European GM, Opel built very good small cars. But American GM didn't have clue how to build small affordable cars. They just built something, not even halfway decent car. Vega and Astra were worse than Soviet Union Ladas.
I met someone who bought one of the last couple years of the Astre/Sunbird wagons, with the cast iron engine, and he actually drove it for 30 years... 🤷♂️
@@LongIslandMopars It was great. Analogue MFI Isuzu Turbo Diesels are some of the best Diesels ever made, in that era. Third only to MFI Peugeot, who is/was second only to Mercedes. They were underpowered and smoky, but they were highly tunable with a Turbocharger, and were great for running on waste vegetable oil, especially when rigged up with an inline Bosch MFI pump.
@@stoneylonesome4062 Cool. My thesis back in 2005 was on biodiesel. Better than waste veggie oil as long as you had a means to refine it. I thought about doing a home refiner setup but at that time everything that was an old diesel skyrocketed in price. I wanted a 300TD wagon but those were ridiculous. A friend of a friend recently picked up an early 2000s 1.9 TDI Jetta (no emissions garbage). I want it when he gets tired of it.
You got #1 completely correct. When was the last time you saw one???? Also, I remember visiting Canada in the 90's and seeing the Pontiac Firefly (aka Geo Metro)
Had an older lady come into my parts store looking for parts to a 1994 tempest. I said ma'am you must have that wrong and she took attitude with me. I go out to have a look and there sat a Chevy Corsica in a Pontiac costume... Silly Canadians.
I never thought the naming strategy G3 G5 G6 G8 was a smart move on Pontiac's part. It just seemed the lower the number, the cheaper the model screaming frugality. Always better to have tried and time honored stand alone model names imo.
Ditched the names for cars that weren’t its own but more so a world car i.e. Saturn Aura Saturn Astre Pontiac G3 Pontiac G4 ect. The end of the run for Saturn and Pontiac was bleak but was a different route than Oldsmobile.
The Aztek always looked to me like two of the Korean Lemans hatchbacks stacked one on top of the other like dogs initiating a breeding act and all wrapped in the cladding. Practical, maybe, but irredeemably unsightly.
Rust was standard equipment 😅 l remember when AMC started doing Ziebart in house before the interiors were installed and Illinois sued them because they "weren't doing it like the Ziebart shops". Drilling holes all over.
Never saw a Yugo, did you? Crazy thing is, the Vega body was fully dipped in a galvanic rustproofing bath but the shape of some of the panels trapped air and kept the solution out of rust-prone areas that. ironically, tended to trap soil and road salt.
I heard the real quote was " On a quiet night, you could hear a Vega rusting out on the showroom floor." I grew up in a small town in N Mn. and worked at a Union 76 gas station. One of our customers had a dark green Vega he bought new. This guy swore by STP oil treatment. He pulls in one morning when it was -30 and wants me to put in some of that crap. Well, that stuff was like molasses on a warm day. So I went in the service area and I heated that crap until it was almost like water. Then I went out and put it in his car, shut the hood and said to myself, " there's your STP oil treatment you sob." Lol! If he thought I was gonna stand out there for a long time at those temps, he's out of his mind.
I think you nailed it Adam, even the ordering of the list is about perfect. I would have also given honorable mention to the FWD X-body Phoenix. The Lemans was downright horrible; my friend test drove one and it broken down on the way back to the dealer.
@@joe08867 our family had one too, although it was a Skylark not a Phoenix. Bought new and was a disaster from day 2…blown transmission at 9k the most notable. Glad you had better luck.
As you have mentioned, Pontiac was a leading GM brand in Canada, outselling Chevrolet from time to time. The Astre was quite common here, moreso than the Vega. I was in high school at the end of the 70s, and my friends and I were hot rodders then. One of my friends picked up an Astre for the effort of towing it away. It had sat for quite a while with a blown engine and had fairly low miles, and aside from the engine was not in bad condition. We found a 283 Chevy motor & powerglide transmission from a 60s Chevelle and picked this up for $100. The motor ran excellently, and the transmission was fine, and a little more scrounging got us a set of 327 "camels-hump" 1.94" intake valve heads, a 4 barrel carb/manifold, and a NOS 327/350 HP camshaft for another couple of hundred dollars. All of this went into the 283, and the 283/powerglide went into the Astre. We had a muffler shop make up a dual exhaust system and install it, and had the radiator recored and enlarged as big as we could make it and still fit.The most expensive addition to the car was a narrowed 12 bolt axle that he bought from an unfinished race car. This had a streetable 3.73 posi gearset. I think this cost another $400. All in, it was about $1400 in 1980 dollars plus a lot of sweat equity. It was easily one of the best low-cost hotrod projects that I ever was a part of. This turned my friend's Astre into a really quick and fun to drive car. The 283 took to the Astre like a duck to water. In fact, it was so good that we were amazed that GM had never built something like this. How easy it would have been for them to do it! I think now that the Vega/Astre was a harbinger of what was to come for GM, a succession of poorly designed and poorly built cars that with more effort could have been great. The "Le Mans" on this list was a horrible abuse of a great name, and associating this name with such a bad car is an excellent way to drive loyal brand buyers away. The Montana, the G3, and the Aztec are so uninspiring for a brand that porports to "build excitement", it's no wonder that sales fell so much that the division had to be axed as part of the bankruptcy. A sad end for a once-great name in the automotive business.
@mikalnaylor A 454 Vega would be quite a machine! I recall reading about 454 Vegas in magazines and seeing ads for Motion performance kits, but I never saw one in the flesh! I have seen 305 Monzas that were warmed over. They were OK, similar to my friends car, but pretty smogged up in stock form. However, none that I saw would rev like my friend's 283 with 327 cam/heads and 3.73 gear set. I reckon that a 305 Monza would have all the bones to make a very similar car, especially with a 327 or 350 swap.
Curious, was the Early Asters (pre '74) also built in Lordstown? I toured the plant in '74, did not see any Astres there & never knew they existed until their introduction in the US (even living this close to Canada). I know now many Chevys were rebadged as Pontiacs in Canada/Mexico over the years due to some divisional corporate marketing conflict.
@@mikalnaylor FYI...... GM 283, 305, 307, 327, 350 and the most rarest '68/69 302ci Z28 'Zapper'.....other than main bearing caps and crankshaft journals to say the least, all of these small blocks were basically EXACTLY the same blocks!
Great video Adam, your first 3 vehicles on your list were so nostalgic for me. I was in high school all through the Aztek run and I was hobestly somewhere between intrigued and indifferent, I do remember all of the reviews and placement in shows We had a Montana SV6 through my teens and early 20's. I remember the cowboy commercial showcasing that it could seat 8 and dad said it had more horsepower and torque than his 86 Firebird. I remember the G3 as the Wave here in Canada and my Aunt had a G5, my cousin picked me up in it summer of 09 to go work with his uncle.
The maintenance costs for the Vega/Astre had to have been low. As soon as anything broke, it was a mechanical total if they didn't rust away first. I remember my uncle buying a new Vega when I was a kid, and it rusted away, right in front of my eyes.
I still have and drive a 1999 Montana (as a second vehicle). I use it for hauling model airplanes all over the place. It has been a great vehicle, and has needed very little maintenance. I'm going to look for something a bit bigger to replace it, and am gonna hate having to fork over $40-50k to replace it... 😔
I think Montana was a step backwards from Trans Sport, which was much more advanced. Too bad the original Trans Sport concept wasn't realized, (apart from that funky steering wheel with 100 buttons).
@@MarinCipollina Yes, they went "backwards" on the Second Gen. From a source @ GM the original U bodies were an "experiment" with the space frame & composite panels. My H body Bonneville had plastic fenders, though not all of them did of the same year.
I was pretty certain that Korean LeMans would be #1. What was really insane was giving it the LeMans nameplate which was a pretty decent and iconic Pontiac back in the day. Sacrilegious.
I was born in 1990. For the first 6 years of my life the LeMans was often found at mechanics shops or broke down roadside much like Mazda Protégés and VW Fox’
I agree, my Mom owned a 76 LeMans Sports Coupe and that was a cool ride. For Pontiac to slap that name on a poorly built foreign car, was a disgrace to their heritage.
I'm going to go back in time. Back in the day, I had a friend who had an early 60's Tempest. He had the wagon version but I doubt it makes much difference. It was a _terrible_ car. It was 4 cylinders. One summer afternoon about 55 or 56 years ago, we fixed a rowboat to the roof and drove about 50 miles down the freeway. The meager engine, along with the air drag from the boat, made it necessary to drive at full throttle to maintain 55 mph.
If it was early 60's it might have been one of the interesting cars that had a platform relative in the Corvair. The Pontiac had front engine placement whereas the Corvair had its rear placement. There are some nice videos explaining the Pontiac, Olds and Buick versions.
Allow me to introduce to you my '78 VW van. It had a 2 liter (the biggest engine ever offered in an air cooled VW van, from the "Porsche 914") and with *nothing* on the roof it could do 70 on a good day. Going "over the hill" to/from Santa Cruz it could maintain 50 MPH with the gas pedal planted to the floor the entire time. If I got slowed down, well, that was basically the speed I was going to do until I got to the top.
@@brentlanyon4654 My friend's Tempest was not the slowest car I of which I had the misfortune of becoming familiar, way back when. That would be a friend's VW with a rebuilt engine. Your description of the VW bus's performance sound like the performance of my friend's VW bug.
@@randallanderson1632 Hey - at least they were completely unsafe! I loved that stupid van, but it was objectively a very poor performing vehicle. Driving across the Bay Bridge it would catch the wind like a kite!
How the Vegastre didn't make top billing confuses me. It wasn't necessarily the lack of sleeves that made the engine bad; it was the open-deck aluminum block that caused the cylinder distortion and resulting ring-seal issues. Iron sleeves would've worked, but so would a closed deck. As for rust, I grew up in Las Vegas and saw my fair share of rusty rear quarters and hatches on Vegas. My friend's mom had one and the cowl had holes in it. It was a local car its whole life.
Bought a 1974 Astre from an elderly lady back in early '80's when I was in high school. Had low miles, no wear on engine but had been parked on the grass so pretty rusty on the bottom. Did find ok to drive and got a few years out of it.
I am throwing in my 2 cents. I had several Vegas in the late 70's. Started with a notch back version. I always thought it would make a great looking convertible, except the frame would have to be heavily modified . The main 4 banger problem I found was the head. I rebuilt a couple of the engines, and the aluminum blocks looked pretty good. Doing valve jobs on the head ? It took a few o find one with out a crack in it, where the oil burning was coming from. Rust ? You could hear it rusting on a quite summers night. I bought some for parts, and the rust was simply everywhere. The undercarriage seemed to be heaviest hit, by the rear end trailing arms. All in all, it was a fun vehicle to drive. I even fitted a couple with Buick V6's using factory Monza parts.
Pontiac was interesting. My mom owned a couple when I was a kid-- a 1978 Catalina that was basically bulletproof, and a 1989 Grand Am that I later inherited during its sunset years, and that thing was a piece of K R A P. I can't believe those things were so ubiquitous for so long, it was absolutely dismal. Rattly, loud, crude, and unreliable. The interior had all the ergonomics of a Fisher Price schoolbus.
My first car was a '76 Sunbird. The plastic brackets that kept the shoulder belt off your neck was mounted on the back of the seats and made of brittle plastic that had broken off long before I got the car. For years I drove leaning to my right because that's what I had to do to keep from choking. Then there was having to fill the shift knob with shoe goo because you couldn't find replacement knobs for a reverse "h" pattern five speed, which, speaking of which, ate through a clutch every 35,000 miles and eventually caused so much metal fatigue the firewall burst out around it when I was in law school. The "odd fire" V6 was bulletproof, though, if you didn't mind the rough idle.
@deliuslyndon8340 I was thinking the exact same thing. The quarters, doors, and front fenders of the 1st gen GAs would rust out quickly and severely, especially where the thick body molding rubbed. I seem to remember they had issues with the back window seal leaking as well. 2nd gens were sharp looking and didn't seem to rust *as bad* but had other issues. My '94 SE coupe was a gorgeous pos. That era had power window and door lock actuator issues, the steering column mounts would fail, fog light and tail light seals would fail and leak, among other recurring problems. Mine also had the 2.3 Quad4 which ran like a scalded dog, but had a bad habit of eating heads and head gaskets. 43k on it's 3rd engine when I bought it, (I was 21, it was my 1st "nice" car I bought myself, and didn't see the signs,) and I loved and babied it for a year and a half. At 67k it popped probably its very last head gasket and I sold it still running for what I paid for it. After the disasterous ownership of a very flawed Beretta GT a couple years prior, it was also the car that turned me off to GM for good. Those last gens were, in my experience, even worse. Lots of electrical faults, poor fit and finish, poor quality all the way around, and they rusted badly behind all that ground effect and body cladding plastic.
@@seed_drill7135 I had a classmate that had a 77 Sunbird Sports Coupe in High School in the mid-late 80's, he and his wife are currently rebuilding it for the West Coast Tour, It's the West Coast Hot Rod Power Tour of the West Coast put on by Motortrend Magazine/TV that's put on in the Spring. They are puting a V6 out of late model Camaro in it.
I think you made good choices for this last, Adam. I only have a bit of experience with an Astre. A friend had one in college. It was well kept, 6 years old and the white interior plastics were turning to powder, and it was like riding in a rock polisher.
All those Mid 70s-Mid 80s GM cars had plastic that turned into powder. You could just use your fingernail on the plastic and scratch it to hell easy, plastic would just turn into powder, just AWFUL plastics.
@@clemsonblokeYep I remember doing the fingernail scratch inside my ‘82 Chevette, and thinking if I kept going I could scratch right through the door panel. Parts that were most exposed to sunlight got deteriorated the worst.
Here in Canada we had the Acadian - the sister to the chevette. I’d bump the Montana for it on the list - really miserable little car (especially with the diesel) and it was ridiculously designed compared to the foreign competition.
I knew a lot of people that owned those Chevette based Acadians when new. It was a cheapo, not particularly refined car, but they were cheap to buy and did the job they were asked. A buddy put 300,000 km on his without any major issue. Still a few of them around as daily driver's here on the West Coast...
Ugh. My first car was a Pontiac Lemans. Fortunately it was a '74 Lemans. I remember when Pontiac came out with the "new Lemans" years later I thought they should never have re-used the Lemans name on that piece of junk. 🤣
Nothing bad about the '76-'77 Astre. Had the Vega Durabuilt engine with 60,000 mile warranty. Comfy seats. Decent ride comfort and quietness. Superb handling. Available 5-speed with overdrive tranny.
Only Pontiac I owned from new was a ‘79 Parisienne Brougham. Pretty comfy ride. Inherited a #4 Montana. Exhaust manifold was going and the van went shortly thereafter.
I would like to have a Vega. Most of the unrusted Vegas got a v8 swap. Its hard to find a decent Vega, but I do find Pintos for sale, but prices aren't dirt cheap anymore.
Best friend's older brother had an Astre SJ when I was growing up and I thought it was pretty cool. Certainly the interior seemed more interesting and better trimmed than the typical Datsun, or ubiquitour Corolla of the tme. Couldn't say anything about it as a car, but with Pontiac rally wheels and a stick shift it seemed neat to my 13 year old eyes. Later, however, I drove someone's 77 Vega and was completely unimpressed - my same year Accord was a much more fun drive - even with the crappy 2 speed auto. As for the Montana - geez, I'd forgotten it existed. And the G3 escaped my notice entirely.
A 1977 Astro with a 2.5 iron Duke was one of our first if not have First vehicle, I distinctly remember being maybe two 2 1/2, sitting in it, but I’ll never forget the distinctive choo-choo Choo Choo Choo sound that a cold cranky 2.5 L Iron Duke makes when turning over. Sold it for $100, it had over 400,000 on it and rusted through floor pans. It was a good wagon. Otherwise, my dad‘s words hell I think the Astra was one of the most reliable vehicles I own. That’s saying something for a rebadged to Vega, that I forgot to mention above also survived the 1984 memorial day flood. Let it sit for about a week, drained everything, and had it going again.
Hi Adam, funny and ilustrative survey on this cars line up. Vega based Astre model, had a sporty look, hatch back two door, some Euro stylish one as well, and so sad that had the infamous Aluminum engine, smart idea but bad reputation as you`d mentioned in video. I wonder why Le Mans model, marketed as Daewoo Racer/Cielo in South America or Daewoo Nexia to Euro market, failed at US subcompact field. In Colombia, those five door/hatchback units (the only body style available, by the way), did perform very well, specially as taxi cab duties, reaching almost 200.000 or more miles before engine overhauling, and many of them are on our streets since 1992, 1.5 liter TBI injection and five manual speed transmissions. Thanks for video, and take care, man.
My worst car ever. Everything went wrong including the front drive axle disintegrating in a 7 Eleven parking lot. I still remember seeing the ball bearings rolling out from under the front of the car.
I'm not really a car guy, but when I was a kid and my dad was shopping around for cars, I fell in love (because children know what's important when buying a car) with this Pontiac 6000 STE he was looking at. And I may have been SO infatuated with it that he actually wound up buying the thing. It was...one of THE worst cars my parents ever owned. That thing was in the shop more than I was out of school. But hey, I did love that digital display showing which doors were ajar.
The Pontiac 6000 was only the Pontiac version of the Chevrolet Celebrity. Both are acknowledged to have been very good automobiles. Your parents just got a lemon.
In the late 1990's I was randomly selected (and paid quite nicely) to be part of a serious design evaluation focus group that evaluated many features that became part of the Aztek and the Avalanche. Obviously they did not take my thoughts to heart as I made no bones about how horrible the proposed styling, inside and out was. It certainly sickened me to see Pontiac fold when it did. Many hundreds of thousands of miles I put behind the wheel of their products.
You can believe it or not but it's very true. Certainly not an 4 banger Astre but multiple Pontiacs. One was, in fact, a variant of the Astre made in Lordstown, Ohio in the old Vega/Astre plant. It was, a 1979 Sunbird wagon. It had a 231 Buick V6, Saginaw 4 speed, power steering. The only option was an AM radio. Bare bones nothing. Family bought it as a delivery wagon for the business. I was the only driver of it from the early 1980's through 1990. Went to the crusher in 1991 it had a documented 238,532 miles on it. Only time it left me stranded was when the electric fuel pumps crapped out.. Firewall stress cracked when the original clutch cable started to give out. Re-enforced it with a piece of 1/8" steel plate and never had that problem again. You knew when to replace it when your left leg started cramping up using the clutch. Drove a personal 1984 Sunbird coupe well into the 1990s. Other than maintenance it only died when someone smashed into it and totaled it. Also had a couiple of late 1970's Firebirds/TAs in the early 1980s. Not all they are now lauded for but, if taken care of, the 403 motor in them was decent and lasted. Add it all up, and it's "hundreds of thousands of miles".
My vote, the 96-2005 Grand Ams. These cars were the top selling pontiac and they were garbage. Garbage interior, poor handing, unreliable, didnt drive sporty AT ALL. Yet gm sold tons of them with cash on teh hood and to fleets driving down resale value for owners and thus gms rep too in the process. It has since been replaced in the market by the nissan altima as the fleet queen hairdresseer trailer park special. So yea these were bad not cuz they sold poor but cuz they sold well.
1965 Pontiac GTO - I had one - great car if you treated it right! Now I have a 1987 Pontiac Fiero V-6 5-speed manual mid/rear engine. It's quite an interesting car - now being restored from 'rat-rod status. I estimate about 3 years to completion. I knew a Catalina convertible once too.
I've owned 3 of these 🤣🤣🤣 I had an Astre... it was actually fun to drive with the 4 banger and 4 speed. Oddly, I had very few issues with it during the 3 years I had it. It did eat some oil... not terrible, though.... maybe a quart or two extra between changes. I had a Montana.... boring but it worked... and I bought a G3 - called a Wave in Canada as a third car... mostly for my wife to use around town. They are among the worst, perhaps, but I definitely don't remember any unusual problems with them in terms of basic reliability. Exciting? No. No. No. Gotta say that my Astre was the most fun of these three, anyway. It was a '74 that I bought for cheap in '81 and drove until '84. It was for the bone yard after that. I love the memories that flood back while watching this channel. Good times!
I had a 76 Sunbird, the fancy version of the Astre. It had the aluminum 4 cyl, and Automattic Trans. Totally gutless. Used a qt. of oil every 900 miles. Front springs popped out of holders. Was gone at around 20K miles.
I miss ‘60s era Pontiacs. Adam is correct… just beautiful designs, particularly the mid-60s. In later years, the “ribs” cladding was so overdone and just made the cars look like plastic. I did have a ‘93 Bonneville SE as a company car that I liked.
Also the 04-06 GTOs (aka the rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia) was never beautiful nor good looking as the GTOs from the 1960s or any Pontiac from the 1960s.
@@CJColvin Conversely, the Holden Commodore rebadged as the G8 was great looking and a superior sedan… later revived as the Chevy SS which sold poorly as a Chevrolet but I believe could have succeeded as a performance Buick.
@@Primus54the Chevy SS was a contractual obligation by GM to Holden after Pontiac was sunset. That is why they didn’t sell very many, and GM didn’t necessarily want to sell many. They also made the Caprice version for fleet sales (cop cars).
Bought a '76 Astre new in July of 1976(2bbl Holley carb and 4 spd Saginaw tranny).... made 5 trips across the US.... changed oil every 3000 miles(Quaker State).. other than shocks, tires, and batteries, only other repairs were timing belt, water pump, radiator, rear main seal, and rebuilt the carb.... sold it with 110,000 miles... NEVER BURNED OR USED OIL....It may have had the IRON DUKE engine as it was a late '76 build but I am not sure... it was still on the road in 1988 and it was not burning oil.... had it undercoated with Quake Coat Metal Guard when I bought it and it never rusted even after 5 of the 9 years were in PA and OH winters....
True. The '76 & '77 Vegas had the totally revised Dura-built version of the original Vega engine. It had near Toyota levels of durability: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WeP0HSJHBiE.htmlsi=tieCuOrAzJYS9Ch1
Thank you for sparing the Fiero, Adam! It usually makes these sorts of lists (often in the form of junk click-bait articles with all the wrong facts), but I trust you would appreciate the innovation that went into that car. Having just attended the 40th anniversary celebration last summer in Pontiac, MI, there are plenty people who were on the design team / factory floor still around willing to speak and/or be interviewed. Perhaps a topic for a future video? 😉
Eh. I'm curious what innovations you mean? I always felt they were a big let down. I'm curious what you like about them? Certainly they did get better with the V6 and what not as time went on.
@@Andyface79 Mainly the space frame with the urethane body panels. Using that they were able to easily produce what became the first mid-engine 2 seat American sports car and was better engineered than the Corvette. With Chevette front suspension and Citation rear, it was still able to out handle it. In 1988 when it finally got its own suspension, was when it got the hammer for good. It was controversial and debated whether Chevrolet caused that or not. I'm leaning towards they did, because they already had the 89 Fiero design ready to go, and in not to waste that development money, used that design for the new 93 Camaro/Firebird. That is why their front engine was up under the windshield, and they look like they do. A plant was built solely to produce the Fiero, and when it was axed, they used it and the space frame concept to produce the new Saturn division of cars.
@@Andyface79 Sorry I missed your question. Like another noted, Pontiac developed the car (somewhat secretly) to include an innovative steel spaceframe construction and unstressed plastic (not fiberglass) body panels. The car was fully functional/drivable w/o the body panels. This innovative approach allowed for rust-free & dent-resistant bodywork. It also afforded inexpensive styling changes from year to year if needed. This technology was later used in the 90s for the original Saturns and "Dustbuster" minivans, among other GM vehicles. The spaceframe was extremely strong with built-in side impact beams and roll cage protection. At it's introduction, Fiero was the 2nd safest car in crash tests behind industry leader Volvo. That says alot. In addition, Fieros were more comfortable & spacious inside than competitors like MR2, X1/9, and even GM's own Corvette. Headrest speakers ensured amazing stereo sound while the optional underdash factory subwoofer provided a hint of bass. The driver-centric floating gage pod became a feature in many future cars. The parking brake between driver's seat & door sill lay flat when engaged to ease ingress/egress. The fuel tank was located in the center of the car (under center console between passenger seats) for crash safety. The sunroof was removable and stowed in the front compartment for a nearly targa-like experience. All trim levels came standard with 4-wheel independent suspension and 4-wheel disc brakes. The only let down was the powertrains (especially the original Iron Duke 4-cyl w/ 4-spd), although that could be said of many cars of the era. The engine bay was originally designed to accommodate larger motors. Test mules at the time beat the snot out of Corvettes, so GM axed those plans. I could go on... Today, there is a large Fiero community that supports all kinds of powertrain swaps, mostly using newer GM hardware. GM's 3800 V6s and LS4 V8s are quite common ways to achieve 300-500 hp where only 90-140 hp existed previously. Not much on the road can keep up with a swapped Fiero 😉
Good thing they made the Astre with sleeve motors. so, I was able to replace my 74 seized Vega that had all aluminum cylinders. bought it from Vinnies Salvage from Camplain Rd. back when Harold used to work there. 😆
6:39 The Pontiac G3 didn't have different headlights or tail lights from the Chevy Aveo, only the front bumper was slightly tweaked which incorporated the Pontiac grille and slightly restyled lower air intakes which also housed the standard fog lights - Otherwise there were no differences aside from Pontiac badges and the bulbs for the dashboard backlighting being changed from green to red.
Adam- Totally agree with Pontiac/Daewoo LeMans in the #1 slot, especially having owned a 1967 LeMans. I use to visit Vancouver BC in the early ‘90’s and would see many unique Canadian Pontiacs like the Firefly (Geo Metro), Sunburst (Isuzu Gemini, Tempest (Chevy Corsica), and of course vintage Acadians and Beaumonts. I was a little disturbed by the Tempest, but loved the name (not the car) Firefly.
I bought a Vega GT hatchback in 1975 as my first new car, I looked at the GT version Astre but their was about a $300 price difference and on my limited budget I bought the Vega which I got a much better deal on. Mine never rusted (nor did the 75 Vega my mom had) nor did I have any real issued but a fuel pump at 22K miles go out. I put 128K on that car in 5 years and traded it for a Monte carlo and I saw it still running 2 years later so who knows how many miles it had. Never burned oil and even the clutch was still good when I traded it. Mom's 75 was still going until it got broadsided in 1982 and right where the gas filler cap was so insurance totaled it but it was still running when it went to the junk yard.
Agree 100 percent with number one. I was a mechanic at a Pontiac dealership in the early 90s, and when I drove and worked on those Lemans' my thought was always " what the..." is this piece of crap. I'm surprised Adam you complimented the looks of them, I always thought they were ugly
Totally agree, Adam. What a shame that the once great Pontiac Division ever even considered putting their name plate on these losers. You begin to understand the demise of the brand when watching this. Great job, as always.
Adam, I never tire (pun intended) of looking at your beautiful ’66. People laugh at the Gremilin but consider what the big three were offering as competition and it is right here I see the beginning of the end of America’s greatness in the automobile industry.
My first car was a Tangerine Red over Pitch Black 1977 Pontiac Astre Formula. It was an awesome and beautiful car. Black cloth bucket seats, body color matching alloy wheels w Chrome beauty rings, ASC glass Sunroof, Pioneer Stereo. It had the more powerful and much more dependable 2.5l Iron Duke tech 4 with a factory Holley carb. 4 on the floor, Rear spoiler, black out headlight surrounds, and “Formula” blazer across the bottom of the doors. I loved that car. So to see it on this list is completely bogus in my totally biased opinion. You should have found some crappy, over-sized, under-powered ‘70’s land yacht to put on this list,like a Tempest or something, but NOT my beloved Astre.
This is an interesting list. And I think it plays to a common theme that keeps reoccurring at GM. The divisions through corporate management often suffered from a constant changing of direction without keeping track of the soul of the particular brand. Pontiac soul USA slightly upscale sportiness, performance and a driving satisfaction that employed a good looks, decent comfort and not econo car roots and bones. Every time they strayed from that focus, sales declined. Pontiac still has a strong presence in the collector car market with its GTOs, Firebirds, Bonneville, Star Chief, Catalina and a number of its Grand Prix models. I think one of the most overlooked special cars were the 61 through 63 Pontiac tempest and Lemans models. Where else could you get an American sedan with 2 or 4 doors, a convertible, V8 engine, a rear Transaxle with either an automatic or a manual transmission, 4 wheel independent suspension, limited slip rear end, power steering and brakes and even air conditioning. In the early 1960’s. What a stirring launching pad for the upcoming 1964 Pontiac GTO! And down the road, the Firebird Trans Am with that famous screaming chicken hood decal!
I had a 1974 Vega and I loved it! I had the cylinders bored and put in steel sleeves. After that.. it ran great. I had NO RUST on my Vega. I do not know what this moderator was smoking when he said it was a rust bucket.
Confusingly in the UK the 1980s Opel Kadett / Pontiac Le Mans was badged as the Vauxhall Astra (with an 'a'). They were pretty good, if uninspiring little cars. The Astra name continues to this day the UK as a small 'Vauxhall' hatchback.
The kadett plattform went also to daewoo called cielo/nexia sold a lot in eastern europe. The chassis was the same, it received a facelift and was sold onto mid of 2000s, in russia it reveived another facelift with the same chassis called nexia next i think.
It really is a shame that Pontiac fell into the GM small car dump. GM built small economy cars as a stop gap and never thought building a small quality car was necessary. Honda was a company that changed that market in this country.
people like to say, “we’re better at building bigger cars” or, “we’re good at big V8’s” but truth is, we’re just not as good at building cars in general, as Japan or Germany. When Japan came out with bigger cars with V8’s at the end of the 80’s-early 90’s, they smoked us. Heck, Camrys have been the most common model name in the top 5 finishers at NASCAR for the past 10-15yrs!
@@richgallagher725 The V-8 that Toyota uses in Nascar is a special design used only for racing that has nothing in common with their production DOHC V-8s. And the Dodges cannot use Hemi based race engines. In truth all Nascar engines are not production blocks but based on the architecture of production engines (bore spacing etc). Except as noted Toyota. As to build or engineering quality. Quality doesn't start on the factory floor. It starts in the front office. And the front office is dominated by MBAs, lawyers and accountants.
Adam, do you know if the Astre was shipped the same way as the Vega... standing on its nose in tall train cars? I assume since it's based on the Vega, it probably was.
Great video! Were Astre\Vega to directly compete with Ford's Capri (made in Germany I think)? The rust issues experienced by USA car makers was cuz they bought cheap steel from overseas (Asia), I believe. Lesson learned! BTW, worst Ford minivan definitely the Aerostar
I remember Astre being pronounced as "ass-tree."😆 When you said 1973 I remembered that the '73 and '74 Astres were sold in Canada only. The Aztek at 3:00 looks like an homage to Verdoro Green. Could you do a video on the classic old paint colors please? God those Daewoo Lemans' were turds! (Not gonna capitalize the M for that production run...)
I was confused when I saw the pic of the 73 Astre. I distinctly remember when they came out in 1975. Our Pontiac dealer had big banners announcing “Astre is here” I didn’t know there were 73 and 74 models sold only in Canada until this very minute. Ya never stop learning do ya? 😄
Worked at a Pontiac dealer in 1988. The Lemans at that time looked and felt like the best made car on the new car lot. This from a kid who was enamored with GTA’s and Bonnie’s. The rest of the list I agree with.
My wife had a 76 Sunbird when we met ,her first car, we got married in 1982 , her dad was so happy that I was getting the Sunbird too and that he was rid of that POS ! Being a mechanic by trade, I had to rebuilt the transmission and differential as soon as I got it. We sold it in 1984, one of the worst cars I have ever owned and have beed a Ford man ever since !
I got 3 out of 5. And nailed the ‘80s LeMans as number one. I think J2000 and X-body Phoenix should have made the “top 5”. Lots of badge-engineered stinkers for Pontiac!
I enjoyed this episode I'm a bit confused. I once drove a Vega based Pontiac named Sunbird. It had a V 6 with a 4 on the floor. I enjoyed driving it at 16yo.
The (first gen) Sunbird replaced the Astre in 1978 and shared a platform with the Chevy Monza. There was also an Olds Starfire and Buick Skyhawk that used that body.
Every car my family owned was a Pontiac. My first car was a Pontiac (was not a hand-me-down but freshly bought,) so it broke my heart when 4 things happened. 1. They started gluing plastic on the car sides, 2. They became indistinguishable from other cars, 3. Pontiac started numbering their cars instead of naming them. Could you love a kid named 6? and finally 4. They stopped being American cars. Sacrilege, The GTO was made in Australia and even though you knew it wasn't, you walked away thinking it was a 4-door car. A Korean Lemans??? Pontiac's reputation became a Korean car brand... or so it seemed.
"SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT" caused sales of the PONTIAC TRANS AM to skyrocket back in 1978 ! Many thanks go to BURT REYNOLDS , SALLY FIELD , and JERRY REED !
Always enjoy your videos. Although many would disagree with me, I absolutely detested the 'dustbuster' vans - NOTHING is as hideous as they are. The Aztek (in my opinion) is gorgeous in comparison! I always disliked the styling of the Vega / Astre, and actually, except for the Lemans (which I know little about) I kind of liked the other cars!
I think you could have included the Fiero on the list as well. I know the early models had many problems with the transmissions, engine blocks, steering & suspension which improved with later V6 models.
I've never heard of the Montana! It would have cried out for a HANNAH vanity plate. My biggest beef with Pontiac were the gray "Gumby" knobs on the gray Gumby dash.
My favorite care was a 1976 Pontiac Ventura I purchased used and it had a Holley 2 Barrel carburator. It would leave Firebirds and Trasams behind me that would try to leave me behind when light turned green. I loved see the look on their faces.
Why GM designed a whole new OHC 4cyl for the Vega/Astre when they could have cheaply developed a family of World engines from existing Opel technology is puzzling. So much _duplication!_ I don't see why they couldn't merge all their platforms in the 1950s, using Australia as a testbed for durability - if it was tough enough for the Aussie roads of that era, you could probably drive it on Mars!
It could have been a "metric" versus "SAE" nuts and bolts standards [along with measurement specs] when it came to manufacturing and doing assembling/repair work on the vehicles . . . as the US was strongly clinging to SAE standards for nuts/bolts/tooling; while the rest of the world was with the metric system. Plus, also the arrogance that went along with the "American designed/made" attitude of the era; where the livelihoods of designer and engineers in the US were at stake. You have to remember that for all the designs made in the automotive industries, there are people [as wage earners] doing the design, engineering, testing, and manufacturing. For a US auto maker to concede [at least back then] to import designs and tooling, it would have meant countless amount of domestic workers not earning a wage.
1975 Pontiac Astre was my first car. Loved that car. 4 speed. Hatchback. Had a tachometer. I still have the volume knob and gear shift knob. That car (along with Vegas) had the most comfortable seats of the era.
At least the later Astre did not that awful Chevy motor the Vega had in it. Even though the Iron Dookie engine was nothing to right home about you could get man many more miles out of it than that aluminium dumpster fire the Vega had.We always called it the Astra. They were quite rare to see even when they were produced. There cant be more than a handful still around. My brother had 3 Vegas over the late 70s and early 80s He liked them because he got them very cheap and only bought stick shifts. One he had he hit a big pot hole and broke the frame right at the firewall. He took it to a local shade tree mechanic and they stick welded it back together. He drove it for a couple of more years till the motor locked up.
