GM X-Cars
- Thread starter GumbyJarvis
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No, they weren't very good It=dead years of the US auto industry. Reminds of the Minnesota Highway Patrol using a yellow Citation X11 as an 'unmarked' car on 35W south of Duluth. Yellow gets attention, but folks often missed the very small patrol sticker on the doors. When they did, it was usually too late.
That yellow turbo model looks sweet!
Citations were truly garbage.
Citations were truly garbage.
Ah the chevy citation...my HS had 2 for driver's Ed cars ,up until about 90. replaced with a First GenTaurus, and a Plymouth Acclaim, last of the K Cars... (I learned in the Taurus)
My Goodness, that article brought back some awful memories. My girlfriends brand new Chevy Citation, a Connecticut highway, transmission failure, 32.1f degrees out late at night and raining. Along with road traffic splashing me. It was a miserable night getting that heap off interstate 95 and down the ramp.
I've not seen one for sale in many years!
I can feel the bile rising up into my mouth just thinking about that car.
I've not seen one for sale in many years!
I can feel the bile rising up into my mouth just thinking about that car.
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My mother had a 1980 Buick Skylark with a 2.8 V6. Not a bad car after we got past a few new-model quirks. I remember we had an unusual fuel leak fixed. She put a lot of miles on it in 5 years before she got rid of it for a 1985 Chevy Cavalier.
GrtArtiste
GrtArtiste
Those were dark days for GM. My dad, always a GM fan, tried to push me to buy one of those brand new... the dealer's close was "can we build one for you?".... Nope.
I ran as fast as I could to the Honda store and bought a brand spanking new 1982 Accord. I loved that car. Dad... never warmed up to it, though, as a former GM employee, he was impressed by the build quality.
I ran as fast as I could to the Honda store and bought a brand spanking new 1982 Accord. I loved that car. Dad... never warmed up to it, though, as a former GM employee, he was impressed by the build quality.
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I came of age right when the roads were THICK with GM X-bodies and GM A-bodies. They were EVERYWHERE.
I got a ride to school every morning in an Olds Omega 4-door. Our next-door neighbour had a blue Pontiac Pheonix. My best buddy's mom had a 1987 Century.
When looking for my first car, went to govt. auction that had row upon row of poop-brown Citation 4-door 4-cylinder cars for $1k each. On and on I could go....
My first car was a 1985 Buick Skyhawk, not the exact same thing, but close.
I have to disagree with the general assessment of these cars - for the period, they were very modern, and far more reliable than most of what was on the road at the time. The 2.8L V-6 was an excellent engine, many went for 200k+ easily. YES, the rear brakes did have issues, all front-drive GM's did in that era, including my Skyhawk.
The Citation X-11, with its V-6 and 4-speed manual, was a sporty, very quick car for the period.
Over all 4 models, they sold over 1 million units in the first year - how many vehicles can say that? They deserve more respect than they get.
I got a ride to school every morning in an Olds Omega 4-door. Our next-door neighbour had a blue Pontiac Pheonix. My best buddy's mom had a 1987 Century.
When looking for my first car, went to govt. auction that had row upon row of poop-brown Citation 4-door 4-cylinder cars for $1k each. On and on I could go....
My first car was a 1985 Buick Skyhawk, not the exact same thing, but close.
I have to disagree with the general assessment of these cars - for the period, they were very modern, and far more reliable than most of what was on the road at the time. The 2.8L V-6 was an excellent engine, many went for 200k+ easily. YES, the rear brakes did have issues, all front-drive GM's did in that era, including my Skyhawk.
The Citation X-11, with its V-6 and 4-speed manual, was a sporty, very quick car for the period.
Over all 4 models, they sold over 1 million units in the first year - how many vehicles can say that? They deserve more respect than they get.
The rear brakes were really grabby because at the last second they found that the e-brake wouldn't hold the car from rolling down a San Francisco hill. So they just put grabby shoes in and called it good.
I had a 92 cutlass ciera and it usually locked up the LR wheel on the first stop after it rained.
The A-body wound up being okay-ish at the end, especially the ones with buick 3.3s and 3.8s. My mailman had a wagon. He sat in the middle of its bench seat, from where he could steer it, brake, and still reach the mail boxes. Its rocker panels were all dented in from him running over stuff in the ditch. Didn't seem to stop it.
I had a 92 cutlass ciera and it usually locked up the LR wheel on the first stop after it rained.
The A-body wound up being okay-ish at the end, especially the ones with buick 3.3s and 3.8s. My mailman had a wagon. He sat in the middle of its bench seat, from where he could steer it, brake, and still reach the mail boxes. Its rocker panels were all dented in from him running over stuff in the ditch. Didn't seem to stop it.
I bought one when they first came out. Those Citations deserved no respect at all. I've never seen a car executed so poorly.
I special ordered mine around April '79 from AAFES in Okinawa. V6, M4, not the X11, but it had all the X11 items except the decals. Arranged to pick it up in Flint Michigan (to avoid sales tax and minimize transportation charges) and drove it across country to Oregon to register it.
As it began to get dark that first day the semis behind me were flashing their lights at me. I pulled over and discovered the backup lights were on. Opened the rear hatch, and painted surfaces on the hatch and body scraped together. Pulled the bulbs and continued. Harbinger of things to come.
After getting to my permanent base, I drove it for a couple of months. Then, on the way to work one morning, the oil pump fell off. Pressure dropped to zero pretty quickly. Towed to the dealer where it sat for 7 weeks. I asked them to take care of the leaking sunroof and the paint where it looked like it was buffed out by a grinding wheel (pretty much all over the body).
After them having it for 7 weeks, they did nothing to fix the sunroof or paint. Went back. On the drive home a week later it rained, and water started pouring in through the closed sunroof. The car went right back. A week later I picked up. They had used a couple of beads of silicone glue to seal the sunroof, glueing it down and preventing the removable sunroof from being opened to the second detent, or ever being removed. I am proud of myself for leaving, as if I had gotten ahold of who ever did the repair I would have spent a lot of time in jail.
In the 10 months I had the car, it was at the dealers for over a third of it. Before I took the unresolved issues up with GM (I wanted the sunroof fixed, the paint fixed, and an extended engine warranty because of the oil pump failure) my wife totaled the car.
I special ordered mine around April '79 from AAFES in Okinawa. V6, M4, not the X11, but it had all the X11 items except the decals. Arranged to pick it up in Flint Michigan (to avoid sales tax and minimize transportation charges) and drove it across country to Oregon to register it.
As it began to get dark that first day the semis behind me were flashing their lights at me. I pulled over and discovered the backup lights were on. Opened the rear hatch, and painted surfaces on the hatch and body scraped together. Pulled the bulbs and continued. Harbinger of things to come.
After getting to my permanent base, I drove it for a couple of months. Then, on the way to work one morning, the oil pump fell off. Pressure dropped to zero pretty quickly. Towed to the dealer where it sat for 7 weeks. I asked them to take care of the leaking sunroof and the paint where it looked like it was buffed out by a grinding wheel (pretty much all over the body).
After them having it for 7 weeks, they did nothing to fix the sunroof or paint. Went back. On the drive home a week later it rained, and water started pouring in through the closed sunroof. The car went right back. A week later I picked up. They had used a couple of beads of silicone glue to seal the sunroof, glueing it down and preventing the removable sunroof from being opened to the second detent, or ever being removed. I am proud of myself for leaving, as if I had gotten ahold of who ever did the repair I would have spent a lot of time in jail.
In the 10 months I had the car, it was at the dealers for over a third of it. Before I took the unresolved issues up with GM (I wanted the sunroof fixed, the paint fixed, and an extended engine warranty because of the oil pump failure) my wife totaled the car.
Just a mess all around of a car. I feel bad for people who bought it.
GMs first decent smaller car came with the Cruze because they imported it from GM Europe.
GMs first decent smaller car came with the Cruze because they imported it from GM Europe.
There was no quality control whatsoever. They were released just as the Iranian Islamic revolution took place. Gas mileage became paramount.
Between the time I ordered mine, and it was totaled GM made 7 price increases. I paid $5600 for mine (zero tax and minimal transportation charges) and the insurance layoff was $7800. Needless to say, I did not replace it with another.
Between the time I ordered mine, and it was totaled GM made 7 price increases. I paid $5600 for mine (zero tax and minimal transportation charges) and the insurance layoff was $7800. Needless to say, I did not replace it with another.
The X-body program wasn't a last-minute, thrown together project - these cars were in development since the early 1970's. Which makes it a bit more sad that there were still these issues.
You still have to give credit for GM for being a trailblazer - in 1980, what other domestic maker had a mid-size, front-drive sedan? Hmm...wait....no-one. Chrysler had the K-car, which was a similar size, in 1981. Ford didn't have the Taurus until 1986!
The late Gary Allan has many posts on here about his mom's 1980 Citation V-6....went 225k miles, 20k M1 5W-30 changes, no real issues except a transmission-chain issue.
I think if you somehow talked to all the people who had these cars, you'd have more good experiences than bad.
You still have to give credit for GM for being a trailblazer - in 1980, what other domestic maker had a mid-size, front-drive sedan? Hmm...wait....no-one. Chrysler had the K-car, which was a similar size, in 1981. Ford didn't have the Taurus until 1986!
The late Gary Allan has many posts on here about his mom's 1980 Citation V-6....went 225k miles, 20k M1 5W-30 changes, no real issues except a transmission-chain issue.
I think if you somehow talked to all the people who had these cars, you'd have more good experiences than bad.
The Canadian market may have sourced their cars from a different factory than the lower 48. I am aware of a number of problem cars in my local area, and nobody that was happy with their X-bodies in the long term. It wasn't that the basic design was bad, just that GM could sell every one they could make in the first year. They were pumping them out as fast as they could with no quality control. The program printed money for them.
I didn't learn my lesson completely. My next new car was a Buick Century wagon (3rd kid, wife insisted) with the 3.8. Good car, but electronics and tranny wore out at the 100k point. Every GM since then has been a rear or 4 wheel drive vehicle. They seem to get those right.
I didn't learn my lesson completely. My next new car was a Buick Century wagon (3rd kid, wife insisted) with the 3.8. Good car, but electronics and tranny wore out at the 100k point. Every GM since then has been a rear or 4 wheel drive vehicle. They seem to get those right.
Originally Posted by addyguy
The X-body program wasn't a last-minute, thrown together project - these cars were in development since the early 1970's. Which makes it a bit more sad that there were still these issues.
You still have to give credit for GM for being a trailblazer - in 1980, what other domestic maker had a mid-size, front-drive sedan? Hmm...wait....no-one. Chrysler had the K-car, which was a similar size, in 1981. Ford didn't have the Taurus until 1986!
The late Gary Allan has many posts on here about his mom's 1980 Citation V-6....went 225k miles, 20k M1 5W-30 changes, no real issues except a transmission-chain issue.
I think if you somehow talked to all the people who had these cars, you'd have more good experiences than bad.
The X-car wasn't midsize, it was compact.
It was dreadful, one of the worst cars ever dumped on an unsuspecting public.
The X-body program wasn't a last-minute, thrown together project - these cars were in development since the early 1970's. Which makes it a bit more sad that there were still these issues.
You still have to give credit for GM for being a trailblazer - in 1980, what other domestic maker had a mid-size, front-drive sedan? Hmm...wait....no-one. Chrysler had the K-car, which was a similar size, in 1981. Ford didn't have the Taurus until 1986!
The late Gary Allan has many posts on here about his mom's 1980 Citation V-6....went 225k miles, 20k M1 5W-30 changes, no real issues except a transmission-chain issue.
I think if you somehow talked to all the people who had these cars, you'd have more good experiences than bad.
The X-car wasn't midsize, it was compact.
It was dreadful, one of the worst cars ever dumped on an unsuspecting public.
I had read about torque steer but did not know what it was until my sister bought a Buick Skylark.
Hard to belive she could have bought an Accord or Camry for less than she paid. But the Buick was a V6 and the Japanese cars were only 4 cyl
That V6 was smogged to death!
Hard to belive she could have bought an Accord or Camry for less than she paid. But the Buick was a V6 and the Japanese cars were only 4 cyl
That V6 was smogged to death!
AZjeff
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We had a 1980 Citation X11, these were decal cars, no performance upgrades. I always thought it could have been a good car. It got totalled by a drunk driver and we bought an 82 Citation as we really didn't have any more problems than any other Chevy would have. Both were 4 speeds. The weird thing about the rear suspension geometry was if you put the e-brake on while rolling it would suck the back end down or to think of it another way it was pulling the rear twist axle up. So, hard braking unweights the rear and they naturally want to unload, no wonder they spun out.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/usergals/2019/06/full-39399-33628-index.jpg "[Linked Image]")
The sad and tragic part is that the basic engineering and design of the X cars was actually VERY good, the problem was execution, that was HORRID.
If these cars would have been built with the type of QC we have today in US products they would have been excellent cars for the time, possibly as good or better than the Japanese competition.
Just proves that US manglement in the car business was awful until the early 2000s or so.
If these cars would have been built with the type of QC we have today in US products they would have been excellent cars for the time, possibly as good or better than the Japanese competition.
Just proves that US manglement in the car business was awful until the early 2000s or so.
Bought my son a high mileage Citation for transportation to high school. It was in very good condition, needed nothing for state inspection. We found an X11 hood wheels and wing and he had a friend paint it Porsche black silver. Being the 4 cyl it was gutless but it was a hit at high school. He put 20000 thousand miles on it with no problems other than having to replace the left side trans axle seal. Sold it to a neighbor who hammered it till it blew the trans.
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I like that Sport Omega!!
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