There were TWO kinds of Yugos. Ones that fell apart and broke down all the time and ones that were of superior quality and rarely ever broke down. There was NO, "In Between". I owned one that practically never failed me, ever.

My uncle had one when I was a kid, living in rural Serbia in the 90's meant that this one Yugo basically kept 50-100 people and their homes provided with goods from the town. Flour, fruits and vegetables, sunflower oil - all of that in a Yugo, the little car that could. Hell, craziest memory was him transporting a couple of sheep in the back seat. I remember vividly how badly the car smelled, he just left it in his garage for a couple of weeks (garage was more akin to a shed) with windows down and the smell faded away. He also transported a fuckton of raspberries in baskets on top of the car, he had that extra thingy for transporting goods. Good stuff.

Here are some Yugo jokes, they are originaly in Serbo-Croatian, so i hope it doesent get lost in translation: -Why does a Yugo have a rear view defroster ? Because yo dont get cold hands in the winter when you push it. -Yugo is a 5 person car, 1 drives, the other 4 push it. -What do you call a Yugo with a flat tire ? Totalled. -How do you increase the value of a Yugo when you sell it ? Leave a full tank of gas. -Whats a difference between a Yugo sport and a regular ? The sport ones driver is wearing Nikes. -How does a Yugo go faster up a hill ? You kick out the passengers. -What do you call a Yugo on top of a hill ? A miracle. -What is a difference between a Yugo and a police station ? You are less ashamed of exiting a police station.

Fun fact: Zastava makes some of the finest AK-47s on the market

This was my first car. I bought it for $175 in 1992. 😂 Everyone at school loved that car, too. I was a legend.

Yugo got my mama through an old school “the woman has nothing when she leaves” divorce. It was the only vehicle she could afford. Got her to work and back, and got us to school and the sitter. I cant speak an ill word about it.

I worked for Delta, there was a large YUGO following. They were cheap commuters. One of the guys needed to replace the exhaust. Party date was made. They threw down and old mattress. Pulled the mirror and rolled it on it's side.

My dad had an USA market Yugo, but he tuned it, lowered the suspensions, tinted the windows and everything, and it drove up to 180kmh, and also many people had yugos in my country and they had even travelled with them, going to vacations to other countries so the yugos weren't that much of a fail, and as another guy in the comments said, you can fix it yourself on the side of the road😂

i love how someone managed to take care of the car for 30 years and donut fucks it up in ten minutes

A guy goes into an auto parts store and asks "Can I get windshield wipers for my Yugo? The guy thinks for a second and says "That sounds like an even swap"

I'm from former Yugoslavia and this car is known here as the AK-47 of cars. Basically you can abuse it to all hell and it will still work (granted with some DIY repairs). Cheap piece of shit that refused to kick the bucket permanently. It's a magnificent car in a way. I instantly recognized it from the thumbnail and chuckled thinking "yeah, it would be the Yugo alright". Just to highlight the experience of riding a Yugo is, there is a comedic sketch video in Serbian. A hillbilly gets pulled over by police. When they try to measure his alcohol level, he nearly breaks the national record. The cops ask the guy if he is crazy and the guy just shrugs and responds "the car is made by design to be driven drunk, it's too stressful sober". Also the transmission bit, everyone jokes here you didn't need to go to the gym if you drove a Yugo, the transmission was enough of a workout in itself and you needed some serious strength to drive it.

I love how in the movie Drowning Mona, everyone in that small town drove a Yugo. As my aunt would say, "With a Yugo, You Go nowhere"

I’m so proud that you actually reviewed a Yugo. As a Serbian, this warms my heart so much, generations used the Yugo and people loved it. Even today you can see people driving them, and you can buy them for $50 in some cases. Cheers guys!

The best bumper sticker I ever saw on a Yugo “If you hit me, we both die.” 😂

I remember when my brother owned and drove a Yugo haha. He modded it to have a motorcycle muffler just to make fun of all the guys who do that shit to compensate for what they don't have, which meant you could hear him coming from a mile away, LITERALLY. It was the funniest and coolest thing to me, because we'd be waiting for him to show up in our house, and you'd know when it was time to finish anything you needed to to get ready, so you could get outside and wait for a few minutes if you wanted to lol. Hell, I remember how excited and giddy I always got whenever I heard it from that mile away, and would sprint around the house yelling "Mario's coming!" Good memories.

I bought a new blue one with ac in 1988. Never had any problems. Drove it for ten years.

I’m from the Former Yugoslavia and this car got my family through the war, from 1991 all the way until we came to the United States. I will buy this car from you when you are done with your videos. Also, we were never under the influence of the USSR. We were a unique communist country where private companies still existed and social programs worked. We just didn’t know how to get along with each other.

You guys should come over and drive mine LOL

In early 1985, I purchased a 1979 Fiat 128 for $1,300. VERY similar to a Yugo. Drove it for 9 years collecting approximately $3,000 from insurance companies whose policy holders ran into it on a regular basis. That thing was a magnet for other cars. Finally, in December 1993, the rear end was "explored" by a 16-year-old driving dad's Ford Explorer. His bumper went right over the Fiat's hefty aluminum bumpers (mounted on shock absorbers) and the trunk became the crumple zone. His insurance company totaled out the car handing me a check for $1,600. If nothing else that "car magnet" was a money maker. By the way, at the time my wife was a waitress at a Minneapolis restaurant that closed at 1:00 a.m. That car NEVER stranded her in the parking lot.

Let me explain something, I drove this lemon for 5 years, loved it really, firstly it runs on fumes,0 to 60 eventually, you could drive it with the second gear broken, the users manual came with the bus schedule because it broke like all the time, the back glass had warmers so you can push it in the winter, the car was made to rival wolksvagen golf, which the car failed miserably, but hey after you got to know your yugo you would be able to fix it yourself in no time, mine had a manual switch for the cooler because my thermostat broke and that was fine 😂

Well maintained Yugo’s were generally reliable cars. I usually see beaters in all these videos. The shift linkage was a common issue that was easily resolved with a couple bolts added to that problem and significantly improved shift feel. The 1.3L drivetrain in the later Yugo’s was highly superior in power and performance as well.

In high school, my good friend had one of these in white. One night, when taking a lefthand turn, his entire fuse box fell out from underneath the dashboard. Quality workmanship!

Any car that was engineered in less than optimal conditions and allowed the average person a new found sense of freedom is in my opinion a success. If you look at the cars of Formula Easter and other various former Soviet Bloc countries they made something out of nothing which is quite impressive.

I had one of these in the UK in 1992 while at Uni. The worst part was the conversion to right hand drive, as the wipers were still set up for left hand drive. Otherwise I had no problems with it at all. It would sit on the UK motorway at 75mph quite happily. Also started in any cold weather, with a quick cold start spray into the air intake. Was an awful pea soup green colour though

Now it needs to be tuned up, and kitted out, and made in to the best little Yugo that ever existed.

I'm from Serbia and I love this car. Never drove it, but my uncle did when I was a kid, we went on so many road trips in this thing, it was awesome. Of course it's not very safe or well built, or comfortable, but it was cheap. And really easy to repair, a lot of people did minor repairs by themselves, and you can still find parts anywhere. If you live in a much richer country, you might not understand, but for us (especially in the 90s) it was a special vehicle, and we're proud of it.

Yugo is the quintessential DIY mechanic car. It WILL make a handyman of you, believe me😅

I've had the displeasure of working on a couple of these fairly extensively. The damned things never wanted to stay running. Between the carb trying desperately to fall out of tune, the fuel tank trying to feed the engine rust, the random electrical ghosts, and the body panels and interior literally falling apart for no reason, these things were a nightmare. 😂

I drove Yugo for 7 years with 0.904 L engine ...45hp ....it was always braking down but you can fix it yourself by the road....not like cars this days It was a crappy car but lots of fun. Thank you for this episode , cheers !

My grandpa had 3 Yugos at one time. 1 he drove and 2 others for parts. The one he drove from what i remember wasnt horrible. He knew a guy in Florida that had 200k miles on one. I guess you got what you paid for when you bought a Yugo

Balkan guy here and you'd be surprised how many Yugos are still on the roads over here even today. Throughout all of former Yugoslavia people still drive them and they are sturdy and reliable. It's still a bad poor person's car and a sign of how poor our societies are today, but this car is a memory for many of our parents and grandparents and heck, even us born in the 90s.

I think each Yugo was story on its own. Mine had problem with gear shifter, the stick was getting stuck. Couldn't change gear. Also was shutting down when it wanted, say on a upward piece of road, which was scary. Windows weren't really air proof. In winter, wind was blowing from multiple sides. Also, had a problem with starting up the engine. It didn't want to start... :) But was fun. Nice video. My father brought it to the junk yard, sadly. I really like the simple design of it, overall. If it had relieable enigine and transmision, and mehcanical parts, it would have been a hit!

The yugo had an optional rear defroster which was really good for keeping your hands warm when pushing it

There used to be a junkyard in Las Vegas with dozens of yugos. Had a friend that was really into them and did a bunch of upgrades since iirc it is Fiat based. He got a parking ticket once and the ticket said "vw of some kind"

This car actually saved a lot of lifes in the early 90´s.

NATO bombed the Yugoslavian factory in the 90s and the Yugo disappeared forever.

Funny thing , here in my country (Costa Rica) , we joke around saying that a Yugo is a car that will last you your whole lifetime , cause once you buy it , there's no way anybody else is gonna buy it off from you even if you are selling it cheap 😅. Haven't seen any of those in the past recent years though , no wonder why !

There is only one thing I need in my life now. A Super Yugo. A Yugo with as many flaws as possible corrected while looking as stock as possible with a 0-60 under 10 seconds.

I attended a consumer survey back when the Yugo first came out. We didn’t drive the cars but examined them in detail. Two things that stuck in my mind were the runs in the paint and the seats that seemed to be made out of cheap terrycloth beach towels. I did use some of the money from this gig to buy a copy of the very first issue of Automobile Magazine. I wish I still had that mag…

I worked for the port processor in Brunswick GA where many of the Yugos were received in the US. I heard stories of doors coming off when opened. The windshield wipers flew off when turned on. It was marketed as a throw away car. We had Yugo representatives working at the facility and they were all given company cars because they were so cheap. We knew what we were dealing with but thousands of Yugos went through our facility. Because of the price they were selling like crazy. I rode in one only once and it was pretty obvious how badly it was made.

In the name of all Yugoslavia nostalgics, THANK YOU for this video! You guys in the US could never understand what this car meant for us, but I'm really thankful that you tried to put it into context.

I remember seeing a modded Yugo with a tube frame, tubbed rear slicks, a NOS'd 351 and a BIG shiny wing. Years later I still lol at the thought of it.

I've drive Yugo 55 for 10 years borrowed from my uncle, without single issue, my uncle drove it over 20 years before me without any issue. It was Yugo 55 for USA market but my uncle bought it in Serbia brand new. I have returned it and my brother sold it after few years for like 700USD back in 2014. Technically, car was 35 years old when sold and it was in great condition. Top speed was like 90mhp and it was able to accelerate from 0-60mph in 14 seconds, ofc it was have 5 gears transmission installed as an additional accessory when bought brand new :D The one and only issue it have, it was braking disc and pads replacement once at while like every 5 years, just make sure to have fresh oil, fuel filters, oil filters, air filters, belts and everything connected for an regular small service after 10000 miles and you're good to go :D

Zastava makes some pretty cool stuff, don't let the Yugo fool you.

When you learn to drive on a Yugo, you can drive anything afterwards. I learned when I was 7-8 I think. Good times, man

Day 400 of asking James to do an Up to Speed on his Dad

Great video! I like that you went into the history a bit. Even Top Gear when they featured eastern block cars was just like "These thing suck! These are bad! Boo! So bad!". Never went into detail about why they were the way they were.

I had this car back in Germany, and I bought it very cheaply. It served me and later my nephew for 6 years. It was fast and had a very low fuel consumption. It is one of the cheapest cars to maintain.

I had a 1989 Yugo!!!! Honestly, back in the 90's got 75 mpg, was like a sardine can, mine was rally blue. Best $1500 I ever spent. Only ever had to replace the starter and a rim, which was hard to find and only a 12" or 13" rim that I found at a wrecking yard. Glad you reviewed it!

Justin is slowly becoming my favorite presenter on Donut the dude is hilarious.

They had a raffle at my moms church. First prize, a new Yugo. Second prize, TWO new Yugos!

There s an urban legend circulating in ex Yu states. When a brand new Yugo’s passengers roll down window didn’t work, it was brought back for service. As they removed the door panel, there was only a block of wood holding up the window, whith a writing: “Kakva plata takva vrata” which would roughly translate to “The quality of my paycheck reflects in the quality of this door“.

Having had a 900cc Fiat 127 and loved it's 'thrashability' I bought a brand new Yugo in 1984, here in the UK they were doing a killer deal where you could part exchange ANY car and get £1200 off of the price meaning the car cost me about £2400 on the road with a 3 year warranty, it was great and came with body coloured bumpers, spoiler, sunroof, alloy wheels and it looked really sporty (it was 1984) I loved it until one day on a 3 lane highway i was in the middle lane doing about 70, I had to do a real emergency stop, the thing did a 180 in the blink of an eye, we didn't hit anything but ended up looking at the front of the car behind. I took it to the dealer who took it for a test...he came back white as a sheet and took the car in for repair, apparently there was a master cylinder fault and it had no rear brakes at all, sadly after hitting a kerb in the ice and snow the car was bent out of shape and 'mysteriously' caught fire later that evening. there ended my Yugo experience but as a thrashable little car it was great and very cheap to run. If you understand the appeal of roaring about in tiny Italian cars then you'd love the Yugo.

You guys should do a Yugo build. Engine swap, transmission, suspension etc.

We were a family of four; mom, dad, sis (9), and me (11). Dad bought a Yugo in 1986 and we went from Long Island to Disney World Orlando and back with absolutely no problems...I don't even remember being uncomfortable in the back seat with my sis. A year later we went to Virginia, also from L.I. and back again in the same Yugo.

Could you guys please do an Up to Speed on the Subaru Justy you mentioned at 10:19? I’ve been waiting so long and you finally mentioned it. On top of being the last carbureted vehicle sold in the US it’s probably one of the rarest vehicles in America now and I’d love to see what you guys at Donut could dig up on it.

One of my best friend's first vehicle was an '87 Yugo', bought in 1992. We once packed it with 4 friends in total and **TRIED** to get the needle to 100mph. It simply would not crack 97mph and it had taken 9 miles on the highway to even reach that. 😂 Good times, right? I also remember when his grandparents bought him a steering wheel lock for it ("The CLUB", remember that one!) and I told him to be careful because someone might break into his car and steal "The CLUB" 😁

Funny thing about the Yugo is that I take it to car shows and it gets more attention than any Ferrari or Lambo 🤣 EVERYONE wants to sit in it.

I had one for awhile in Croatia. It was shit, however, parts cost less than beer and you could work on them pretty drunk. Super simple to figure out and quickly figure it out. This one does seem to be rougher shape. In total over two years i was only into it like$400 Cad.

Back around 1988 I saw a Yugo in a parking lot painted up like a rally car. It had "Touring Yugo" emblazoned across the hood. I didn't see the owner but I wanted to congratulate them on their sense of humor!

In high school, I had a job that, if needed, the boss would let us use his Yugo for local deliveries. I remember having to drive it like a race car just to keep up with traffic. And if you honked the horn a bit too hard, the front of the steering wheel would pop off into your lap. Great memories.

My neighbor is a very wealthy men and he still drives the same Yugo I remember him having 25 years ago. It's probably even older than that. Mad respect to the old guy.

I was a Yugo certified mechanic. I would do a pre delivery inspection and have a complete page of problems to fix before we could even sell the car. The nice thing was I could push them in the shop without help because they were so light and two cars could fit in the bay at once because they were so short. The later gv plus model had Bosch fuel injection and ran a lot better.

It’s first year in America, sold more than the Volkswagen Bug did. America wanted a small cheap car to drive. Bill Clinton bombed the factory. I met a few mechanics from Greece, they said the Yogo was extremely popular at the time overseas. I had one, no issues. A truck hit me in the rear. The insurance company totaled it.

Great video guys! Always fun to see cars from my country (Serbia). Here's a bit of local insight. Over the years the Yugo has become somewhat of a cultural icon over here, even though up until about 10 years ago you could see them very regularly on the street. Everybody is aware that it's objectively a very limited car to say the least, but on the other hand everybody knew how to work on them a bit or at least knew someone who did, spare parts were everywhere, fuel economy was fantastic, and when not pushed to 60mph 😂 they were very reliable. I completed my driving lessons on a Yugo in 2012 and even had a Yugo for a bit after that. That specimen was completely rusted, couldn't even get it into 5th gear, never drove it above 40mph, and during winter when coming to a stop I'd put in neutral and while breaking would pump the throttle until moving again, just so it wouldn't turn off from the cold. But mine was a truly horrific example, well maintained ones functioned without a hitch even after 35 years. And that's the beauty of it, it was something made here that everyone had the same trouble with, but something everyone was proud of. I have driven many different cars after this Yugo but nothing really captured the effort and connection needed to move a vehicle like the Yugo did. It has a very special place in my heart and thank you again for featuring it Donut. Greeting from Serbia!

Still got my Yugo GVX, and as of this summer it even survived a tornado without a scratch. This car just spites God. It refuses to die. My Yugo is just one that will probably outlive me.

Yugo'N-B- walking when "driving" a yugo! 😂😂😂

There is also one more Yugo category - extremely tuned Yugo with over 230hp!

I absolutely love that during the acceleration test, the speedometer graphic has a broken needle just like the car they are in. Props to the editor of this video.

You need to engine swap this, new transmission, new suspension, new everything! Make this into a sleeper

Great video! You probably could have mentioned that some 1980's car dealerships were giving away a new Yugo with the purchase of another new car such as a Cadillac. A BOGO car deal!

Yugo away! FAR AWAY!!! LOL! I appreciate the lemon video fellas! I am especially happy to know y'all made it back safely.

The Yugo still has a sick style akin to an older civic. Seems like a great candidate for an engine swap and some other goodies

I bought a Yugo GV brand new at a dealership in Marquette, MI practically "giving" them away in 1986. I paid $3200 NEW. Drove it until 1996. It was one of the BEST cars I ever owned (that's not a joke). It had a few quirks like, the TINY brake pads had to be replaced often and it went through a couple starter solenoids, but that was it. Period. Started and ran PERFECTLY every time and got upwards of 40+ MPG. And I absolutely BEAT THE LIVING HELL outta' this car. It took every punch and kept going. EDIT: What I didn't tell you, was that the Dealership was having trouble selling them and that the $3200 got you TWO Yugos. It was "Buy One Get One FREE". I had no use for or ability to keep/sell two Yugos, so I just took the one.

When you learn to drive a Yugo good, you enter the professional ranks drivers . anyway, the car that gave me the most laughs with friends, every ride was adventure .

My Yugo/Croat grandfather had a Yugo and my (Dutch) father can only tell the funniest of stories about it. That tiny car got my family sometimes 5 adults at the same times up and down steep mountain inclines, with my grandfather sweating profusely behind the steering wheel with a wet towel around his neck as AC. That car was as hard working as the person behind the wheel. Nedostaješ mi nonno

I actually had the same thing that happened to you happen in my Yugo with the transmission linkage breaking. I was able to crawl under the car and fix it with a paper clip and never had a problem again lol.

A high school friend of mine, shout out to Tami S, had a blue Yugo. It was the worst! It had room for three in the back, but the bumper would drag on the ground if you put anybody bigger than a five year old back there. She was driving one day, and the shifter came right out. No noise or nothing. She looked at me like "what do I do?" That car got us all around town though, God bless it.

Very funny review. I did actually test-drive a brand new one in the 80's. The plus point was it made the Lada and Skoda(with rear engine) look really good. I did not buy one

Congrats on getting into motor fest!

I owned Yugo 55A. It was a fun car to own. Never knew what could happen, but easy to repair. Going up hill was always a challenge, had to make sure you use the right gear well in advance. Golf Gen 1 and 2 were made in Yugoslavia too.

It's amazing that people lined up to buy Yugo, given the low low price of 4.5K (about $13.2K in today's moolah) and how lumpy Detroit was after the thing called Oil Crisis. And when the car actually came, it completely blown away, not in terms of expectations, but rather the car itself.

4:53 Yugos were also brought to America during the oil & gasoline crisis during the early 1980s as a result of the Iranian Revolution. We were "odd-even rationing" which dictated which vehicles could get gasoline depending on the last digit of a given vehicle's license plate. So, there was high demand for much smaller cars with better fuel economy. Since GM, Ford, and Chrysler were making big gas-guzzlers at the time, the only cars with decent fuel economy were European and Japanese. Within months, you would see all sorts of different foreign subcompacts on the streets. Yugos were one of them.

Do you know why Yugo have rear windshield heaters? So you don't freeze your hands while you push Yugo down the road during winter. 😆

Im glad you really brought up that it was NEVER made to be sold here in the US for US roads, but was important for the country. A lot of highways didn't have speed limits much higher than 50mph back then, and only super highways. Its also a really old car trying to compare to modern cars

My old car! Glad Mike let you guys review it 😆The death steer! This car was actually stolen from me and I found it less then a mile away, guess the thieves felt the same way as you guys. When I first got it from this exporter guy in Compton the brakes lit on fire just going around the block. To be fair there was a lot of cobwebs, had to get a bucket of water and splash them down. The other great part of the Yugo is the burnt cotton candy interior smell!

would love to see you guys make a sleeper build in the yugo.

I wonder if they'll bring it back in another episode and beef it up with power Would love to see that Still, glad the ol' Yugo got some attention, great video!

it would be interesting to see comparison of few '80 cars in the same state of neglection and lack of maintenance. I think that yugo will score the same as others. and I can't comprehend how did you expected different outcome with that type of driving

As a guy born in Yugoslavia, i'd like to say thank you for reviewing this monstrosity

My mom had an old beetle in the 80s and she told me the throttle linkage would regularly detach. The fix was simple enough but it reminded me of your shifter situation

Yugo is basicly late 70s car (production started in 78) based early 70s technology and it was made to be cheap, mass produced small car designed for european cities mostly. It's not that CZ didn't have purpose built machinery, but factory workers pay was low and there was saying "Kakva plata, takva vrata" which translates to english saying "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys" or " Quality of car is proportional to quality of paycheck (not very good in either case). One good thing about Yugo is that it was simple and easy to fix yourself, so maintenece was dirt cheap.

Very few small, cheap, family cars of the Yugo design era had plastic bits covering the cabin gubbins... at least in Europe. It may have been different in the decadent USA, but the Yugo interior is pretty much par for the course it was playing on.

I had an 87 Yugo for 10 years...NEVER broke down. Great little car IF you took care of it. Definately not fast but neither were the Ford Escorts and Chevettes of the same era...in fact my mom had an 85 Escort and it was a DOG compared to the Yugo.

In the early 90s my mom was a single parent. We lived in a small town with poor public transportation. She tired to save more money's but the commute was killer her. She took what she had & got that dam car. It was white with blue interior. The previous owner didn't go to the dmv right away. Which lead her to pay the parking tickets. That was a sign of trouble to come. I barely remember her telling me she had take it to the mechanic. That along with how hard the back seats were. I never thought about that car after she got remarried & sold it. It was when I saw Nick&Norah movie I realized it was a yugo. I remember spitting out my drink &yelling "it was a yugo all this time!". I am going to show her this and see what "great" memories she has.😂

Back in the mid to late 1980's I actually worked at a Yugo dealership in Northwest Indiana, called Weich Auto Mart. It was primarily a buy here pay here type used car lot. Imagine stopping by a small privately owned buy here pay here used car lot, and you're there looking for a cheap older model car for something to get you to and from work, but nothing on the lot seems to fit your needs or your budget. Then, out of the blue the salesman says, "Oh, I almost forgot to mention, but over here on the back part of the lot is our inventory of brand new Fords we're also licensed to sell. You know, as sort of a secondary thing, if you're interested." Yep, that was basically the Yugo dealership I worked for. Except of course in the case of the dealership I worked for, it would have been more relevant to say, "Oh, and buy the way, we also sell sinking ships, just in case you're interested. 🤣 I will say, the owner, Fred, was one of the nicest guys I've ever worked for, and I truly enjoyed the brief couple of years I was there.

We used to say the electric defroster element on the back window was to keep your hands warm while pushing it.

Thank you guys for putting this car in context. Sure, it's got a lot of problems, but it is an important example of car culture from the Cold War era.

(Repeat) Back in the mid 1980s a new waye radio station (91X) in San Diego had a giveaway of 6 Yugo's. They called it a "six-pack." They said that if you won this prize, you could drive a car until it ran no more. Then grab the next one and do the same

My uncle had one broken down in his backyard back in like 1990-91, that he had bought new. Didn't even last a few years and was abandoned when they moved just a few years later.