Here’s how the Chevy Citation went from best seller to miserable failure in just 5 years

Get a 15% discount on your next car cover at carcover.com! Use this link to get your discount: www.carcover.c...
In this episode I provide the history of the Chevrolet Citation, which was one of four models across GM's new front-wheel-drive X-body line, starting for the 1980 model year. With over 811,000 sales for the Citation in just its first year, it was a huge hit for GM. But soon after, reports of rust, engine fires, and inability to safely stop in heavy braking, caught the attention of the NHTSA, and eventually a lawsuit, resulting in the Citation being one of the most recalled vehicles ever produced. It was discontinued in 1985, with only a fraction of sales that last year compared to its first year.

[@kingkat8080]

Just that name, Citation in itself makes me scratch my head. That's essentially what a speeding or parking ticket is.

[@nicholascortez728]

Citation can also mean commendation, like an award. Still a not a great name since who would give a Chevy Citation to anyone as an award...

[@mankind8088]

😭😂😂😭😂🤣😭

[@vincedibona4687]

He makes a point about this very thing early in the video. Did you not even watch it, OP?

[@_LM_]

I can imagine the conversation back then: "Hey, I heard you bought a new car!" "Yeah, I just got a Citation!" "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you going to fight it in court?"

[@RhinoXpress]

People actually got citations with this car because it would fall apart while driving down the road. 🤣

[@sleepyhollow783]

1:36 "an embarrassment for GM" For that to happen GM would have to have a sense of shame, which it clearly does not. Thank you so much for carving out time to continue to make these when possible! So great with all those clips! Excellent.🏅

[@BSGSV]

You put into words what I was thinking.

[@jasonyu6649]

Absolutely, the problem with GM is that they have never learnt from their past mistakes. Just wanted to make quick money

[@cheeseburger3072]

The Iron Duke 2.5 was a terrible anemic motor. A coworker bought a Pontiac Phoenix (also an X body). It was a real heap. The electric windows quit working in the first 6 months, followed by transmission trouble, followed by engine overheating (the head got warped). He sold it at a loss and never bought another GM car.

[@landonbenford8369]

@@cheeseburger3072 Shoo Nuff!!! I went through Three of them in my 1987 Celebrity EuroSport. NONE of them made it past 90,000 miles!!😟😟

[@christopherkraft1327]

My neighbors bought a new Citation in 82 & quickly became disappointed in it. A year later they traded it in for a new Honda Accord & were once again very happy!!! Thanks for sharing this fun video!!! 👍👍🙂

[@COYGunners]

Lol I have such a similar story

[@COYGunners]

Lol I have such a similar story

[@zackc.8015]

Camry and Accord were world class compared to this.

[@gleuszler]

In the mid 1980's, many Honda and Toyota dealerships were FLOODED with Citations (GM's answer to the Honda Accord) traded in for REAL Accords, Corollas, Camrys, etc.

[@glennso47]

Even in those days Honda and Toyota were starting to show signs of real quality. Especially compared to the cars that American companies were selling.

[@TheOzthewiz]

Car and Driver said the Citation "was the BEST small car GM has ever produced", their X-11 had a 0-60 time of 9.2 seconds. So, I ordered one with the 2.8L V6 and 4-speed manual transmission. After I picked up the car, I read "Consumer Reports' test of a V6 4-speed citation. But, CR's version did 0-60 in 12.3 seconds, BIG DIFFERENCE! The one I had performed like the CR sample! Found out later the FACTORY SUPPLIED vehicles for the motoring press have 'massaged motors' (blue printed). Hence from then on, I would NEVER buy a vehicle because of the rave reviews from a car 'rag'! Besides the performance issue, the list of quality control (lack of) issues is too long to go into here. Traded the Citation on a Toyota Celica GTS, NEVER LOOKED BACK!!

[@kennethswain6313]

Initially it had so much promise. I worked with a guy who drove 40 miles each way to work and got great mileage on his family friendly Citation. GM really built some really poor quality cars! It’s great to see your presentations!

[@davidp2888]

I was just about old enough to drive when the Citation came out. I wanted one at the time. I had no idea they were such horrible cars. Nice to see another upload. Hope you're doing well.

[@DL-ry3qg]

I drove one for a year or so loved it, drove great

[@manoman0]

It was a good car, the american public was yet again lead around the arena on a nose ring.

[@pac1fic055]

I’m glad you’re still making videos.

[@landyachtfan79]

The Citation & the other GM X-cars will always be one of those car lines that REALLY frustrates me. They had all of the ingredients to be the best cars ever built, & that is exactly what they could & should have been. Ultimately, I feel that the X-cars' undoing was not really the cars THEMSELVES, but the company who built them, late-'70's/early '80's GM. As was the case with Ford & Chrysler, they became too focused on beating the European & Japanese competition at their own game & not focused ENOUGH on providing the American car-buying public with viable alternatives to the imports. As a result, quality & reliability were allowed to fall by the wayside.

[@throttlebottle5906]

it was all eurotrash influenced garbage, the cycle is being repeated yet again. while there may have been some good aspects, the bad far outweighed anything good.

[@nextleveljourney6612]

You literally CONTRADICTED yourself “They were Too busy trying to beat Japan at their own game…” and the immediately you said “They should have been offering alternatives to the imports” Bruh that’s literally the same damn thing - Proofread next time

[@turbo8454]

GM was on it's downhill slide by the late 70's. They've never recovered and they make nothing I'm interested in.

[@cjb8010]

@@nextleveljourney6612 that is not contradictory. You are incorrect.

[@TassieLorenzo]

"they became too focused on beating the European & Japanese competition at their own game & not focused ENOUGH on providing the American car-buying public with viable alternatives to the imports. " That doesn't 100% make sense TBH, if they were trying to build a car that was better than a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry or VW Passat, then it seems like GM failed. Having the Americanisms in the car, like a column shifter, doesn't seem like playing the game of offering a European or Japanese type design. Also it would be required to have superior handling, superior fuel economy, smoother engines, better reliability etc compared to the imported cars... But it seems like even the most basic things like the portioning of the brakes were not designed and tested correctly.

[@Badge1122]

Liked the video. I had a Chevy II , a Pinto that I paid $100 for because the oil light was on and it was only the sender bad and drove it for 5 year with it needing only an water pump. Then I had an Omga for a while and 2 Citations. My mom got a new 1980 4 and it was quick and used very little fuel. She drove it 20 years and gave it to me to sell. I bought an 81 Citation with the 2.8 engine at an auction for a thousand bucks and it had 100,000 miles. We lived in the country with bad and muddy roads and it served well. Suppose the be the worse car but we drove it for 70K mile till a city truck hit it. They paid us $600 for it and we kept it. Bought an 81 Iron Duke from a little old lady that died and was in very nice condition and made may thousand mile trips in it. I use to race my son with it and he drove the 2.8 and he won every time. We had a lot of fun with them. My wife spun out with the 2.8 one because yes, the rear brakes were too powerful. I took off the auto adjusters and set them more loose and it solved most of the problem. I am now through with them.

[@pedrofernandez8729]

I had the Buick version of the X cars, only problem I had was with radiator failure and over heating. It got to the point that I could not go out anywhere w/o fearing that it would leave us stranded. So I traded it in for a 86 Camry and been Toyota ever since.

[@chynacash3138]

That doesn't seem like the car's fault. Sounds like you just didn't cut the engine off soon enough after the radiator went bad and overheated it.

[@pedrofernandez8729]

@@chynacash3138 No, the relay that is supposed to activate the cooling fan kept failing and the car got hotter from not having the fan working, I had to pull over and call a tow truck, take it to the mechanic, replace the delay and it would happen again. But this happened after the warranty expired. I still managed to hold on to it for 5 yrs and over 60k miles. I suppose there could have been a way to bypass the relay and have the fan running all the time, but that would be an issue when the winter came.

[@unclejoe6811]

Yeah the X car was a pile but the early Camrys had weak automatic transmissions

[@unclejoe6811]

Yeah the X car was a pile but the early Camrys had weak automatic transmissions

[@thomasbasler8112]

Buick cars overheating was always the knock I heard and I actually experienced that riding in a Buick station wagon while growing up in the 1960's. Chrysler had the reputation that if you spun a wet tea bag near the car; it would not start. I stayed away from Buick cars for that very reason and I also bought a 1986 Toyota Camry.

[@OLDS98]

Thank you for the video. I liked you featured other GM cars and told the story of the car. Excellent footage and information. It is sad how GM had to learn a lesson the hard way from this experience. I liked the facts you shared as well. All the best to you in your new career and thank you again.

[@jasonyu6649]

I share your sentiments, except GM learning the hard way. If you take a look at other manufacturers in the States, then they should have known botch designs could lead to disasters as in Ford Pinto, the right vehicle with poor workmanship, and how costly it could be eventually. It’s more about the attitude, thinking that they can always get away, and short-sightedness of the company that caused all these problems

[@Henry_Jones]

@@jasonyu6649 yep it was gm hubris plain and simple. They were #1 for so long they thought they always would be. You can see that attitude in all their cars from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

[@DS-wo8wr]

@@Henry_Jones And look at the results! In 1980, GM had about 45% of the US market. Today, 2022, GM has just over 14% market share. The X bodies were certainly a contributing factor in GM’s downfall.

[@Henry_Jones]

The saddest part of the citation is the body shell really is an engineering masterpiece, giving far more cargo and passenger room than the rwd nova it replaced. Its everything else, (suspension, brakes, engines, transmissions) that was rubbish.

[@DTD110865]

Man, you couldn't possibly be more right. The fact that it had more defects than the Pinto, Vega, and Corvair combined ruined everything else that would've otherwise made it good.

[@francoisrivard893]

The build quality was the problem. The v6 cars were were excellent performers especially for the price. Road& track found the x11's skidpad / slalom numbers to outshine the same year BMW 320I. "Out-corners the 320I and faster slalom than the Ferrari 512 Boxer" was their quote. I test drove the X11 in 1982 and I was pretty impressed.

[@aaronhumphrey2009]

Agreed ! Friends mom had one of these with the 2.5 Iron Duke. Noisy, slow, very average handling, crappy plastics everywhere.. Was much better in the snow than her old 72 Nova with a 307 v8..but nowhere near as fun to drive otherwise..gutless..charmless..

[@halonsox]

So agree with this. The citation had a fantastic space design, a thing that has been lost in almost every new car today.

[@tenfourproductionsllc]

On paper and in theory, it was a very advanced car.

[@danielventura8073]

I loved my 81 fre engine red X 11. I installed a Pioneer 100 watt stereo. Fit right in. Never had a brake problem.

[@henryw4129]

I had a 1980 Citation X11, which I bought new. Oddly enough, I never had the problems mentioned here. The transmission failed at about 2000 miles, but was replaced under warranty.

[@chuckgrenci6404]

I also had a 1980 Citation X11 and it was the first new car I ever bought. I also didn't experience the problems mentioned and had a lot of fun with that vehicle. I had the 2.5 (four) with a 4-speed tranny that would get 32 plus mpg/hwy. Other than a water pump, it was pretty reliable. (yellow with the X11 stripes; looked like a bumble bee)

[@ray85158]

Citations were the cars we used in driver's ed. By the 4 week all the parking break releases had failed and the handle was hanging from the dash by its cable. We called them "Shitations"

[@RVPartsGerald]

The poor quality engineering at GM kept us in a job at GM dealerships repairing the X car and 350 Diesel engines of that era. This is when the Japanese took advantage of the situation. We all know what the end result was. Thank you for reminding me of the way that period.

[@scrappy7571]

These were a gold mine for us techs. Don't worry GM still makes crap and dumps it on customers. Only problem is everything is warranty, goodwill, or special policy. Real hard to make hours now. Those sure were the good ol days!

[@tomskid27]

Even though most of the cars you do videos on are not that great…at all, I sure do miss seeing them on the streets. Thanks very much for making these videos! Keep it up! 👍🏼❤️🤘🏼

[@thomasofone]

Are you kidding me? I had an 81 4 door hatch, that thing was sweet as hell! Plenty of room with the back seats foldded down for me and my girl to......MMMMM, you know.... Besides that, I drove it all over the midwest for years and that car looked and drove fantastic for the 10 years I had it!

[@jeffzekas]

We owned the next worst GM car, the Chevy Celebrity, with four cylinder engine- We had constant mechanical problems with that car. Kept stalling when going uphill, mechanic thought it was the fuel pump, finally figured out it was the ignition module.

[@craig162]

The worst of all of them was the Vega. The Celebrity was a much better car.

[@chynacash3138]

I had an 89 Chevy Cavalier in the early 2000's that did that and it drove me crazy. I remember taking it to 2 different shops that misdiagnosed the problem so I gave up and dealt with it until it quit in the middle of an intersection and wouldn't start back up, towed it to the Chevy dealership and they replaced the $20 ignition module but of course charged me over $200 at the time plus the tow smh.

[@pedrofernandez8729]

I had 2 family members that owned the Pontiacs that came after these Xcars and were a variant of them. GM took what was wrong with them and made them much better, as long as you got the V6 and not that iron duke 4 banger.

[@fabulousprofound]

My dad traded in an old Ford Gran Torino for a new 1982 Celebrity with the V6. Sadly it was carbureted as it predated the PGM-FI version. My dad had fuel pump problems from the start, literally. The day he picked it up it died pulling out of the dealer lot. Service techs and lot boys ran out into the street to push him back in. They gave him a service loaner (a Citation which he learned to hate very quickly) while the pump was on back order, which would be the first of four pumps he had to get replaced over time😣.

[@Schumanized]

In contrast, my dad had a 1987 celebrity with the 2.8 V6 and it was a blast. He had it for 5 years and we only had to replace the gas pump 2 times. Go figure🤷🏽‍♂️.

[@juelzm149]

My parents had one of these, an '84 Citation II! Light blue on top, dark blue trim below. Ours had the iron Duke and was dam reliable, we had that car with original motor/trans up until like 98 or 99. Lots of memories and trips in that old car!

[@throbbinwoodofcoxley6830]

Congratulations, you’re the only family to get their money out of a citation. Well, my pop kind of did. We had the 3 door with a sun roof in black, it was a decent looking car. One night we got in to leave my grandmas house and it started rod knocking. Pop had it towed just down the street from a Ford dealership, and drove it into the lot. The salesman didn’t start the car and gave him insane trade value against a brand new Fairmont Futura. It was ten times the car the citation was.

[@GaemerJosh]

So glad to have another great vid! Thanks for not ditching making these completely!!!

[@GeeEm1313]

My dad had two of these wonders. One of them actually lasted until 1995, when he "inherited" my mom's 88 Taurus.

[@dmandman9]

As an auto mechanic in addition to the problems you noted, many citations had sticking rack and pinion steering gears and slipping drive chains in the transmission. In North Florida rust wasn't a huge problem. But I did notice many still had small rust spots.

[@rudiknaus4139]

The X Bodies were sold here in Germany, too and i remember when i first saw the lineup in the showroom of the local Munich GM Opel dealer and everyone found them cute! The best selling was the Buick limited 4 door 6 Cylinder, it looks really chic! But the US Car hype which begun 1978 faded in the early 80‘s and today unfortunately US Cars are exotic on the streets here .. 🤔🇺🇸

[@lamarbevil4891]

I drove a gold 5 door Citation in High School and most of College. It had the 2.8 V6. LOVED the versatility of the hatch back. We had to replace the cam shaft around 50-60K miles. We drilled a hole through the wheel well instead of taking the whole engine out. It soldered on until ~ 1987 or '88 with eventually ~124k miles. Afterwards, I had an '86 Cutlass Ciera with the 2.5 L4. It died in 1996 @ 196k. First 15 years of driving were GM X and A bodies. Glad to be back in a 5 door hatch again (2012 Lexus CT200h, purchased in 2022 @ 125K miles)

[@unclejoe6811]

No love for the Malibu Maxx?

[@lamarbevil4891]

@@unclejoe6811 I liked the Maxx, but timing and availability never worked out. Cars after the Ciera lasted 289K miles and 235k miles.

[@citationxeleven]

I had a 1983 X-11 for my first car, it was fast for that era and very reliable. Loved that 4 speed, she'd rip the tires easily. Suprised a few people that rode in it.

[@stoneylonesome4062]

The Chevrolet Citation X-11 was one of the best hot hatchbacks of the Malaise-Era.

[@the_kombinator]

I LOVED how these cars looked, especially the X-11

[@CrossTrekking]

The first car I can remember from my childhood was my mom's 1984 Citation II. It had an aftermarket stereo mounted vertically, which she hated. We eventually replaced it with an 1988 Subaru GL wagon. The Subaru was slower, but we all thought it was a much nicer and better built car.

[@knerdrider]

I had no idea the Celebrity, the Pontiac 6000 (my first car), and others were based on a stretched Citation platform. It explains a lot, though, including why mine had the same gutless Iron Duke engine.

[@jrussellcase]

We always called it the "Iron Dookie".

[@Henry_Jones]

You can tell just by looking under the back and under the hood. Same under the hood and same solid beam axle in the rear.

[@8corymix8]

The 6000 STE was the one to have. I'd love to have one today

[@Sevenfeet0]

The 1980 Citation was my first car in high school. I got it new for my 16th birthday in early 1981. Like the narrator, my mother had a source at GM (a friend) who could get the employee discount. Since I am very tall, it was one of the few inexpensive cars that I could comfortably drive (since it didn't have a center console). Like the advertisements, my car was the cream over red two tone but it was unusual in that it had a black cloth interior with bench front seats. As a kid, I was happy that I got a new car and my mother was happy that she didn't have to shuttle myself or my younger brother around anymore. But like most other owners, the problems reared their ugly head. The Iron Duke 4-banger was literally a banger....if you were used to Honda engines, this wasn't anywhere close to that in terms of smoothness. In my car's case, the biggest annoying thing was the tendency for the entire front end of the car to shake once you passed 72 MPH. I thought it was an alignment issue but the dealership said it was built into the design and couldn't be fixed. Yes, it was the 55 MPH speed limit malaise era days but still, it was awful at high speeds. I drove the car until I graduated high school and my brother drove the car until he graduated in 1985. And by then in just four short years, the car was already showing signs of rust, which was an unforgivable quality control problem for a company that had been building cars for decades. My mother disposed of the car in 1986 and I wasn't sorry to see it go. My mother then purchased a used very low mileage 1980 Caddy Coupe De Ville for my brother and I to use at college and that was a far better vehicle.

[@bradbel]

Growing up in the Detroit area during the late ‘70s, I thought the X car and K car were the future! Especially the vertical radio placement.

[@GIAMOBILEMECHANICBerwyn]

As a 5 year old, my mom first car was a citation tan I had fun memories of that car we use to take the bus b4 that car great memories the other cars were on the block skylard and Phoenix regal......YOU DA MAN ! SUPER EPISODE LIKE ALWAYS

[@davidpistek6241]

Your use of footage is amazing,,great video, a friend had a x11 back in the 90s, it was 500 dollars and surprisingly reliable but certainly rusted out ,homade black paint job and 2 pioneer 12s that would rattle the hatch louder than the bass

[@thetraveler2561]

I liked my Citation back in the 80's....I had no rust issues. got well over 100K miles out of it. It was roomy and had plenty of cargo area. It just lacked power.

[@citylimits8927]

You must have had the “Iron Duke” 2.5 liter pushrod 4-cylinder engine. That engine developed a reputation as being reliable, but underpowered and vibration-prone. The 4-speed manual transmission was the worst stick shift transmission that I have ever driven and I always drove stick shifts for a long time.

[@andregonsalvez9244]

Great review and video ! I remember these back in the day my parents almost bought a Citation back in 84 but I convinced them to buy a 1984 Pontiac Parisienne wagon instead to replace their old 76 Dodge Aspen .

[@frh-freerangehuman]

I had a 1980 2 door citation with the iron duke. I think I bought it around 1986/87. I loved it. The engine was totally reliable. It was great until my gf ditched it. The front end folded pretty badly. We got it home and I hooked it up to an oak tree with a logging chain and hit reverse hard. It straightened the front end enough that I could drive it once I put a wrecking yard windshield in it. It was scary to drive mind you. It felt like the fro t was doing circles as you drove down the road. Oh the 80’s 😂

[@325xitgrocgetter]

Summer 1981....completed my drivers ed class room training, now on to behind the wheel...in a new Chevy Citation 4 door hatch...with the white over cinnabar two tone combination. This car was well optioned and our Jr. High School Science teacher was our behind the wheel instructor and would have us try the resume feature on the cruise control. Spent 5 days that summer driving around town in that car. I was envious of the classmates who drover the Caprice. Apparently, our local Chevy dealer provided dealer demos to the public school system and the cars were sold at a discount at the end of the year. A few years later, the Chevy dealer was sold to a new owner who had a son in my class....and every couple of weeks, he had a new demo to try out...my favorite being a 1984 Camaro Z28. Was a ton of fun cruising around town in that car. Though, later in the school year, he ended up with a Chevy Celebrity diesel station wagon...I think he may have upset his parents and that was their way of grounding him.

[@VZ.studios]

My earliest memories involving a car in any way was my dads 85 Citation II. He got it in about 88 from his grandmother because she hardly drove it and he needed it for college. He was constantly having to fix it. Spent more time under the hood than behind the wheel. Eventually replaced it with a used Cavalier wagon then that got replaced with a Ford Escort wagon which itself got replaced with an Aerostar. In hindsight it’s a miracle I survived childhood with all the awful cars we had. Even my mothers car in those days was one of the early 80s Hyundai deathtraps.

[@charlesmoore2485]

My mom had a 1990 Oldsmobile delta 88. When the Volvo 850 came out in 1993, she went to go see one , I remember on the way , she was worried it would be boring. I look back now, couldn’t be any more boring than an olds 88 😂

[@throbbinwoodofcoxley6830]

My pop traded the citation on a brand new Fairmont Futura, I’ll tell you that Fox body sedan was light years better.

[@JBM425]

Instead of using traditional linkage on the shifter, the Citation utilized cables that had a tendency to stretch over time and made shifting less precise to impossible. My German professor’s daughter had one, and he didn’t believe the problem until he drove it and found out for himself.

[@throbbinwoodofcoxley6830]

Most front drive cars well into the 90’s had cable shifters. It was a gm problem, not a cable shifter problem.

[@drummr64]

Great channel! @6:34 you mention the vertical radio. At that time, Sanyo actually made an aftermarket that had an interchangeable "face" that would allow it to be mounted vertically. That's my memory of this car, installing a bunch of aftermarket radios.

[@uxwbill]

Radio Shack also had an aftermarket radio for the vertical X-body application. Perhaps it was the Sanyo model, rebadged.

[@RecklessEnterainment]

I just want to let you know your channel is one of my favorites for it being a new channel. The videos are really well done and I look forward to all your new uploads. I’m upset you won’t be able to post as much from here on out but I’m glad you’re at least sticking with it! Thanks for the videos!

[@jasonz7788]

Thank you for the great work Sir

[@wall-e3313]

Don't know if you noticed, but the Citation used in the first Batman movie was an export version. That explains the mirror style never used in the states due to UK safety regulations. The rear lights also have the indicators in the most outboard positions, while ours were in the middle. And the Jokers cars were Dodge 3700's imported from Spain. Based on Chrysler Dart/Valiant tooling form here, but with a much better level of trim. Still powered by our slant-6. Very robust engine, but not one that will get you where you want to go very soon.

[@stevenrgates]

Interesting. We had a 81 and only fixed two things. Front shoes and a clutch at 98,000 miles. It was in the so cal mountains and those things were considered normal.

[@AR-ed3xw]

Glad to have a new video, hope everything is going well for ya!

[@karoltakisobie6638]

My first car was 84 Citation. I liked it so much I replaced it with 81 Omega. I liked them both except for really lousy transmission and rust. Both handled Ontario winters just fine.

[@glennso47]

GM vehicles seem to have problems with transmissions for some reason. Even nowadays.

[@Project_Low_Expectations]

Had an 81 citation 4 door, iron duke/manual 4 speed overdrive… silver and RUST. Mine was a decent running and driving car. I beat on it… I mean I beat on it like it owed me money. Redline shifts, spinning the tire from every stop, always trying to get a chirp into second… Ended up breaking it in half. It honestly put up with a lot more of my shenanigans than it ever should have. Great to see another episode.

[@nnjjee1]

I can still remember the jingle, “it’s the first Chevy of the 80s! Chevy Citaaaaaaaaa-TION!” Now it’s in my head, thanks

[@drevildruid]

In 1985 my Dad purchsed a used 1981 Chevrolet Citation for me as my first car for $500 from a rental car agency. It was the V6 4 door hatchbacl version. $10 of gas (.86 cents per gallon at that time) would give me two full weeks of driving. Eventually the CV joints on the front started to make noise and I sold it. Selling that car for such a dumb reason has been my biggest regret when it comes to cars.

[@unclejoe6811]

$500 for a four year old car was a smoking deal even in '85

[@drevildruid]

@@unclejoe6811 There’s a funny story to go along with the acquisition of the car. Although my Dad initially bought the car (without my knowledge) when he arrived home he tossed me with the keys and title and said that I owed him $500. I wracked my brain trying to figure out how long it would take me to save up $500 while I made $3.35 an hour at McDonalds. While I was pondering this the mailman stopped at our box. I went out and found a letter from the IRS containing my tax refund in the amount of $525.00. I walked into the house, tossed my Dad the envelope and said “you owe me $25.” and walked away like a boss.

[@anthony_rivera4735]

Do a video on the Ford Explorer sport trac pickup

[@TheSaltyExplorer]

I had an 03, put 170k miles on it without any major issues. I finally traded it in 2011 when the transmission started getting a little tired of towing my boat around all the time. A rebuilt trans was more than the truck’s value, but in hindsight, I should have fixed it and kept it. It was a great vehicle.

[@nthgth]

The way I remember it: It was a way to get some more ROI on the 1995 Explorer platform, the regular 4-door SUV having moved to a newer one for 2002. The Explorer Sport was another, but I think they only made that 1 or 2 years; 2-door SUVs were dying. Fresher styling based on the '02 4-door helped people forget about the 'Exploder' Firestone tire debacle.

[@Tnenamrep2]

We had an '81. It broke down on its way home from the dealership... brand new. The radiator blew, and steam was blowing out like crazy. Had to wait for help at the side of the highway. Even though the Iron Duke was supposed to be a good engine, ours always knocked, and had this 'wouldn't always start' issue, where there'd randomly be no electrical power to anything... at random. It always leaked oil. The engine vibration was horrible. We kind of had that brake issue, but not as bad as it was described. Ours tended to have a lot of brake fade, and pedal pulsation... even after the brakes had been replaced. We had the classic rear suspension separation (a rusted-out bolt), which the dealership and GM refused to pay for. And yes... this thing was made out of compressed rust. The floor, and one shock tower rusted out in its 7th year, and it went to the junkyard.

[@edculle]

My 1981 Citation was the second worst car I've owned after my 1982 Cavalier. Let me know if you want the full (long) list of craptastic quality issues.

[@Henry_Jones]

We called them crapaliers for a reason. GM never improved them. I test drove an 02 and the seats were garbage (single digit thread count fabric with styrofoam underneath and zero lower thigh support so it was like it was just your ass in the seat), the door handles felt like they were gonna fall off, and the whole dash shook when on small bumps. Didnt buy it

[@glennso47]

I had a 1970 Chevy BelAir that I bought new. It came with a torn headliner and the wire that extended from the starter to the battery was misdirected so that whenever you started the engine the flywheel on the starter would cut the wire just a little bit until finally the wire was fully cut in half and it left us stranded in a parking lot until a couple of black guys came along with their knowledge of how to hot wire the car and started it. I then drove immediately to a mechanic and had the starter fixed. Also the interlock on the automatic transmission failed to put the car in “park” so that I couldn’t park the car on a hill or incline without the car coasting away. So I got a little education on GM quality which even in 1970 was becoming nonexistent.

[@Primus54]

My occupation during the ‘80s included a company vehicle that was leased and replaced every two years. I ended up with an ‘81 Old Omega, then an ‘83 Buick Skylark. While neither car ever stranded me on my many long trips, that Iron Duke 4-cyl almost got me run over several times trying to merge onto the highway. With the incredibly large interiors in such a small footprint, they could have been revolutionary. However, the Japanese imports had a $1,000 per car cost advantage so the GM build quality, cheap parts & materials, and labor hours allowed in manufacturing turned these into poorly built rust buckets. Great video!

[@cbrue1896]

Thank you for another awesome video. I had a brief encounter with the dreaded Citation. I was driving a Marine Corps recruiter's Chevy Citation back to his office. The thing was a huge POS. Every time I came to a stop, the POS would stall and I would have to restart the thing. This was early in my driving career as I was 19. I just remember holding up traffic at stop lights. I totally get why it was an embarrassment for Chevy. It seems that anytime a manufacturer tries to rush out a new vehicle to market, you get a crappy-built car. This is a great example of that. Anyway, thank you for getting this video out.

[@nlpnt]

Was it his personal car or from the GSA motor pool? If it's the latter it would've had a hard life, basically a rental car that only ever gets business travelers.

[@montestu5502]

My Mom had a 1980 Citation 4 door with the V6. She had it for 9 years and I don’t recall any rust issues and we lived in the Midwest. Only problem I recall is that the engine used to stall when it was cold. My Dad eventually fixed that by adding a large resistor to the electric choke wire on the carburetor. The choke was opening too fast. That was the last Chevy my parents ever bought though, so yeah it mustn’t have been very good.

[@keeneboy7700]

My friends parents bought her one for her first car in 1999, trying to cheap out. One month later, after a ton of repairs and her barely being able to use it, she came home from school and found a brand new Pontiac Sunfire in the driveway. They literally bought a brand new car after ONE MONTH of owning a Citation.

[@chynacash3138]

Sounds about right when trying to fix any 15+ year old car. I had an 87 Honda Prelude in around 99-2000 and it always needed something too.

[@jasonhsu4711]

I'm surprised that they stuck with General Motors. To be fair, it's amazing that a Citation actually made it to 1999. Hardly any X cars even made it to the start of the 1990s.

[@chynacash3138]

@@jasonhsu4711 Doesn't seem surprising since the Sunfire was one of the cheapest new cars you could buy around that time, plus it would be pretty unreasonable to develop a bias against GM over a 15 year old Citation at the time lol.

[@spiff8862]

@@chynacash3138 That's too bad about your Prelude. On the flipside, I own a 2007 Honda Fit w/247K miles on it and the only thing I've replaced was the clutch (5 speed manual) at 216K miles on it. Love that little gem.

[@michaeltaylor1603]

YIKES!!!!!

[@CJWriter0925]

Congrats on the new employment opportunity! And I'm an X-Car apologist, so this episode is perfect. GM needed to probably wait until '81 or '82 to put these out to refine everything, but rushing it out just made it terrible as is. At least there's not a Cadillac X-Body.

[@mikeweizer3149]

No...... But Cadillac had their own problems in the 80s..... Shall I explain, Could be here a while?.

[@MrSkeltal268]

@@mikeweizer3149 The v8 with the cylinder shut off tech too advanced at the time for the computers they used. I wonder if any are still around anymore.

[@303nitzubishi4]

Unfortunately the rear drum brake design (and proportioning valve) from these cars was carried over to other models throughout the 80s with little improvement. My '90 celebrity wagon was downright scary in the snow when those rears would lock up. A couple times I purposely drove close to the curb so the rear end would hit that instead of swinging around

[@CMFL77]

My mom had a 90 celebrity wagon as well with the exact same issue. My dad seemed to take it to the shop every weekend and after numerous attempts to identify the problem they refunded him $1400 and told him to take it to Chevy (they came up with something new that needed to be replaced almost every time and happily charged for it - the car had 50k on the odometer when this all started lol). In the months he was bringing the car back to the original shop they went from never seeing the issue to having several that they replaced the rear drum brakes on coming back with the problem and I guess they figured they were in over their heads.

[@21stcenturyfossil7]

@@CMFL77 It was nice of them to keep trying to fix the brakes and refund when they couldn't. But the problem was an engineering issue, not a repair issue.

[@mikethemechanic7395]

I had a 85 Caprice station wagon in HS. Same lock up lol

[@CMFL77]

@@21stcenturyfossil7 no joke! And just a few years later I began a career in the auto industry & have seen firsthand how hard it is to get a refund...weather it's on the shop/tech or not. In this case I remember them telling my dad that they started seeing this issue suddenly on tons of cars & were in over their heads. Too bad they didn't have the resources then we have now. Would have saved them a ton of grief for a big GM blunder

[@billtrepashko2853]

My dad bought a Pontiac Phoenix coupe new in 1981 to support the US auto industry. Needless to say he has only bought Hondas and Toyotas ever since.

[@earhornjones]

When I was a kid in the early '80's, my Dad helped me build a model train layout in our basement. As my Dad was a grade-A bargain hunter, he bought a bunch of model train stuff at some overstock/clearance sale, which led to some odd choices. Among the things that he bought were three or four "car carrier" train cars, all loaded with 4-door hatchback Chevy Citation models. As a result, every parking spot and driveway in my model town sported a Chevy Citation. To this day, I can't see a Citation without thinking of that model dystopia that we created in our basement.

[@robervin3189]

Michigan native. Outside of Flint. Left years ago. However, hard to not buy GM as I grew up with them, wrenching on old classics, military tech, etc. Never had a bad GM truck (owned plenty), two Ford trucks.....no problems. One Dodge, not so much. We must be close the same age given the domestics commentary. Dig your channel brother! Thank you for your efforts!

[@patrick39432]

I learned to drive on a 1981 Citation and I loved the car! Great car to learn on. I guess we got a lucky hand, but our Citation went 90,000 miles without significant problems before we traded it.

[@Henry_Jones]

Gm never got fwd right. They spent the next 30 years making fwd cars that were all a day late and a dollor short, every last one. That began with the 1980 x cars and ended in their 09 bankruptcy.

[@ChevyCitation]

At 5:57 The Citation X-11 Had a nice Body Style with that Sideways Radio

[@arieljones4595]

Glad to see you're able to do uploads still. All of your releases are appreciated. I hope your new job is working out. Thanks.

[@g-mang-man7924]

This was indeed the very last GM vehicle our family ever had. After a long line of great cars like the 64 Impala, 72 Catalina, a 73 Custom Cruiser, the first downsized vehicle was an 81 Citation 4dr hatch. It got to the point my dad would not even trust it on a 500 mile trip to visit family on Pa, and back to MD. We would borrow a neighbor's Ford E100 Chateau small window van. I remember it being only a year or 2 old, leaving huge puddles of oil from it's 2.8lv6 engine. It would go through a set of front tires in what seemed just months (The reason we couldn't take it on family trips) I think back then it was only a 2 year 24 month warranty, and before long, My mom purchased her first Toyota Corolla, and we get to the point of today, where now I own 3 Toyota products, my brother and sister own Toyota products. My brother and I both became Toyota Master Technicians. Oh I absolutely still have a great love for GM products, as long as they were built before 1973!

[@kattcasel9730]

I'm one of the people who put down a deposit for the first year 1980 Citation. I got the 2 door hatchback with V6 manual trans. It was an incredibly roomy interior compared to the mid-size rear wheel drive GM cars and was AWESOME in the snowy Colorado mountains. It suffered badly with the hard braking shenanigans, and the first recall changed the rear drum brake shoe material, didn't help! It got good fuel mileage and was a nice driver, but so unreliable mechanically I traded it for a Mercury Lynx in 1983. Citation was also the name of the Cessna bizjet and the winning race horse!!

[@GardenerEarthGuy]

1980-1984 Subaru Go Wagon 4wd Had several dozen of these cars- I'd buy them for $250-$500 drive them a year or so and sell them for $750-$1,000

[@vapsa56]

My family own a brand ,new 1980 Pontiac Phenix 2 door in Fremont Gold and the 2.8 V6. Styling wise it was the best looking of the X-Body group. That said, the only thing good about it was the 2.8 V6 engine. The rest of the car, well, let's just say that it was an interesting car to live with. It lasted with our family for 2 years before dad had enough. Traded it in for a Honda 3 door Accord 5-speed.

[@steven.l.patterson]

My dad was a carpenter, he worked on one new house for a GM manager/executive that moved to Oklahoma for the X-Body plant. We got a tour when it opened. In high school my activities director bought a new black/silver 4-door hatchback Citation, around 82. Good memories.

[@WillowzWay]

I was a teenager when the Citation came out. At least three of our neighbors as I recall owned them. All three were V6. They also, all three, started to rust in just a couple years from new. I also remember all three leaking fluids like a sieve. My Dad had a shop and I remember these cars being regulars in the shop. Two of them got rid of their cars within 5 years of ownership. The third car (which seemed to be the best one) was passed to their daughter who drove it a few more years until she was able to trade it in on something else.

[@ZeeboLaywicker]

we had an 82 citation in 83, when i was 12. i remember my dad liked the fold down rear seat, as we could put the dogs back there. i remember him complaining that it leaked oil from day 1, and it did leave him stranded on the highway one hot summer day when he was coming home from work in his suit..lol..ill never forget when we came to the gas station to pick him up, he was sitting outside on the bench drinking a bottle of orange soda, he looked like he had jumped in a pool with his suit on...lol!

[@msmoniz]

As some one who was a kid in the 70s and 80s, and into cars, those were my formative years in sussing out what cars I'd like to own when I got older. Between my parents crappy Chrysler cars we owned and the horrendous GM quality of the cars made then, it forever soured me on the domestic brands. They were their own worst enemies in a changing car market bu cheaping out so badly, they ceded so much to the Japanese brands, while slightly more, more than made up the difference in fuel economy, and less $ outlaw in repairs due to their much better reliability. My first car at 19? A used 89 Honda Civic Si bought in 93. My parents had bought 2 years before, a 1991 a brand NEW Dodge Spirit. Wanna guess which car lasted longer? Let's just say, after my mother saw my Honda experience, she's never owned a domestic brand since and currently is STILL driving a 20 year old Honda Civic!.

[@chynacash3138]

Those Dodge Spirits (and Plymouth Acclaim clones) were actually good cars for the most part. The 3.0L V6's tended to burn some oil as they aged but overall those were actually some of the most reliable domestic cars you could own around that time. I had a 1990 Honda Prelude and loved that thing.

[@mikeske9777]

Yeah I had the Plymouth Acclaim version with the V6 and 3 speed automatic. I bought the car new with 18 miles and at 380,000 and it finally was traded in. I liked the car as it was crude, reliable and got decent fuel mileage for the time. I used it on 105 mile daily commute for almost its entire time with me. It was still running when I traded it in

[@bml33]

I learned how to drive at my high school's drivers ed class in 1981 with an 81 Skylark. Later I owned an 85 Citation 2 door hatch. It wasn't that terrible and didn't rust by 1993 when it was wrecked/totaled.

[@TimmyTantrum]

I think it would be fascinating to pull the books of GM and run new numbers to see how adding a couple hundred dollars per unit to safeguard against recalls and lawsuits would compare to the existing accounting. Would it have been smarter in the long run to just build a better car? Where would the breakeven point be (in difference in cost per unit), if it existed? Or did the accountants have it right after all? Brand reputation should be figured in as well.

[@Schumanized]

Man, i had a friend that had one handed down from his dad...and it was HORRIBLE!!!! Thanks for the great content and i wish you all the success in your new job🙏🏾.

[@THX-kw2jh]

TV & Radio commercials for the 1980 Chevy Citation started as early as April of 1979.

[@padroooo]

When we were young and not so heavy we visited our friends in Morgantown , WV. They took us out to eat at the local country club and when we returned home there Chevy Citation didn't have enough power to go up their steep driveway with four slim adults int the car. Three of us got out and then the car made it into the garage. It was a very steep driveway. Good luck on your new job Pat.

[@Project_Low_Expectations]

Their car was messed up. I had an 81 citation with the 90 horse iron duke and the front tires were always bald due to me spinning them from every stoplight. They were junk, but they weren’t that bad

[@sking2173]

You’re a liar, padroooo .,.

[@fastinradfordable]

@@Project_Low_Expectations Same hp as a mk1/2 vw Gti

[@steventeleky3350]

I'm so glad you are uploading, my friend. Missed your stuff.

[@btrdangerdan2010]

the grandma chasing the guy in her half destroyed citation was funny

[@thoughtfulbobcat1872]

I had an 82 Buick Skylark and I had a love hate relationship with it and it made into a mechanic.

[@chrisroth4952]

I had a 1980 X-11 2-door hatch in the red/black color. The same as the one at 6:01 in the video, except mine being the hatch version. It was a hand-me-down from my grandfather who had passed away. Both my grandfather and my dad worked for GM as well. My family also had a 2nd Citation in the fleet. The second being a burgundy 84' 4-door hatch base model. Unfortunately I wrecked the X-11 as a newly licensed driver. The engine had been replaced, and it wanted to stall when the tank was full of gas. I tried to get through an intersection quickly to avoid a stall, when a pickup I hadn't seen killed the car. I liked the X-11, but despised the 84 hatch. My dad had sold his beautiful 1979 Buick Park Avenue Electra to buy the Citation. What a downgrade! Oh, and those stupid vertical radios! My dad had an aftermarket unit crudely installed at the end of the console to address that issue. Looked dumb, but it worked. Thanks for the video. Lots of memories there for me as well.

[@randystuart938]

My parents bought the Buick version of the x-cars in 1980. It had the four cylinder engine and ran really well for the eight years they had it. It never had any major mechanical problems and it never had any rust. Even though it was a compact car, it had plenty of room for four or five adults.

[@rdm925]

My first new car purchase was a 1980 Buick Skylark Sport Coupe model of the X-body cars with the V-6 engine. I was a big GM fan at the time and ate up the hype of the new X-body cars. Plus I special ordered it, which was something I always wanted to do. Overall it really was a good car and not a lemon for me. In retrospect I should have brought a Toyota Celica hatchback which I also really liked at the time 😅.

[@rager1969]

I'm glad you did this video. I've been waiting impatiently for it for a while for some reason.

[@MrJoeltrain]

I think the citation is a very nice looking car in coupe trim. I never liked the hatchback. The x11 was cool! I think that behind the Vega the citation was the best looking compact American car to that date. I lived in Baltimore at the time and remember these cars pretty well as a few neighbors had them, and tho cars did have a tendency to rust there these weren't any worse or better than anything else. I never heard of the problems until watching this vid. I wonder if an ls motor would fit. That'd be incredible.

[@4af]

The X cars motivated millions of American to buy their first Toyota or Honda and they've stayed with Asian brands ever since.

[@johnnydodge]

Hell they were breaking on the car carrier. Driver put em in reverse bam no go lol

[@michaelbenardo5695]

A buddy's father bought an Olds Omega in 1980 with the 4 cyl. Was recalled several times, but he never had a problem with it. He let us drive it and we thought it was pretty nice.

[@podmuse1994]

In ‘92 my mom had one of these. It was an ‘84 model that had loads of issues. It leaked coolant all the time (despite fixing it). Considering she lived in Ohio I’m surprised it wasn’t rusted away by then. Later on when she was pregnant with me she could no longer fit behind the steering wheel as the seat adjuster broke 🤣. She decided to sell it and bought a Corolla instead!

[@nthgth]

Wise choice! Lol

[@eddieplaysgh]

You should do a video on the fifth gen Chevy Nova. The NUMMI Nova. I love the hatchbacks.

[@trumpsmum9210]

I saw a citation last fall & it was in mint condition, it must had only 20 thousand miles on it , some old lady had it lol

[@ApeGorrillo]

Good to see you back at it sir. I'll be waiting patiently for a Dodge Dakota video. Cheers.

[@hutchcraftcp]

I have a friend who had an 80 citation, his dad also worked for GM and got a discount. My family had a phoenix SJ 4 door V6 4 speed and the brakes were never right. My grandparents had an 84 Skylark and it was a good car.

[@kennethjohnson3138]

I bought an '80 Citation used in 1986. I got a couple of years out of it before the engine went caput! Amazingly, it didn't rust out, but the low quality materials showed their age.

[@franzvanjulio5523]

An uncle of mine had one. I honestly don’t know why that caught my attention since I was likely only 6 or 7 when I saw it. Thanks for another great episode. Looking forward to your next one. Be well.

[@the_kombinator]

I saw one at a junkyard earlier this year - it was in WAY better shape than the rotted ones shown here. Not great, but workable. Mostly complete as well.

[@MSimmonsAZ]

We had a first model year. Bottle green not two tone. I was 6 or 7 years old when we got it. I remember going to the dealer and the salesman telling dad, if you get hit in a rabbit that's it, you need a new car. The citation is bigger and tougher. (bigger maybe not tougher). It was a 4 cylinder POS. When we brought it home we couldn't turn the am radio off. no matter how far away the key was. We lived in CT and ours never had rust issues. Luckily for me it died when was I was 14 so I didn't inherit it. It was the last American branded car either of my parents ever bought. Mazda's. Toyotas, Acuras, Lexus, Mini's. I can't really imagine buying an GM or Ford or Stalantis. I know most are much better and even more or less as good as everyone other, but the Citation is a lousy memory, and I always thought the name was a huge mistak e as well.

[@floydblandston108]

My parents had a Pontiac Phoenix with the 2.5, and it was a fine car- MUCH better than the old Nova body style it replaced. GM was playing catchup with the x- bodies, and no sooner were they released than the competition went ahead of them again. Combine that with a brutal currency market which grossly under priced imports and you have 'a failure' that really wasn't.

[@JasonJones-br3or]

GM floundered because of inept management, bloated unions, and a conceit that it could lobby against the competion rather than step up to the plate.

[@strangeluck]

Great vid... My first car was 1980 Olds Omega. Not exactly my choice, but I grew to like it and it treated me about as well as it could. Kept it a long time so I've a weak spot for them. Probably the best thing about it was how much it taught me about car repair. 😄

[@sreilly]

Glad to see you’re back. I know you had some personal business that had your focus. I hope everything turned out ok!