at 2:31? Perhaps NEC was watching this video and thought, "that's a great name for our new console!"
this was my 1st get away car lol.. i was a teen with no driving licence driving as fast as i can to lose the cops lol got it the hard way .. it was not fast enoug .. i remeber staying all day in the police station till my dad came and got me out of there .. good old memories
I like these type cars. Not fast at all, but feels fast. Just imagine if you throw today's upgrades on it and see what it can do. Like suspension, better turbo, bigger intercooler, head studs, cv axles, exhaust, intake, tune, and port out the the valves.
I had a white sprint turbo that I got up to 120 MPH going down a slight downgrade. Those cars where fast. I now have the 3 cylinder 2014 Ford Fiesta turbo. It moves right along too.
I had an ‘85 Sprint that I referred to as my “gutless wonder”. Acceleration was a joke and the engine wasn’t strong enough to accelerate up a steep grade. If you had to take your foot out of the gas, you could never get it back up to speed until you crested the hill. Still, it returned exceptional gas mileage and that’s pretty much what the car was all about.
From time to time I still see 80s GM trucks, Suburbans, big cars and mid size fwd cars still on the roads today but in my life time I’ve seen one Monza, 2 Chevettes, and one Citation. Never have I seen any Sprints or Spectrums lol, or any 80s Novas for that matter.
Had an 89 sprint 5 door. Was a good little car through college in the 1990s. I think it had a small 4 banger, though. 1.3l maybe. The Ohio roads and winters killed it and the 1998 sprint 3 door with a 3 cyl that replaced it. Both averaged well over 40 mpg the entire time.
I don't remember when was the last time I saw cars like these in my country. Oh well, I saw a Sprint turbo maybe 2 years ago, but it was '89 or' 90 (basically a Geo Metro with turbocharged G10 3 cylinder engine)
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3:03 without that direction decal, air wouldn’t know where to go 🤷🏻♂️
That's to direct bugs
It's much slower when you go in reverse ;-)
Good observation.
LMAOoo
🏁SticKerS🏁
I had one 1999-2001, it was a fun, quick car "in town" that wasn't a total turd on the highway with 500# worth of people and ish in it. It only used gas if I DROVE it on the Interstate and drank it like a 20 year old does beer at a house party when I did that with a passenger. An additional 200# made a difference in quickness but helped in holding it in corners. Torque steer was there but easily controllable due to light weight and easy steering; braking was not scary, I don't remember them overheating but I also don't remember trying to find out when they would.
It went through the snow well here in Milwaukee/Chicago area(s) as long as you understood momentum, ground clearance, and got comfy with it riding on top at 40+ mph. Im glad that I was never a passenger in it while passing a semitrailer on a slushy I-94 ride home....
It'd be a hoot-and-a-half as an auto-x car and I often thought it'd be F-U-N with some lightweight 14 or 15x6" rims with STICKY tires on it but that wasn't it's purpose for me. Yep, I'd LOVE to find another one, probably in white again, and use it as the street legal go-cart that it wanted to be. It's 1000# lighter than my Fiero GT (I'd have to look at the specs to compare performance) and 2500# lighter than my Impala SS('95) which gets half the mpg, is much more comfy, quicker, and faster. I wonder how it'd compare to the VW GTI or turbo Omni.
It was a great commuter 21 years ago that'd be cool to still have; a huge difference compared to my other cars and truck at the time. Amazingly my long-bodied non-svelte 6'4"+ self was able to get in and out of it AND didn't hit my head without have to crank the seatback down to gangsta level. I wish the friend that I sold it to would've told me he was going to scrap it due to a "broken downpipe"......
The red '87 Sprint Turbo was the first car I ever owned. I bought it on my 16th birthday in 1990. These specs today don't make it sound very impressive, but hot DAMN that thing was fast. Front a dead stop, all my friends who had supped up trucks couldn't beat it, and even at highway speeds, if you hit the gas hard, you got pushed back into your seat. The turbo light came on NO MATTER HOW FAST you sped up, so that was a waste... but you know when the turbo really did kick in. You could really feel it.
Every car NEEDS a Turbo light on the tach!!!
Mid-80s Subarus were famous for this one, too!
I'll take that over the modern ECO light lol
Uhh no
Totally agree. LOL
theo sincu
It’s to let you know when the engine is about to blow up
It almost went flying off the track at 1:38.
They don't make them like they used to
I love the red and orange two-tone seats in the Sprint Turbo!!!!
Agree! These days interiors are all so glum and dreary looking.
Always loved the offset air intake of the Sprint/Forsa/Swift/Cultus. It grants these little cars such a badass look.
A friend of mine bought one brand new in 87' we use to street race I drove a 84 Nissan 300zx. Let me tell ya that little sprint was no joke. It was fast. It gave me a run for my money. Those were the good ole days!!!
This is awesome, my dad actually bought a Spectrum Turbo brand new in 88' and he flipped in a ditch but these cars are super rare today
Probably had the same thing happen as 1:39
@@dave1135 Yeah, what was up with that?
I would safely say that fewer than 50 probably still survive
These things were actually kinda cool. A shame these never caught on
They can make great race cars. Much better and harder to find than the next gen (Geo Metro).
Man if the Sprint had a DOHC 2.0 with a bigger turbo and short shifter it would a real rocket ship.
Ohh they caught on....
Caught on Fire! 🔥
This is the first gen suzuki swift
@@alphatrion100 , surprisingly, the second one was actually in the USA, but, aside from the badges, it looked practically identical to the hatchback form of the Geo Metro. The USA Suzuki Swift is also much harder to find than a Geo Metro as well.
These are the types of cars nobody cared enough about to save. So sad.
Agree
I think part of it, was lack of good marketing.
On the contrary, they were very popular with people who did autocross and road rallies. The Sprint Turbo I currently own won it's class in the road rallies it was raced in.
the most interesting cars were never saved. Part of what makes them so fascinating now. Problem is, to this day plenty of morons think these 30+ year old cars should still be scrapped because they arent on their personal 5-car list of vehicles that "matter".
Exactly!
Thank you for posting this GM video. I remember when Chevrolet was trying to fight the imports with the captive imports.
I used the imports to destroy the imports
The new Corvette, Escalade/Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon are pretty amazing. So they’re not that stupid.
The headlights are so General motors, sort of wide eyed and downturned, I've never understood their styling to this day, virtually everything they make or have ever made is the opposite of what I like, they must have a very specific market in mind
@@brianc5537 That displacement on demand is amazing? I'll take the Vette but not the Escaburbanhoe.
@@ericharrison619 its functional and does the job. It's easily defeatable if you dont like it so...
There's enough quirks and features in this to make Doug DeMuro cry...
I want to see the "Importance" score of the Sprint.
Will folks please stop spamming his name into other videos...
@@ZIGZAG12345 how about no
@Catholic Firefighter I have an overwhelming urge to vote for Bernie Sanders just out of spite.
@Catholic Firefighter So is shitting up the comments section of a car video.
What a fantastic times the 80's and 90's were for cars...Had an Ford Escort XR3i (105 BHP) and then a Peugeot 205Gti in the UK back then and went through a host of others during those times...fantastic affordable pocket rockets that were just great..
I wanted one of those Sprint Turbos so bad when they came out! I was also 14.
I bought one in 93. With 100k. Sold it in 2012 with 200k. It was a great car. I made good $ off it, too.
The spark and sonic of the 1980s
0-60 in a blistering 9.7 seconds..... yeah, times have changed.
No they haven't, many FWD cars in non-sport spec versions today don't accelerate much faster then this, specially outside of US in places where these came from originally.
Today's economy has twice the power and 2.5 times the weight of these....
Mine flipping Flied. If I could smoke AccordLXi, Integras, Beretta GTZ of the time with one I had a stop light race with mine at around 170k in the early 2000’s with a BMW ZR-1 and the guy was shocked I beat him byba good stretch. Sprint Turbos can really MOVE.
That's a very impressive acceleration time for just 70hp though. I've got the same amount of power, yet my car needs 8 seconds longer. This isn't all too surprising given the much lower weight due to lack of any kind of safety though.
@@djkenny1202 I thought it kicked ass back then. I owned the 4 door non-turbo with a 5 speed. It didn't fly but it flew by many gas station.
I loved those Sprint Plus models!
The 80s be like "here's your turbocharged three cylinder."
The 90s and 2000s be like "nah, four cylinders are where it's at."
The 2010s be like "here's your turbocharged three cylinder".
Funny how some things come back around.
Wrong, 3-cylinder Turbo was used for the last 27 years non-stop !
Mostly is JP where they make sense, they have a whole army of micro cars there that move more people then in America with 0.66l-1.2l i3 Turbo engines like the Suzuki Wagon R.
@@g00dl00kinb0i Cam we import these JDM motors?
@Timothy Keith
Believe it or not I saw one or two on cars dot com over the years but I'm sure you can arrange something yourself, K-cars is what they are called.
Suzuki, Daihatsu, ect....they are smaller then a Honda Fit and should be fairly cheap to import since it's a tiny motor.
V8, F8, W8, V10, V12, W12, and V16 engines all laugh at you.
@@paxhumana2015 A 2020 JDM Toyota three cylinder motor makes 268 horsepower
Wow, that car is so rare now.Those seats look awesome!
The green 'Turbo' readout in the tach is one of the coolest readouts I've ever seen! It's even cooler than the green 'Supercharger' light in the supercharged MR2 AW11!
But, just imagine what a sleeper the Sprint would be with a Stage 1 tuning to 100hp and a set of good springs and shocks!
You should have seen the digital dash on an old Subaru XT Turbo.
That's basically what the 1989-94 Suzuki Swift GT was, except they ditched the turbo'd 3 for a 1.3L 16v NA four.
Out here where I live they swap in the 2.3 engine off Suzuki Aerio.
@@TA_Plus_Hemi Yeah, the kinda-3D-depth it formed was really cool! Although someone more eagle-eyed would notice the 2D reality right away!
@@nlpnt Yep, the glorious Swift GTi, of the 2nd generation, with the 1.3 reaching 7500rpm, maybe more even! It's one of the best cars Suzuki has ever made!
That was such a dannged good looking little car. I saw tons of them back in the late 80's here in So-Cal. And man! Those full color matched wheels were awesome back then. Like my bike that had them wheel discs. 80's aesthetic man! Goodtimes. Even though it didn't have voltmeter and oil pressure gauges.
1:37 LOL! Damn, *brake* dancing was still a thing, but slowly dying.
That engine was struggling to start even new lol
What a POS
Exactly what I was going to say... Imagine being at the dealer and it has 20 miles on the odo and that's what it sounds like.... Bet none of these were sold on days below 45 degrees lol.
Lol I saw that
It's because the guy floored it while cranking it. That turns the fuel off on fuel injection.
I was just thinking that ! Good comment!
A local guy has a turbo sprint at our local drag strip. Its amazing what a bit of tuning and a 50 shot of N2O does to a light little car. 🤯
8.8 to 60 was darn good back then 37/43mpg is still fantastic today.
imagine this thing lining up to a 88 crx si-r with a 160hp B16A
man Honda was way ahead of the game back then
Yeah Honda is great. The swift 1.3 gti could take on the crx 1.6 with 110hp though. From 0-100 i smoked them lol. The 115hp rare japspec model could probably match the 130hp crx model.
Wow its amazing to me how simple cars was 30 yrs ago.
Wow! How time flies! 105 horses like seen in this car back then is the power level of a standard NA 1.5 liter cars nowadays, while turbo 1.5 liter engines like the ones on recent turbo crvs & civics has at least 180hp, similar power level of a 2.4 liter NA engine!
1:10 - For some reason, it's hilarious to me that the tachometer has the word "TACH" plastered on it in giant letters.
I passed one of these today on I44. I was amazed how clean it was.
I literally never saw a single one of these on the roads in my neck of the woods in Ft. Worth during this time, not a single one. and if you can find one today in halfway decent shape, you don't have much. My '88 Mazda 323LX 5spd (non turbo) did just fine and was a nice place to be with power windows/locks, sunroof, cc, int wipers, etc; such a great car. Saw more Metros, Storms and Impulse than Sprints. Always had a soft spot for an Impulse because I wanted handling by Lotus.
Only one I've seen out of those here in Michigan is the Geo Metro
This was my very first car I love it and I miss it $10 you can ride 2 weeks without running out of gas 46 mpg not even a stupid Prius get that . Mine was the red one .
Granted it no Camaro but I did have one of these when I was a teenager and it was lots of fun to drive
My dad had a Chevy Sprint. It was a good little car.
Man I can't remember last time I saw one
Not in the West Coast
One in a garage close to my house. Teal Blue in color. Maybe an early 90's one. Real cool car.
I've never even heard of it
I am lucky enough to have one in my garage, Its a ton of fun to drive. Some simple handling mods are all it needs to be a blast on any back road.
Great, Now I want one again! DAMN!
Had a 1987 Pontiac FireFly Turbo! What a riot that car was! Bought it for $20.00 [yes $20.00] not running, took me a lot of time and loads of messages to figure what the problem was. Knock sensor. Drove that car to Redline everyday I owned it! Raced anyone at any red light, anywhere! Surprised loads of people with that Go-Kart! Sadly sold it, I miss it for sure. Chevy Sprint, Pontiac Firefly, Suzuki Cultus, find one, buy it and have a riot!
Why do i love the retro videos over the new ones ????
Had an 86 sprint ER. Great little car!
Here in Puerto Rico those are highly sough out, they are basically Suzuki and they were bullet proof !
Yep. And puerto rico had some very fast swifts on the dragstrip. Like the la salchica swift. 9.7 sec on the 1/4 mile.
2:57 John: YOU CAN CARRY A 3 SUITOR OR REAR PASSENGERS, BUT NOT BOTH! LOL
"Rushed through the quarter mile in 17.2 seconds" 😂😂
LOL!
As slow as these cars were I still miss the 80's!
The '80's weren't that great; '70's were much better.
@@VL1975 The present time is the best for cars, it will only get better. Where in time can you buy stock trucks that do 0-60 mph in the 5 second range?
@@VL1975 That isn't slow for that motor it shaved 3 to 4 seconds of zero to sixty time.
@@TheCarCrazyGuy The present is no very good for cars. Yes, we have faster cars, but they become ugly, heavy and boring. People interest for cars and motorsports in general is going down.
Problem is new cars and truck that perform at the 5 second or faster are too expensive for the average joe to afford. Additionally, new cars are way too complex. If they wanted to, cars and trucks could be manufactured to be fun, efficient, affordable, and easy to repair. Since they’re not, I personally don’t have a real interest in newer cars regardless of how fast they are.
6! SIX. S I X seconds faster to 60 MPH than the previous years car. Now that is an upgrade. LOL Sure it's stil just 9.5 to 60s but holy crap that's a huge drop in a year. LOL
@@economynotstable I had a 1.0/stick Metro, I can't imagine what a dog the auto was. That being said, the 5 speed 3 cylinder Metro would hit the rev limiter in 2nd before it hit 60 so a timed 0-60 run would've had to include a shift to 3rd.
These were the days when you had to leave GIANT gaps in traffic to merge safely. Imagine driving a 50hp car onto a freeway when a semi is doing 60 in the slow lane and it takes 15 seconds to get to that speed!!!
I bought a Chevy Metro brand new in '98 with the 16 valve 4 cyl engine. I put an SRD header on it and a couple other mods. A kid I worked with had a standard 3 cyl Metro that looked almost identical to mine. I'll never forget the first time he drove mine he was absolutely shocked by the difference 30 extra HP made in a 1900lb car. I got 16 years and 220k miles out of that thing it was legendary
@@economynotstable My uncle had a Swift GTI that he ran to almost 200000 miles before it got totaled in a wreck.He replaced it with a Metro that was out of a rental fleet and drove that one quite a while too
@@kevina2052 ... aka, the Chevrolet Chevette (53 hp).
Love this little car.I used to have one when my kids were small and we used to sport all over town in it
I remember going on a test drive in a sprint turbo when I was 14. I was with my mom while car shopping for a new car for my sister. I can recall my mom being totally surprised by the unexpected acceleration that the turbo gave the little car. My parents ended up buying a 1987 Pontiac Sunbird SE instead.
I had a standard 1986 red 5-door, with 3-cyl engine and AT (a concession to my new wife), my first and last new car. We bought it because it was cheap, and I would have preferred a MT, but it was fun to drive, and I LOVED IT!
Loved these when they were still around. I owned an Imark turbo in the late 90's ...even after owning many "better" cars since I still call it one of the coolest and most fun cars I've ever had. The downside to making "cheap" performance cars is they can easily get into the hands of people who either dont know or cant afford the extra maintenance and care that comes with them. That leads to most on the roads in poor running condition and the rep takes a hit...then sales go out the window. The late 80's were so great for variety, with everything today either being a truck or a pregnant rollerskate compact suv we may never see those times again
Everyone complaints about 0-60
This and that . All I can say is as a 85 crx si owner these 1700 pound
Cars are fun and quick nothing like
Modern cars.. you'd be surprised trust me ..now 2800 POUNDS IS LIGHT ..
If you were going to get a 1987 Chevy Spectrum turbo; might as well get a Isuzu I-Mark RS turbo because of the styling and a better interior. The Chevy Sprint turbo with intercooler was a true pocket rocket and had impressive numbers in 0-60 in its time. Great car.
Beast of an intercooler
Yep noticed that, about the size of a paperback book.
Forward 33 years ad now we got same engine same turbo and intercoolers getting like almost same horsepower and torque and heaver vehicle with 400% cost ! . I would buy one of these way before i'd buy any new car with all the electronic nannies and maintenece and cost any day!! These were fun to drive and mpg were great compared to now.
PLEASE, if they exist, post a Retro Review of the Chevy "NUMMI" Nova, particularly the 1988 Twin Cam model.
Hot rod status
Yeah, we got a short test of that car I can post
@@Some_Person6 That'd be awesome, thanks!
4age
@@Some_Person6 Just watched it...three times. I miss my "Twinkie."
The shop I worked at in the early 90s had a semi-regular customer with one of these and a personal license plate. IIRC, "2RC4U", Too Racy For You. While I would love one of these for Lemons, I still wonder how slow his previous car was, that he thought one of these was fast.
Still a cool car, and would love to run one in in Lemons.
1987
It was a good year
Haven't seen one of these since 93. I was 10.
I test drove one of these in the late 80s I wanted one! Sad they are all gone it was a cool little car!
I always liked the little Sprint, and then Metros.
3:12 Electronic Petrol Injection. My life is now complete 😂😂
Yep about the same plate is on all swift gti from 1986 to 1995 ( till 1999 for australia))
I had a sprint, wow great video
Were there any cars in 1987 which still *didn't* have halogen headlights or radial tires? According to Goodyear, all U.S.-built cars came with radial tires as standard equipment as of the 1982 model year. That leaves just trucks, and possibly some imported cars, as carrying on with bias-ply tires beyond that date.
I happen to drive one of these new, My cousin bought the white sprint turbo. I actually thought the car was quite the runner despite being so small. It had plenty of get up & go, & was great on gas!!!!
I’d love to own a Turbo Sprint
This is a very cool looking hatchback. I'd drive one today!!
I'd like to see an RCR of this one..
True, rust was most likely a problem, on the East coast(salty roads). Parents bought the '85 auto new, and it lasted over 15 years, rust-free. And yes, it could go over 75mph. Would occasionally race my sister's Nissan Pulsar getting to bowling alleys on O.C. Freeways. Sadly, engine died, couldn't afford to fix it. Mechanic where I used to live a few years ago had a convertible Geo Metro, pristine condition. Kept hoping he'd put a For Sale sign on it.
Super rare cars! Nobody has one of these today
Dude about rolled it at 1:39
😂😂😂
1:15 TACH thanks Chevrolet we did not know it was a Tach
I don’t think a single one of these lasted more than a few years 😂
Isuzu, probably not, they were junk cars, the Sprint, Swift or Metro ( whatever you wanna call it ) was actually really good when it comes to the engine and trans, the issue was rust, my Dad had a 1989 Metro that he drove all through out college and a few years past that, and the engine out lived body because Geo Metro's are very rust prone on the floor pans, shock towers and the area in front of the rear wheels, they were still super crappy though, I think the real issue with these cars is how disposable the manufacturers make them, kinda like the new 3 cylinder Mirage.
Joseph Whiskey Beale I’ve seen one of those turbo Geo Metro type things that some old guy has restored, but none besides that
My brother drives an 88 sprint non turbo it's awful but still runs and drives.
Yeah, till 1989.
I just sold my turbo Sprint 6 years ago running very well. 200k low miles. These commonly hut 300k. Best car I have owned.
These were dark, dark days. I was there!
1:36
awww yeah hop to it
Looks like a little Rally car with the white wheels
I''ll take one of each.
You never see people cry how "little" power this motor made in times of performance restrictions but they never fail to cry to how a comparable era 5.0l V8 "only" made 215HP in 1987, which was more then enough for 99% of drivers to even handle safely then.
That complaint isn't about total power, it's about volumetric efficiency. 215 HP out of 5 liters IS pathetic, considering that the same company made a 3.0L V6 that produced 140 HP. And this was if you stuck with a pushrod engine. The Toyota Camry at the time was available with a 2.5L V6 that made 153 HP. Ford doubled the displacement to make only 62 more HP?
Yes, 215 HP was quite a bit for the time and type of car. The problem was that they needed a 5 liter V8 to make it.
70hp from 1.0L is still far better than 215hp from 5L... And in actual fact it was "detuned" from 82hp for the North American Market.
Great, both of you just confirmed what I said, the levels of lack of knowledge of this industry or history in both of you is staggering....I guess they should have strapped on a fully tuned V8 race motor from an '80s Indy Car, put out 125hp/liter, fail every stringent emissions test in the process and raise the price of every V8 car in line up 3-4 times.
Cars from EU with V8s didn't put of much more, considering their restrictions were nothing like here at the time, ah and they also use 32 valve DOHC heads that make more power in any engine cylinder setup.
Most V8s from the '80s only need a few parts (with which they would have come with if it was any other decade) to make very decent power, swap the fuel/air restrictions alone for something high flow and you'll have a whole another engine.
There's nothing wrong with those motors other then the government/politics getting involved with them, 15 years before that they 500hp motors in road cars, in the '60 Ferrari doesn't even get close to that !
Learn some automotive history first....
Am I the only one that finds it funny to hear John Davis say Turbografx at 2:31? Perhaps NEC was watching this video and thought, "that's a great name for our new console!"
I have always wanted to have 1 of these cars. It is fun and frugal. I will find 1, 1 of these days....
I remember laughing out loud when I saw one at a new car show!
Nice little cars this Chevy Sprint Turbo and Spectrum Turbo
My first car was a red 1982 Isuzu I Mark manual. Didn't drive it long but it was unique.
That's actually a really cool little car . There was a 1982 Isuzu car for sale here recently . It was a I mark diesel . I wish I would have bought it
papi miami mine was the diesel too
Hi, I'm from Costa Rica. Where can I get spare parts for the turbo in Sprint? Place help
this was my 1st get away car lol.. i was a teen with no driving licence driving as fast as i can to lose the cops lol got it the hard way .. it was not fast enoug .. i remeber staying all day in the police station till my dad came and got me out of there .. good old memories
Keep up the history and the nostalgia #motorweek thanks
I like these type cars. Not fast at all, but feels fast. Just imagine if you throw today's upgrades on it and see what it can do. Like suspension, better turbo, bigger intercooler, head studs, cv axles, exhaust, intake, tune, and port out the the valves.
I had a white sprint turbo that I got up to 120 MPH going down a slight downgrade. Those cars where fast. I now have the 3 cylinder 2014 Ford Fiesta turbo. It moves right along too.
Holden Gemini and Holden Barina in Australia, though we didn't get turbo models.
@John Jalas originally yeah, but they were eventually rebadged as GM products like these two.
In Colombia is Chevrolet Sprint
1:38 wheel comes off the ground going around the track LOL
I had an ‘85 Sprint that I referred to as my “gutless wonder”. Acceleration was a joke and the engine wasn’t strong enough to accelerate up a steep grade. If you had to take your foot out of the gas, you could never get it back up to speed until you crested the hill. Still, it returned exceptional gas mileage and that’s pretty much what the car was all about.
The turbo made a HUGE difference.
Hilarious motorweek keep em coming
From time to time I still see 80s GM trucks, Suburbans, big cars and mid size fwd cars still on the roads today but in my life time I’ve seen one Monza, 2 Chevettes, and one Citation. Never have I seen any Sprints or Spectrums lol, or any 80s Novas for that matter.
Blasted from 0-60 in 9.5 seconds! Ahhhhhh the 80s.
Had an 89 sprint 5 door. Was a good little car through college in the 1990s. I think it had a small 4 banger, though. 1.3l maybe.
The Ohio roads and winters killed it and the 1998 sprint 3 door with a 3 cyl that replaced it. Both averaged well over 40 mpg the entire time.
Yes 1.3 (1298cc) the 1.3 from 80s was 1324cc.. Same engine the samurai got.
These were essentially throwaway cars.
that 70 HP can be tough to handle!! :)
Did any of this survived?
I wonder how many of those Sprints are rolling around these days.
"jazzy exterior styling".
I don't remember when was the last time I saw cars like these in my country. Oh well, I saw a Sprint turbo maybe 2 years ago, but it was '89 or' 90 (basically a Geo Metro with turbocharged G10 3 cylinder engine)
Wow I remember these manufacturers don’t make cool cars like this anymore and if they do we don’t get them IE Toyota Yaris GR.
yay another retro review thanx MW
Any turbo Metros/swifts ever made?
2019 swift sport (1.4 turbo).
Wow I remember this car on the streets long time ago