Monday, April 6, 2009

What was your favorite 1980s subcompact?

1988 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo
The 1980s offered a variety of subcompact car choices in the U.S. The early part of the '80s offered up vehicles like the Toyota Starlet and Tercel; the Plymouth Champ (which was essentially a Mitsubishi Colt), and the venerable VW Rabbit. The mid-'80s had vehicles such as the Mitsubishi Mirage, the Chevrolet Sprint, and Ford Festiva. The late '80s subcompacts thinned out a bit, but vehicles like the Suzuki Swfit/Geo Metro appeared as did the Subaru Justy. Heck, you could probably include the Suzuki Samurai in there, too.

In the '80s, my family owned a Plymouth Champ, Mitsubishi Mirage, and a Dodge Omni. Yes, they were pretty neat little cars, but there were a few vehicle that I've always thouth were just uber cool. For instance, a few of my favorites include the late 1980s Suzuki Swift GT; the Chevrolet Sprint Turbo; the Mitsubishi Mirage Turbo; and of course the Subaru Justy with it's three-cylinder engine and four-wheel drive.

So what's your favorite 1980s subcompact? Give your answer in the comments section.

3 comments:

T.G. said...

I'm glad you asked the question but it's hard for me to pick just one.My favorites would have to be the 1981 Honda City,1985 Renault Alliance/Encore especially the convertible,Toyota MR2,and the Czech subcompact sedan the 1984 Skoda 120 that my family owned.I liked the car it had unique styling ,it was rear engined,and had a spacious trunk in the front.It was sort of like an old Beetle with a boxy sedan body.I would have added the Renault 5,the 81 Ford Fiesta,Fiat X 1/9,Volkswagen Scirocco,and the Volkswagen Rabbit convertible but those cars were designed and began production in the 70's so I suppose they may not be "purely 80's" despite their popularity in the early to mid 80's.

nlpnt said...

Gotta say Omni/Horizon for sentimental reasons- my Cub Scout denmother had a '78 or '79, my mom had an ice-blue '86 Horizon automatic which was the first vehicle I ever drove on public roads, my first car was an '81 Omni Miser with the PSA 1.7 and 4 speed stick......

......I *WILL* own a GLHS someday!

Andy Lilienthal said...

Yes, the GLHS can easily be turned into a monster. I've seen a number of them at the local drag strips.

The other car I kind of forgot to mention was my first vehicle: a 1992 Mitsubishi Expo LRV. At the time I didn't like it because it wasn't "cool" (I was in high school and college, but was glad to have wheels). However, after I got rid of it in 1999, I quickly realized how convenient it was. I drove all over the Mid West in that thing, too. Sold it with 118,000 on the odometer after going through two sets of CV joints. Neat little car, though. I wouldn't mind having a 1994 with the 2.4 liter, a 5-speed, and AWD. Funny thing is, the exterior dimensions were nearly identical to the first-generation Scion xB.