Be taught extra in regards to the 1980 Chevrolet Quotation, together with all of excellent and unhealthy factors. The automobile offered extraordinarily nicely in its early years, …
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The 1980 Chevrolet Quotation: GM's Sadly Flawed Automobile that Was Precisely Proper for Its Time
HONDA CIVIC HITS MY WIDEBODY CHALLENGER AT A CAR MEET AND THEN HE TRIES TO PRESS ME...NOT CLICK BAIT
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interesting . enjoyed.
They were biodegradable. That's why they're all gone. Rusted away as you watched.
My brother bought a new one in 80, never really any problems but "I" could never get past the ugly, and purely Utilitarian aspect.
I never personally knew anyone who drove a Citation but do who drove other Chevy models I.E. The Caprice Classic my uncle Rico drove a 1984 one for about 10 years then gave it to my dad who drove it until 2000 hardtop sedan with partial landau vinyl roof great riding car but poor gas mileage 18 MPG combined where as a Toyota Camry of similar age got 24 MPG combined
Funny how some cars are just disposable, like ford contour, pontiac ashtray, cricket, lecar, HHR, cruze etc. Yet I still see some original taurus and cavalier. There just comes a day, certain models are gone from the roadway.
I predict another GM disaster in the near future: the Cadillac Celestiq. What fools at GM think that a brand that has lost its past glory will be able to sell $300,000 units??? People with that kind of money will got to Mercedes. Today, Cadillac is just a Chevy in drag. Another GM management FAILURE.
Mine had a hole in a piston, junked it 👌🍺
Great video!! The rear brake lockup issue was a totally predictable problem. Originally the emergency brake was designed to be a hand brake in the center console. Some idiot bureaucrat decided at the last minute that the emergency brake had to be moved to a foot brake. Well people couldn’t push it hard enough to properly engage it, so due to no time left (due to the idiot bureaucrat) they had to add something metallic to the brake pads (or drums) to make them stickier, thus ensuring that the cars didn’t roll away (the 4 speeds) and also terrifying a few million people any time it got slippery on the road.
Had a 1980 Citation in my high school body shop class where we replaced a complete floor pan due to severe rust, car was only 3 years old at the time.
I’d buy a Porsche 911 or 928 S before I would buy a Citation.
Did u mention the 1980 sales figures were for an extended model year?
These made Chrysler K car look like a BMW
The 81 X11 turned a humdrum car into a really nice handling sporty machine. A revised 4 speed with better gearing, performance exhaust, and hd brake/suspension was part of the package. Interestingly enough, GM had the fix for the rear drum problem with the X11, but took the cheap way out on std models. J cars also used the std brakes and had the same issues. Cars with the hd brakes were much better. That system would eventually end up as std equipment on the Celebrity family in the mid 80s.
Friend of mine had a Citation years ago. Was totally rusted out.
We neutral dropped it to death and pulled it to the junkyard with my Dodge Dakota.
I had an ‘80 pontiac phoenix coupe in 82-85 and it was very competent. The braking could be a bit squirrelly but it was great in the snow. Iron Duke sounded like a bad tractor engine.
You should consider doing some videos on the trucks ?
A good friend has one of these in college. What a POS!!. Another buddy had a Toyota Corolla with far more miles and was problem free at the same time
Now I remember why I bought my first foreign car, a 1985 Toyota Corolla. I hope GM can instill some resemblance of reliability in their electric cars. I’d love to see them be world leaders again.
We had two examples of the FWD X bodies, a Citation and the Skylark, both from 1983. The year being the same was coincidence as we bought the Buick new, the Citation a few years later from the General Service Administration of the US Gov't. Bought the Citation in I think the late 80's and still had it in the 1990's. Being from the PNW, it didn't have the rust issues found elsewhere, but did experience a couple of the issues so many did with the Citation though, the rack and the rear brakes. The Buick I don't recall experiencing that, but it did develop an issue with the wiring for the dome light and it burned a small hole in the headliner. Both had the 2.8 V6.
I grew to dislike the Citation as a car and part of that was the seat was squishy and did in my back. It forced one to hunch forward, and lacked complete support for the lower back and curved up, forcing one to sit more upright that is found comfortable (at least to me). Drove it all the way from Tacoma to Klamath Falls as it had AC and my car, then a '78 Ford Fairmont didn't and outside of the transmission needing fluid on the way back, it did OK. The ride was a bit too squishy for my taste, but it did alright, all things considered. It was replaced by a 1988 Honda Accord and that was my father's final car before he passed on in 1998.
Personally, I think we got lucky with both cars as we knew even then, it all depended upon when it was made in the week whether you got a decent one, or not. I have always felt the X bodies were the worst of the first gen FWD's from GM, the Cavalier, the Celebrity etc were all better put together overall, but they did all pale in comparison to Honda or Toyota etc then.
Of all the names GM could have used, they pick the "Chevrolet traffic ticket". That right there doomed the car from the very beginning.
One of my HS friend's mom traded a really nice low mileage '69 Caprice Coupe for one of these back in 1980. I think my friend is still mad at her for doing that. I agree that it probably wasn't the smartest move. That Caprice was sweet!
My family had a Citation when they were new. All I remember about the car was the story of the time my mother braked gently while traveling down the road (not a panic stop) which caused a lockup and spun the car across a 4 lane highway and into a parking lot on the opposite side. Luckily no other cars were involved. Great design, perhaps, but not a good impression.
I had an '84 II. Notchback two-door, mags, two-tone champagne and brown. It was as you described: roomy, quiet, nicely trimmed, comfortable ride.
Having driven my Father's Olds Ciera triggered my interest. And later prompted the purchase of a 99 Cavalier two-door as my first new car. The Xs were the right size as well and the Cavalier by that time was in the same size, though not as roomy in the back seat.
To this day I still regret trading the Cavalier in on an '86 N Body Calais, though I still have this car.
An important point that you did not mention was the X Car was the basis for the A car and the Xs shared many of the improvements made to the new A platform for 1982. The As even shared the same wheelbase.
A Body production went on for many years after the X Body left production, so eventually GM got it right.
Good stuff never had one thank God LoL
My late father bought a 1980 Citation new. I can remember, as I had just gotten my drivers license in January of 1980,. It was a 4-door, with a V6, with a 4-speed. He got the special gauge package with a tachometer instead of the clock. Of course it had many problems, including it would pop out of low gear when you let the clutch out. He wrote the company many times. He did however keep it until 1998, with 198,000 miles on it.
I worked at a dealer when these came out. We inspected for ripped tie down holes and drilled and bolted in reinforcing plates. A list of checks and mods were done. Then we soon had the plastic tape used for window lift strip. GM was trying a lot of new and very cheap ways of making some things work or as it turned out, not work.
A great summary of the life of this car, Adam. Citations were very popular here in California when new, and it's yet another car that one never sees on the road today.
And people actually are betting GM will get it right with EV’s!
Great Video! I would comment that one of the reasons for it's high 1980 sales numbers would be it's April 1979 release date. (Like the 1965 Mustang). I would also think that it's lack of sales from 1982-on would be due to the release of the j-body Cavalier and a-body Celebrity. (If the customer base were still willing to stay with Chevy at all). The Olds and Buick versions remained fairly popular in the later model years. I good friend had an '81 Citation X-11 4spd. in 1983 or so… I remember the being a pretty fun car for the period.
Thanks again for the interesting videos.
My dad waited a year for this POS! After a few weeks you had to pop start the car because the safety switch that made you press the clutch to start broke. Granted it was fixed but WTF that should have never happened . We lived in updated NY so trying to start this in the winter was a challenge. The clutch went after 30,000, when it was 6 years old one of the spark plugs would foul out. Junk! After seeing how poorly made this sh&& box was I never bought an American made car!
Someone is spouting bullshit. I bought a 1980 Citation new, 2.8L V6, standard shift. I drove this car 183,000 miles. The only thing I did was replace brake pads, an exhaust pipe and muffler, oil changes and a trip to the body shop to fix some rust spots. The car was amazing, in town and on the highway, very comfortable.
Thanks,
For the bad dreams to come.
🧐
My driver's ed car was a silver Citation II.
Although quality issues undoubtedly hurt sales of these cars, it's also worth mentioning that the new front wheel drive J-body and A-body cars introduced for the 1982 model year likely cannibalized sales as well.