I went for a ride in a friend's 4 cyl Fiero once, and I remember thinking my mom's `86 K-car could have beat it in a drag race. Several of them went up in flames in my area.

smoken44 - I can personally attest that K-car speedos went to 85 mph!!!  Not that the car would go that fast mind you. K-cars were crappy, but my mother's lasted well over 200K miles (she sold it to a neighbor at 60k miles).


My vote is a tie between the Le Car and the Yugo.

K Car.  I saw someone post Buick Grand National?  I personally nostalgic on those sleeper luxury turbo's!  Would love one now as a 2nd car, $400 in turbo upgrades and your running 12's without batting an eye (have seen low 10's all the time at the track).  I thought the GN's were great sleeper cars.

It's actually this one, a Celica wannabe "Boss" Mustang.
[url]http://www.geocities.com/~yoshi83/gt_liftback.jpg[/url]

Have to cut & paste.  POS geocities won't allow a direct link.

I jokingly threw out this vehicle because you were asking where all the Jap car's were.  I do think it stole design cues from the "Boss" and other Mustangs.  Ford should sue, but I'm sure the statute of limitations has long ago passed.  But my friend's father did have one and it did break down.

Does your "Or even now" comment mean that the Toyota Corolla GTS from the 80's is better than a modern day Euro/American produced automobile?

Did you know that Japanese cars break down too?

The POS of all time has to be the chevy pick-up with the 5.7 diesle motor.  These things were converted 350 small blocks, what a bad idea.

1846,

Sorry, I could not open the file.

I cannot really comment on Toyota's, although, I did once have a Tercel 4/4 – talk about enemic: I had to time it just right, and get my wife to shutdown the A/C, whenever I wanted to pass anything – but it was reliable.

However, if any company should sue for copyright design issues it should be Lotus. That Mazda Miata is a dead ringer for the old Lotus Elan.

The "even now" comment was meant to indicate that, IMHO, although the U.S. and Europe have made great strides in Q.C. and all other areas, so have the Japanese. I've a low  mileage (70K) '95 Infiniti (made ONLY in Japan). It's never had any problem whatsever and EVERYTHING still works perfectly like it did on day one.

Apart from oil and filters (and one fan belt – preventative maintenence), I've had to replace nothing, it's even got the original plugs and bulbs.

Sure Japanese cars breakdown – I've spent time fixing a lot of them. But, $ / $, just not as often as anything else!

Concerning the Trabant:
This was the East German's "People's Car".
There was a contest to name it, at first "Sputnik" was considered, but it sounded too Russian, so they tried for a synonym; "Trabant" meant "satellite" and was deemed acceptable.
The inside joke was that the word "Trabant" derived from an ancient German word for the foot soldiers surrounding royalty, or literally...
"Warrior on Foot"
This fit very nicely ;)
Engine specs were 594cc, 26 German HP, or 19kw.
The 26 liter gas tank was filled with 1 part oil, and 50 parts gas, self mixing.
Top speed, officially, 100km/h, cruising speed was 80km/h.
Gas and mileage varied widely, anywhere between 18mpg at top speed, to 40mpg when the wind was just right, you had a slight downhill grade, and were homesick. The gas tank was safely placed *in* the engine compartment, directly in front of the driver.
Windshield washer was included, in the form of a water pistol in the glovebox.
Trunk space was surprisingly roomy for such a small car, but was quickly filled with essential spare parts, such as a spare transmission, or cylinder heads.
There was no external keyhole on the passenger side door, gallantry was only accomplished by reaching through from the driver's side to unlock a door for a lady.
Seating postion was a bit awkward, what with your knees covering your ears, but it helped to block the engine noise somewhat.