I happened to see this old 1982 MotorWeek comparison test somewhere online, or maybe I found it on a VHS tape that was tossed into my usual pornography ravine in the forests on the outskirts of town; I can’t quite recall. But it hardly matters, because the subject is interesting enough, regardless. This was the venerable Maryland Public Television show’s very first multi-car road test comparison episode! And it’s comparing one of my absolute favorite categories of cars ever, the shitbox! Okay, fine, small economy cars, whatever.
The comparison test includes four quite popular small economy front-wheel drive hatchbacks sold in America at the time: the Westmoreland, Pennsylvania-built Volkswagen Rabbit; the captive Mitsubishi-import Dodge Colt; the Nissan Sentra (which is not a hatchback, but a trunk’d notchback); and the Renault LeCar. There are some pretty notable absences here: where’s the Toyota Tercel? Or the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon? Or the Ford Escort? Or, hell, a Honda Civic! Why isn’t that one in the mix?
The Mazda GLC was still RWD at this time, as was the Chevrolet Chevette, so I’m not surprised those two weren’t here. Still, I guess these were the four cars they happened to have on hand at once, probably.
It’s still a pretty good roundup, though. Here, tell your valet to hold your calls and solicitors for 30 minutes and watch for yourself!
What I found most interesting while watching this was just how many opinions and feelings I had about these cars! I knew exactly which one I’d pick as my own car, and, unsurprisingly, it was the one that ranked the worst. Maybe you guessed it already. I’d have picked the Renault LeCar.
Sure, it’s the smallest and least powerful at 51 hp and has only three-lug wheels, but I’m an absolute sucker for idiosyncratic French car designs. It has different length wheelbases on each side! What more do you want from a car? I’m fond of all the cars in this roundup, but knowing which one I’d want to drive home was very easy for me.
I also think the best-looking of the crew is the Colt; it’s such a clean, pleasing design (I’ve written about my fondness for it before), and for once, MotorWeek seemed to agree with me:
I’m also fond of the VW Rabbit; I remember being a kid in 1980 after my dad’s ’68 Beetle caught on fire and looking for new cars, and the Rabbit was my favorite of what we saw. Of course, some of that may have been my VW loyalty (plus there was a convertible Beetle in the showroom that I was still hoping to steer my parents towards), and maybe my overall opinions were suspect, because my other favorite was the AMC Pacer. My parents, seemingly unafflicted by whatever the hell is wrong with me, ended up with a Honda Accord.
The Rabbit always just seemed like a really competent and rational take on the small hatchback. It’s also the only one of these I’ve actually owned, albeit in convertible form, but it was a 1982 car. I really liked it! They’re surprisingly fun and, of course, quite useful little cars.
The Sentra, on the other hand, I find the most boring of all of these. It’s just the one I feel like I’d enjoy the least if I had one today. It’s absolutely competent and well-built and scored the best in MotorWeek’s tests:
These results are pretty much the exact opposite of my personal preferences, though maybe I could swap the middle two? The fact that my list is reversed maybe should be a warning to everyone next time you read one of my reviews. Clearly, I may be operating under some rules that don’t exactly coincide with reality. Oh well.
But hey – I want to know what you think! I’m going to have two polls here today, one for your first choice, one for your last! For the middle, well, who cares, right?
First, your winner:
Now, the loser:
I’m ambivalent about the VW,Rabbit since it’s the debased Westmoreland version. I had a couple of Sciroccos and an 84 Jetta and I really liked the,German made cars unlike my friend’s 1980 Rabbit stripper with the single carb instead of fuel injection
My mom bought a LeCar new in 1980, at the insistence of her father, who was laboring under a sense of loyalty to AMC, since his grandfather had been a Hudson dealer.
Her greatest act of rebellion was, in 1984, trading in that piece of junk on a new Chevrolet Cavalier, and my parents only drove Chevys for a solid chunk of the ’80s and ’90s.
“My parents … ended up with a Honda Accord.”
Your parents made the correct choice.
*Reads headline*
*Reads byline*
I’m surprised that he’s surprised. You need more self-awareness Torch.
I bought a new ’79 Le Car with the cloth sunroof, after trying all of the tested cars except the Sentra. I can’t say I ever had more fun with a car. It was smooth riding, nice handling, close to a convertible with the top and windows open, could carry up to 6 in a pinch, and with the rear set down you could carry file cabinets and the like. The downsides were noise, and given urban street parking, the cloth top. I put just about 100K miles on it with no issues over 2 or 3 years, then traded it in on a Saab 900. That car was still out and about years later, easily identified by a vinyl patch I sewed over a knife slit.
Jason let me guess at Christmas time you pick the Charlie Brown Tree?
When I was a kid I had a LeCar Matchbox car, and I thought it was one of the coolest in my collection! I had long since lost it by the time I realized the real thing was a total shitbox. Funny thing was, I don’t recall ever seeing one in person! One of the reasons I liked the Matchbox version so much is because “kid me” didn’t think they were ever sold here in the U.S.
“Adult me” is still wondering: Were they really sold in the U.S.?
It’s pretty wild to see videos in period of crash safety testing for Beetles, Super Beetles, and Mk1 Golfs and see how the former two actually fare better than the latter, lol.
Dunno how the Renault would do in crash safety testing but that’s my pick and as much as I like the Mk1 Golf I’ll take a Super Beetle in its stead…
Its weird for something from the 1930s vs something from the 1970s, but I think the thicker, heavier sheet metal on the Beetle maybe helped compensate a little. Plus, of course, the later US-market Super Beetles did at least get side impact beams and a deformable dashboard
Top for me by just a whisker over the Rabbit is the LeCar. Having driven a few in period but never owned one, I find them delightful, especially with the huge cloth sunroof. Cheap and cheerful done right, as the French are so good at. If this was an earlier German-made Rabbit that would have been top for me though. The Westmorland cars are a bit of a sad shadow.
But bottom for sure, with a bullet, is the Sentra. My newly-divorced mother bought one new, and it was a complete and utter heap of poo, and so was the Stanza that quickly followed it when Nissan could not get the autotragic in the Sentra to shift properly. And then the Stanza’s transmission blew up too. Some things just never change. By then she was out of the dire financial straits of the divorce and went back to buying reliable Saabs.
The Colt is fine, I guess it would be kind of cool if it had the TwinStick thing (I didn’t watch the review yet). But I’d still rather have either of the Euroboxes.
Having driven none of the four, I gave practicality a nod by ranking the Colt ahead of le Le Car, especially since the example tested had an automatic. It would have been quicker, less expensive and more economical with either manual, but the Twin-Stick would be best of all. But une Le Car with the only longitudinal engine and front drive in the segment would have far more charm avec or sans Le Grand Sunroof. And those were the ones in the segment that interested me most at the time.
Hot take: Mazda should have stayed RWD to differentiate themselves from other Japanese manufacturers.
Jason’s wrong on them, the GLC hatchback and sedan were on their second model year of being FWD by ’82. Only the wagon stayed on the old RWD platform for the next couple years.
I’ve had a twin-stick ’84 Colt and I liked it, so it’s a close second place, but I gotta go Rabbit for the fuel injection. Carburetors in ’82 were miserable, with vacuum lines and electrical wires running every which way like Medusa having a bad hair day.
I’d put the Renault at the bottom of the heap as an economy car, primarily because of its weirdness. But it might make the most interesting classic today.
I’ve had a twin-stick ’84 Colt and I liked it
taste of her cherry chapstick
The only one of these I’ve purchased (twice) is the LeCar, so I’ve voted with my wallet.
If they are so good why did you have to buy two? Just saying…
Bought the first one very cheaply to see if I liked it, and I did, but it was rough enough that it was better to sell it and find a better one than fix the rough one. So I did that, and loved the second one for 5 years.
I drove a ‘63 Renault Caravelle S in high school (2 seat convertible). I also bought a new ‘79 Rabbit for my first new car. I’m down for the LeCar! The Colt looks good externally, but they had cheap interiors. The Pennsylvania Rabbits were not as good as the Wolfsburg Rabbits. The Nissan is boring as hell. Viva LeCar!
Colt, all the way.
If the budget stretches a little more I might consider the Sentra in its’ fastback wagon form.
I kinda want a Sentra just because it’s so wildly sad and depressing. In Japan, the fastback wagon was sold as the Nissan Sunny California, which is a pretty good name.
I had a hard time picking my least favorite. I’d be delighted to have any of these now, but I’m not sure I would have been delighted to have any of these back in ’82.
“ I’d have picked the Renault LeCar.”
I know people who owned LeCars up here in Canada… and they were CRAAAAAAP. They didn’t hold up well at all. Plus parts were unusually expensive.
If it was me picking, the Dodge/Mitsubishi Colt would be my pick
C’mon I know all of these are questionable in the safety range but only the LeCar are you safer as a pedestrian being hit by a LeCar over the driver of the LeCar.
I’ve owned 4 LeCars and they’re wonderful. By far the most fun to drive of all of these. Sure it’s the least powerful, but that’s meaningless with an econobox in base format. It’s got the neatest suspension, the comfiest seats, it looks fantastic, its radio points to the ceiling, you could get it with a gigantic sunroof, it has graphics galore. It’s awesome. It’s also not unreliable. It’s can be a pain to work on for certain things, but who cares?
“ I’d have picked the Renault LeCar.”
That’s not what I heard from people who owned them here in Canada.
They loved them everywhere else in the world.
When they were initially sold, people loved them here as well. But that love got soured as they didn’t hold up as well as even the typical American car… let alone Japanese cars.
I don’t know that I’d be so quick to say that. Japanese cars were notorious for rusting back then and American cars definitely had build quality issues. I daily drove a Le Car that was 35+ years old for several years in L.A. and it held up just fine.
Where you don’t have to worry about rust? I bet you wouldn’t drive one in LA FREEWAY now.
I was doing it just a few years ago, so yes, I would.
“Japanese cars were notorious for rusting back then”
It was mainly the Hondas up to the mid to late 1980s that were known for that.
The Toyotas and Datsuns weren’t as bad for rust based on what I saw growing up in the Toronto area.
Honda still had rust problems well into the current century, them and Mazda seem to be the brands to show corrosion around the rear wheel arches before any other cars of the same age
The rustiest car I ever owned was a ’78 Toyota wagon. And I watched a few Datsuns completely dissolve when I lived in Boston. Most cars rusted back then.
Yes thank you
Then wouldn’t Renault be a more successful car company?
One of the 3 oldest, still independent.
In my view a success
They’re an incredibly successful car company.
Having owned two in Canada I must have been the exception.
I even lucked into winning a few autoslalom trophies and it had to be the cars.
As I mentioned above, if they are such good vehicles why did you have to buy 4? Kept falling apart maybe?
No, I had 4 because I loved them. I used to fix them up and release them back into the wild. And everyone who bought one of mine was happy they did. The only reason I don’t have one now is lack of space. I don’t understand how a fan of Fiat Spyders can’t appreciate a Le Car. 70s Fiats were way shittier than Renaults.
LeJunk.Those cars were junk when they were new.I remember a yellow one in town when I was a kid and you could see it rusting away within a few years.
They really weren’t junk, though. They sold millions of them all over the world. North Americans just apparently don’t know how to maintain cars.
This is the God’s Honest Truth. Americans, and evidently Canadians, are absolute Hell on cars.
It’s not maintenance in as much as something like the le Car was just unsuitable for a lot of people, as well as the climate. It wasn’t going to be good at an even vaguely long commute and they rusted away faster than anything else.
I live near Chicago, and there’s a reason why these just didnt exist by about 1987 (or cars like the Colt, Sentra, or any Honda of the era). They just dissolved after a few winters. No amount of Rusty Jones treatment could keep them in one piece.
Also Strange no Citation. It might have been a ringer with a 2.8 V6 though, or maybe not, they were not the greatest cars either.
It was a whole class bigger and more expensive.
I missed the subcompact name initially, I got ya.
Motorweek actually did a ‘family-size’ hatchback comparison a year or two later, and included a GM X-body (albeit the Pontiac Phoenix instead of the Citation.) https://youtu.be/Mse9vPql98g?si=NkBTNN5Vn5Zf9KGM
“The comparison test includes five quite popular small economy front-wheel drive hatchbacks sold in America at the time: Rabbit; Colt; Sentra; and LeCar. There are some pretty notable absences here:”
One notable absence is the fifth car. But I just came back from the dentist, so maybe it’s just me.
It’s not just you. I watched the entire video and only saw four cars, no matter how many times Gul Torchinsky insists there are five.
The fifth car is hiding in plain sight. Cover one eye, look at the Dodge, and you’ll see the Mirage.
The fifth car was from GM. It didn’t make it to the testing grounds.
If your priority is showing up at your destination every time without having to think about your car, I think they got the rankings exactly right. If you’re more into having weird / cool / quirky cars then they got the rankings exactly wrong.
Perhaps with 20/20 hindsight: the VW has arguably made the best styling choices as it’s continued with critical style choices that had been made in the 70’s.
I’m not a VW fan, but the Rabbit’s second-last ranking in the appearance section baffles me. It’s the only car there that looks cohesive. The other three read as tentative styling experiments today.
The Renault is actually the one that pioneered that body style. It looked like something from the future when it debuted.
The 5/LeCar is simultaneously the best and worst car on this list and I voted accordingly.
Le Car or no car? I’d rather have something interesting than something that actually starts in the morning. Westmoreland rabbits were the first foreign cars i ever saw (this was mid-80s midwest)… a herd of them “lived” behind the neighborhood auto shop, in various states of disrepair.
I can’t claim to be an expert on any that is why I went back in time and used my Vapors ability. I am turning Japanese I am turning Japanese I really think so.
No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, no fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it’s dark…
That song is truly unforgettable.
New Clear Days