http://www.wheels.ca/article/29016
Forget-me-Chevys Corsica, Beretta two of GM's lesser stars
Chevrolet Main Page
Apr 28, 2001
Be the first to comment on this article...
By Mark Toljagic
General Motors has produced some innovative and memorable cars over the years. The Chevrolet Corsica and its coupe variant, the Beretta, are not among them.
The two debuted in early 1987 as 1988 models, destined to fill the gap between the Cavalier econobox and the Celebrity (Lumina) family sedan.
Said to have been the product of the most extensive market research in Chevy's history, the Corsica and Beretta were touted as import fighters, employing lessons learned from a GM joint venture with Toyota.
With fewer body seams, no end caps, extensive use of two-sided galvanized steel and fewer parts, the cars were easier to assemble.
To keep costs down and improve reliability, product planners stuck to familiar corporate drivetrains. The cars' humdrum front-drive strut suspension and twist-beam rear axle, for instance, were copied from the Cavalier.
The pair wore well-tailored coachwork, designs that would not only endure unchanged until the end of production in 1996, but also provide the styling cues for a number of GM products that would follow.
The contemporary, but bland cabin was less successful. Said one owner on the Internet of his car: "Every soft part has distorted, cracked, crumbled, blistered, sagged, popped, bloated and warped so a trip to the grocery store yields five bags of groceries and four bags of interior pieces." CONFIGURATION The Corsica was available as a four-door sedan and, briefly, starting in 1989, as a five-door hatchback. The Beretta was the two-door coupe version, using the identical wheelbase.
To appease Canadian Pontiac dealers who wanted a low-cost vehicle to sell, GM supplied them with the Pontiac-badged Tempest sedan.
Initially, the cars were powered by the Cavalier's 90-hp. 2.0 L four-cylinder or the automaker's ubiquitous 2.8 L V6, good for 125 hp and 160 lb-ft of torque. A five-speed manual or three-speed automatic transmission was available with each.
For 1990, both engines grew in displacement (to 2.2 L and 3.1 L, respectively) and horsepower (95 and 140). Over the years, the four-cylinder Cavalier engine continued to receive enhancements, eventually netting 120 hp. The automatic gained a gear.
Performance versions of the coupe relied on the notorious talents of the General's 180-hp Quad 4 four-banger. In this instance, "four-banger" is an appropriate term: there was nothing subtle about this raucous engine.
PERFORMANCE The 1988 V6-equipped Beretta could reach highway velocity in nine seconds flat, thanks, in part, to the smooth-shifting Getrag manual transmission. Add about a second for the automatic and two-tenths of a second for the slightly heavier Corsica.
The four-cylinder engine lifted from the Cavalier was not entirely happy in the heavier sedan and coupe. Running rough and noisy, it provided acceleration times in the 11- to 12-second range, depending on the equipment.
Corsica and Beretta felt unremarkable on the road. As economy-grade rental and fleet vehicles, the base cars rode like most GM products: soft and a little floaty.
On the other hand, the GT and LT performance models benefited from better suspension pieces and calibration that produced lateral grip as high as 0.81-- very good for a front-driver.
Braking was ho-hum(62 metres from 112 km/h to 0). Dry braking improved marginally when anti-lock brakes became standard in 1992.
WHAT OWNERS REPORTED No other car has been the subject of so many complaints about delamination on the Internet. "Because of the horrible-looking paint peeling and falling off, this car is the greatest advertisement Ford has got," wrote a frustrated owner of his Corsica.
Most alarming, according to owners, is that peeling clear coat and paint were endemic to every year that the Corsica and Beretta were in production. It suggests that, over nine years, General Motors did not do enough to rectify the problem.
Corsica/Beretta owners generally fall into two camps: those who like their cars anyway, and those who despise them. Reader Andrew Chambers used to own a Beretta, but sold it a week after the warranty expired, fearing big repair bills based on the chronic problems that had surfaced.
Yet his wife drives a 1988 Tempest with 430,000 km on it.
"At nearly 300,000 km on the odometer, this car is probably the best bargain of all the vehicles our family has owned," wrote Allister D'Silva about a 1991 Tempest.
Michael Vandenboom describes his 1994 Corsica as the worst car he has ever owned, particularly for its fuel injectors, which are constantly clogging.
The litany of component failures is long, involving such expensive items as head gaskets, air conditioning, steering racks, alternators, motor mounts, gas lines, computers and brake rotors.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4181201&postid=54142425
