Very nice the Chevette diesel. Economy, solid and great car

Was a good show huh..

​@@h8troodohIt sure was and I still watch it here on KZfaq, it brings back a lot of great memories. My Cousin and I loved when the new cars came out.

$95? Sheesh.

This was during the time when many folks were prioritizing fuel economy

0 to 60 could have probably not be achieved. They didn’t tell us what it was. If they even tried.

They probably would have had to measure 0-60 with a sundial rather than a stopwatch, @@b-genspinster7895!!!!!

They tested a gas-powered Pontiac T1000 after this that had a 30 second 0-60 time.

0-60 in 14 seconds "It might get scary merging into 4 lane highways" 😂😂😂

Their skunkworks built a 2.8 V6 Chevette but it could never have been greenlit to build because it was faster than not only a Citation X-11 but the malaise Corvette of the time!

Agreed!!

The same was true of the gas engine. It had only 10 more horsepower, and with an automatic, was deadly slow. My dad rented one in the early 1980s, and it would barely make it up grades, never mind getting up to speed.

My mother also had a Chevette when she worked at the nursing home I think her’s was also a gasser

Interesting. How did that happen? Pot hole? Poor quality steel?

@@jkeelsnc bought it that way. It was being used to carry and haul heavy items on the roof rack and in back. Drove it for like a year

Nice arson charge.

@@h8troodoh Not if he did not claim insurance... and it was not a danger to any other property on that lot.....

Former Chevette owners who bought them new seem to remember them much less fondly than those who had them as old cheap beaters. But yeah, diesel was an expensive option.

@@nlpnt You got that right lol I walked in the Chevrolet dealership in 1986 a couple months after getting my first job at Burger King completely ready to buy a new Camaro... No dice - Cavalier Z24? Denied - The only thing they approved me for was either a new Chevy Sprint or Chevy Chevette. I didn't want a used car and the Sprint looked even more like a dorky clown car to me so I drove off the lot with a grey 86 Chevette 2-door stick shift with zero options for about $5,300 with tax, abused it for two years and never had to have any warranty repairs done but man that thing felt like poverty on wheels - Traded it in for a new 88 Chevy Beretta GT that my father co-signed with me for and never looked back.

​@@Stressless2023 You dont see those anymore either. Love the tail lights.

It was actually a well-built diesel it just needed to be turbocharged, and they'd have a much better performance record. Isuzu is well known in the diesel world btw.

True. My ex had a 1980 Chevette gasser in automatic and the seats were quite hard while the ride was slower than a turtle.

😂 that depended on age,walking or riding also ! 😂✌

True. You could get the Isuzu for much less, even from Joe Isuzu.

@@misterwhipple2870 You're lying.

0-48mph in 11.2 seconds is scarier. I guess 0-60 is "eventually"

​​@@wolfshanze5980to be fair that Pontiac version of this car with a gas engine with an auto and that's like 30 seconds 0-60 so take that into consideration

But without a/c, power windows and locks, cruise control, abs, airbags, roominess, intermittent wipers, ect....I'll keep my 2010 Prius that averages 52 mpg and I'm not afraid to merge onto the freeway due to lack of power

Not quite - the EPA highway test numbers were overly optimistic due to the dyno tech.

Something went wrong

Yes they did...

@@h8troodoh they were aftermarket installed then. not factory.

Perhaps.. we had an older couple used to bring their Pontiac Acadian into the dealer I wrenched at.. I've never seen any Chevette/ Acadian so loaded with options. Before summer and before winter. They were like clockwork.. lol... good Ole days..

Ruined by GM in America. In Europe it was a much better car.

Still is.

I think GM had a plausible idea bur the execution was kinda thier usual half baked crap. Had they put a turbodiesel version of the same engine with electronic injection (which that engine had a version of), maybe that woulda been a little better. Diesels were far more popular here in Britain, still are. Our version 9f the Chevette by our own branch of GM, Vauxhall, never had a diesel version, though the bogger Cavalier, Senator, Carlton etc plus Ford, Rover, Peugeot/Citroen, Mercedes you name it all were beginning to offer diesels in thier cars round this time early 80s Obv the Oldsmobile 5.7 diesel disaster did diesels or GM no favors over there, well the earlier ones anyway but as modern diesels have shown theres no reason why America couldn't have had more options in the past or even nowadays but the long lasting damage to thier image in the public view by GM had been done for many years. Plus we the push to EVs obv diesels have n to chance these days of catchin 9n m as instream.

I get what GM was trying to do with their poorly executed diesels of the same era in full size cars, to increase mileage without compromising size. However, I don't understand what they were trying to accomplish with this thing. This was already a high mileage car under CAFE regulations of the time. Why would someone want to pay extra for this Bic lighter car in a diesel to get maybe 10 extra mpg and have to put up with performance so low that it was actually dangerous to drive.

@@kennethsouthard6042 Had they chosen to equip it with the readily available turbo version of the same engine...that may have been a different story?