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Corvair was Car of the Year in 1960, Vega in 1971, Citation in 1980. They all were groundbreaking at the time but each had many problems. This video would have made more sense if didn't repeat some information and actually detailed the problems that led to it's demise. My girlfriend had a brand new one in 80. Seemed kind of cheap. Lots of molded hard plastic. The 4 cylinder engine was a little rough but not terrible. The car just wasn't refined. As a larger alternative to small imports it achieved that goal. But when a car goes out of production in 6 years there is proof of too many issues.
Toyota secretly bought an early production model Citation in 1979 when it was available for sale, sent it back to Japan for test evaluation and eventually was torn apart to understand its engineering and how GM did their FWD set up. Toyota had bought one to understand why Americans bought them in their thousands. To their surprise, Toyota engineers discovered that the Citation (and the X-Car in general) wasn't a fully baked product and lacked in quality control. Toyota was confident that they could introduce, produce, and sell a better car in the American market that Americans would rather prefer to own and drive. And this is how the Camry was born, because Toyota themselves bought a Chevy Citation. Without the Citation, there would be no such thing as a Camry, because the Citation inspired Toyota to do much better. And they did.
Also, fun fact. The Citation was slated to be phased out of production by the 1987 model year, to be replaced by the L-Body Corsica and Beretta in 1988. There is a huge reason why all 1987 Corsicas and Berettas went to fleet users first before it was sold to the public, GM got burned badly by the X-car, and the replacement cars for it had to be better executed to have a better positive impact on the buying public. As the Citation was axed after the 1985 model year, Chevy had no sized car of Citation for the market until the L-body was ready, but that was two years out.
I suppose that someone at Toyota saw the Citation, and said "if they can get away with selling THAT, then we have nothing to worry about". Judging on how the Camry changed over the years, the real pain in the a$$ for them was the Ford Taurus. Now that was a worthy competitor that suddenly made the Camry/Accord/Stanza look outdated.
@@vadim6385 The 86 Ford Taurus was a fantastic car with a history of its own, and the single product that prevented a total financial collapse of the Ford Motor Company in the 1980's. The Citation/X-Body nearly killed GM. The Camry allowed a foothold for Toyota to dominate the American market for generations to come. And the Taurus saved Ford from extinction. But in time, Camry was a car that all companies vowed to compete and beat in the market. But never get close. Look at Ford and GM now, that can't hold a candle to the imports on how to design and build a passenger car Americans want to buy. None of them are offering any sedans anymore. Yet, the Camry still sells. And with that, you can thank the Citation after all.
@@5KpGD What's interesting to me is that you got Toyota and Honda , Kia and Hyundai in that sedan segment. And they're doing quite well. It's been amazing watching the Korean manufacturers go from pretty much rolling piles of poo to being some of the best that there is both an engineering and in design and desirability. But if I had to roll the dice on a car I'd probably still pick Toyota get a Camry with a 4 cylinder engine do the maintenance on it and it'll probably run forever. I'd probably get the hybrid version honestly of the camry. That simplifies things even more in many ways mechanically. You add some complication with the Hybrid battery and a few other secondary systems. But the transmission in the Toyota hybrids is about as simple as can be. It's just a planetary split device with two electric motors. All you got to do is drain and refill the fluid every 50,000 miles there's no filter.. and it's easy to do. I personally have a 2008 Prius with 374,000 Miles still running good.
@@5KpGD That helps explain why the 1st gen Camry in 4 door hatchback form looks somewhat like a Japanese version of a 4 door hatchback Citation(scaled down a bit, of course).
We owned a 1980 4-cylinder 4-speed. We actually tried to order one with V6 but never got it, they were in demand and we were suspicious that the dealer received our order and sold it to someone else. We ended up buying our 1980 off of a lot. We drove it 70,000 miles in 3 years including towing our small travel trailer around the western US. On the highway we got very good gas mileage. We traded it in for a 1983 X/11 and we really liked that one. We used it for towing the trailer but also for driving to work. It was sporty and performed well. Both of our Citations were nice cars, comfortable to drive, gave good fuel economy and were very reliable. I don't know what people do to their cars to make them unreliable, maybe don't beat the car with a chain every day. Maybe an unreliable car reflects more on the owner than on the car. (My family has been in the auto repair business for over 60 years so I know a little about what is reliable and what is not.)
Thats awsome your family had 2. I always wanted a X/11. I love how they look and always been a fan! Like you mentioned, maybe if you dont beat the hell out of your car and service it well it will last a long time. Hell, I daily drive a 1982 DeLorean. A car they say is slow....its not. Say its unreliable.... well it isn't. I restored it myself, Update it where I need it and put it back on the road. Even with its mechanical Bosch fuel injection I am getting 28 miles to the gallon. Its a great car, like your Citations were that you've had. 😀
My dad had an X11 also but the auto tranny couldnt handle the stop and go of hot LA gridlock traffic. that was the only issue it had . as a little kid i remember it being spacious inside. it was one of the cooler looking cars that my dad owned in the past.
We bought a new one in 1981. Quality was fair at best. Short in the windshield wipers caused them to sometimes activate when you started the car. Then it started jumping out of 3rd gear unless you held the shifter in place. Power steering failure after about 2 years. Clutch issues. Engine was completely worn out at 100,000 miles. We basically gave it to the dealer in 1987 as a trade on a new Olds Cutlass Supreme, GMs best ever car in my opinion. Also we took good care of our vehicles. So, none of the Citation issues was related to abuse or lack of proper service
@@pilskadden We already had an older Olds Cutlass Supreme. I think it was an '84 model and it was an excellent car. Not all GM quality was bad. Olds and Buick were fine cars. Chevy and GMC full size trucks were good too, although we preferred Ford trucks
@@nathandwyer7273 That may be true. But they didn't have anything else. They were hideously ugly, and front wheel drive. I can't believe they replaced the Nova with this POS. While I am a fan of the 1968-1974 Nova, the 1975-1979 Novas were not at all bad looking cars, and they were rear wheel drive. I have owned 2 front wheel drive cars, and will never make that mistake again. Both were junk.
My Dad had a ‘79 Nova Custom 2 door. It was light blue metallic with blue fabric interior. It only had the 250 six and turbo 350 but I was 14 at the time and wanted it for my 1st car to put a small block in it. He only had it for 6 months and in April ‘79 when I was at school, he went with my Mom to Reedman’s and traded it in for a 4 door ‘80 Citation with the 2.5 and automatic. I hated that car from the second I saw it! 😡😄
Like most GM cars they weren't well thought out and killed any chance of it truly becoming successful. By the time the car was perfected it was far too late.
I worked with a guy that had a 1980 citation he bought it new when he worked at a Chevrolet dealer he was still driving that thing in 2016 when he retired as far as I know he is still driving it had a 2.5L iron Duke
@@robertdragoff6909 Quite possibly. "Friends and family" attention to its' teething troubles and first-year recalls early on, and likely a chance to clean out the stock of Citation-specific parts sometime in the '90s, straight into his hatch instead of the dumpster.
I have to agree with the comments pertaining to cars being a POS. Every decade had those runs, and every manufacturer did as well. The 80's can be blamed because of the lingering 1970s oil crisis. Mannys were hastily trying to introduce new lighter, cheaper, affordable models with good fuel economy....with that came quality issues. The speedy builds and some untried technologies created longevity and safety issues.
I a 23 year old drive an 85 citation as my daily I guess I take very good care of it like my grandfather had it has well over 400k on the engine which is out of the 81 omega the chassis I believe has well over 800k or 900k miles we really don't know it has never left me stranded and though I remain cautious I shall continue to trust this wonderful car even if I need to convert the rear brakes to disc for safety reasons
I had a 2-door hatchback with a 4-speed manual. I was traveling over 30K a year with my job and the storage space was great. Liked it so much a bought a new 1983 which was one of the biggest POS I've ever owned
I will never forget my father telling me that the Chevy Citation is the car of the future and you will be driving this car when you get older. With that statement, I thought I better buy a 1960's car for a weekend fun car.
Sure. And then promptly get blown away by a front wheel drive hatchback. I’ve got a middle of the road 2019 Impala. Was chasing an STI up the hill going home and I guess I got the attention of a 1968 Camaro SS 396 who quickly whipped out into the right lane around some slower traffic looking like he wanted to play. I gunned it and watched him get smaller and smaller in the rear view. Sorry pal.. you’ve got a 15 second car.. same as my wife’s Honda Civic.
GM's Holden division in Australia looked carefully at the Citation as a possible follow-up to the HZ series Holden IF the smaller size Opel-derived Commodore failed to ignite the market's interest. Holden's Australian engineers went over the citation with a fine tooth comb and the use of the venerable Buick 3.8 V6 was mooted (which would have necessitated a change in the car's front clip and steering system). In the end it was believed that Aussies were too enamoured of their large RWD cars to take a punt on going FWD and so had the Commodore failed to ignite the interests of the Australian public a rebodied HZ/WB would have gone into production instead. Fortunately for Holden Aussies took to the modified Commodore and the rest is history. I have often wondered what the Aussie version of the Citation would have looked like and how it would have coped with Aussie roads.
The Chevrolet Citation. Now that's the ticket. BTW the only way a Chevy Citation would get you a ticket was if you were driving downhill, with a strong tailwind, in a school zone. American cars in the 80s were true crap. The Ford Granada tops the POS list. Even Chrysler was making better cars than Ford or GM then.
The X cars in their early model years were plagued with failure of front wheel drive components like axle shafts/ CV joints. As they got older severe body rust issues became apparent. You mention Chrysler K cars. Fortunately for Chrysler ( and their customers) their K- Cars, the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries which were introduced about a year or so later for 1981 did not exhibit serious problems like the GM cars.
A family member had an 80 model year Citation. Four banger with manual transmission. That car provided reliable service for many years. It carried a band of four of we cousins on several road trips out west. That car had one of the first “big” stereos in it too. So road-trips were enjoyable. On more than one occasion the occupants of the Citation could have been rightfully accused of trying to compete with Cheech and Chong due to all the smoke billowing out the sunroof! Oh to be young and not have a care in the world again.
Those were certainly the good old days. I say it all the time. I guess this is why I began this channel and asked my brother to voice videos. We enjoy going back in time. We hope you're a subscriber!
The FWD A Body GM cars(Buick Century, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, Pontiac 6000, and Chevrolet Celebrity) shared a similar platform to the X Cars, but ironically, the A Body cars were far more superior than the X Cars.
@@ThisOldCarChannel when i was a freshman in high school in 1989 my mother bought a 1982 chevy citation ,it was admittedly not a fast car , there are 4 of us kids and we all could fit in it ,it had plenty of room and was easy to drive ,,I learned to drive in it when i turned 16 and my older sister and one of my brothers learned to drive in it as well ,,the only better vehicle that GM made was the S10 truck , my grandfather bought a brand new S10 in 1983 and it lasted for well over 20 years ,my mother bought another new one in 1999 and it's still on the road today with it's second owner and I currently own a 1987 chevy S10 4x4 , one of the very rare Tahoe package S10 trucks with the 5 speed ,,still going strong with 600,000 miles on it
As a friend and I (who both owned one) called it "the dreaded X car" The finish and reliability were terrible for both of us. I was happy when I upgraded to a Chrysler K car. Too many corners were cut somewhere on a car that should have been great.
@@barbmelle3136 The Cressida came out in the spring of 1979 to compete with the Datsun 810 Maxima that had come out in 77/78. Cressida was the top dog in the U.S. line up. Before the Cressida it was the Toyota Crown. The Cressida became the Avalon and the Toyota Corona became what is now the Camry. Cmary competed with the Honda Accord and Nissans revisioned 510 Stanza that became the Stanza Altima then Altima. The Citations main competition was the Ford Faimont, Mercury Zephyr twins. Chrysler K Cars as well as other GM X cars. It tried to compete with the Honda Accord, Toyota Corona/Camry but was a weak contender at that.
I had customers with these things and they were not that great. They would complain when I had to replace a leaking steering rack or a Front-Wheel-Drive shaft CV joint that failed due to those rubber boots that would break and sling all the grease out. They had the steering unit mounted high on the fire wall and it steered the car by the top of the MacPherson struts. I would just tell them, "Just think of all that traction you got in the snow; Just think of all that room you have inside; Just think of all that gas you saved." It was one of the most recalled cars in history. I recall there was a NHTSA spokesman on the national news at that time that said this car "needs a Citation." As far as competing with the Cressida, I have a neighbor right now that still has his 1992 Cressida that is his daily driver. The Camry replaced the rear-wheel-drive Corona in the fall of 1982 for the 1983 model year. Great video!
had one in high school and into college. was actually a great first car. 2.8 v6 auto was surprisingly fast. fold down rear seat was good for oil well parking. towed my fishing boat with it and put in at the marina. got around good in the snow but would spin out easy. that was good and bad. beat up on a lot of domestic four bangers with it. mustangs and barettas, etc. the whole interior was green with the vertical radio.
@@liberals_destroy_everythin2497 thats when youd take your gal out in the sticks to some secluded oil well for a make out session. small town only thing maybe
My dad bought one of these turds (5 door hatchback) around 81'. We were living in Portland , Oregon in those days. I'll never forget hearing water sloshing around in the doors when they'd fill up with water whenever parked outside in the rain. Then that metallic silver paint job peeled off in sheets like a painful Irish sunburned back from a two week vacation in Hawaii.
I bought a 1980 Citation V6 automatic. My first new car.. I was 20. Always maintained it. Great little car. Awesome in the snow. Never any problems. Just a couple recalls. Fast forward- I bought a new 2021 Bronco sport on May. It broke down in August at 1700 miles. Won't start. It's still at the Ford dealer. They can't find the problem yet. So much for cars being better now
I had a new 81 and it was the biggest piece of junk! Mine had an accident on a exit ramp cloverleaf when the steering locked up and could not steer back to straight. totaled it
Because the front struts punched thru the hood when the strut mounts rusted as the cars aged! I was driving a company car down a gravel oil rig road in Tejas, hit a sight wash-out in the road and did that! NEARLY turned the POS over!!! Had to wait in the 109* heat ( engine wouldn't run) for 3 1/2 hours for help to come down the road. They just shoved it off the side of the road with an oil field truck and let it rust to death-never tried to recover it.
My Dad bought an early 1980 Pontiac Phoenix.......... What a total POS, the paint peeled, the auto transmission had problems.........Roger Smith was a bean counter that ran GM into the ground.
Had one. Really liked it. Mine was fairly plain Jane. Big inside, modest outside. Mine folded in half. It was common for frame rails/unibody to rust away under the passenger compartment here in Wisconsin.
It was G.M. corners were cut, accountants made engineering decisions, as usual. You folks know that G.M. isn't a car company, right? It's a holding company, I prefer to buy cars from car companies.
Agree. In Europe, they did just that with the Opel/Vauxhall brands. In the 80s, Opel was run by German managers, with little to no interference from Detroit. And their cars rivaled BMW and Audi in quality. They also took the Vauxhall brand and brought their products to match the standard set by Opel in Germany. In the mid 90s, the Americans decided to step up, and started to cut corners. Opel cars quality dropped, they gained a reputation of being cheap and badly made (there's a German saying that "every car will eventually turn into an Opel"). Same with the Vauxhall brand (which became a right hand drive Opel at this point). Of course, sales suffered and the brands were losing money. The solution? Rotate the management every few years, and each new manager had a goal to cut costs more than the previous owner. At the end, they had to sell the Opel/Vauxhall operation to Peugeot back in 2017. And surprise - even on the first year under the French, Opel turned profit. In the following years, Opel ditched the GM models, and released new and much better cars sharing platforms with Peugeot counterparts. The French made Opel great again.
The 1980 models had teething problems that gave the car a bad reputation, but my parent's '81 was well put together and reliable. It was a lot of car for the money with more comfortable seating than the '75 Malibu they owned previously, a huge trunk and a decent combination of ride and handling. This car was really the trial version of the FWD A-body, which stayed in production for many years after the demise of the Citation. It's too bad that GM ceased to offer mid-sized hatchbacks after 1985; they offered a nice combination of economy and versatility.
My in laws had a new 1980 canary yellow Citation. It was a nice vehicle except for a few oddities such as the roll up windows rolled up and down in reverse of what was normal and the radio was mounted vertical in the dash as if there wasn't enough room to mount it horizontal.
From Leo: We had lots of neighbors that had them. It was a dependable, cheap fill in car while the American makers transitioned to the smaller, higher mileage product lines. The only negative I remember was how people who were used to full sized V8 sedans for years did not really like compromising to a smaller car, especially families with a lot of children. That would be the same no matter what they bought.
It was an unmitigated disaster. It had a huge number of recalls, the brakes locked up because GM was too cheap to put a valve in to help them, and the iron duke was a joke compared to Japanese 4 cylinders. They are still making Accords and Camrys today. These lasted 5 years.
@@Andyface79 From Leo: I remember the Japanese cars back then. Soon to be wife even had a 77 Accord. The light car was pretty spunky with that CVCC engine. It did have a lot of electrical problems and in 1981, the dealer said it was unsafe to drive because of rust. Most Japanese cars rusted really quickly in those years. Plus her Accord was really cramped. I am 14 inches taller than her. I hope all manufacturers have gotten better since 1980, that was 40 years ago. Sadly, they all size the cars for smaller framed people.
@@barbmelle3136 Yeah I’m 6 foot 5 and I struggle with smaller cars too. I do agree the rust was a problem but overall the Accord was a better car. I will acknowledge that GM’s quality has gone waaay up.
When the Chevy Citation was introduced in 1980, the Toyota Camry did not exist. They were introduced in 1983. The Honda Accord had only been around since 1978.
I owned a 1981 Chevrolet Citation , four doors in Silver. Black vinyl interior. It was a wonderful automobile. Traded in on a 1987 Chevy Impala new. Thank you.
I had a 82 Citation hatchback that was used. I drove it 40 miles round trip to work and back for probably 5 years. I went to a nearby junkyard and pulled out a stereo verticle radio and put it in. Was driving to work one morning and hit a 6 point buck at 65 miles an hour. Well that was the end of that car. I have to admit tho, I have owned over 20 cars in my lifetime, and this was one of the top five.
Some of those "fuel injection" were fuel injection in the carburetor ("Izzacarb" as heard on Click and Clack) by 1982 or so some of the problems with the underdeveloped rear brake system and the mounting of the steering rack (body vs. engine cradle) may have been solved but remained what should have been a very good car with poor or slipshod assembly qualilty. Not sure if any of them came off the line with loose cylinder head bolts but intake manifold bolts,starter mounting bolts,various suspension mounting hardware could be left untorqued or loose. Don't know whether the failing power steering rack problem was only in the first year or if all of them could have it. Lack of a filter in the power steering fluid/pump circuit? Also if mysterious performance complaints developed it wasn't a bad idea to try substituting a new ignition module before paying out a whole lot of money for diagnosis,carburetor rebuild,etc. Of course the newer ones "CCC" could have problems with such things as throttle position sensors,pressure or airflow sensors (don't remember which kind it had) the 2.5 was basically an uninspiring tractor motor but it was pretty dependable some 2.8 seemed to be more powerful than others even if not the "H.O." style also some of them developed a liking for high test gasoline although they were not supposed to require it. If I remember Snap On's double jointed spark plug getter socket made getting out the rear plugs doable,also you could disconnect a top dogbone engine mount thing,and with the brake off and the car in gear or Park(don't try it unless on a perfectly level surface and don't start the engine!) and by gently pushing the car slightly forward or backward you could make the engine lean forward a little bit and make more room to get the rear spark plugs (V6)
I wonder who approved a name like that. I mean, who would name a car after something nobody wants to hear about? "Hey, I heard you bought a new car?" "Yeah, I just got a Citation..." "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that... Are you gonna fight it in court?"
Its own a Toyota Camry was not introduced until 4 years after the Chevrolet citation was. Also the camry was introduced with more body styles then just the 4 door hatchback
And that's the power voice. Theater of the mind. lol. Yes...Radio personalities for over 25 years and just so happen to love cars! FYI...Up next is the Fox Body mustang. Thanks for watching.
The Chevrolet citation along with the other GMX body cars represented exactly what was wrong with General Motors at the time and even today. They were absolute rolling piles of garbage. S mediocre as the Chevrolet Corsica/Beretta was when compared to its 4 in competition it was such a dramatic step forward from the Chevrolet citation. The fact that GM could no longer stretch out the lifespan of the citation and had to go for almost 2 full model years without a crucial entry in the compact car market should tell everyone about how rotten it was. Even the rental car fleets which was the biggest purchaser Of the X body cars Put a purchase hold on them. Can you imagine not being able to compete with a Chrysler K car or even the archaic Ford Fairmont?
While GM had its problems back in the day, let's not act like Ford and Chrysler were'nt steaming heaps of shit as well. I "wanted" a Shelby Charger when they first came out but a friend beat me to it. That thing literally started falling apart when he drove it off the showroom floor. As for Ford, ever see a Escort or EXP running the streets nowadays? As for the Citation, yes it was an engineering exercise kneecapped by the bean counters just like the Cosworth Vega. For me, I had a 1981 X11 4 speed can the drive-train was bulletproof, Saginaw 4 speed with a real HO660 which was almost exactly like the SCCA racing engine. A 0-60 with the correct driver could be attained in less than the reported 8.5 seconds which by the way was faster than any 81 Z29 or Trans Am. In fact I believe the Corvette L81 4 speed is the only American car reportedly faster than the X11 for 1981. The cars also handled like a dream and mine would SMOKE my buddies N/A Shelby Charger and would beat many a Turbo Shelby if not driven by the right person (see turbo lag). So there was a silver lining in the dark cloud however, GM started de-tuning the X11 in 82 and by 85 it was nothing compared to the exhilarating run to 7000rpm one had with the 81 HO660.
My mom had a 1980 Citation and other than one of the boots on one of the front CV joints slinging off while I was cruising at 100+ MPH seeing how fast it would go (the speedo in those days only went to 85 so a buddy of mine with a retired police cruiser was following me so I know it was around 100 when the boot slung off) she had no problems with it. I was so impressed with it the next year I decided to buy the 1981 X-11 with the HO V6. As Randy Hudson below mentioned, it blew just about everything away I raced. Anyhow, the first year I had to bring it back into the shop 13 times for repairs, both outside mirrors fell off, both windows broke loose and fell down into the door, transmission blew out 2 times, bad alternator, radiator fan quit and had to be replaced, air conditioner died a couple of times, exhaust manifold bolts popped their heads and manifold started leaking, and there were other things, but oddly the only thing that never broke or died, was the engine itself. The front wheels would pull out of alignment every time I accelerated hard, it would eat those expensive Goodyear Eagle GT's and I was getting super crappy wear life. Anyhow that was the first year, and that was how long the warranty lasted. Ultimately I replaced the transmission 5 or 6 times, and I sold it for $100 in 1993, engine still ran perfectly. Anyhow during the heyday, I had put a digital speedo in it and it would do 155MPH flat out, taking some time to get there. Was racing with another friend one time over one of those huge bridges down in Port Arthur Texas, he was in front of me with a Grand Prix with a 400CI with a 4 barrel and we were pretty evenly matched, anyhow he had 5 guys in his car, I had 4 including myself, and as he got to the bottom on the other side and drove over the bridge expansion joint his car "floated" about 2 feet off the ground and just hung there for like 5 seconds as they were going down the road, me and the guys with me freaked when we saw that and said "aw shit!" at the same time then we hit the expansion joint, we were floating too, the engine was screaming as it was redlining, none of us moved, not even to blink for fear it would upset the car, and after a few seconds we drifted back down and we could hear the tires bark slightly as they touched pavement once again. We all arrived at the little beer joint which was the last stop before we all got to the rig (we all worked offshore in the oilfield) we got out and we were still freaking out, the guys in my buddies car had no idea they had even floated off the road. When we told them what we saw they didn't believe us at first but eventually saw were were serious. Anyhow, that was the last time I ever drove that car flat out like that. It had way too much power for such a light body and frankly I'm just amazed I'm still alive today... lol. I just wished it had been a better built car, I would have loved to have it today.
I look at the Chevy Citation and have the exact same reaction now as I did back in 1979 when they first advertised it - "What a hideous piece of junk!"
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My parents bought the Buick version of this crap box, the Skylark, in 1981. Truly a terrible car, I remember the AC compressor and alternator failing shortly after the 1/12 warranty expired.
Had an Olds Omega, a rebadged Citation, maybe a bit more luxurious, which I kept my usual 10 years. A very good looking head turning automobile. Never had serious technical issues. Just a broken window crank and quite a lot of rust on the lower body parts (due to salty roads in Northern European roads). The real weak point was the limited fuel tank capacity, which meant a maximum 350 km drive between filling up again. It ended up towing gliders at the nearby airfield with its V6 engine.
I’m rather surprised to hear that these made it to Europe. I would think there’d be too much overlap with Opel and Vauxhall (in fact, there were Opels and Vauxhalls based on the same platform as the Citation’s successor, the first gen Cavalier). Was yours a grey import left behind by a serviceman, maybe?
@@TBustah You are right, these were rather rare in Europe. I bought mine new at the GM (mainly Opel) dealer in Luxembourg for an attractive price due to the favorable exchange rate with the US $.
My stepfather's grandfather had one. One day we realized he always drove like a bat out of hell in the thing. The speedo came disconnected and after trying for half a decade to get it fixed he just figured the speeding tickets were cheaper.
Even as a Ford & Mopar fan, I wish GM had better durability and quality underneath the X cars' excellent stying. I was a kid then, and the X cars were simply beautiful compared to the foreign junk. Beautifully balanced stying, an extremely elegant transition from GM large vehicle good looks and small car reality.
Perfect illustration of GMs thinking. Honda and Toyota looked at the big picture, thinking long term brand benefits of building quality. GMs bean counters thought saving money by making every single part as cheaply as possible was the way to go. I’m surprised GM is still around.
i once bought one of these cars for $75. the car was already quite old and this was years ago. the owner couldnt get it to idle. i replaced the faulty choke pull off and we drove it for a couple of years, sold it for $50. was one of the best deals we ever had. the bad part about the car, the floor was absolutely toast. most rotted floor i had ever seen, it was rotted when we bought it but for $75 i didnt care. the car never left us in a bind, in fact my mother drove it a summer because the transmission in her 96 taurus wagon failed and had to be rebuilt. the floors, sucked
Had a beige 1982 X-11 hatchback with a red interior. Quick and handled well and could haul a lot of stuff. Had it for about 7 years before the Florida salt air had it rust away.
NOW I KNOW I where Mitsuoka got the design idea for the Buddy. All the people buying them think they are the coolest thing on wheels. Little do they know. Side note, the first used car I sold was a Citation X11. Thanks for the video.
My first car was a 1982 Chevy Citation two door with a manual 4 speed. It was a pretty decent car imo, pretty reliable in my experience. He said the 2 door was abandoned after 1981, but I had a1982 that was a coupe.
Wow... was this guy trying to put lipstick on a pig, or what? A co-worker bought one of these brand new. I took it for a test drive and was totally underwhelmed. It literally drove like a crackerbox with 4 wheels thrown on it. Being kind of a "car guy" at the time, I popped the hood to have a look. What stood out was that the hood itself had no bolts on the hinges but rather the hinges were glued on! These cars were absolutely awful, even when new.
Spinoff of the Nova which is our next video this Saturday or Sunday. Subscribe if you haven't already and become part of the fam! Thanks for watching and your comment.
I had the Pontiac version of this car in 1980. We thought we were getting a very modern car for a decent price, but I’ve had over 50 cars over the years and this was BY FAR the worst vehicle I’ve ever owned. It was towed at least twice a month for carburetor problems, electrical problems, transmission problems, steering problems, suspension problems…. Dangerously poorly designed and just slapped together on the assembly line. The worst problem was cheap under-designed ball joints that caused the front wheels to fall off 3 times taking the struts and brakes with them each time. It was a common problem on all Citation based cars. Horrible vehicles that paved the way for the Japanese car dominance to come.
God these cars were awful to work on, luckily by the late 80's most of them were gone. I couldn't understand what the engineers were thinking the way some parts went together and why they chose parts that required major disassembly to do simple service work. Just a little more thought and improvements in QC would have done GM wonders, but they were intentionally cheeping out everything they could, and the reliability of major parts suffered along with the owners. They didn't learn from the Vega debacle.
I had one - well designed for its time, but terribly built. I don't think it made it to 80,000 miles before we had to get rid of it. Had we waited a couple of years for a Camry, it might still be around.
My grandparents had a 4 door hatchback. I remember lots of fun drives in it. I always wanted to find a 2 door hatchback and drop a V-8 in it. 2 tone paint and some nice period rims.
80 Omega V6 was faster 0-50 than the 79 RWD (Nova cousin) Omega V8, according to the sales brochure I have. So I imagine the Citation V6 would smoke the 79 Nova base V8 at the Stoplight 500, too. Far from gutless, in my experience.
I thought the notchback version of the X11 was a sharp looking car, by the time Chevy worked the bugs out(well, at least made the Citation line somewhat better) they replaced it with the Corsica/Beretta line a few years later.
@@05gtdriver in 1984, I test drove a Cadillac Cimarron with a 2.8 liter V6 and it was quick, the salesman said that they’ve had one or two with a manual transmission and those are even faster.
@@jamespn In 1986 I raced a Z24 Cavalier 2.8 H.O. in my '73 Capri 2600 V6 and it pulled away from me around 80mph, I was impressed because my Capri was breathed on a bit with headers a bigger carb and re-curved ignition.
Back in the day I had a new 1984 Thunderbird Turbocoupe. A kid at a red-light tried to run me with his X11 with big tires and load exhaust. He lost badly, should have been close.
Ok. Aug 1996 I turned 16 That May me and my Father found a Citation for 200 bucks. Sat for years. 2 door blue with a V6 auto. All summer me and my dad worked on it. Little here. Little there. By Aug it was running good. I started my Junior year and drove it for 2 years. Never broke down or left me stranded. Survived Chicago winters and me beating it all day.
