Carfan94

Lee Iacocca famously said in those commercials back in the 80s “If you can find a better car! Buy it!” Um okay, yes I will!

AJT123

Kinda puts into perspective.... back then those cars were absolute junk. Most cars were back then, we are nostalgic...I REALLLLLY am. Like I said dude with the K car couldn't turn the A/C on bc the car struggled to maintain speed.

However the high end cars back then were epic, W126 for example.

Margate330

They were also very popular with the "buy here, pay here" car lots.

I must've seen a million of them driving around.

Slight exaggeration but they were everywhere spawning like orcs. Haha

Carfan94

I was born in 1994. So I haven’t seen very many in my life. Much better cars around in the 80s the Accord, Camry, Mazda 626……

link13

My buddy always preferred that we took my ‘72 Fiat 124 sedan than the K car. The Fiat was more reliable, believe it or don’t lol.

For fleets, I worked for a rental car company in the 90s. Mostly bad cars, but the 1993 Cavaliers were the worst. If people were abusive or just jerks, I would punish them with a Cavalier. It would be there with a Corolla or two. Sorry, sir, but those cars are both reserved. They weren’t. We actually didn’t hold cars even if they were reserved, which was lame and led to some understandably frustrated customers. There’s a Seinfeld episode with precisely this scenario. It’s funny because it’s true.

geko29

That's hilarious. Oddly enough though, I had a friend back in the day that had a Cavalier coupe (think his was a '94) that he took to something like 270k. Just standard maintenance, plus some of the expected stuff like starter/alternator, belts, muffler, etc over the years. Seemed a miracle at the time for a GM product.

JDR76

"You know how to take the reservation. You just don't know how to hold the reservation."

link13

Exactly. And that’s really the most important part of the reservation. The hold.

BayeauxLex

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

mmarshall

If this is the Seinfeld video you are refering to, I did a CL thread on it some time ago (can't remember if it was in Car Chat or Clubhouse).but I'll repost it here............

Stroock639

as far as unnecessary fun car purchases go that's actually one of the least stupid ones you can buy lol

the quality of that era was still pretty good on the germany built cars, and the C55 is actually a surprisingly simple machine as far as no active suspension, or really any other electronic or mechanical trickery... just a C-class with a very solid (just comically big) engine and transmission, the only real "AMG" extra cost would be the extra fuel and brake parts can get a tad pricey, but a set of pads will last a LONG time under casual driving

i'd say don't bother though since the speed won't be impressive now that you have the IS 500! from a collector standpoint though i can honestly imagine clean examples of those early 00s AMGs becoming increasingly sought after, people see what's going on now with mercedes and realize what a special time it was to have those pretty cars available with such potent yet stout powertrains

Stroock639

i'm scrolling up seeing everyone trash the 'K car', and thinking what do people have against the Kei car?! how can someone dislike the Autozam AZ-1, Honda Beat, or Suzuki Cappuccino... i had no idea we already had a 'K car' produced by one of our automakers lmao

yea that thing looks terrible, i'm sad i kept scrolling up

Striker223

Now just imagine a little ****box like that weighing under 2100lb with a 400hp engine and manual trans. It feels like death but damn it's fast, my mentor had one like that and it's probably the scariest thing I've been in. You truly felt like you were in a tin can with uncontrolled power!

Oh great fuel economy too, low 30s not that it matters much when it felt like death is near at any speed over 40

link13

Yes, that’s the one. We also did the fake talk with the manager.

Stroock639

nearly 400 hp per ton is serious business haha, to be "as fast" a new RS 6 would need over 900 hp!

what was done to the engine? was it a swap? sounds like it'd constantly be smoking the front tires lmao