I was used to manual steering from driving an old rear-drive 1978 Toyota Corolla for years. Most Toyotas did not have power steering until into the 1980s. The front-drive cars I drove with manual steering, before everyone went to power assist, had lighter effort because the drivetrain assists when the car is moving, even creeping. This particular Yugo was far heavier in effort, and it would not have been comfortable to drive every day. I suspect something was binding in the steering system.
Many cars did not have a synchro 1st gear until recently. Most people do not downshift into 1st when driving a manual trans, so it's not a big deal. Can't fault the Yugo for leaving it out. I never noticed during the test drive.
The VW Fox was an interesting little car. At the time, if the wagon version had had 4 doors instead of 2, I might have considered one. After your experience, looks as if not getting one was a good thing.
Don't laugh, but I bought a 1988 Ford Festiva new and got nearly 400,000 miles out of it. I paid for rustproofing and undercoating and drove it sensibly. The big weakness that car had was rear wheel bearings. But for the Festiva, which was a Mazda design made by Kia in Korea, some were built well and some weren't. Without rustproofing, they would indeed rust.
