GM X-Cars

[KCJeep]

I never had one of those, knew a couple of people who did one had problems the other did not.

I did buy a brand new 1986 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport ( A body ). Build quality was not impressive but it drove really well and was super reliable, I had it 9 years and regretted selling it later.

 

[PimTac]

I never thought the x cars were very good because I saw several failing to start when I was a kid (just like a lot of Ford's of the era) but I never saw any burning oil. Also if it applies to all GM's of the era then why are so many still on the road including my daily driver 84 Cutlass? I think you're speaking of stuff you don't know much about.

Really? It must be your neighborhood then because they are far and few between around here.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I had a performance X-11 I ordered. fiberglass hood with cowl scoop, Eagle GT tires.
A hot carbureted LH7 60 deg V6 with 4 speed. Firing order: 1-2-3-4-5-6.
Smooth. Comfortable, quiet, quick, superb handling.
Anybody knows if you want a good handling GM car you need to order the right stuff like F-41 or HD suspension or get a
performance package car.
Later I got a New Honda Accord. high quality, but miserable, slow, dangerous handling car.
There was no good " car-ness" inside that recycled RC Cola can on wheels.

 

[CKN]

The two decades of junk for the domestics were the 70's and 80's. They made absolute garbage. Left the door open for both Toyota and VW on the low end to a lesser extent.

 

[zzyzzx]

Had one in the family growing up, Specifically the V6 Citation. Loved that car. Had no real issues.

 

[addyguy]

And the Cruze is much worse than the cobalt which was worse than the cavalier which was actually a pretty reliable car towards the end.

I’ve owned an 02 Cavalier, and currently drive an 09 G5. The build quality on the Cavalier was much, much better than the G5.
Very little rust on my Cavalier, the rockers on EVERY Cobalt/G5 rust through. The interior of the Cavalier was basic, but solid - Cobalt/G5’s have much flimsier plastic that creaks/breaks/deforms on almost every surface.
The 2.2 OHV engine was slow and old fashioned, but not plagued with TC/tensioner issues a lot of these cars have, mine rattles regularly on start up.
I think it’s sad how much poorer my car is from the model before it!

 

[carviewsonic]

My sister and BIL had an ‘84 Buick Skylark with the 2.8L. Was actually a good car for them. They drove it for 10 years or so, and it was very poorly maintained.
My wife and I had an ‘88 Pontiac 6000 STE 2.8 for a few years. Had no power at all, but it was reliable.

These two examples weren’t from the early years production though, which explains our positive ownership experience.

 

[pezzy84]

And the Cruze is much worse than the cobalt which was worse than the cavalier which was actually a pretty reliable car towards the end.

Are we talking strictly reliability here? If so would agree but mainly that is because the J-Body Cavalier was ancient so they had dozens of years to work out the bugs. The "new" 1995 Cavalier was really a warmed over prior generation with new clothes. As far as driving experience, quality, etc. you can flip the order. From best to worst - Reliability - Cavalier->Cobalt->Cruze Desirability - Cruze->Cobalt->Cavalier.

I almost ended up in a Cobalt coupe but the silly Chevy dealer I was at was pretending like $500 off sticker was some kind of amazing deal for a 2006 and I was being ridiculous for asking for $2k off sticker which was pretty typical for loaded Cobalts at the time. Tried to tell me that they could easily sell it for sticker price to someone else if I didn't take the $500 off offer, yup I walked right on out.

 

[SteveG4]

That yellow turbo model looks sweet!

Citations were truly garbage.

Drove those in my high school's drivers ed class. Ugh.

 

[350Rocket]

Are we talking strictly reliability here? If so would agree but mainly that is because the J-Body Cavalier was ancient so they had dozens of years to work out the bugs. The "new" 1995 Cavalier was really a warmed over prior generation with new clothes. As far as driving experience, quality, etc. you can flip the order. From best to worst - Reliability - Cavalier->Cobalt->Cruze Desirability - Cruze->Cobalt->Cavalier.

I almost ended up in a Cobalt coupe but the silly Chevy dealer I was at was pretending like $500 off sticker was some kind of amazing deal for a 2006 and I was being ridiculous for asking for $2k off sticker which was pretty typical for loaded Cobalts at the time. Tried to tell me that they could easily sell it for sticker price to someone else if I didn't take the $500 off offer, yup I walked right on out.

Yes I was talking strictly reliability. I haven't driven a Cruze, but the cobalt I hated the electric power steering feel. I briefly had a 2000 cavalier I bought from my best friend and it drove pretty decent. Just bad seats and not enough power. Very reliable though. When I was in highschool everyone had early 90s late 80s Cavaliers.

 

[350Rocket]

Really? It must be your neighborhood then because they are far and few between around here.

You think I never leave my neighborhood? Lol. We live in the rust belt so the few remaining ones were very well cared for. I'd say it's your neighborhood that's the odd one out.

 

[350Rocket]

Really? It must be your neighborhood then because they are far and few between around here.

Also you're not an old car guy so you probably never even notice them. I notice every 80s b body or g body I see. Sometimes several a day plus a few 70-80s GM trucks.

Btw just went out for 5 minutes to get breakfast and coffee, in the middle of moving into our new house in a new town, already saw a mid 80s firebird at the coffee shop. Mid 80s gm truck in a driveway end of our road.

Visiting a friend in South Carolina a few years back we saw lots of them there where they don't rust.

 

[PimTac]

Also you're not an old car guy so you probably never even notice them. I notice every 80s b body or g body I see. Sometimes several a day plus a few 70-80s GM trucks.

Btw just went out for 5 minutes to get breakfast and coffee, in the middle of moving into our new house in a new town, already saw a mid 80s firebird at the coffee shop. Mid 80s gm truck in a driveway end of our road.

Visiting a friend in South Carolina a few years back we saw lots of them there where they don't rust.

I don’t consider mid-80’s old.

 

[supton]

I don’t consider mid-80’s old.

I would. Heck 90’s is old too. I don’t see much of either around here.

 

[mattwithcats]

My Dad bought a Pontiac Phoenix with 4 cylinder Iron Duke engine, manual transmission, in 1980.
He gave it to me in 1996...
Made it to 370,000 until the car cracked in half just behind the front seats, due to rust.
I drove it to the junkyard with the middle of the car dragging the road....

Decent car, terrible build quality...
I remember opening the trunk at the Dealership, to find the coat hooks, which hung inside above the rear door sills, sitting in the trunk, with a dozen pieces of interior trim. Just did not have time at the factory to put them on... Tried to install the coat hooks, and found the nut plate on one side was missing, never welded to the frame, so I tossed it into the glove box, where it remained tor the life of the car.

Interior was as bad. Bolts holding the passenger seat missing.
And this was AFTER the Dealer prepped the vehicle, I do not want to know what he fixed...

Gauges, battery, oil pressure, and water temperature, were idiot lights. Interestingly, they were 52mm cutouts for the lights, so gauges could have been fitted.

Parking brake was a foot lever on the left drivers side, never worked properly. You hit the end of travel before it began to hold the car...

GM was still trying to do damage control from the OPEC embargo, and new EPA regulations. Catalytic converters, EGR valves, etc, were choking the horsepower out of everything. The Iron Duke was 20 pounds heavier than the import engines, and 20 decibels louder...

Imports got 5-10 MPG better, were quieter, and better built. But the sheet metal was so thin, you did not lean on the fender or hood... And they lasted about 100,000 miles, before giving up the ghost, The American cars would do 200K, with a few repairs...

 

[meep]

my first girlfriend drove one in the 80s. Her dad seemed to have a stable of them for the family and that’s what they drove. oh they did have a full-size passenger van, but he and all the kids shared a couple of citations. When one croaked, another was waiting. i would have loved being stranded in that car with her, but it always started and got us home.

 

[350Rocket]

I don’t consider mid-80’s old.

Unless it's an import, cause when is the last time you saw a Toyota or Honda etc car from the 80s on the road? Maybe it's reversed where you live vs here but I see one once every couple months around here vs basically every day for a gm 80s car.

 

[supton]

Now that you say it, I do rarely seen 80’s imports. Much more likely to se domestics, although not many of them. I sure would rather have an 80’s domestic over an import of the same age, parts availability would be much better. Probably true in the 90’s too.

 

[loneryder]

I came of age right when the roads were THICK with GM X-bodies and GM A-bodies. They were EVERYWHERE.

I got a ride to school every morning in an Olds Omega 4-door. Our next-door neighbour had a blue Pontiac Pheonix. My best buddy's mom had a 1987 Century.
When looking for my first car, went to govt. auction that had row upon row of poop-brown Citation 4-door 4-cylinder cars for $1k each. On and on I could go....

My first car was a 1985 Buick Skyhawk, not the exact same thing, but close.

I have to disagree with the general assessment of these cars - for the period, they were very modern, and far more reliable than most of what was on the road at the time. The 2.8L V-6 was an excellent engine, many went for 200k+ easily. YES, the rear brakes did have issues, all front-drive GM's did in that era, including my Skyhawk.

The Citation X-11, with its V-6 and 4-speed manual, was a sporty, very quick car for the period.

Over all 4 models, they sold over 1 million units in the first year - how many vehicles can say that? They deserve more respect than they get.

And none of them are on the road or for sale today.

 

[loneryder]

We had a 1980 Citation X11, these were decal cars, no performance upgrades. I always thought it could have been a good car. It got totalled by a drunk driver and we bought an 82 Citation as we really didn't have any more problems than any other Chevy would have. Both were 4 speeds. The weird thing about the rear suspension geometry was if you put the e-brake on while rolling it would suck the back end down or to think of it another way it was pulling the rear twist axle up. So, hard braking unweights the rear and they naturally want to unload, no wonder they spun out.

I had this same color 2 door for a company car. I had an earlier model 4 door that the oil pump gave out. Both were v-6's. The company started enticing us to order a 4 cyl and they would load the options up. One guy took the deal and was very sorry. He had trouble merging onto the interstates..