- #87 of 298
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Re: The dreaded Excel [fintail]
by joshuag
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Nov 20, 2008 (12:18 pm)
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Replying to: fintail (Nov 19, 2008 12:58 pm)
I believe you on that. Around 1990 when the Sonata first came out, me and my sister went to a Hyundai dealer so she could look at a cheap excel to get her through school. It was the middle of winter, although we do live in Southern Ca., so it doesn't get that cold. A guy came in to test drive a new Sonata and the car would barely start. Then when he finally got it started it died like three times. But, I guess they have come a long way. My cousin has a 2004 Sonata and it has been bulletproof.
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- #88 of 298
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Re: Speaking of luxury Chevettes... [andre1969]
by boomchek
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Nov 20, 2008 (12:43 pm)
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Replying to: andre1969 (Nov 20, 2008 12:11 pm)
some aftermarket company back in the 70's that would take a Chevette and outfit it with a pretentious little grille, nip and tuck the rest of the sheetmetal here and there, and try to stuff in a leather interior and some other appointments that were supposed to give the illusion of a luxury car.
I remember that one. I think it wa sposted in one of Fintail's eBay time posts on the Classic Cars forum. It was indeed ugly.
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- #89 of 298
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Re: '90-'93 Pontiac LeMans [andys120]
by fintail
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Nov 20, 2008 (12:47 pm)
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Replying to: andys120 (Nov 20, 2008 11:56 am)
The Opel Kadett E was the basis for those hoary Daewoo/Pontiac LeMans insults we had on these shores...but I have to believe they didn't share much other than body shape.
Wikipedia claims 1973 for the Kadett C, 1974 for the Brazilian Chevette.
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- #90 of 298
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Re: The dreaded Excel [joshuag]
by fintail
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Nov 20, 2008 (12:48 pm)
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Replying to: joshuag (Nov 20, 2008 12:18 pm)
Hyundai has certainly seen more progress than any other carmaker in the past 20 years - and somehow I trust them more than Kia, too.
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- #91 of 298
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Can't talk about "worst cars"....
by andys120
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Nov 20, 2008 (1:27 pm)
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without mentioning these>
I had one buddy who traded in his crappy Chevy Vega Wagon for...would you believe..a Dodge Aspen, both were stick-shift wagons.
Did I mention he was very cheap. 
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- #92 of 298
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Re: '90-'93 Pontiac LeMans [fintail]
by andys120
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Nov 20, 2008 (1:32 pm)
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Replying to: fintail (Nov 20, 2008 12:47 pm)
As often happens, Wikipedia contradicts itself, the article on the "Chevy Chevette" contains this line: The T-car was actually first launched in Brazil under the Chevette name in 1974, as a two-door sedan.
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- #93 of 298
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Re: Can't talk about "worst cars".... [andys120]
by andre1969
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Nov 20, 2008 (1:47 pm)
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Replying to: andys120 (Nov 20, 2008 1:27 pm)
The '76 and early '77 Aspen/Volares were indeed horrible cars. But once they cleaned up their act, they actually weren't too bad. They became pretty obsolete once the downsized Malibu et al hit the scene, and the Fairmont/Zephyr, but the basic platform managed to hold on through 1989, as the Diplomat/Gran Fury/5th Ave.
I think this is one of those cars that's kinda like the 1980 GM X-body or the Vega...it seemed like a good idea at the time, but was just poorly executed and didn't hold up. If it had the quality to back it up, it would've been a decent car from the get-go.
Also, this is probably more of a sad commentary on police cars at the time, moreso than a defense of the Aspen/Volare, but in 1979, believe it or not, these things were the quickest cars out there. With the 360-4bbl (which not all of them had...some just had 2-bbls or 318's), they'd do 0-60 in 8.7 seconds and 0-100 in something like 22.7. I found some police car tests from around 2003 or 2004, and those cars (Impala, Intrepid, Crown Vic) weren't even that fast! 
Okay, I'll stop defending the thing now. I do like some of its offshoots though, like the 1980-83 Mirada/Cordoba and '81-83 Imperial. The M-body versions (LeBaron/Diplomat/Gran Fury/5th Ave) are pretty nice, too.
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- #94 of 298
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Re: Can't talk about "worst cars".... [andre1969]
by andys120
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Nov 20, 2008 (1:52 pm)
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Replying to: andre1969 (Nov 20, 2008 1:47 pm)
The thing I don't understand about the Aspen/Volare is why didn't they simply rebody the nearly indestructible Dart/Valiant twins instead of coming up with brand new cars that weren't nearly as good?
In other "Worst Car" news, Zastava has ceased production of the Yugo after 30 years.
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- #95 of 298
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Re: Can't talk about "worst cars".... [andys120]
by boomchek
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Nov 20, 2008 (3:36 pm)
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Replying to: andys120 (Nov 20, 2008 1:52 pm)
The door handles on those Yugos are same as on the old Lada Signets, Lada Nivas, and polish Fiats built in the 70s that our family had in Poland
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- #96 of 298
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Re: '90-'93 Pontiac LeMans [hpmctorque]
by corvette
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Nov 20, 2008 (6:51 pm)
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Nov 19, 2008 8:03 pm)
My dad had two of them. I think they were first introduced in the late 1980's. The first one was hit in the rear and totaled when it had 2,000 miles on it. Its replacement was with us for a year or two. All I remember is that it was very unreliable. After experiencing enough "driving excitement," Dad went back to buying Hondas.
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