YUGO!

[solarlord]

these cars were made in jugoslavia (hense the name actualy called zastapa else where) which is now called serbia- in the Haig they are trying a serb called Ratko MLLADIC for crimes against humanity ,,mabye ,,no wont go there

[Petros]

The Yugo is a crime against cardom, the person who's brain child the Yogo was should also be tried in the Haig. Many people killed in them, and many pocket books decimated trying to keep them running.

[CathodeRayTube]

I kinda like the thing partly cause its hated by so many people...and its still safer than a motorcycle id say. Today i got all the AC components for it, and some really cool louvers for the back. All of the Issues iv encountered so far, (bad fuel pump, bad fuel pressure regulator, rusty muffler, dry rot in various rubber bits) i think can just be accredited to the fact that its 21 years old. not that its inferior to anything else. There are things that are obviously cheap...flimsy plastic parts etc, but it was meant to be cheap and thats to be expected, and said parts should last reasonably long with care. I dont want to say its high-maintenance...but it probably does require more than other cars (timing belts). Frankly i feel the same way about Pontiacs as Petros seems to feel about the yugo...but i believe any car, even a Pontiac, will last & be reliable with proper care.

My use of the car is pretty much just for fun, and its not my only vehicle. If it was my only vehicle, and i had no knowledge to fix it myself or no place to work on it, i do definitely see how it could make life very depressing, and i think thats probably why it got so much bad press. Imagine a poor city-dwelling family who has no mechanical knowledge, no money and 3 kids...The yugo would have probably greatly contributed to a miserable life in this situation if it was said familys only car...and thats who it was targeted at...people who could afford nothing else, and said people would probably have neglected the car to the point where it was a curse because of there own ignorance or inability to take care of it.

[ARCHINSTL]

As far as importing the Yugo to the USA (dunno about Canada) - you could blame the infamous Malcolm Bricklin, he of fame for screwing the Province of New Brunswick (and the Ottawa government?) for the Bricklin fiasco and of bringing in the original Subaru 360, which was death waiting to happen.
And closer to (my) home - the truly crappy electric bicycle, the EV Warrior.
And, of course, he came a cropper with the deal to import Chery cars to N. America in the mid-2000s.

I could never figger out WHY anyone with money would invest it with him...
Tom M.

[dlb]

good on ya, CRT. i like your conviction for this vehicle, and the rear window sun visor or whatever they're called--i wish we had one for our T4s. very tough.

let the haters hate, stay strong!

[CathodeRayTube]

Im sure it would be easy to fabricate one for the T4, all it is is aluminum and it just slides under the window gasket. rear wiper still works under it. If somebody fabs one for the T4 before i get around to making one myself id definitely buy one.

[Petros]

Frankly i feel the same way about Pontiacs as Petros seems to feel about the yugo

actually I do not hate the Yugo, it is really a tragedy for so many people, both customers and the factory that made them, they were probably in over their heads and could not bring it together. I REALLY loath the US car companies, including the Pontiacs. The US car companies have some of the best engineers and design resources in the world, and they put out such poor cars, not reliable, not fun to drive, not particularly attractive (especially the Pontiacs), and not particularly economical to buy or operative. Nothing redeeming about them.

I once worked for the turbo division of AirReaseach, and worked with engineers from all of the Big Three US car companies, when I complained to one of them that Detroit was not competent to design cars he took offense. He said they have excellent engineers, and they knew exactly how the car would behave before it is built: how it will handle, brake, its economy and reliability. That is when I hated the US car companies even more, they were not merely incompetent, they designed those cars that way on purpose to sell to an unsuspecting public. I will never buy a big three car if they think I am so stupid to buy that crap, until they straighten their act out and win my loyalty by actually building a better product, I ain't buying.

[CathodeRayTube]

I agree with that petros, I would also add that the US government is the same way...both the government and the US car companys are incompetent, ARROGANT and think we the public are stupid...they believe that they are high & mighty, simply because they are American...

Im pretty sure il never buy a NEW car from ANY maker tho...so for that reason i wouldnt hesitate to buy an old GM or Ford car/truck if i actually like it (theres not many, but a few i like, F250 diesel, cadillac eldorado etc..)...the makers wouldnt actually be getting any money from me.

[dlb]

i like how this thread has gone. amen to your last posts, petros and CRT.

[solarlord]

Problem with Yugoslavia where these were built it was a miserable place full of miserable people run by a bunch of miserable commies(ruskies) bit like Gary Indiana-DEC what do you expect !!a rolla ?

[ARCHINSTL]

And of course, one might say the same of who ruled (most of) Ireland prior to 1921...
Tom M.

[solarlord]

tom- i think we made the worst cars that the world is ever likley to see , the list is endless- i wouldnt do up a retro brit car if you paid me to do it!!!
i worked at triumph factory in the seventies before it shut- the men did nothing but pay cards all day- they put the wrong parts in the engine -the only quality control was they drove them of the end of the track to the car park- we made the triumph snag- the shitfire and the tr,arsole-dec

[splatterdog]

I don't hate Yugo's. Only because it's been 15 years or more since I had to work on one and I don't plan on seeing any more anytime in the future.

Petros- Why single out Pontiac? All GM stuff other than Caddy and Saturn are all pretty much identical under the sheet metal for 20 years now. If you really want to pick on Pontiac lets talk about the 88-93 Lemans. Those were made by Daewoo and were some serious competition for worst car ever. I never saw one with over 100k.

And then yes, the British. I inherited a rusty MGB so I know. Still better than French cars though!

I've come to realize long ago, they can't all be as good as a T4.

[solarlord]

hi splatterdog- where have you been? -the tittle of crap cars belongs to the brits - the french now build good cars (not renault though they are still crap) i own 2 peugeots a 406hdi deisel estate and a partner van 1900 non turbo van these are what we call bullet proof motors ,run for ever a day- if you want get into crap i will post 20 plus brit rust buckets that will top the charts-dec
maybe only the de lorien can top them

[dlb]

I don't hate Yugo's. Only because it's been 15 years or more since I had to work on one and I don't plan on seeing any more anytime in the future.

this hating on yugo's brings out some of the best lines.

i may have told this story before here but i had a '91 vw passat wagon that had a head gasket failure near princeton, bc while the wife and i were on vacation. we had to get home in time for some horse stuff that my wife had going on so we had the car towed to a garage that had some beaters for sale. i wound up trading the passat against a nasty '87 pontiac 6000, i think i got the pontiac for $300. it was the ugliest POS i have ever seen and even though i didn't love the passat, i was pretty bummed to go from it to this turd. to the pontiac's credit, it got us home and the air conditioning worked. i sold it for $300 to a friend who needed an interim vehicle, and he in turn sold it as soon as he could too. i remember that there was a useless dummy light indicator on the dash that had a simple diagram of the car on it to show you where the problem on the car was. stupid thing though, the diagram had only an engine warning light. they went through the trouble to make this fancy-looking spaceship diagram with lights but it seems like they decided to quit halfway through and just designate any and all problems as 'engine problems.' trans, brakes? whatever. it's all engine to that thing. we had some good laughs about that stupid thing.

god, i hate pontiacs.