Then vs. then vs. then: '80s compact/midsize front-drive cars

[93JC]

For reference:





Now... GO!

[ro51092]

Bicycles are a lot of fun, you know.

[93JC]

[omicron]

Dodge! All that whitewalled, chromed, veloured glory!

[FoMoJo]

Lovely little cars !

For what they were, they had it all over the immediate competition as far as technology, style and value...well, at least they had rear suspension that didn't resemble something from a stagecoach. ..

[ChrisV]

I had a Citation, similar to the one pictured but two tone brown. My dad got it at 80k miles, gave it to me at 250k miles, and I got rid of it at 323k miles. Ugly, slightly beat up, but dead nuts reliable and useful.

I remember posting a cool Tempo in another thread, however...

[ChrisV]

Ah, found them...

[Zcarnut]

Ugh.My wife drove a 88' Tempo 4 banger when we started dating.
I swear it had a "all systems comence self destruct" feature at 100k miles.
Her A/C went,trans started slipping,and other problems right at that mileage.
We sold it privately for a grand and got her a 93' Sentra.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Wow, this is a tough one! As much as I like Tempos and respect K-Cars, I think the Citation takes the cake here. It was truly a fine car for its time, and yet, it turned out to be a victim of the same type of cruel punishment my beloved Suzuki Samurais received from liberal saftey shitheads who think they have the right to end a car's existance just because it is unsafe to drive it off a cliff a 310 mph while making a 180? turn on an uneven negative camber surface with three flat tires while towing a 30,000lb trailer with no brakes. I just feel bad for it!





Oh yes! Me and my girl, buying apples fresh from the farmer's stand, late on one summer's eve... it makes me want a Citation for sure.

[ChrisV]

Plus, the Citation was available in the SCCA Homologation special X-11 form, that had custom suspension and chassis braces with the higher output V6.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Yes! Plus I've seen a Citation stage rally car! But I can't find any pics of it.

[Eye of the Tiger]

But hey, this one can fly! 

[heelntoe]

what the hell is a 4 door hatchback sedan?
i like the citation too BTW.

[93JC]

I had a Citation, similar to the one pictured but two tone brown. My dad got it at 80k miles, gave it to me at 250k miles, and I got rid of it at 323k miles. Ugly, slightly beat up, but dead nuts reliable and useful.

My grandparents had an '85 Citation II 5-door and an '81 notchback coupe. The notchback was passed on to my dad, and I don't think he drove it more than a handful of times. It was near death by the end of the '80s, and was sold to a friend of a friend. I remember being it once, only once, in motion under its own power.

The '85 was a champ. No idea how many times the odometer rolled over on that one. It was relatively gutless, had a 'sweet spot' at around 75 km/h where the interior started vibrating violently, but (out of spite, I think) it kept on ticking.

It was eventually passed on to my aunt. A teenaged bimbette crashed into her in 2000, putting the ol' Citation out to pasture for good. If not for that I think it would still be running today.

Of the three poll choices I think the Citation is easily the technological tour de force. Without it and the more conventional Celebrity/6000 (one of which both sets of grandparents had in the '80s)/Cutlass Ciera/Century it's hard to imagine what the modern-day mid-size sedan would be like. It pioneered so many things we now think of as typical for the segment...

[FoMoJo]

But hey, this one can fly!?

That's a good picture of the rear buggy axle hanging down !

[ChrisV]

That's a good picture of the rear buggy axle hanging down !

It's only job was to keep the rear bumper from dragging. A car like that never needed anything more sophisticated, and the racing versions, like the beam axle Rabbits, worked just fine. It also worked good for carrying cargo without changing camber. Like when we loaded ours down with a shitpile of crushed rock or lumber.

[FoMoJo]

It's only job was to keep the rear bumper from dragging. A car like that never needed anything more sophisticated, and the racing versions, like the beam axle Rabbits, worked just fine. It also worked good for carrying cargo without changing camber. Like when we loaded ours down with a shitpile of crushed rock or lumber.

I appreciate the ulitility and efficiency of beam axles and that they were successful in many applications...the rally Saabs of old performed remarkably well...but it, somehow, seems wrong to me that they existed, and still exist, on modern cars.  Any car, vans aside, that I've driven which had a rear beam axle, including twist beam (semi-independent ?) feels dead next to those with multi-link and strut suspensions.

[the Teuton]

I'd take a Civic or Accord.  I'll pass on these three unless you throw the Omni GLH-S onto the list.

[TheIntrepid]

Ford f*cking Tempo FTW!!!!

I remember my dad bringing home a Power Wheels Jeep for my cousin on the roof of a borrowed Tempo

[Madman]

Renault Alliance, baby!

I owned one of these in blue.  A 1983 4-door DL model.  1.4 litre, 5 speed manual.
It looked just like this one.




Madman of the People

[the Teuton]

My bro owned a Renault Encore as his first car!  It's basically the same thing. 

What about the AMC Eagle?

[93JC]

The Eagle was rear/all-wheel-drive.

[Rupert]

Oh, Citation, definitely.

My dad had one for a long time, and it was actually not a bad car. It was a 1980 (or '81) coupe, in kind of a dark green color.

[SVT666]

Tempo FTW!

[nickdrinkwater]

Ah, found them...

I wouldn't be seen dead in that.   

[Payman]

1983 Shelby Charger. First car I ever bought back in '86. Drove the fucker to an early grave. It was actually a pretty cool car.

[Raza]

Plus, the Citation was available in the SCCA Homologation special X-11 form, that had custom suspension and chassis braces with the higher output V6.

I dig that one!

[Raza]

I wouldn't be seen dead in that.   

I could prove you wrong.

[saxonyron]

1983 Shelby Charger. First car I ever bought back in '86. Drove the fucker to an early grave. It was actually a pretty cool car.

What a flashback!? My buddy drove one back in 1980 very much like that when I was 16.? He was older than me and first to get his license.? I think it had a 2.2L 4 cyl and a manny tranny.? He would love to light the puny front tires up every chance he got.? Back then, that car was a regular rocket!

I voted for the Mopar 600's, although I had limited experience with all 3 of the crap boxes listed.? A buddy had a tempo and it was a seriously pathetic POS.? I remember driving in it back around 1985 and thinking "Wow - this car sure sucks."? The Citation was known to be a fine economy car for the first 40,000 miles or so, at which point the piston rings, which were actually made of balsa wood, would finally evaporate.? I rented a couple K-cars and remember them to be fairly decent.? Tacky as hell, but decent.?

What a generally hideous decade for cars! 

[dazzleman]

Citation all the way, baby....

It's the first Chevy of the '80s
The first Chevy of its kind
It's a new Chevy kind of compact
This could be the car you had in mind....


No wonder so many people got turned off on General Motors....