I had two Corsica's for field work with the USDA. They were absolutely adequate. The cars throttle was either wide open or my foot was on the brake, especially with the A/C on. They were comfortable and I was usually on roads that could barely qualify for roads and they did surprisingly well. Nothing like coming up to a locked gate in a National Forest and having to go back through the soup I just went through. The tall grass made the bottom of the car nice and shiny though. But back on the road and it would drive as nice as ever. 1000 miles a week I'd drive.

My Grandma still has her 1996 Chevy Corsica to this day.

The Corsica and Beretta were everywhere back then. The updated 3.1 V6 models had decent acceleration for the time and a nice exhaust note. I can't remember the last time I saw one driving around though. They're nearly extinct now, at least in the snow belt states.

We bought one new in 1990. Really liked that car. 3.1 v6 decent room. I always remember the exhaust note that the V6 put out - very different and I could always distinguish it from other V6 vehicles. 200.000 plus miles and she finally let go with compression in number 6 cylinder. My wife and I always reflect on how we miss that car.

I like how Adam is branching out into the 90s cars as that is basically classic car territory now. Hope to see a video on the end of the GM B bodies 1996 Caprice, Impala, Roadmaster.

I owned a '93 Corsica LT with the famed Z52 Sport package... It included a sport steering wheel, red stripe on the moldings 15" alloy wheels and a slightly beefier suspension. It was the archetypical rental vehicle but was a lot of car for the money. I bought one slightly used from a Ford dealer in NJ with less than a 1000 miles on it owned by an old lady, even left the bingo chips in the car. It served me well for about 10 years took some trips from NY to Fl with it. It was built during a time when American cars were engineered to last 100,000 miles before major repairs were nearly guaranteed. When I donated it to a charity in I believe 2004 the tow truck driver said that is the best condition Corsica I have ever seen and was surprised I was donating it 😎

My driver's ed test in high school was in a burgundy Chevrolet Corsica! That's how I always remember it!

Granted, the newest Corsica is now approaching 30 years old, but it's strange to think a car that was so popular has virtually disappeared from our streets. I knew at least a few people who drove them; not surprisingly all of them had sedans. It was a car I gave little thought at the time. If younger me were to get an L-body, I would have wanted the Beretta GTZ. Given that they both had 2.3L fours, C&D actually did a comparison test between the Beretta GTZ and the BMW E30 M3! The M3 outperformed it, but C&D also pointed out the GTZ was no slouch itself - especially since it was much less expensive.

I have fond memories of my departed uncle who was a sales manager for a Chevrolet dealer in the late 80s. I remember driving in so many brand new demo Corsicas, Berettas, Celebrity Eurosports…and even an occasional Monte Carlo SS. I don’t recall ever driving in a Corsica hatchback….but in my opinion it was Chevy’s way of offering a utilitarian version without actually offering a station wagon…since in ‘89 Chevy already offered a Cavalier, Celebrity and Caprice wagon.

I bought a 1988 Corsica CL with the 2.8 V6 engine. It had more upscale seats and a touring suspension. It was the best handling car I ever owned. It had good acceleration, hugged the curves like a European touring car, and a very smooth ride for a car in its class. My family took many a road trips in that car to the mountains and the beach. It was a great daily commute car as well. I think Chevy was really on to something with the Corsica. If they had invested in tweaking the exterior and interior appointments, it could have developed a major market share compared to similar sized vehicles.

The Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance were also hatchbacks, even though they looked like sedans from the outside. The first-generation Geo Prizm was available as a 5-door hatchback as well. And the SAAB 900 and 9000 were hatchbacks too, although they were much more expensive.

Great video! I forgot about these cars, That UFO Commercial was insane!

I didn't like these as a kid. But I want one now. They're pretty rare and kinda cool.

Boy, these add put a smile on your face. Thanks for making this videos!

My wife had a 3.1 V6 Sedan. Trouble free. Very good car.👍

what creativity and effort in that commercial! love the 80s

I had forgotten these cars. Thanks for bringing them back to my mind. They were perfectly good and perfectly forgettable! I love your channel!!!

I had a 1992 Corsica with the 3.1L. I still think fondly of that car. It was comfortable, handled really well, and got good gas mileage even with the 6 cyl. Made many road trips in that car.

I had both a Corsica and a Berreta. The Beretta was a rocket with the 3.1L.

Brought back such great memories. My first car ever was a 1992 Chevrolet Corsica

_WE NEED MORE VIDS "FROM THE" 80's 90's & Aught's FROM THIS GENIUS!_ Adam you ARE the man sir 🙏🏽

My parents had a bright white Tempest when I was about 3-5 I remember it parked in the laneway. My aunt and uncle had a black Corsica with red cord cloth seats about 15-25 years ago. My youngest cousin at the time jumped through the passenger window. Thanks for the memories Adam.

I had an 88 Corsica that I bought with 38k on it. Drove it 200k more. It took a couple of good mechanics to get it to run properly. The mass air flow sensor, coil packs and a few other bugs were common faults. Efi was new for Chevy, the dealers struggled with it.

Love it, I remember buying a used Corsica for my middle daughter for her first car. It was a 4 door sedan with the 3.1 V6. That car went through so much with her driving it. She literally smashed all four corners of that poor car (not at once) and it was repaired every time and still ran great. Finally she drove it with a cracked radiator hose and burnt up the engine. I did most o the maintenance on it and it was easy to work on as well. As always, love your videos

Thanks Adam! The long-form Corsica ad doesn't look like it was for broadcast. It looks like it was a commercial meant for theaters. That being said, it's nightmare inducing and weird. Somewhere I have a tape of the two guys that wrote the Chevrolet "Heartbeat" jingle being interviewed about their craft. I need to put it on YT.

I never understood why the U.S. has been so indifferent to larger hatchbacks. For a few extra dollars, you get more flexibility, a fully finished trunk, and sometimes a few extra cubic feet of trunk space. I enjoyed my Dodge Lancer and was always a fan of the Citation and the Malibu Max, so I assume I'd have liked this car. Maybe if the marketed a hatchback with identical looks to the sedan and called it a "flexible access option" it would loose the "cheap car" stigma. I did drive a Corsica V6 sedan for a few days and it seemed like a much nicer car than a similar N body would have been; it felt roomier, looked less dated and had more adjustments in the 4-way manual driver's seat. Not bad for a rental car.

I bought a 92 Corsica in 1993 and drove it for 10 years putting on over 240,000 kms. It was an excellent car other than the air conditioning and after 200,000 km the coil packs drove me nuts. Very reliable car overall and greatly missed. Probably the only fwd cars GM made in the late 80s/early 90s that were better than this were the A bodies. Thanks for covering this car.

Thanks Adam, the commercials at the end were fun forgotten gems!!! 👍👍🙂

Ooooh yes. I love discovering “ordinary Joes’” cars. Thank you Adam!!!

My grandfather had a 89 hatchback Corsica 2.8l. Ran well. I remember it having metal door handles which seemed high quality. With the back seat down it had massive space. Even recall camping once and sleeping back there. Only issues he seemed to where the muffler liked to rust out and the ECM went bad once when the car got older. I think it was a better overall car than the 98 Malibu he got to replace it.

They could have gotten away from the aliens if the Corsica hadn’t broken down.

My friends dad worked at a GM plant that produced these and the Beretta so he would bring home all types of brochures, posters, etc… they ended up owning both. I think the Corsica died first…

I pretty much remember all car ads over the years as they were often shown during TV sporting events, but for the life of me I do not remember that sci-fi ad for the Corsica. 😂

never knew about that 80s alien commercial!! THANKS GOVNA!

That first commercial was wild and I see they even had Dinah Shore in it.

This brings back some memories. The first car I bought with my own money (my first car in 1996 was a family hand me down 1985 Buick Regal with 130,000 miles that was rusted out and leaking every fluid lol) was a 1990 Chevy Beretta GT. Of course it's the coupe version of the Corsica. I bought it in March of 1997 when I was 19 after saving everything I could while driving that old Regal. When I finally had the $5500 I bought it, when I did it was mint with only 51,000 miles. Dark blue with light blue interior, red and black lower cladding stripes, it had the 15" snowflake alloy wheels, 3.1 V6, 5 speed stick, and every option except electronic gauges. It did have the full analog gauge package. It was really fun to drive, and you're right the 3.1 was perfect for that chassis - you didn't need a lot of power to get it moving because it was so light. I kept it for 4 years and traded it in at 125,000 miles for my new Honda Prelude 5 speed. At that point those cars were pretty much worn out. Rattled, squeaked, that dasboard material was peeling back around the defroster vent, but lots of great memories of my early 20s.

Corsica, there’s a car that was built to forget. The automotive equivalent of a gas station spork. As long as we’re remembering , don’t forget the fun issue with the cv boot clamp cutting the oil filters open on the 4cyl.

Excellent intro: Answering a question never asked....an American past time, American car companies, American government, American education, etc.

I've always had a soft spot or the Corsica. I never cared for the hatchback, but still to this day think that the sedan is a clean, attractive design. Had a Beretta for a few years, and that's a good looking model as well.

Interesting video. I remember “The Heartbeat of America” commercials. At the time I thought there were quite a few Corsicas and Berettas on the road. Back when GM was trying to emulate the imports and not doing a very good job. But many interesting ideas and features.

Mom test drove one of these when I was a kid we didn’t get it but these were nice cars that hatchback looks like a handy car to have 👌

My dad and cousin had Corsica's. My cousins Corsica ran for many years and never gave them a problem. My dad's on the other hand was always breaking down and he finally got rid of it and got a Dodge Shadow he didn't have any problems with it.

My mother in law had one. Other than GM's quick succession of names which always confused the heck out of me - (Celebrity, Corsica and eventually a return to Malibu) - the Chevrolet was competitive at the time. Speaking of which - the competition offered us the Ford Tempo and Plymouth Acclaim during this forgotten era.

The first binnacle used for the Corsica instrument cluster looks like it could have been lifted from the Pontiac Fiero. Not too often a car commercial tells a mini story, usually they just show a car driving around downtown LA or some other big city. Thanks to Adam for posting.....

Back in the day, somebody in Southfield MI sold me their 3 year old Corsica sedan real cheap. Only later did I figure out that the difficult to remove stench in the trunk had to have been because something dead had been in it. I tried every cleaner imaginable and only managed to make it tolerable. I hope I wasn't duped into cleaning up a crime scene. The car ran great though. I’ve never seen that alien ad before. Reminds me of the time around age 8 or 9, in the backseat at night while on a trip to Bay City MI, heading into a fog across the road that seemed to take forever to exit but when we finally did, looked back to see cars zipping right through just a thin band of fog. It was creepy but I’m still a non-believer.

The two minute 30 second commercial was first exhibited at that years Chevy dealer convention (1987), and then later ran in theaters as part of the usual sneak previews. I don't think it was ever chopped up into a 30sec commercial, never seen a shorter version of it. It doesn't appear to have run during that years super-bowl. (1987, or 1988) The visual production was done by Boss Film Studios, a prominent American visual effects company at the time with talented names attached to other projects like Star Trek the Motion Picture, The Right Stuff, Ghostbusters, Total Recall, Die Hard, Terminator 2, Aliens 3, etc. The woman in the Chevy convertible at 9:27 is Dinah Shore who in the 1950's had her own show The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, (thus very appropriate she's in this Chevrolet spot) she had 80 charted popular hit songs, started in radio with numerous popular shows, had several television shows with her name in the title. Prolific career. This commercial certainly had a lot of connections.

I always liked the Corsicas with the red and gray paint scheme

The Corsica as well as the Beretta (same platform) we're disposable JUNK !!! A cousin of mine had one for awhile in the late 90s. Never saw so many different things go wrong on a single automobile in my life. Door handles, door locks, trunk lock/release, ignition switch, head gasket, water pump, starter and the list goes on. At the time of it's purchase (late 1997) The car looked fantastic and with just under 100k on the odometer it seemed like a good buy.

Excellent styling on this GM car. You can’t tell it’s a hatchback

I rented bunches of these on business trips. Okay cars but I don't remember this hatchback. Great video!

We had a 1989 Corsica LT Hatchback. My dad bought it used it probably was a previous rental car. I inherited when my dad left. It was white on blue interior and was pretty optioned out. It had a bad torque converter that took forever to figure out why it was stalling. It had broken door handles linkage in all the doors. By the end, i was using the hatch to get into the damned thing. Stupid lovley car.

Great ET-inspired Chevy ad. Aliens even cloned popular singer, actress & early mega TV star Dinah Shore floating by in ‘57 Chevy convertible harkening to her famous ‘50’s ads for Chevy belting out one of the greatest ad jingles in history, “See the USA in a Chevrolet!” Thanks Adam!

I suspect the Corsica Hatchback was meant to fill in the gap left by the discontinuation of the Citation. I remember thinking back in 1987, two years after the Citation had been dropped, that Chevrolet really didn't need a car to fill in the gap between the Cavalier and the Celebrity, especially with the smaller Metro, Spectrum, and Nova adequately competing with the Escort, and the Tempo being roughly the same size as the Cavalier.

The Corsica hatchback offered no advantage over the sedan, as it's hatch slope was not buch different from the sedan's rear window and trunk lid. They might have sold better if the roof line had been extended to be more like a station wagon and had a more vertically sloped lift gate, thus giving more cargo capacity. In recent years, the Chevy Cruse hatchback suffered the same fate, even with a slightly elongated roof line. It still did not provide much more useful cargo capacity.

Thank you Adam. Very well stated and quite informative. I remember Corsica. I also know it was sold in Canada as the Pontiac Tempest as well. I saw one here in the United States one time. It does look like that early Saturn by the way. This is when GM started getting into trouble with its brands. The Heartbeat of America.... That's today Chevrolet!

This to me is the perfect example of Roger Smith era odd product planning decisions. Developing and tooling this must have cost a fortune, all to fill a market need that only existed in the minds of GM executives. The Ford equivalent to this was adding a V6 and AWD option to the Tempo/Topaz late in its life cycle.

My first car (turned 16 in 1999) was a 1990 teal Corsica LT Hatchback with the 3.1L. I drove that car for many years until I sold it for a 1995 Beretta Z26, which I kept for many years. Loved those cars but I especially loved the Corsica because it was unique.

That first commercial was weird! It had Dinah Shore in a 57 BelAir in space. How did I not ever see or remember this?

I bought a 88Corsica sometime in the mid nineties. It was an ok car. Had to put a heater core in it. After that everything started going bad. Traded it for a 71 Chevy pickup with the low geared tranny.

I really miss color keyed interiors.

While living in New York City, I saw an oddity. It was a Corsica, but it wasn't. A strange two-tone color scheme I had never seen before. Red with Gold on the bottom. As I looked closer, I discovered it was a Pontiac Tempest. I figured it must have come down from Canada. That reminded me of the Pontiac Firefly which was a Chevy Sprint that was sold in Puerto Rico. So many cars that Americans never knew existed. BTW, a friend of mine had one of those 40,000 Corsica hatchbacks in Puerto Rico.

Pumping out the videos today Adam! Thanks!

Got to drive one of these once , and was surprised that it drove almost just like my 1980 citation. Same steering feel. They used to be everywhere but I haven’t seen one in at least a decade

grabbing the e-brake in reverse was great fun

Interesting. I never saw a hatchback Corsica. I did get a 1990 4 cyl. Corsica in the mid 2000's for $50 and a case of beer. It needed a transmission - I replaced that and a freind drove the thing another 60,000 miles or so before junking it. They were ok work cars, not too bad, not too good. Good enough.

Excellent video, Adam. The Chevrolet marketing people smoked some pretty hard stuff, didn’t they?😂

I had a Corsica sedan as my company car. It felt junky compared to my Nissan, but it got me around and it was pretty comfortable.

My dad had one of these....it was JUNK!!!

That "Alien" ad is definitely a "wtf did I just watch" moment 😄

We had a 1989 Chevy Corsica LTZ 2.8 v6 which I guess was the "sporty" version with different suspension. But I heard that the first 9,000 went to fleet sales so GM could get feedback before selling them to consumers because they really needed the car to succeed 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️

I was driving smaller GM company cars in those days. I had several J-bodies, but remember I received a new 1990 Corsica, which I picked up at the Chevrolet dealer and drove for 2 1/2 years. (Just to be clear, no one had the car before me, I was the only driver, and took the car home daily.). The Corsica I had, with its blue velour seats, had the most *uncomfortable* seat frame and seat foam cushioning, that it caused severe low back and sciatic nerve pain for me on long 3-4 hour trips, or very long 7-9 hour days behind the wheel. (Car had the tilt steering column option, so wheel could be adjusted, and it had a reclining seat adjustment.) However, that car, unlike any car prior to it or afterwards… caused me to dread having to drive it for long behind-the wheel “windshield” time. I am about 6’ 1”. I had to get out of the car often and walk around and stretch, trying to alleviate some of the severe back and sciatic nerve pain. I ended up leaving that employer, primarily because I couldn’t stand the car and it was killing my back. I left that employer, and then went to work for a company that supplied me with a new ‘93 Ford Tempo’s, and then later leased Ford Contours beginning in ‘95. I never ever had another car that hurt my lower back anywhere close to the adverse way that Corsica did. I drove Taurus’s for years… had about 5 of them from the last employer that gave us company cars. . Those were great fleet cars. The Corsica, other than the extreme seat discomfort, was otherwise a low cost, almost trouble-free car that had no other issues, but was always at the top of my list for least-liked cars I ever had or drove.

An older lady at my work still drives a teal blue corsica. Its kinda sad when you think about it.

A shame that stylish, but practical cars don't exist at GM anymore. I love the 92 Caprice that I inherited. A reliable, if humble in horsepower 305, plenty of room, cheap and easy to maintain, and NOTHING rides on the highway like an American, body on frame, rear wheel drive design. Not even the best Lexus comes close. I've had many passengers who are BLOWN AWAY by the room and comfort, often commenting how it is better than hugely expensive luxury cars that they've been in or owned. At over 200,000 miles, it still starts and runs great, we have never had to replace a major component, and I STILL think it looks futuristic with its flowing, smooth, whale like lines which consistently gets looks and questions from strangers. And guess what... those very smooth lines and modest (but very adequate) power numbers allow this huge car to get 30 mpg on the highway, with no weird hybrid electric wizardry. Just plain, old, common sense engineering and design can do it... Let's go GM... do it again!

When I was in middle school (late 1996 to early 1999) there was a white Corsica hatch that lived across from campus. That was the first one I remember seeing in-the-metal, and I might have come across one or two since then, but that's not even a rounding error compared to the number of sedans I've seen. Now knowing what the production numbers were, it wouldn't surprise me if I see my first Canadian market L-body Pontiac Tempest before I see another 5-door Corsica!

Bought my first new car just out of college in '89. Nissan 240SX fastback, fire engine red. Wouldn't have even considered the Corsica back then. Looking back as a now-longtime GM customer, I see this Corsica was a handsome vehicle, and that I wouldn't have gone wrong if I had bought one. 90 hp just isn't and wasn't enough. But the the V6 would've worked for me. At times, 1989 seems a time not so long ago, with many memories still fresh from that time. But the space alien commercial at the end of this video is one that I do not remember. As you noted, strange but humorous. Looking at the grainy low-res original film quality, I somehow feel old, as it has the same quality as film from the 60s and 70s.

My first job was a new car porter at a Chevy dealer. It was 87 and the Corsica just didn’t wow me but the beretta was a different story, if my wife would allow it I’d buy one now as a modern classic

I rented one of those first fleet Corsicas. You would smash your knee on that dash vent bump, getting in bad out just a little.

Cool, I remember this car 🥰

Pretty close to my peak car crazy years ... and I don't recall a Corsica hatchback. But then again Corsica itself barely registered in my young self. Taurus was THE sedan at the time other than the big RWD holdovers that I really liked.

This subscriber Enjoys your videos. I think a whole new realm for you would be a look into the costs and profits of some of these cars that you as a bean-counter So well describe. For example how much door handles cost, how much profit was made on certain lines or products. For example I heard Ford made 0 money on the entire escort program but more than a billion dollars of profit on the pinto program. most of us would love a breakdown from your bean counter expertise. It would be very interesting to see the Japanese car profits versus the domestic car profits. Please look into this for us. Thank you

Cool. Kinda forgot about the Corsica and the fact they made a hatch is weird. 😎

That first commercial...glad I didn't have a tv back then. Personally, I like hatchbacks and I would have been happy to own one of these.

FIRST OF ALL... Adam is a "DOG💪🏼🐶💪🏽" when it comes to product knowledge, frequency of video releases and just overall IQ... ngl I've learned at least 8 "new" words since I hit the 🛎 on this channel. SECOND THING at 1:45🙄😳 _WTF_ is happening with those tires on that Buick they look like Dodge Demon front drags all the way around!🤣

I never liked the Corsica, until in early 2005 I was given a low-mileage 1996 model with the V6 by a neighbor who didn’t want it any more because it wouldn’t start. After diagnosing it as a fusible link buried deeply in the starter wiring harness (BAD Chevy!), the vehicle then ran VERY reliably for nearly ten more years. I was STUNNED to say the least.

Oh my gosh ... that "alien" commercial is CLASSIC, ha! Enjoyed the appearance of Dinah Shore ("See the USA") as well as the other Chevy models, including the Toyota Nova. My parents bought a Malachite Metallic 1990 Corsica LT hatchback with the 3.1 in early-mid 1990 to replace the 1982 Chevette sedan that had replaced "my" 1976 Monte Carlo in September 1984. They sold the Corsica in the mid-late 1990s. I was kinda sad to see it go even tho it was FWD, because a couple summers after they bought the Corsica, we took it on our family road trip to the west coast. Having just gotten my permit-license, I did the bulk of the driving (with my parents permission, of course). Tho the Chevette had been my "public enemy #1" (since it had replaced the car that started my automotive love affair), I was actually sad to see IT go when it was traded for the 1990 Corsica.

The 4 cylinder 3 speed auto is what I drove for drivers ed, it would not get out of it’s own way, lol

Strange Corsica V6 fact: you could almost do a wheelie by flooring it in reverse - you could get the rear wheels to come off the ground if you slammed it into reverse at very low speed while flooring it.

Regarding the bizarre alien abduction ad, I have many questions. Did all of the cloned vehicles have their occupants trapped inside for all eternity? The woman who winks from her 50's convertible didn't seem to mind. Why did the aliens only collect Chevrolets? Did the aliens end up driving the cars?

Corsica! Along with a few other vehicles of the period these struck me as maxx '90s in my fractured memory. Had one for a spell in a tourquoise-like color as a rental while our then current driver was being repaired after a fender bender. For some absurd reason I enjoyed that POS, which like my soft spot for the later X-bodies, is also an emotion probably best left un-analyzed. Although Mr. Regular would probably enjoy being my shrink during that conversation... has he talked about the Corsica yet? As always, thanks for these Adam, your content tempts this ex-car guy to dive back into the world of junk.

I wish 5-door liftbacks had stuck around, love the idea of having a wide hatch loading capability but the look of a sedan

Inherited a 95 from Mom in law. The 3.1 is a very peppy engine and dependable, had to repair intake gasket (oil leak) and water pump.

That commercial with aliens abducting the car has to be the craziest commercial ever. I don't remember it at all. Thank goodness.

Wow, I dont recall that "Alien" add. Kinda neat, especially Dina shore in 55 Belair I believe, nice tip to the past. Great stuff Adam.

I would venture to say that the hatchback may have had something to do with Nascar or IMSA testing. Maybe even the SCCA. Possibly a homologation for a racing series.

I remember these cars! I remember a dark blue one red emblems. My mentor Dan tells me about the Chevy dealership calling him come see the new (insert derogatory term) and they went down a few guys and the 88 Cheyenne and the Chevy Corsica all in a group and they were not admired by the conservative crowd of 1987.

These Corsicas were relatively popular here in the Netherlands back then. Even the Beretta could be seen here.

Buick answered the question we didn't ask with the Buick Regal Sporthatch based in a Open Insignia

Interesting image of the first Saturn prototype, I don't think I've ever seen that before and it would be interesting to know more. A video on the Saturn brand history (including the early prototype) would be great to see.

Thank you, Adam - Always learn something from these videos. I definitely thought this was a variant of the N-body, not a longer J-body. Also, in my opinion the '87-'90 Corsica dash is among the most hideous of the era. The '91+ was much prettier/better designed.

My sister's first car was a 92 Corsica LT. Had the 3.1 engine and full gauges with premium stereo. Being a guy who loves the b and g bodies of the 80s, I was really surprised how comfortable the seats were and how well the car rode and drove. That car had over 200k on it when she sold it, with no issues except a trans oil leak that got pretty bad. The car did have plain Jane looks, and a strange interior, but it all was a very good package.