Car Spotlight-Toyota Paseo (1991-1997)

1991-1994 Toyota Paseo

Lately, it seems that Toyota hasn't been really good at "appealing" to the youth-oriented market.  Yes, there's Scion with their edgy xB box-mobile and tC and FR-S sports coupes (along with some forgettable cars like the xA, xD, and iQ).  But even then, it seems that whenever I see any of those cars on the road, it's always and older person driving them, most likely so they can prove to their alienated children that they can still be "hip"

(sorry, had to get that rant off my shoulder, not a fan of Scion...)

But anyway, let's go back in time to the early 1990s, when Toyota had a sports car for every demographic.

• Celica-which was popular with single women that wanted to be edgy, but didn't want anything  too intimidating. 
• MR-2-a mid-engined car for all the track enthusiasts that are bent on modifying them to beat out Mazda Miata's at the next track meet.
• Supra-yank yank...yank it away!

A Toyota Tercel, which the Paseo is
derived from.

The fourth and final sporty Toyota is the topic of todays post.  The Paseo was well....uhh.....yeah.  For a while, it was hard for me to justify the reason for the Paseo's existence.  So what is the Paseo you say?  Well, its basically a Toyota Tercel (which is more or less the Echo/Yaris of the 1990s) with a sports-like shell on top of it.  The interior, dashboard, engine, and transmission choices were identical to the Tercel.

So what was the point of the Paseo?  Well, the Paseo was Toyota's bottom-feeder of sports cars.  It was for people who wanted a sport car but couldn't afford something fast, so they bought this.  It was also a car that parent's bought their spoiled daughter for their sweet 16th birthday (On a more serious note, people who wanted good milage with sporty looks also bought a Paseo).   Despite having a considerably narrow target market, the Paseo did live up to it's Toyota heritage by being very dependable and was very simple to own and maintain.

1996-1997 Paseo convertible
photo credit-edmunds.com

After being on the market for four years, the Paseo underwent an update in 1995 to concede with it's Tercel sibling's major redesign.  The Paseo looked more modern and up to date than it's predecessor.  Toyota even went the extra mile and added a Paseo Convertible in 1996.  Right when things were looking up for the Paseo, Toyota removed the Paseo and Tercel from the market in 1997 so Toyota would make way for it's odd-looking Echo compact (and no, there was no Paseo version of that).

Personally I knew of one person who had a Paseo, and it was a neighbor of mine who always pronounced it "Pa-say-YO,"  adding extra emphasis to the last two letters.  There was also a co-worker of mine who previously owned several Paseo's.  He was the kind of guy that moved often and told me that he would always get a Paseo whenever he moved.

Link to an old car review show hosted by a guy with a thick Australian accent reviewing the Paseo
Link to a Paseo commercial from 1994.  Trust me, how could you NOT want to buy this car after reading this!

Car Spotlight-Lincoln Blackwood (2002)

Was there ever a time where you would be out driving and you come across a giant pickup truck that's covered in chrome, has leather seats, and has rims that looked like it costed as much as the truck itself?  Chances are the first thing that went through your mind was "I bet that guy never uses that truck to haul things." To a lot of people (including myself) the pickup truck is meant to haul and tow things.  They were meant to get bumps and bruises as the years went on with little to no worry.  Well, the Lincoln Blackwood pretty much changed all that.

By the late 1990s, the SUV boom has gotten to the point where luxurious automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac were hopping on the bandwagon.  Ford's Lincoln division entered the SUV market with the Navigator, a fancied up version of the Ford Expedition.  The Navigator was an instant success, becoming very popular with upscale clubbers, limousine companies and especially celebrities and their die-hard fans.

Ford wanted to capitalize on the success of the Navigator so someone on Lincoln's design committee came up with the wise idea of making the Navigator into a pickup truck.  The Blackwood was the end result.

Now just by looking at this post's title pretty much gives you an idea as to how that panned out.    Rather than have me explain WHY the Blackwood was such a flop, let me just list off some of it's features (and lack of):

• The bed was converted into a trunk that was lined with velvet
• You can get it in any color you want, as long as it was black and had extra chrome (a shout out to Henry Ford...I guess)
• there was no 4x4 or choice of multiple engines to choose from.
• the single option that can be had on the Blackwood was a dashboard navigation system, taken from the Navigator!...yeah I didn't think you would get the pun.
• All this could be had for the ridiculous price of $52,000!

So after reading the list above, would YOU buy a Lincoln Blackwood?  Even if you're someone who wouldn't use a pickup truck for what it was built for?  Well, unless you're one of the roughly 3,000 people who DID buy one before it was cancelled after just one year on the market...NO!

So while the Blackwood was a flop, it still set the trend for useless ultra-luxury pickups that have become such a common-sight today.  Believe it or not there is one Lincoln Blackwood in my hometown that's owned by a lady that looks like Roseanne Barr.  It's ALWAYS in the same parking spot outside the local Quiznos.  

Weekend Special- Eagle (1988-1998)

This is the badge that appeared on all Eagle
models during it's 10 year lifespan
(image credit-pinstopin.com)

The Eagle division of Chrysler was formed from the ashes of American Motors Corporation (AMC), which was about to go belly-up (you would think that "Phoenix" would have been more appropriate).  The Chrysler Corporation bought out AMC mostly to acquire the Jeep line of trucks as well a new-ish assembly line in Canada.  These nifty new assets also came with some sour ones, including their out-dated Eagle crossover and a pair of Renault's, the compact Medallion and full-size Premier.  Since Chrysler didn't want any of these cars badged as Chrysler, Dodge or Plymouth, these cars were marketed through a new division called "Eagle," after the former AMC product.  (I've heard rumors that then, Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca liked the name "Eagle" and was considered a third contributing factor to AMC's buyout.)

The new Eagle division took flight in 1988 and consisted entirely of imported and rebadged models from Renault, Mitsubishi, and other Chrysler models (which would be a continuing theme throughout the brands life).  These cars were sold alongside Jeeps in mostly former AMC dealerships.

An AMC Eagle, which served as the inspiration for the new
Eagle brand.  The Eagle wagon was included in the lineup
for 1988 only.  

From day one, Eagle was more or less a thorn in Chrysler's butt, due mostly in part to the Medallion and Premier being built by Renault, who by that time was more or less shunned by the public and the press due to poor reliability and build quality.  Hell, even mechanics grumble under their breaths whenever a Renault came in because they were so frustrating to work on.  As a result, Chrysler's marketing department didn't put forth much effort into marketing the vehicles.  Bob Lutz, who was in charge of Chrysler's Global Product Development program at the time claimed in his autobiography that the Medallion and Premier were "sales proof," meaning that no matter how attractive and competitive the cars were, there was simply not enough consumer interest to justify giving the cars any marketing attention.  What sucked even more was that Chrysler was forced to sell these cars as part of the AMC buyout agreement.  So they more or less dumped Medallions and Premiers on the showroom floor and waited for an excuse to stop making them, which happened in 1989 when the Medallion was swept under the rug.  The Premier, while also a dust-collector on showroom floors, proved to be more useful to Chrysler, as it would serve as a basis for a future Eagle product.

1990-1994 Eagle Talon

Eagle would take more of a center stage in 1990 when they released the Talon, a sports coupe that was co-developed between Chrysler and Mitsubishi and assembled in Illinois.  The Talon was quite the performer, as it proved popular with the tuner scene (believe me, old beaten up and riced out Talons were a common sight in my high school parking lot).  The vehicle also sold relatively well and even outsold it's Plymouth sibling, the Laser.

1995 Eagle Vision sedan
photo credit-Hyline79 of Wikipedia 

  By 1993, Chrysler became "Renault-free" when they discontinued the Premier.  To fill the full-size car void, Chrysler introduced the "Vision," which was one of three cars built on Chrysler's new LH platform.  What made the Vision as well as it's Dodge and Chrysler siblings unique was it's "cab-forward design" which meant that the wheels were moved to the edges of the vehicle to make the ride much more smoother and the passenger cabin was moved forward to improve visibility.  The Vision was also noted as being the first car that can be equipped with paddle shifters (which were prone to failure).  I also heard that the Vision was the perfect car for going on Vision Quests! (Vision Quest is a movie...you should go watch it...no, there aren't any Eagle Visions in it.)

Aside from the Talon and the Vision, Eagle also sold the Summit sedan and wagon (although the latter looked more like a van than a wagon) compact vehicles. These cars were also built by Mitsubishi and were sold as the Dodge and Plymouth Colt.  The Canadian market had their own unique models, called the Vista and the 2000GTX (which were rebadged versions of the Summit's predecessor).  If I recall correctly, the Summit sedan was the most recent vehicle anyone can buy without an airbag.

Despite having an interesting lineup, Eagle cars never really caught on, mostly for the following reasons:

• The SUV boom was in full swing in the 1990s, and since Eagles shared a showroom with Jeeps, many customers who may have intended on buying an Eagle were swooned away by Jeep's Cherokee and Grand Cherokee.
• As mentioned before regarding the Premier and Medallion, Chrysler never put much effort into marketing the cars.  Whenever an Eagle product was showcased alongside a Dodge, Chrysler, or Plymouth, the Eagle would either be in the back, or partially blocked by the other cars.  
• There wasn't any car that was unique to the Eagle brand.  All their cars were rebadged models from other brands.  And a lot of these cars found themselves competing with its fellow Dodge stablemates.

In 1998, The Chrysler Corporation was bought out by Daimler-Benz.  One of the first orders of business under the new management was to shed unprofitable divisions, and Eagle was at the top of the list (Plymouth would follow three years later).

The 1990-92 Premier I saw in Kenosha

I knew several people over the years who have had Eagle products (mostly Talons, because SPORTS CAR!).  As far as my favorite Eagle car goes, it's actually a tie between the Premier and the Summit van.  As unreliable as it was, the Premier was quite an interesting car.  It was a smooth ride, looked like a BMW, and came in some interesting color choices.  A few months ago, I came across a near mint Premier ES Limited (top of the line) while I was in Kenosha on business.  Have I not been in a rush that day, I would've waited for the owner to return and shook his hand.  I at least snapped a picture, though! Even more ironic was that this particular Premier was parked in a lot that was once the site of the old AMC assembly line.

As far as the Summit van goes, I actually had a personal experience with one.  When I was 2, my family visited Disney World and we were given a red 1995 Summit van as a rental.  My parents praised it's good gas milage  and maneuverability.  My dad especially liked the fact that it did not have a 3rd row back seat (which we would have never used).  Had we not have gotten a new vehicle the year before, we would have definitely considered buying one.  Another unique thing about the Summit was that it can come equipped with all-wheel-drive AND a manual transmission.  I actually have a friend who has been looking under rocks for a stick-shift AWD Summit for years.

An Eagle Summit van similar to the one my parents
rented in Disney World.  

Here's an informative video on what to look out for when buying a new car that uses the Eagle Talon and Vision as examples.

Here's a promo video for the Eagle Summit wagon/van.

P.S-it has just occurred to me that the name of the street that leads up to my town's Police Department is called  "Eagle Summit Drive"...strange

Car Spotlight- Subaru XT (1985-1991)

*note, I want you to play a bunch of 80s synthesizer music as you read this.

Subaru was always a quirky automaker, especially in the 1980s.  At this time, Subaru was still trying to establish themselves as an automaker in the US.  Their lineup consisted of four models that were more or less based off the same car.  Wanting to get in on the whole "sports car" fad, Subaru developers popped in a Top Gun soundtrack cassette and went to work on what would be their first affordable sports car.

The result was the XT, perhaps the most 80s car ever.  The car looked straight out of what a person from the 80s would call the "future"  It was basically a giant wedge that came complete with pop-up headlights, a single windshield wiper, an AWD drivetrain,  and even a luggage rack on the trunk lid.  Even the door handles looked straight out of a cyber-punk movie.  It was also very aerodynamic, with a reported drag coefficient of 0.29 (not sure what that exactly means but put it this way, it was a smooth car). No one would have ever expected this car to be a Subaru.

This is the best example I can find of the XT's very 80s
interior.  This is a Japan spec. model
image credit-drive2.ru

Engineers didn't stop with the exterior, the interior was just as crazy.  Someone was definitely thinking of fighter jets when building this car.  The base XT did come equipped with a standard dashboard, but any Turbo equipped XT's (which they needed, because the base engine was SLOOOOOOOOW!) came equipped with this neat-o ultra 80s digital speedometer.  The shifter looked like an airplane joystick and the steering wheel was this weird two-spoke setup with arms at the three and six o'clock position.  And if you look closely at the picture, you can see two arms sticking out of the steering column that featured all the volume controls, turn signals, etc.  Oh yeah, and lets not forget about those epic automatic seatbelts!

The XT flew into American Subaru showrooms in 1985.  It was definitely a departure from what Subaru has been producing since the early 70s.  The press was taken aback by how unusual the car was and praised it for being very innovative.  It was definitely a car built for the 80s.

The XT, along with it's stablemates.  Notice how different
the XT is compared to the others. (btw, I used to have
a silver '86 Wagon EXACTLY like the one in the pic,
only it was missing a rack, a grille, and had more rust)
photo credit-pintrest.com

But alas, the car may have proven to be too radical for the public, as buyers tended to avoid the ultra-modern XT and instead went to more contemporary  Japanese sports cars  like Nissan's 240SX, Toyota's Corolla GT-S, and Honda's Prelude.   Even loyal Subaru buyers were skeptical to the XT as it was such a contradiction to what the were used to.

In 1988, Subaru hoped to jumpstart XT sales by adding a flat-6 engine to the list of options along with an upgraded turbo.  Any XT's equipped with this engine were called XT-6 (the 6 stood for the number of cylinders...DUH!) While this upgrade did make the car more quicker, the XT still struggled to find homes.

The XT was quietly put down after the 1991 model year.  According to Wikipedia, Subaru sold roughly 98,000 XT's worldwide over it's 7 year lifespan.  While the XT experiment was commonly referred to as a failure, Subaru wasn't ready to give up in the sport car market.  Following the XT's death, Subaru released the SVX, which looked like a DeLorean.  The SVX continued the XT's tradition of being unusual looking, having tons of innovative features...and being a colossal failure.

From what I've read about the XT and the people who own these cars, it's definitely an "acquired taste." Like the Nissan Juke and Pontiac Aztec that would come much later, the XT was a blast to own and drive if one would look past it's weird exterior.

Link to the an XT commercial (warning, you will get bitch-slapped by the hand of 1980s nostalgia)

Link to a website dedicated to the XT and XT6 (hosted by people who actually OWN an XT or several)

Car of the day- Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon (1978-1990)

The two yuppies are probably looking over the Horizon at a
more upscale car.
(photo credit-allpar.com)

If there was a car that could be labeled as "the right car at the right time," it would be the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon.  This car debuted at a time when the Chrysler Corporation had one foot in the grave.  All their other cars were gas guzzling land yachts that collected dust on showroom floors due to a 2nd gas crunch that swept the nation.

Under the guidance of Lee Iacocca and with the help from their European counterpart, Talbot, and a government bailout loan, Chrysler developed their first front wheel drive car for the 1978 model year.  Chrysler aimed the car at penny-pinching consumers that didn't give a crap about air conditioning, power windows, or even a radio.  And it was bargained priced at around $4000.  The car became a saving grace for Chrysler, as the high number of sales (couldn't find an exact number) led Chrysler to pay back its government loan several months ahead of schedule.

The Omni would also form the basis for other successful Chrysler products such as the Aries/Reliant K-cars and the game-changing Dodge and Plymouth minivans.  By the time the 1980s came to a close, Chrysler was on top of the world.  And all that success traces back to this little car.

The car remained relatively unchanged during it's 12 year run, with the only notable difference being the addition of a new dashboard and airbag...in it's last year of production.  There was even a high performance Shelby version of the Omni called the GLH (Goes Like Hell) that came complete with a stiffer suspension and a turbocharger.

Automotive rant- GM's door-mounted safety belts

A car door with a seatbelt attached to it...pretty stupid, huh?
photo credit-Alex S of piston head.com (link)

Okay, so the plan was to make a brief paragraph about this in the Corsica post, but it got so long that I  decided to make a separate post about it.  Trust me, there's a lot to talk about here...

SO WHY THE FUCK ARE THE SEAT BELTS MOUNTED TO THE DOOR?

In 1984, Congress passed a law that required automakers to install either airbags or automatic seatbelts in their vehicles by 1987.  At the time, the airbag was still a relatively new (and expensive) technology, and was therefore limited to upscale brands such as Lincoln and Cadillac.  The vast majority of automakers (specifically the imports) went with the automatic seatbelt option.

Now for those of you that don't know what an automatic seat belt is, here is a link to Wikipedia that can fill you in.  And here is a link to a YouTube video of a typical automatic seatbelt "in action"

Here is how I pictured GM's reaction to this new law:

A GM engineering supervisor walks into it's design center with a copy of the new bill in hand.  He walks up to a safety engineer and told him to create an automatic seat-belt for all their 1987 cars.  The safety engineer, without turning around, tells the supervisor that they'll just throw some airbags in them.  The supervisor then rolls up the bill and hits him on the head, saying that air-bags are "too damn expensive" (even though the air bag was a GM invention).  The safety engineer then groans, gets up, puts on some pants, pops open a bottle of Stroh's and drags himself over to the design table. 

The result was the seatbelt being moved from the b-pillar to the door...yep...that's it...GM literally took it's existing belt set-up, and moved the holsters three feet forward to the door.

This is how GM's "automatic seat belts work, according to a 1992 Olds Cutlass Supreme owner's manual I found at Goodwill:

"The seat belt is to remained fastened at ALL TIMES!  Passengers are to open the door, lift up the lap portion of the belt and slide underneath it.  The only time it is to be un-fastened is in emergencies." 

The guy's facial expression says "This is the stupidest thing ever"
(couldn't find a picture, so I screen-captured this image from an
old episode of MotorWeek, via testdrivejunkie.com)

Some of the cars that received the "door belt" includes Chevy's Corsica/Beretta, Lumina/Lumina Van, Celebrity, and Cavalier as well as all their Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac equivalents.

As expected, people who bought these cars didn't use the seat belts "correctly" and just buckled and unbuckled them like any other car, defeating the purpose of moving the seat belts in the first place.

The seatbelts were also fairly unpopular with consumers, who complained of the shoulder belt being too close to the driver's neck.  The select few who were aware of the belt's proper function found sliding underneath the lap belt to be awkward and tedious.  Another issue with the door-belts that I actually witnessed myself was when I showed a co-worker of mine how the door-belt set up worked on his '96 Corsica.  When I attached the seat belt and opened the door, I noticed that the belt was pulling the door closed. I also found myself getting tangled in the belt as the door was pulling shut.  My co-worker told me that it was the stupidest idea ever and that he would never use the belt like that.

Kudos to the person who drew this, it looks so...real
(Image credit autosafetyexpert.com)

On top of the door-belt's impracticability, it was also proven to be even LESS SAFE than a car that didn't have motorized seat belts or an airbag.  Upon conducting safety tests on various GM vehicles equipped with door-belts,  lab attendants found that when the car is involved in a collision, the door could swing open and stretch out the seat-belt, causing severe harm to the occupant. Even back then, the IIHS (Insurance International Highway Safety...I think that's what it stands for) was calling on GM to discontinue the belts, and this was back in 1990. Here's a link to a news story about the door-belts and how stupid they were.

By 1991, airbag technology has greatly improved and became more affordable to produce.  As a result, Congress passed another law requiring all passenger cars and trucks to have airbags by 1998, effectively killing automatic seat belts.  GM ditched the door-belt after 1996 and brushed it under the rug along with some of it's other stupid ideas.

So overall, the door-belt is another example of GM putting as little effort as possible into their products, just so they can meet federal requirements.  My opinion?  Well to quote Mr. Regular from "Regular Car Reviews"

"THAT'S FUCKIN' STUPID!"

 

Car of the Day- Mazda Navajo (1991-1994)

So, you're walking down the street and you see two identical cars parked next to each other.  You look closely at the two cars and realize that while they are the same car, you find that one car is labeled "Buick" and the other is labeled "Oldsmobile." What you just saw is an example of "badge engineering", which is when a car manufacturer would apply different brand names to a single car and pass it off as it's own unique model.

There were some auto makers that put extra effort into differentiating their badge engineered cars (the Toyota Camry and Lexus ES300 were the same car, despite looking almost nothing alike).  Others would lazily slap different logos on the same car and argue that it's different "because it's sold in a different dealership." And that's what bring us to today's car.

In 1988, Ford was one fatality away from getting sued to death by people who were injured or killed by their notoriously top-heavy Bronco II.  So Ford engineers went ahead and designed an all-new compact SUV from the ground up that will better compete with Jeep's Cherokee and Chevy's S-10 Blazer.  Upon completing the initial prototype, Ford's Japanese parter, Mazda, saw the new truck and demanded to have their own version of the vehicle, realizing that SUVs were becoming a big deal  with American consumers.  Ford was reluctant to share their latest creation, however Mazda would guilt Ford by pointing out the cars they let Ford rebadge such as the Probe (a Mazda MX-6), the Courier (a Mazda Proceed), and the Mercury Tracer (a Mazda 323).

When Mazda got their hands on the Explorer, they made VERY extensive modifications such as changing out the grille, adding their own unique badges to the exterior and steering wheel, and changing the color of the cigarette lighter.  (if you didn't catch it, I was being sarcastic).  The Navajo looked EXACTLY like the Explorer.  It had the same engines, transmissions, interior patterns and was made in the same factory.   In fact, if you look at the Navajo from any other angle besides the front, you would think you were looking at an Explorer.

 

   









Okay, so look at the two trucks above, one is a Ford Explorer and the other is a Mazda Navajo.  Can you tell which one is which?  If not, congratulations!  You have scientifically proven Ford and Mazda crappy rebadging job! (photo credits go to zombie driver.com and gtcarlot.com)

Anyways, both trucks went on sale in the spring of 1990 for the 1991 model year.  The Explorer was offered in two and four door body configurations.  Mazda chose to offer the Navajo as a two door model only, as they feared that a four door Navajo would eat into their MPV minivan sales.  To make a long story short: the Explorer became an overnight success while the Navajo collected dust on the lot.

In 1991, Motor Trend magazine awarded it's truck of the year to the Navajo (and not the Explorer).  Judges cite the Navajo's "enthusiest-oriented" exterior and interior along with its "distinctive" engine choices...which the Explorer also has, PLUS an even more practical four door model.  Here is a visual representation of what I think...

meme credit-memecrunch.com

Upon doing some research (by that, I mean checking Wikipedia), I found out that Ford won "Truck of the Year" the year prior (with a van...the Aerostar).  My assumption was that Motor Trend didn't want give Ford the award two years in a row, so they gave it to the Navajo, so that other automakers don't bitch and moan.

Even with the award, Mazda still couldn't move any Navajos at the pace they wanted.  The people who did end up buying one either

1. Bought them on clearance with heavy dealer discounts due to excess inventory 
2. Bought one because the didn't want to "buy american"
3. Wanted something to tow their Miata to the swap meet but were too lazy to walk across the street to the Ford dealer.

The Navajo would soldier on until 1994, when Ford chose to re-design the Explorer for 1995 and Mazda was all like "nah, I'll sit this one out."

I have been aware of the Navajo since I was at least 6 or 7, when I saw one at the Home Depot parking lot and immediately proclaimed it as my favorite car ever.  I remember being in school and my principal (knowing I was a car guy) told me she was in the market for a new car and asked me what she should get.  Now, being the naive kid I was, I cheerfully told her to get a Navajo.  A few days later, she came up to me again with a picture of one and said "You want me to get THIS?" I innocently shook my head yes and she just rolled her eyes and walked away laughing, throwing the picture in the trash.  I wasn't expecting her to get one, as it was an uncommon truck to begin with.  To be honest, I don't think she even bought a new car...or even took my advice seriously to begin with.  Whatever, she's missing out.

Link to Motor Trend's excuses for awarding the Navajo 1991 Truck of the Year here
Link to corny 90s Navajo commercial here
 

Ben's car of the day- Chevrolet Corsica (1988-1996)

Ah yes...the Corsica, a car so common back in it's day that you could leave one in a grocery store parking lot and find 4 or 5 of them next to yours when you return.  It was also a very boring car. It had four doors and a choice of two ho-hum engines.  Anyone looking for excitement would have to buy it's two door sibling, the Beretta.

Anyway, the Corsica was introduced in late 1987 for the 1988 model year to replace a heaping pile of metal and rust that Chevy called the Citation (read my first posting about that).  Despite it being such a blah car, the Corsica sold like hotcakes.  In it's first year on the market, GM recorded 291,000 Corsicas finding homes.  It was the second-best selling car in America (behind the Ford Taurus).

The Corsica appealed to the average joe who viewed cars as an appliance, a way to get from point A to point B, and nothing else (and there are a lot of those types of people in America).  Let me tell you, GM really hit the nail on this one.

1988-1991 Corsica interior.  I wonder if the inside of the steering wheel can double as a boomerang...
photo credit-www.gtcarlot.com 

The Corsica remained a strong seller for Chevy until 1990, when they introduced the Lumina, another sedan.  This car was not only slightly bigger than the Corsica, but had a wider variety of engine, transmission, and trim packages to choose from.  As a result, Corsica sales gradually declined as it retreated into rental-car purgatory (seriously, if you see any '92-'96 Corsica, I'm willing to bet that it started it's life out as a rental car).

So was the Corsica a decent car?  Well, that's debatable.  From my experience growing up in a GM household, I came to the conclusion that GM makes good trucks...but not good cars.  My dad had three S-10 Blazers that served our family well, however we also had a 2001 Pontiac Bonneville and a 2002 Chevy Malibu that were complete POS's.  The same could be said about the Corsica.  I still see a few putting around where I live.  And when I do, it's either:

   A. peeling paint like burnt flesh
   B. lost (or about to lose) it's muffler
   C. reeking of burnt oil (the 2.8L V6 was notorious for this)
   D. All of the above

But luckily for any Corsica owner, parts are very plentiful (remember, GM sold a crap-load of them back in the day), and are relatively simple to maintain, so keeping one on the road isn't TOO frustrating.  Also, because it is such a nothing car, the Corsica is cheap to insure, making it ideal for first-time drivers...even after 99% of them stuff giant sub-woofers in the trunk.

So would I ever get a Corsica?....well....not the sedan version.  In 1989, Chevy tried to double it's Corsica sales by cutting a large opening in the back and adding a larger rear window.  The result? the Chevy Corsica Liftback.

'89-'91 Corsica "Liftback"

So just by looking at it, it's clear that this was something GM pulled out their ass.  From reading some Corsica-related literature as well as surfing some Corsica forums (yes, they exist) the only thing that differentiates the sedan from the liftback was the hatch itself and the way the glovebox opened (which opened like a drawer.)  There also wasn't much of a difference in cargo space between the two.  Nevertheless, customers saw through this and bought the Corsica sedan.  The liftback was phased out in 1991 after only 40,000 cars sold over a three year period.  The low sales number and the even lower number of survivors make it quite obscure....AND I WANT ONE!

Link to incredibly corny Corsica commercial here

Link to Corsica hatcback review here (complete with poor VHS quality!)
 

Ben's Weekend Special- Daewoo

1999 Daewoo Leganza
photo credit-Wikipedia

Trying to be a successful automaker in the U.S market is a huge challenge, especially within the last quarter century.  Carmakers such as Yugo and Daihatsu bit the dirt after only a few years on the market and others like Hyundai and Kia had a very rocky start before finding a healthy market demographic.  

And this is where we get to the Daewoo (which is apparently pronounced Dae-oo, according to John Davis of Motorweek).  The way I describe Daewoo is that they are the Mitsubishi of South Korea.  They make tons of other things aside from cars, such as heaters, hotel TVs (and hotels themselves), construction equipment, oil drilling, and textiles to name a few.  Daewoo Motors started building cars in the early 80s, making mostly re-badged GM products (remember the LeMans I talked about a while back?) But by the early 90s, Daewoo learned to walk on its own and started developing cars in-house.  Eventually, Daewoo became confident enough to take on the ultra competitive U.S market.  

In 1997, Daewoo dropped anchor in North America.  With them, they introduced us to three models, the Subcompact Lanos which came as a hatchback or a sedan, the Nubira, which came as a sedan and station wagon, and the Leganza, which was Daewoo's "premium" car. 

1999-2002 Lanos hatchback
photo credit-Wikipedia

Daewoo took a rather odd approach to marketing their cars.  Rather than invest thousands of dollars in producing commercials, newspaper ads, or press releases, Daewoo used "word of mouth" to draw customers to showrooms, much like a mom and pop shop.  This method backfired, as in the first few months, Daewoo, sold only a few hundred cars.  

Daewoo's next marketing idea was even more unconventional.  Rather than establish traditional dealerships to sell the cars, Daewoo would recruit prosperous college students (mostly marketing majors) to market the cars and sell them to their fellow college students.  The idea was for college students to bypass the stresses of Dealerships and haggling.  This plan was good...perhaps too good.  The idea was so innovative that other carmakers petitioned congress to outlaw such a practice.  But luckily for them, this strategy also backfired, as Daewoo didn't take into consideration that most college students don't have money or credit to even afford an old beater, let alone a brand new car.  So after two marketing strategies fell through, Daewoo eventually caved in to traditional marketing and sales tactics and sales slowly began to rise.  

2001 Daewoo Nubria Wagon

I was about 7 or 8 years old when Daewoo started appearing on the streets of Milwaukee.  I remember how my dad and I were puzzled at where Daewoo got those odd names for their cars.  This was also before I learned how to write in cursive, so whenever I see a Leganza, I always mis-pronounced the name as "Lasagna." And ironically, I didn't know I was pronouncing the Lanos and Nubira wrong all the way up to when I created this post...

Daewoo seemed to be on the right track to gaining a presence.  The cars were becoming more of a common sight on the street, advertisements were beginning to pop up, and the Nissan/Kia/Daewoo dealership near my house started to see more foot traffic.  However, in 2002, Daewoo literally disappeared overnight from the U.S market.  I first noticed this when I went to the 2003 Milwaukee Auto Show and found that Daewoo was noticeably absent from the list of automakers being present.  I asked about it's whereabouts to some auto show officials and they didn't even know.  

Well, it turns out that Daewoo was experiencing some financial problems back in South Korea.  Around the same time Daewoo started exporting cars to America, a recession hit Eastern Asia, weakening South Korea's currency.  The Daewoo Group (the entire company, not just it's car division) was forced to cut a ton of their assets and lay off a ton of people, making the recession even worse.  On top of that, Daewoo's top executives, including CEO Kim Woo-jung were arrested for fraud and embezzling while the company was sinking.  Daewoo's American expedition was pretty much doomed from the start.

Daewoo's car division was sold to GM (who already had a controlling stake in the automaker.) and was renamed "GM Daewoo."  Like they did with the LeMans of the 80s and 90s, GM would depend on their Korean department to make their small cars.  For those of you that know of Chevy's Aveo, Sonic, and Spark compact cars, those cars were all designed and assembled by Daewoo.  

So the departure of Daewoo wasn't due to the cars itself.  In fact, when I looked at websites such as Edmunds or cars.com, I found that these cars were actually quite reliable.  Most of the issues that people had with these things were small, tedious things such as the leather seats wearing away, glove boxes that won't stay closed, and cup holders that were "too small." Hell, I even knew a guy in High School that I bowled with whose mom had a Leganza.  I brought it up to him once and he told me that the power steering was unusually loose...but that his mom liked it like that.  

One last thing, I was watching "Taxi" (not the show, the 2004 movie starring Queen Latifah) where the title character ridicules a green hatchback, claiming she didn't want to "get Daewoo on her hands."Here's a link.