MotorWeek Review | 1986 Chevrolet Nova

Content is owned by MotorWeek and is not my own.

[@michaelwalker6252]

I had a well used 1988 and you couldn't kill the thing. Flipped it down a ravine and kept on driving. I think it had 400k miles on it when I got rid of it. The clutch was slipping and it was so beat up we sold it for $200...

[@gregg9672]

The real gem was the 1990-1997 Geo Prizm

[@garyceriotti850]

Had one for 5 years back in 1987 and it was completely trouble free. 60K plus miles with nothing but basic maintenance. Nice car back then.

[@cekalble]

Same here. Nice 5 speed. Got close to 200,000 miles on it. Sold it to my neighbors kid as a college beater. The kid had till his Sophomore year.

[@fernandorocha-dx1wv]

@@cekalble Nice car this Chevy Nova 85

[@milfordcivic6755]

I remember going to the dealership with my mom when she bought one of these when they came out. It was pretty well optioned for a Nova - cassette, air, 3spd auto, ps, pb. The carb on these engines were horrible when cold, stumbling and hesitation was something they were never able to tune out of these and plagued my mom's car the whole time she had it. It was a dog - had to turn off the a/c when going up hills to get over 45 mph!

[@tientrinh943]

Oh yeah I remember how it was all bad while cold lol

[@nlpnt]

They did know how to improve and iterate, the Prizm had EFI and a lot better rust-resistance than the Nova.

[@landyachtfan79]

I can't help but feel that the NUMMI Corolla & Nova are EXACTLY what a sedan version of our old Dodge Colt Vista would have looked like!!!!

[@sassiqua]

I can totally see that!

[@TinHatRanch]

The Delco radio was probably the first thing to fail.

[@Mark-eu4ds]

Those early vertical knob Delco radios with the funky number font were made in Japan.

[@Mark-eu4ds]

Those were great radios.

[@fernandorocha901]

​@@Mark-eu4dsvery beautiful this car

[@carwrtr1]

This version of the Chevrolet Nova was an excellent car, and it was twice the car of the Cavalier. Prizm replaced Nova, and it carried on as a wonderful car to drive and was reliable. Prizm should have replaced Cavalier, for Cavalier looked and felt cheap. I would own a Nova like this or Prizm. My wife’s first car was a Nova, and she loved it.

[@retrocompaq5212]

yup but the cavalier had something better than 60hp landmower engine so its the one that people bought

[@Stressless2023]

I actually remember a Prizm sitting in the dealer showroom when I bought a brand new 89 Chevy Cavalier Z24 and I damn sure would not have bought a Prizm if it replaced the Cavalier.

[@owen75]

Even partnering with Toyota, GM didn't learn a thing about making dependable cars unfortunately.

[@retrocompaq5212]

since last 10 years toyota is running on their reputation because their cars are not as good as it used to be, plus they cant build a turbo car neither a sports car or anything fun over 400hp like gm does, at least the sales of the new supra is not as catastrophic as the pos nsx, thank the germans!!

[@owen75]

@@retrocompaq5212 uhh what do you mean they can't build turbo cars? They've built tried and tested forced induction engines since the 80s. Have you ever heard of the 2JZ, 3SGTE, 4AGZE etc?

[@superchargedautism7693]

Ever since I bought my 87 nova a couple months ago I've been looking for a motorweek review. On their channel for the 85 gm model year video they brought up the chevette, sprint, spectrum, and cavalier, but completely left the nova out. Then in 86 all they said was you could get in a hatchback. Thanks for uploading this.

[@FerrariCarr]

This must be the car Romy and Michelle referred to when they said “if the people at the reunion see us pull up in a Nova, won’t they know we’re not really businesswomen?” 😂

[@jamie7664]

🤣🤣🤣

[@davidlittle4971]

Even with cloth seats and crank Windows 👍👍👍

[@RaulCastroAtlanta]

@ 0:11 Hammer that shit away until it fits! The american way! LOL

[@tonyocoffey5175]

I opted for a 1988 Chevy Corsica over the Nova. Should have taken the Nova.

[@freddyhollingsworth5945]

The diesel ones were amazing and got 50 mpg!!!!

[@joelakers410]

my mom had that car long time ago she bought it in summer or late summer 88 till got broke down in fall of 1990 middle of the road ((sad rip 1985 nova)) same color as the motorweek

[@tientrinh943]

Wow thanks for uploading thisb

[@daviatorcustoms3168]

They never should have called it a Nova. It was a good car, just not anywhere NEAR what you think of as a Nova.

[@nlpnt]

In 1984 most people thought of a 6-cylinder 4-door '75-79 with strippo trim inside and out, they were still common as dirt and musclecar survivor bias hadn't set in yet.

[@apl175]

That factory builds Teslas now.

[@new2000car]

Not anymore, moved to Texas.

[@new2000car]

Over a year ago

[@benlee3117]

That’s funny because I live down the street and drove by this factory yesterday and they’re running 3 shifts and pushing deliveries right now.

[@apl175]

@@new2000car Tesla still maintains significant manufacturing operations in Fremont California - in addition to assembly plants in Texas and other places in the world. They did officially move their headquarters legal entity address to Texas, but that is more of an administrative detail.

[@milfordcivic6755]

​@@apl175State tax dodge

[@jkeelsnc]

Too bad GM really didn't learn much from this. To the current day their cars are not as good as Toyota.

[@ljmorris6496]

I've seen much of what GM learned from NUMI driving many 00' GM sedans, now they sell nothing but trucks these days..

[@The_R-n-I_Guy]

Toyota quality isn't very good anymore either. Not many vehicles today are built as good as 80's Toyota and Honda cars. I work at a collision repair/body shop and after working on nothing but new cars from almost every company. I don't see any that are worth buying. I'm a GM guy. But between all the unnecessary technology and government requirements. Today's vehicles are just garbage

[@jkeelsnc]

@@The_R-n-I_Guy I do agree about the excessive technology in modern cars. It also makes cars far more expensive than they need to be.

[@geraldscott4302]

I would take a 1963-1979 Nova over a truckload of Toyotas.

[@unitedcity_mc4421]

@@The_R-n-I_GuyI couldn’t agree more.

[@sths0609]

Am I colorblind? That bowtie is not blue!

[@nlpnt]

It hadn't been since 1972, at least not on the cars itself (blue bowties still appeared in print and they didnt' update the dealer signs).

[@davidpistek6241]

When I was a mechanic I had a 78 nova 'I would call theese toyoletts I would never guess the best car I ever owned would be a Corolla

[@goaway3717]

I loved the '75 Nova my parents owned (and I learned to drive with). This Toyota with a GM badge may have been a good car for what it was meant to be but it certainly wasn't a good replacement for the beloved muscle car. They never should have made a bait and switch with the name like that.

[@zythr9999]

Why not?

[@julioangel1839]

Why they named it Nova no one would ever know

[@ljmorris6496]

It wasn't like the Nova was a muscle car only, it was Chevy's upscale economy car based on the Chevy II, now '80-'82 Charger / Challenger would be a better example..

[@julioangel1839]

@LJ Morris you right on that but you gotta admit it was way better looking than that squared off hunk of trash

[@quicksilver462]

It's called "badge engineering", in it's conception, the "NOVA" architecture was planned also for Oldsmobile "Omega", Pontiac "Ventura", Buick "Apollo", and of course Chevrolet "Nova". Take the first letter of each divisions model, it spells "NOVA"!

[@unitedcity_mc4421]

@@quicksilver462😂😂😂, LOL.

[@nlpnt]

Mainly because people weren't nostalgic for it yet, the oldest RWD Novas were only about 5 years old when it launched.

[@broeheemed32]

0-60 in 13.8 seconds.... "average for all cars..." LOL Insufferable 80's cars.

[@Trance88]

Yeah. It's only got 70 horsepower.

[@superchargedautism7693]

My nova does 0-60 in 17.5 seconds

[@pl5624]

The nova name should have stayed buried....call this one something else...like the later prizm..

[@superchargedautism7693]

Or citation

[@geraldscott4302]

This had to be the biggest slap in the face ever to any car enthusiast. Hopefully they have all been scrapped by now. I have owned several 1963-1974 Novas. In 1980, GM replaced the Nova with the hideous Citation, one of the biggest pieces of junk ever. Then they had the nerve to put the storied Nova name on a tiny little Japanese front wheel drive golf cart?

[@carwrtr1]

This was a wake up call to GM; Nova was a credible car, and it isn’t a slap in the face. Prizm replaced Nova, and it carried on as a credible car. Cavalier was a car that GM should have improved on, but they failed to do so. Cobalt was just as bad, too. Prizm should have replaced Cavalier, and GM knows this.

[@zythr9999]

In what way, RWD Nova was reliable, FWD Nova was reliable, that's a compliment to the name, something that might have been missed with some naysayers.