Ok, technically this 1988 Yugo GV was made for the US market so it would be 1 of 141,651 but even that number is impressive. How the company sold over 140,000 cars in the US is wild to think about now. This good looking Yugo can be found here on eBay in Miami, Florida. The seller has a $4,000 buy-it-now price listed or you can make an offer. Let’s check it out.
This is a good looking Yugo and not everyone would say that publicly. The only real glitch that I can see on the exterior is that the seller mentions that the rear half has been painted at some point and the paint doesn’t exactly match, or even really come close to matching. That’s unfortunate as repainting any car isn’t inexpensive if it’s done right. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t match, someone didn’t want to spend the money on a Yugo?
On that note, in case anyone was wondering if there is a better way to spend $4,000 than on a nice Yugo, if your goal is to have people gather around your car at every gas or grocery stop and ask questions and take photos, there isn’t. Prove me wrong. The seller provides great photos, even underside photos, so kudos to them for that. I feel like we have to openly and publicly praise sellers now when they provide good photos and enough photos because as you all know, it’s a small percentage of sellers who do that. It should be a given but it’s not.
Other than what almost looks like surface rust on the shifter and just some general dirty surfaces, the interior looks great. There is some wear and tear on the driver’s seat and the interior needs a solid day of hot-water-extraction cleaning – or steam cleaning as most people say. That may not even bring it back to looking like new again, but it should look a lot better. If you’re brave enough, you can put your luggage in the cargo area and take this baby on a weekend jaunt somewhere on a two-lane road.
This engine is a 1.1L inline-four with 55 horsepower, giving this baby a reported top speed of 86 mph, the lowest in the US at the time. The GV, for Great Value, was the base Yugo and this looks like a really nice one, mismatched paint notwithstanding. Let’s hear those Yugo stories out there!
The paint job suggests some serious body work was done on the rear half of the car. (Otherwise why not use another pint of paint and do the rest of the car?) Pretty surprising – as I recall even when these were brand new, insurance companies would total them if all they needed a fender and a windshield after a fender-bender.
Ah the Yugo. Thanks, Scotty, for another interesting blast from the past. When my daughter started driving and I provided her with a used car, I pulled up a picture of a Yugo and explained that, if she damaged “her” car, this is what I would (after some time) replace it with. The other car exists in great condition today. That any of these survived in reasonably good condition seems amazing, and it certainly would draw a crowd. Good luck to seller and buyer. Love your title, too!
In the late 80;s I was looking for a cheap, new commuter car. The local Subaru dealer was also selling Yugos. I drove the Yugo off the lot, turned around and drove it right back. I settled on a Subaru Justy for $2,000 more.
Around here it was the Dodge dealer that took on Yugo. They had a fully-loaded GVX (two-tone, factory body kit) out front for over a year, ’87 into ’88. I wonder how many Omnis it ended up selling for them.
Good looking and interior that looks great , said no one about a Yugo – ever …. Maybe ” the car looks to be in nice condtion ” ?
Not a terrible car for what it was..basic, cheap transportation. I always wondered when I first saw them what the little hood scoop was for (turbo maybe??)nahh cabin air intake
Put your luggage in this baby and take it on a weekend jaunt. Pricesless😂🤣😂
Only if it actually came with a gas tank
Are you kidding Me!??? I wouldn’t drive it around my block! I was informed that the Yugo was picked as the Number ONE worst car ever Made, & Ran some good competition with the Pinto, Citation, Vega, Etc; Etc. Oh! you can add Rambler to that list!!!!!
Putting down Rambler shows your lack of true automotive knowledge, because Ramblers, AMC actually, we’re in their day very good cars, especially for the money. In my family I have an uncle that swore by Rambler/AMC, because he bought a new one every 4 years, as a salesman he added lots of miles! Every one of his cars, that were Rambler Ambassador Station Wagons, that I remember from a new 61, through to his last one in 77, the last year! Each one ran very well an totally trouble free for over 150,000 miles, of hard miles loaded with heavy carpet samples all over the New England area, with Rhode Island as home. Just change the oil an filter, while maintaining normal maintenance and cleaning. Each one he bought had came with a small V8, after the first in 61. The reason he alway stood by AMC, was after they closed, the very first different brand he was forced to buy in 81, was a Ford Country Squire, that gave him all kinds of trouble, after that all he bought were Toyota Camry Wagons, till he retired! His son, one of my favorite cousins was also a proud owner of a new 1970 AMX, with a 390/4 brl 4 speed! He still has! At one time he owned an AWD Eagle Wagon! That was way ahead of its time!
Sorry 57Chevy, but I have to agree with K.R.V. Besides, Rambler is a model. Willys, Overland, Kaiser, Nash, AMC, and Jeep/Eagle are brands. But back to the Rambler they were good reliable cars. They covered the bases from innovative 6 cylinder power-plants, overdrive transmissions, to monsters like the SC/Rambler. No, they never had the corporate power behind them like GM, Ford, or Chrysler. But they probably hold the record for the most designs that stayed in production for two decades.
JMB#7 – Rambler began as only a model, but was then made its own brand in 1957. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambler_(automobile) )
kevanos, that link is pretty interesting. It appears that the Rambler name went from Brand to Model to Brand,and back to Model. Kind Regards…
Put a case of oil in the back and take it around the block 🤣👍
This is in response to JMB#7 & K.R.V. Sorry, but I have to disagree with both of you;. I have worked on all kinds of cars since 1955 & I can tell you both that Ramblers had more problems than most other cars put together. ie; Terrible Front Ends for one. My sister had a Rambler wagon in early 60’s. Was ALWAYS in the shop tor one thing or another. When I lived in Mpls in ’65, I rode to work with a friend in his Rambler, which he swore by, However, I had to take my own car (’59 Olds) to work & PICK HIM up MANY dayss cuz his Rambler was always in the shop getting repairs! So please don’t tell me how good Ramblers are, as I have worked on & seen Many. They are one or 2 steps above a Yugo, Which NOTHING beats, for Crapola!!!!
Hey, I’ve done my part to move these things to extinction. In 1988, a Yugo ran a red light and right into the side of my 3/4 ton Chevy pickup. It put a crease in the driver’s door of my pickup. The Yugo was totalled.
After the accident, Did the Yugo owner thank you, and buy you a nice basket of muffins?? :-) :-)
These were indeed terrible cars. I had one as a loaner car once when my car was in the shop.
That said, I hope someone buys this one (which appears to be in fairly good shape), at least cleans it (why would a seller not do that before selling it?), and preserves it for future generations.
I’m very much of the belief that even with cars like this, it is good for a few to be preserved for historical purposes. This one looks like it might be worth saving.
My late sister bought one of these new. It immediately had problems. The dealer took it back and gave her a replacement. That one quickly went bad and surprisingly they replaced it as well. The third one quickly developed power train issues, but the dealer was done. She sold it at less than a year old for virtually salvage value. So much for an economy car.
Too bad it wasn’t named “Gremlin”. GM should have gotten those and rebadged them as the “Chevy Scrotum”
Nah, it had no ba…
SO they want to pay me $4000 to remove it from their lot??–not nearly enough.
When these came out I was just out of college and if I remember correctly the dealer asking price was around 4k for a brand new car. Curiosity got the better of me and I drove over to the dealer to take a look wondering how can a car be built that can sell for so CHEAP? We. I opened the hood looked around got in the car and drove it about half a block and I had all the answers I needed!
Junk!
My friend was going too fast around a corner and went airborne and died hitting a tree and a woman got blown off the mackinac bridge. She did not have a chance to live. Went right over the guardrail without even hitting it. DANGEROUS FLAT BOTTOM!!!
It should be called the Yogoverthebridge.
The Yugo was the “Edsel” of its generation. They ceased production right before they started making the high-performance version, the Yugo 2 Hell.
Bette Midler, Drowning Mona, year 2000, featured several Yugos. Could have made the car famous.
ha ha you could buy a decent used Lexus for 4000 dollars. Hmm, which would I rather have…tough call.
Of all the bridges to be blown off that bridge would be my very LAST one to have that happen on! That is an extremely high bridge!!
My next door neighbor, a recent divorcee with a couple of bratty kids in tow bought a new red one as pictured. Had it for two months and burned a valve out of it. I told her to take it back to the dealer and complain loudly until they fixed the car. She said the mechanic told her they “sometimes smoked when being broke in.” A week later, in the dead of winter, no mo Yugo! Her Ex felt bad for her and gave her a Chevy Vega. (Quite a step up IMHO.)
Perfect car for someone crazy enough to wear a Fidel or Che T-shirt. This was I believe the only major attempt for a socialist-Marxist government made car to compete with cars made by free markets/ capitalism. Why does anybody think that government running the means of production (socialism) is a good thing?
You are correct. I’ve noticed Cuba never made a car. They (the people) just kept American ones running. Maybe they should have named the car… “YouGone.” Who in their right mind should locate the spare tire in the engine compartment ?
Subaru?
Fiat ?
Is under the car or truck any better when there is snow/slush/salt ?
Fiat. The engine compartment of the Yugo is roughly identical to the 128’s, and that’s where the spare is in both. I can’t think of any good reason why not; the underhood area in a 128 is not particularly hot, the spare is more easily accessed than it’d be in the boot, and moving it to work on the engine is no big deal at all.
In a be of the car rags I subscribe to, they did an article on the worst cars ever made in the history of mankind, to include Fred Flinstones car. Guess which car reigned supreme?
A few things about a Yugo, first under the skin it is a FIAT which lots of people are no doubt aware stands for FIX it AGAIN TONY. A Yugo was also a featured car in the Movie Dragnet. They kept wrecking cars and were finally given a Yugo. Dan Ackroyd had a great line on getting the car, something about the finest Serbo Croatian Technology. It comes down to being a glorified riding lawnmower Only the lawnmower is more reliable.
Now that we’ve all had our fun … as this is (I’ve mentioned before) simply a laterally-sectioned Fiat 128, and as the Fiat 128 was in my extensive experience one heck of a dandy little car, any inherent flaw is necessarily due to poor quality control at the factory. And we know that the Yugo factory was not particularly good at catching duds.
The engine itself was one of two fine Fiat designs by Aurelio Lampredi, who had a few Ferraris on his resumé and so obviously knew what he was doing. The single-OHC version in the 128 is actually my favorite, and when it’s built from pieces carefully inspected for casting deficiencies it is he** for strong, as we used to say. The only one I’ve ever seen blown up from over-revving had well over 100K hard miles on it, and then driven by teenagers seeing how fast they could go in 2nd gear. When a Yugo engine was good it was very good, and highly valued by 128 owners as a spare or replacement, since Fiat was no help at all.
Anyway, if this were a whole lot closer to me than Florida I might break quarantine for a look, but even after my long, long disclaimer here I’m not about to consider driving it to SoCal from Florida.
Thank you for your account. I have not had any first hand experience with Yugo, but a lady that I worked with years back had one. She owned it thru high-school & college and put a lot of miles on it. Never had a problem with it, and loved it like many people loved VW Bugs back in their heyday. Of course, she was probably easy on it and what “kid” that age isn’t happy with anything that runs. But that is the point. For her it always would run and never let her down.
Gee,, They need to bring back the TV show: Believe It Or Not & that should be the Featured story!
Like the Model T Ford,these things started at the bottom and went down from there.Small and scary,wear it like a jacket……maybe.
Drugs, drugs, drugs!
The seller is on drugs !
$4000.00 for a yugo fok yourself !
Drugs, drugs, drugs
The seller is on drugs …
And any buyer would be on Heavier Drugs & twice the Dose!!!
I think Jay Leno had this in a monologue: “Three guys in LA were arrested in a Yugo, for a Push-By shooting.”
Claudio, I would think so, because if the engine catches fire (saw a VW engine on fire once on the way to a salmon fishing trip. Poor guy, the bite was on… no time to stop and help,) the tire helps feed the flames. Your reasoning is why I moved my spare to the inside of my Bronco. I’ve long thought that if they made roads out of rubber and tires out of stone or concrete we might get better mileage out of a set.
This is in response to JMB#7 & K.R.V. Sorry, but I have to disagree with both of you;. I have worked on all kinds of cars since 1955 & I can tell you both that Ramblers had more problems than most other cars put together. ie; Terrible Front Ends for one. My sister had a Rambler wagon in early 60’s. Was ALWAYS in the shop tor one thing or another. When I lived in Mpls in ’65, I rode to work with a friend in his Rambler, which he swore by, However, I had to take my own car (’59 Olds) to work & PICK HIM up MANY dayss cuz his Rambler was always in the shop getting repairs! So please don’t tell me how good Ramblers are, as I have worked on & seen Many. They are one or 2 steps above a Yugo, Which NOTHING beats, for Crapola!!!!
This is in response to JMB#7 & K.R.V. Sorry, but I have to disagree with both of you;. I have worked on all kinds of cars since 1955 & I can tell you both that Ramblers had more problems than most other cars put together. ie; Terrible Front Ends for one. My sister had a Rambler wagon in early 60’s. Was ALWAYS in the shop tor one thing or another. When I lived in Mpls in ’65, I rode to work with a friend in his Rambler, which he swore by, However, I had to take my own car (’59 Olds) to work & PICK HIM up MANY days cuz his Rambler was always in the shop getting repairs! So please don’t tell me how good Ramblers are, as I have worked on & seen Many. They are one or 2 steps above a Yugo, Which NOTHING beats, for Crapola!!!!
I am sorry to hear that you had such a poor experience with Ramblers. Dad usually bought new and drove Nash/AMC from the mid-40’s until his last AMC a ’77 Hornet. All survived on basic maintenance. I would never defend the Yugo, beyond the fact that I knew one person who did little more than the basics and kept it going for a reasonable life. I have worked on many brands of cars from the early 60’s to present, primarily American, German, British, & Japanese. I have my sore spots too… GM rust in the ’70’s and GM V6 engines in the ’80’s. Beyond that I have had very little difficulty sorting things out and keeping them reliably running for as long as I desired. In general, I buy cars with over 100k miles and don’t sell them until they have 200k to 330k miles. But I admit to being weird because I also like 12A rotary engines. Rock solid if built right.
Oh! The Rotary Engine!!!!!! Isn’t that the Gas Guzzler Mazda that goes Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!
Mr. 57Chevy, I enjoyed the conversation. No actually I get about 22 mpg on a 1982 RX7 spirited driving, 130k miles, as delivered by Mazda. But you are correct that it goes Hmmmm
Many years ago on a trip thru Ohio on I-71 North there were 7 cars setting along the toad and ALL were Ramblers and like the Lark I had,another string of junk cars when they were made.
The 7 Ramblers were all in a 100 mile section of that the new highway.
I Worked In The Bodyshop Of A Pontiac Dealer that sold Yugos. They were pretty much junk, but i gotta tell you, i cut off a 1/4 panel on one, and could not believe how thick the metal was. Not that it was any good, but it sure was thicker than anything else on the road at the time..
I had one in college. Very reliable, except for one small issue. I worked at the local airport and we used a hoist to put a 300lb concrete tailwheel weight in the back to help with winter traction. It worked—the combination of near-equal weight distribution and skinny tires made for a vehicle that pretty much refused to get stuck in the snow!
Of course come springtime the hatch latch broke and we couldn’t open the hatch to remove the weight. I sold the car a year later—with the weight still in place. 😂
Great final choice Steve!!!
I wouldn’t think more weight in back would help a FWD car that much. I never had anything but 145/13 Pirelli radials on the 128, and through a very icy/snowy winter I could not get it stuck. I remember going up one ice-covered hill, slow but steady in 2nd gear, having to pick my way between the several guys trying to make me turn around. That was kinda fun, especially when I topped it. I also enjoyed playing one day in foot-deep + snow, with my wife and toddler kid watching in case I got stuck. Never did!
This Yugo is now in Miami, Florida. Maybe the car’s ability on snow-covered roads is why the current owner thinks it’s worth $4,000. :-) :-)
Anyone who pays 4 Grand for this Chunk of feces needs the Best Shrink money can buy!!!
Guy walks into an auto parts store and says “I need a hubcap for my Yugo.” Person at counter thinks about it and says, “Yeah, ok, that’s a fair trade.”
In 1987-88 I used to commute from Middletown NY to New Milford NJ down the New York State Thruway in my ’84 Monte Carlo V8. Left lane, wide open, pretty much the whole way, usually with this electric blue Yugo glued to my rear bumper. Pretty much figured he would get his car caught in my draft and come along for the ride, but I really admired his courage.
Hello Matt, very good also friend of mine an myself, were into Monte’s. I had bought my first off a great guy that drove trucks for my Dads Company, that was the original owner of a 1970 Monte he ordered loaded with every option, including the Luxury Package that included a beautiful black silk like cloth interior with bench seats that both had arm rests, AM/FM 8 Track, with 4 speakers, Cruise Control and full instruments including Tachometer. The engine was a 350/300hp 4 brl Dual Exhaust. Plus he made sure to get a good all around rear end, so that was handled with a 3:23 Posi., with a nice thick anti-sway bar. The car was a dark met grey, with black vinyl roof. That was a great car, the first of all we both had, because I sold it to him when I moved to California for a year. When I returned he still had that Monte, with over 150,000 miles on it! There were a few others between us but that was the best. Mike had later on bought a 71 Monte SS 454, that ran amazingly well, but got only 8-12 mpg! I ended up getting married and life happened. I did get in touch with Mike later on in the 90’s, that had him still driving a Monte! He owned a different Monte every other year, till he finally could not find good rear wheel drive Montes anymore and went out an bought a new SS Monte in a think was 2002, that he later traded for a V8 powered Intimidator Dale Earnheart Edition. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2007, where he willed his car to his young brother, who had no interest in it. I tried to buy it but he was too greedy and wanted too much! I also dated a great girl way back in the late ’70s, whose Dad had a beautiful I believe was a 74, the first year of the second generation, that was also a Luxury Edition, but had a Big Block in it, he bought new in Canada! That I always thought was very odd, a Big Block with a 2 brl carb an single exhaust!
oh yeah! are you sure that was a Yugo? Not an Abarth Fiat?
That’s funny, but I’ve kinda been there: I had an Austin Mini 850 Countryman – 1200 pounds of timber-sided metal with the aerodynamics of a dresser drawer – and on runs from Sonora, CA over to the Bay Area I had a very long uphill grade west of Tracy that would have me in 3rd gear all the way up … And then I learned that the Greyhound bus for San Francisco left Tracy at 3:30 every day. So if I got to Tracy at that time I’d be behind the bus, which did about 50 mph up the grade. And so did I, in 4th!
How much trade in value would the Yugo have on the Cord we saw here?
I delivered pizza 16 to 18 years ago and had a regular with one of these at the back of his driveway collecting leaves. One day, I pulled up to see it parked on the lawn and cleaned up. I asked the guy what he had planned for it. He enthusiastically screamed for his roommate. $100 for a running 1988 Yugo. I put 15,000 miles on it and then sold it for $350.
For a cheap car, I liked it. Fuel efficient and always ran. When I first started driving it, I was afraid to go over 9,000 rpms. I got a little ballsier and took it to 13,000. Eventually, I decided I didn’t care if I blew the engine, so I pushed it to it’s max 16,200 rpms. My first hand experience with the Yugo has left me quite impressed and if I saw that car with a $600 price tag, I would have to buy it.