I remember renting a Beretta way back in 1993. I don't remember what model/trim it was, but it was actually very fun to drive. That quick engine in such a small car was crazy back then! Punchy, fast, and just plain fun. Good memories. Gosh! That was three decades ago! Wow! Time flies.
Vws of the era had it as an option. A very expensive option. Last time I saw a complete setup for sale on eBay recently it went for around 1100$. It was called digifiz.
toyoscio: they are all the same body style, so all beretta's look nearly the same. I would second that its' styling still holds up today...i have a 95 so I may be a little biased...thankfully the interior is much more modern looking than the one in the video
I can name 10 cars that are still great looking. IROC Camaro, Mustang 5.0 , Firebird, Impulse turbo. 300zx , Mitsubishi Station . Dodge stealth twin turbo. Corvette.
Tom Hertz I'll agree on Fox Body Hatchback Stang & Iroc but a Dodge Stealth was the biggest let down taking a real close margin behind the hype of the Geo Storm. I still remember hearing about that car, seen some pics and it wasn't ugly but it sure was not what it was hyped up. I'm friends with a local Dodge Dealer & he like everyone else thought the Stealth was gonna be a rare car. He put roughly 2k on it. He left it in his showroom when he put it for sale as he had no hits on the lot. I went to the auction with him when he took it up to see if he could unload it. He set a reserve of 7800; the highest bid that car got was 4650. A Nitrous Yellow Neon coupe with 1,000 miles on it sold for 4900. You have to find rt. buyer. My Berettas both still smell new but I know if I went to sell either I'd be lucky to get 3500 for GTZ and maybe close to 5 for Indy if that but those cars are worth a fortune to me. I recently bought a '90 Indy in Green, was LF lower prod. Yellow with roof, analog cluster, no power nothing, I think that package w/roof was 182 or something close but found the Teal w/tht package. I called the guy; he said he bought it brand-new as a weekend driver, never has seen rain, etc. As I buy a lot of cars online I've been told that before to go look at a car that wasn't safe to drive a block away. This guy knew what he was talking about, sent pics of every detail. I was especially concerned about the dash & door jambs. I can say without a doubt that the dash in the Indy is one of the last that nice if not the last, not including the offices in Novi Michigan that have brand new cars/trucks that are 50 y.o. GM should open it up to public but unfortunately if you do not work @ GM or are not close to the rt. people you won't. It was Heaven.
Remember my neighbor had one of these when I was a kid. Brand spankin new. Used to help wash and wax it. Used to give me rides to school in it. Man, good times.
I had an '88 GT (same car minus the body kit), and overall, I liked it. The acceleration was decent enough, and the interior was comfortable. But in the two years I owned the car, there was one thing I never got used to, and that is the steering wheel placement---it's right of center, and it angles in towards the driver.
I know a relative how bought a 90 GT and like magic by 75K. that dash was a problem with squeaks. The digital read out was always not working right, It said half a tank and went empty a few times, The door chime made its own melodies after the car was turned off and got rid of it by 85k . .
I had an 89 Beretta in high school. It was a fun car after a minor Ecu tune. I loved it. Sadly a drunk driver decided I was in the way and ran a 4-way stop sign and t-boned me, passenger side first. Broke and cracked most of the ribs on my right side and tweaked my spine sideways. Still deal with the effects 20 years later. Only had the car for a little over 2 weeks. I still hesitate at that intersection to this day....
This was my first car when I turned 17 back in 1999. Mine had ALL the options and also had dual flowmasters from the cat back...sounded awesome! I miss it!
ohh man back in the days.... I remember when I was little racing a friends Beretta (I think it was base? it was Auto for sure) with my Moms Pontiac 6000 with this exact engine... Needless to say I wiped the floor with it, The big ol Pontiac 6000... I wont miss how you overheated, shut down in traffic because your ignition coils sit below the headers and also overheated so it would not ignite or how it will create numerous vacuum leaks in that throttle body making the idle a total crap..
I had an 88 gt. I can concur. I’ve yet to encounter a vehicle with more rattles in the interior. It was maddening. It also seemed to love new MAF sensors. I did manage to get close to 200k on it before the transmission finally died.
Joe Robertson I remember when you couldn’t throw a stone across a parking kit without hitting one of those. Now I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one. Shit cars for sure.
@ASG66 You just named the un-holy alliance of some of the worst cars GM ever unleashed on the American consumer, right up there with the Vega and Citation. Remember in 88 GM killed the good selling and well built G-body platform and stabbed Pontiac in the heart by killing the Fiero, after spending boxcar loads of cash to design the Fiero's own suspension (That it only got for its final year!) and working out some technical bugs, to pull the plug on it after a 4 year run. Madness; utter madness ruled(rules?) at GM
These cars with 4 cylinder in Corsica line turned out very nice, It's actually the only GM product I ever saw go over 200k miles on the same engine and transmission, with almost zero issues.
I always hated it when a car company would just put a stupid body kit on slow car, do nothing to actually improve the performance, and then jack up the price and try to sell it to people as a performance oriented variant of whatever car they put some side skirts on. We're living in an automotive dream world compared to most of the domestic garbage that populated the entire realistically affordable car segment back in the 80's and 90's.
+Burt Sampson The problem is that we don't have a 'realistically affordable car segment' anymore. Especially 2 door cars. Every car nowadays has: A/C, power W L M s, 10 airbags, fancy radio, and tons of stuff you didn't have to pay for in the 80s if you didn't want to. A stripper with the best engine isn't even possible anymore.
GM is nortorious for this they treated their customer base like shit for years, then they wonder why they needed a bailout in 2008. The Baretta was a short lived production car because it was a peice of shit. Watching this video I can see why this car sucked it was slow as hell
MRT All The LED stuff was because of Star Trek and Star Wars to give cars a HiTech fututristic look ..beleive you me all that infotainement stuff is awesome no one wants a bare dash and radio in their car theyve always wanted cool gadets and entertainement even way before then.
@@davidp8627 Oh yes indeed. They were made by Panosonic and developed about 100 watts. Coupled to the Delco 6x9 speakers they produced a rich deep sound.
My mom had a bright red 1994 Beretta when I was a teenager but some old fart ran a red light and totaled it and the crash caused my dad to break his neck. Damn that was a beautiful car and I loved driving it.
Can you post a video of the 1988-1990 Cavalier Z24? That was one of my favorite cars back in the late 80's as a kid still riding his bike. I kept saying "I'm going to buy one of those one day!" I bought a 1989 Z24 convertible in 2008, and I love it. Still quick, runs great with 150k on the original motor, and trans. Take care of it, and it'll take care of you (they call it maintenance for a reason)!
Had an 89 v6 auto that was slightly suped up by the previous owner (a GM tech). It moved pretty darn good. It was difficult to keep the front tires from spinning off the line. I loved it, plus it only had 30,000 miles on it at 10 years old( it was their spare car for a few years, rarely got driven which why they sold it) Sadly it never made it to 11 years old, as I was t-boned by a suspected drunk driver who was speeding and ran a stop sign. I was lucky that he hit me right before the gas cap instead of directly in the door. Still ended up with broken ribs. He (other driver in an f250 stake body, I saw the truck as I was spinning) took off and was never caught. Hit me so hard the c pillars were touching. The car spun and hit a telephone pole on the other side of the intersection.The rescue crew said I was lucky that the gas tank didn’t blow up, as it was crushed like soda can and there was fuel everywhere. Miss that car.
@@U.S.S.SOUTHSIDE my father saw the truck months later (still damaged) going the opposite direction but the guy was going to fast for him to catch him. I did find the truck years later behind an old abandoned house not far from the accident. My insurance company even refused to pay out because they didn’t catch the the other driver. It’s why I’ll never go back to AIG.
Ahh the old GM... I loved the 80s and 90s GM cars when I was growing up now the "NEW" GM while quality is much better most of there cars are boring and all look like euro cars.... I don't want a German car with a Buick nameplate like the Regal, etc.. I know its petty but I love American made cars and if I wanted a Toyota I get one.
ScaryGhost1 Hey now, I had a 1992 Chevy Corsica back in 2009. It lasted for three years with just regular maintenance and got me from Philly to DC/VA/MD with no problems. Unfortunately it blew a gasket and it was too much to repair so I had to get a new car. I miss C-Murda.
I owned two of them back in the day. An 89 2.8 V6. Then in 91, I bought the 3.1 added some aftermarket cpu chips. And crank out almost 195 hp. in that Beretta. She was a little rocket! Both were black and no paint problems at all. I'd buy one now, if I could find one in mint condition. They all mainly went to the scrap heap.
When i was growing up in the 80s we had alot of GM cars in our family, especially Chevrolets all the way from the Cavalier right up to the Chevrolet Caprice Wagon. Today my parents are still GM people, my dad drives GMC Savanna Cargo Vans and my mom drives Trail Blazers and Impalas.
have your seen a 2000 chevy lately? or Honda? or especially a Chrysler product? clear coat or paint peeling off so bad automakers should be embarrassed. lol
@@mikeluvrs That was the level of feasible chemical technology at that time. Prior to that there was no clear coat, the actual paint deterioration along with the substrate (material) . Its the sun that does the damage, if your car was garaged the damage wold be less severe. The sun damages a lot from the clear-coat, paint, and even the interior, especially vinyl and leather seats just crack even on Porsche, Cadillac and Mercedes or any other make.
Yeah, I Know. I knew people that had these and thought they were sports cars. Of course my cousin thought here 4 cylinder Mustang II was a sports car back in the day too. Perception is everything with car sales, at least with the average buyer.
Leeroy Jones Yeah, they looked cool. In 1989, that is. Can't say the same in 2018. Digital dashes were complicated and VERY costly to fix if things went wrong (and they often did).
well back then a 500+hp car is suicide it was probly like haveing a 1000+hp car today and two its illegal to run a nascar ENGINE in our car but u can have a few parts that nascar uses like oil filter and air cleaner
At 4:27, I would skip the optional digital gauge cluster because it's difficult to see on bright, sunny days. Plus, I got to agree on John Davis' opinion about sticking with the analog gauges because they are more legible & comprehensive.
I remember going to the chevy dealer with no credit 19 years of age and a fast food job..GMAC approved me in 5 minutes i drove off in a new black one v6 with 500 down. How simple times were back then.
I ordered a Cavalier Z24 new in 1989 v6 5 speed burgundy grey velour interior sunroof no rear spoiler...l.loved that car...drove it for 5 years with over 120000 miles...never did anything to it but gas and oil changes...
It was meant to be a competitor to the lebaron convertible. They were going to kill off camaro convertibles, not the camaro itself. In the end, market sales for convertibles plummeted, so they just continued it as a coupe
my good friend bought a 88 GT in silver , the digital dash stopped working, the engine used oil and the 5 speed shifter came off in her hand. The driver door hinges failed and dropped the door down on the ground. later the windows jumped the track and fell down into the door.
Best way to describe the Lumina and Beretta. We lost the well built G-Bodies for these pieces of shit. Thank Roger Smith and his band of idiots at GM in the 80's for most of these horrible, horrible cars.
Starting in 1973 the US government tried to kill the car market by placing ridiculous emissions laws on anything sold in the US. They kept changing the laws as well to make them tougher and tougher and US standards were much more harsh than say those in Europe and elsewhere. By 1981 you had a Corvette being sold with less than 200hp, that being with a 350 V8 in it. But by the late 80s car manufacturers, with the help of a lot of computing, were just starting to get back on track and by the mid-90s you started to see more and more cars, that were affordable, that had respectable 0-60 and quarter times. Another thing to keep in mind, but this is prior to 1972, car manufacturers would claim something like a 7-liter V8 would have only 240hp - this again was before emissions - but in reality that thing would be putting out closer to 400hp, this was due to automobile insurance. The rates were skyrocketing for muscle cars and my understanding is that insurance companies would back then group cars by their horsepower rating, along with theft rates, etc. So manufacturers, with a wink and a nod, would claim these muscle cars that weighted 4000lbs with a 454ci V8 under the hood, that could do 0-60 in 6 seconds on those old super garbage tires (with modern tires that would be more in the 4.5 to 5.0 0-60 range), they'd say that thing made some obviously false low HP rating. Then they changed not only with emissions but where they measured the HP - I believe changing it from the flywheel to the axle (although I could be completely wrong on that), not sure this change was related to the insurance rates or not, but its strange it all happened at the same time.
I had the cherry red one back in 2001. It went through 2 engines before I had it and 2 from me and finally I sold it and the new guy wrapped it around a tree.
Im a physicians assistant ,Its 2020 and loved that car when I was 8 years old...still want one but cannot find one. That car needed a turbo and at least 250hp.
+SerenityNow well it is the successor... and to be honest i drove a friends dads z26 with the getrag 5 speed and it its a really fun car when you push it hard its not spectacular but if you found a nice z26 for under 1500$ it would make a decent budget track car
tbh the car itself wasnt bad, gm was just stupid and didnt load the engine up like the did the grand nat. berettas could have been so much more but again gm is good and just dicking off and going for the basics... thats why most gm cars are better perfomers after a good owner gets them
They do that to everything. Do it better, or just add some stickers, plastic and leave drum brakes or something stupid. They always choose the latter. If it's not v8 there's no aftermarket support either.
PGTMR2 yea but if you're smart you can figure it out out. I've had a few of these and most of em I tore up from being young and stupid but I have a couple of them still and they're great when you build them up. hot rod guys are good to talk to as they teach you how to rat rod which is similar to what you have to do to make things work
I had one of these. Unfortunately I hit pea gravel on a sharp curve that was before a one lane wood bridge with no gaurd rails and landed upside down in a creek.
I had a 88' GT with digital dash. Nice fun car but! Even with the manual shift it was still 1980's HP emissions restricted. It was not nearly the best GM I ever owned but hot at the time.
I’m fixing to by a 1988 Beretta GTU with 98k original miles for my wife and it’s a automatic but the transmission I think is bad, what all other GM cars transmissions will fit the GTU Beretta?
Nothing against smoking, I smoke myself to this day but these cars reminded me of empty Marlboro red packs on the floor and under the seats with half full mountain dew bottles scattered everywhere and stained carpets.Those were the days!
GTZ had the 2.3 quad 4 engine. It was loud and buzzy, but had more punch to it. As for the others, well, in the 80s most cars with "GT" or "sport" in the name gsve you tape stripes, plastic body cladding, and ground effects that must made the cars look faster.
I actually had a white one like this back in SC! It actually could hang with a camaro v8 of that same year! Got a lot of looks with that car.Boy have cars come along way! Interior was a let down except on the "Indy" model.
My mom had the corsica with the 2.8 muiltiport v6 it was fast including the beretta gts the styling were ahead of their time back than i remember hearing that a lot of people that had the gtus' have tore them up because of the power they had.
I am so obsessed with these retro videos.
Agreed they are addictive!
me too
This comment is six years old. Does that make the comment retro now too?
@@comeonman1100 I think it does! 6 years later still watching these!
I love Motor Week Retro Reviews, my favorite program of every night
I remember renting a Beretta way back in 1993. I don't remember what model/trim it was, but it was actually very fun to drive. That quick engine in such a small car was crazy back then! Punchy, fast, and just plain fun. Good memories.
Gosh! That was three decades ago! Wow! Time flies.
This should have come with the 3800 v6.
anajay78
The problem with that is the 3800 has a boring sound. 60-degree V6s sound way cooler.
Supercharged 3800.
SPACE TRUCKER ther was no supercharged 3800
DrewLSsix the Bonneville and grand prix did. but not in this era
You could get a 3300 in the Grand am which was gm's largest selling car at the time.
$2500 appearance package in 1988 dollars is insane. No wonder I never saw one of these in person.
High school parking lots were full of these in the late 90's. Kind of miss them.
Damn, MotorWeek really hated digital dash clusters!! I'd kill for that 80's TRON feel!! lol
Yeah, but it was junk. GM had a habit of reinventing the wheel anytime they found something that worked right, they said let's change it.
Oh yeah, id specifically buy one of these for the vapor-wave aesthetic. so no Skipping out on the "HIGH TECH DASH SYSTEM"
Loved the digital dash in my '91 S10!!
4:35 What happened to the speedometer needle? Is the car going backwards? 😂😂😂
Vws of the era had it as an option.
A very expensive option.
Last time I saw a complete setup for sale on eBay recently it went for around 1100$.
It was called digifiz.
I love Motor Week Retro Reviews, my favorite program everynight
Beretta is still a very good looking car today. Not many cars from the 80's aero styling movement can claim that
M Danahey There aren't many of them left. The ones that are are the mid 90s ones, since the others have rusted away,
toyoscio: they are all the same body style, so all beretta's look nearly the same. I would second that its' styling still holds up today...i have a 95 so I may be a little biased...thankfully the interior is much more modern looking than the one in the video
I can name 10 cars that are still great looking. IROC Camaro, Mustang 5.0 , Firebird, Impulse turbo. 300zx , Mitsubishi Station . Dodge stealth twin turbo. Corvette.
Tom Hertz I'll agree on Fox Body Hatchback Stang & Iroc but a Dodge Stealth was the biggest let down taking a real close margin behind the hype of the Geo Storm. I still remember hearing about that car, seen some pics and it wasn't ugly but it sure was not what it was hyped up. I'm friends with a local Dodge Dealer & he like everyone else thought the Stealth was gonna be a rare car. He put roughly 2k on it. He left it in his showroom when he put it for sale as he had no hits on the lot. I went to the auction with him when he took it up to see if he could unload it. He set a reserve of 7800; the highest bid that car got was 4650. A Nitrous Yellow Neon coupe with 1,000 miles on it sold for 4900. You have to find rt. buyer. My Berettas both still smell new but I know if I went to sell either I'd be lucky to get 3500 for GTZ and maybe close to 5 for Indy if that but those cars are worth a fortune to me. I recently bought a '90 Indy in Green, was LF lower prod. Yellow with roof, analog cluster, no power nothing, I think that package w/roof was 182 or something close but found the Teal w/tht package. I called the guy; he said he bought it brand-new as a weekend driver, never has seen rain, etc. As I buy a lot of cars online I've been told that before to go look at a car that wasn't safe to drive a block away. This guy knew what he was talking about, sent pics of every detail. I was especially concerned about the dash & door jambs. I can say without a doubt that the dash in the Indy is one of the last that nice if not the last, not including the offices in Novi Michigan that have brand new cars/trucks that are 50 y.o. GM should open it up to public but unfortunately if you do not work @ GM or are not close to the rt. people you won't. It was Heaven.
Tom Hertz. oh? those 80s dodge stealths were really something eh?
Remember my neighbor had one of these when I was a kid. Brand spankin new. Used to help wash and wax it. Used to give me rides to school in it. Man, good times.
I had an '88 GT (same car minus the body kit), and overall, I liked it. The acceleration was decent enough, and the interior was comfortable. But in the two years I owned the car, there was one thing I never got used to, and that is the steering wheel placement---it's right of center, and it angles in towards the driver.
Man, that is pretty strange. I never knew about that
Those glitchy 80's GM digital plastic fantastic dashes....so trashy and awesome at the same time.
I had an 89 Beretta GT with the digital dash and it was cool, but the car's reliability and performance was a dog!
I know a relative how bought a 90 GT and like magic by 75K. that dash was a problem with squeaks. The digital read out was always not working right, It said half a tank and went empty a few times, The door chime made its own melodies after the car was turned off and got rid of it by 85k . .
@@HWolfeIII Chevy Beretta is reliabitty and great car
All cars should have that tilting seat feature instead of having to opt for power seat.. Nice for taller drivers
I had an 89 Beretta in high school. It was a fun car after a minor Ecu tune. I loved it.
Sadly a drunk driver decided I was in the way and ran a 4-way stop sign and t-boned me, passenger side first. Broke and cracked most of the ribs on my right side and tweaked my spine sideways. Still deal with the effects 20 years later. Only had the car for a little over 2 weeks. I still hesitate at that intersection to this day....
You could say that old car saved your life. 😊
I love these old Motorweek retro reviews.👍
Me too steve spinola
That was a very popular and sharp looking car in its day. Almost ahead of it's time.
This was my first car when I turned 17 back in 1999. Mine had ALL the options and also had dual flowmasters from the cat back...sounded awesome! I miss it!
4:29..........yeah, um.........I can DEFINITELY see why digital dashes were an acquired taste after seeing that confusing mess!!!!!
Buttons, switches and knobs! I LOVE it! They can keep the touchscreens of today!
These reviews have made me go back and watch the commercials for these cars.
ohh man back in the days....
I remember when I was little racing a friends Beretta (I think it was base? it was Auto for sure) with my Moms Pontiac 6000 with this exact engine... Needless to say I wiped the floor with it, The big ol Pontiac 6000...
I wont miss how you overheated, shut down in traffic because your ignition coils sit below the headers and also overheated so it would not ignite or how it will create numerous vacuum leaks in that throttle body making the idle a total crap..
GM later added the 2.3l Quad four to the GTU package, 180hp quad 4 was pretty fast with the 5speed trans.
I had three of them back in the day .
They were good cars .
Wish Chevrolet still made them .
I always thought those were some of the best looking wheels from the era!
That neighbor of mine. Circa 1989. A long driveway. Every time, one of the best sounding cars!
I always liked the look of the Beretta - a shame they didn't develop it more.
My brother in law had an 88 Beretta. What a POS they were. These were some of the cars that caused Toyota and Honda to gain so much market share.
I had an 88 gt. I can concur. I’ve yet to encounter a vehicle with more rattles in the interior. It was maddening. It also seemed to love new MAF sensors. I did manage to get close to 200k on it before the transmission finally died.
Same with the lumina... terrible fucking cara
Joe Robertson I remember when you couldn’t throw a stone across a parking kit without hitting one of those. Now I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one. Shit cars for sure.
@ASG66 You just named the un-holy alliance of some of the worst cars GM ever unleashed on the American consumer, right up there with the Vega and Citation. Remember in 88 GM killed the good selling and well built G-body platform and stabbed Pontiac in the heart by killing the Fiero, after spending boxcar loads of cash to design the Fiero's own suspension (That it only got for its final year!) and working out some technical bugs, to pull the plug on it after a 4 year run. Madness; utter madness ruled(rules?) at GM
These cars with 4 cylinder in Corsica line turned out very nice, It's actually the only GM product I ever saw go over 200k miles on the same engine and transmission, with almost zero issues.
I always hated it when a car company would just put a stupid body kit on slow car, do nothing to actually improve the performance, and then jack up the price and try to sell it to people as a performance oriented variant of whatever car they put some side skirts on. We're living in an automotive dream world compared to most of the domestic garbage that populated the entire realistically affordable car segment back in the 80's and 90's.
+Burt Sampson The problem is that we don't have a 'realistically affordable car segment' anymore. Especially 2 door cars. Every car nowadays has: A/C, power W L M s, 10 airbags, fancy radio, and tons of stuff you didn't have to pay for in the 80s if you didn't want to. A stripper with the best engine isn't even possible anymore.
You got $45k for those new cars? You don't get it
GM is nortorious for this they treated their customer base like shit for years, then they wonder why they needed a bailout in 2008. The Baretta was a short lived production car because it was a peice of shit. Watching this video I can see why this car sucked it was slow as hell
Tom Hertz Nope and I'm trying to buy an old Fourth Generation Camaro that isn't a V-6 , automatic model .
MRT All The LED stuff was because of Star Trek and Star Wars to give cars a HiTech fututristic look ..beleive you me all that infotainement stuff is awesome no one wants a bare dash and radio in their car theyve always wanted cool gadets and entertainement even way before then.
I had one of theses. loved it.
+M Lane Emphasis on had.
+toyoscio yeah, got hit head on by a guy in a 79 caprice.
+M Lane Wow
Goodyear eagles (and gatorbacks) could make a bathtub handle like it was on rails back then.
That engine sounds great. Cool car for sure.
+kirbyswarp Now gone, bulk scrapped.
toyoscio What?
kirbyswarp The majority are gone, either by rust or scrapped.
toyoscio That's true about anything made in 1988 really.
+Productive Gaming Yes they were affordable, unfortunately, GM/Chevy stopped "caring" about them, especially the later models
My favorite chevy. Lots of fun. Very good on gas. Sharp handeling .has a euro look
Best looking Beretta from GM.
Had one of these. Great car and great times.
I love them old school delco radios!!!!!!
I'd say Delco systems produced an even better quality sound than even Ford's JBL systems.
@@davidp8627 Oh yes indeed. They were made by Panosonic and developed about 100 watts. Coupled to the Delco 6x9 speakers they produced a rich deep sound.
My mom had a bright red 1994 Beretta when I was a teenager but some old fart ran a red light and totaled it and the crash caused my dad to break his neck. Damn that was a beautiful car and I loved driving it.
I had a red 89 GTU, man I Loved it. Looked exactly like the one in the video. The window buttons were down by the shifter and I thought I was cool
i had an 89 in red . hell of a fun car.
+beyondthepale7997 Too bad it had the 2.8 in it.
Can you post a video of the 1988-1990 Cavalier Z24? That was one of my favorite cars back in the late 80's as a kid still riding his bike. I kept saying "I'm going to buy one of those one day!" I bought a 1989 Z24 convertible in 2008, and I love it. Still quick, runs great with 150k on the original motor, and trans. Take care of it, and it'll take care of you (they call it maintenance for a reason)!
ricorob100 Good for you, the 2.8 was a junk motor.
+toyoscio managed to have my 1988 Z24 with a five speed to hit 255k take care of it, and maintain it!
Had an 89 v6 auto that was slightly suped up by the previous owner (a GM tech). It moved pretty darn good. It was difficult to keep the front tires from spinning off the line. I loved it, plus it only had 30,000 miles on it at 10 years old( it was their spare car for a few years, rarely got driven which why they sold it) Sadly it never made it to 11 years old, as I was t-boned by a suspected drunk driver who was speeding and ran a stop sign. I was lucky that he hit me right before the gas cap instead of directly in the door. Still ended up with broken ribs. He (other driver in an f250 stake body, I saw the truck as I was spinning) took off and was never caught. Hit me so hard the c pillars were touching. The car spun and hit a telephone pole on the other side of the intersection.The rescue crew said I was lucky that the gas tank didn’t blow up, as it was crushed like soda can and there was fuel everywhere. Miss that car.
They never caught that m.f'er?? THAT makes me mad!!
@@U.S.S.SOUTHSIDE my father saw the truck months later (still damaged) going the opposite direction but the guy was going to fast for him to catch him. I did find the truck years later behind an old abandoned house not far from the accident. My insurance company even refused to pay out because they didn’t catch the the other driver. It’s why I’ll never go back to AIG.
Ahh the old GM... I loved the 80s and 90s GM cars when I was growing up now the "NEW" GM while quality is much better most of there cars are boring and all look like euro cars.... I don't want a German car with a Buick nameplate like the Regal, etc.. I know its petty but I love American made cars and if I wanted a Toyota I get one.
keri ellerbe with the exception of a few, I must say 90's GM cars were crap
AltaSonata Agreed, remember the Corsica?
ScaryGhost1 Hey now, I had a 1992 Chevy Corsica back in 2009. It lasted for three years with just regular maintenance and got me from Philly to DC/VA/MD with no problems. Unfortunately it blew a gasket and it was too much to repair so I had to get a new car. I miss C-Murda.
keri ellerbe um a regal is American made
wade mckenney German model = Opel Insignia
And did everything have a manual trans back then!??
I owned two of them back in the day. An 89 2.8 V6. Then in 91, I bought the 3.1 added some aftermarket cpu chips. And crank out almost 195 hp. in that Beretta. She was a little rocket! Both were black and no paint problems at all. I'd buy one now, if I could find one in mint condition. They all mainly went to the scrap heap.
Rust claimed many
toyoscio, yes they did!
@@toyoscio no rusting in Georgia....but i never see um regardless
When i was growing up in the 80s we had alot of GM cars in our family, especially Chevrolets all the way from the Cavalier right up to the Chevrolet Caprice Wagon. Today my parents are still GM people, my dad drives GMC Savanna Cargo Vans and my mom drives Trail Blazers and Impalas.
Digital gauges - another example of “just because you *can* do something doesn’t mean you *should* do it.” I don’t know why those were ever popular.
'88 chevy's and their peeling paint.... oh those were dark days!
have your seen a 2000 chevy lately? or Honda? or especially a Chrysler product? clear coat or paint peeling off so bad automakers should be embarrassed. lol
I had my 1989 GMC S-15 repainted , I had it done cheap and 5-6 years latter it is loosing clear coat . ( It was extreme heat 🌞 that caused it ) .
Yes, I had a 89 RS Cavalier Wagon. Bought it for a family car, water leaks, paint peeling in flakes!!!
Better paint than Chrysler K-cars
@@mikeluvrs That was the level of feasible chemical technology at that time. Prior to that there was no clear coat, the actual paint deterioration along with the substrate (material) .
Its the sun that does the damage, if your car was garaged the damage wold be less severe.
The sun damages a lot from the clear-coat, paint, and even the interior, especially vinyl and leather seats just crack even on Porsche, Cadillac and Mercedes or any other make.
2 door Corsica is all that thing amounts to.
Yeah, I Know. I knew people that had these and thought they were sports cars. Of course my cousin thought here 4 cylinder Mustang II was a sports car back in the day too. Perception is everything with car sales, at least with the average buyer.
false
michael dierks. and? a lot of great cars amounted to 2 door variants of regular sedans.
at least I have an excuse to not give people a ride.
Digital dashes were cool back in the day, they used to make me think I was Night Rider, LOL.
Leeroy Jones Yeah, they looked cool. In 1989, that is. Can't say the same in 2018. Digital dashes were complicated and VERY costly to fix if things went wrong (and they often did).
was horsepower really that hard to get back then 130 on a race care a Nissan Sentra makes more than that today.
The highest output was a 180hp 2.3 quad four. V6 wasn't top trim
***** btw the racecar didnt get 130 thats the road version the race car probably got like 500
wade mckenney why would GM cut it back so much?
well back then a 500+hp car is suicide it was probly like haveing a 1000+hp car today and two its illegal to run a nascar ENGINE in our car but u can have a few parts that nascar uses like oil filter and air cleaner
wade mckenney couldn't they just reduce to 250 or 300hp going way down to 130 sounds drastic?
The Design of the Beretta has held up well.
At 4:27, I would skip the optional digital gauge cluster because it's difficult to see on bright, sunny days. Plus, I got to agree on John Davis' opinion about sticking with the analog gauges because they are more legible & comprehensive.
My sister had an 88 Beretta GT car was awesome and went like a scared rabbit!
I remember going to the chevy dealer with no credit 19 years of age and a fast food job..GMAC approved me in 5 minutes i drove off in a new black one v6 with 500 down. How simple times were back then.
Oriental ftw! 4:46
Beretta was cool. GM should revisit that concept somehow!
My first car! I liked it so much I got a Beretta Z26 after this one.
I ordered a Cavalier Z24 new in 1989 v6 5 speed burgundy grey velour
interior sunroof no rear spoiler...l.loved that car...drove it for 5 years with over 120000 miles...never did anything to it but gas and oil changes...
ive wanted one of these gtus/gtz all my life im at the age where I can buy one but cant seem to find any.... Sigh
Have one
It needs work tho
Loved it so much
Yeah, beretta's are weirdly rare nowadays, they just didnt stick around long enough to become "vintage" and therefor worth preserving.
Obama’s cash for clunkers cleared the country of so many of the good 80s/90s car. It’s unfortunate 😢
@@louisyork1894 car dealers crushed them or exported them, to discourage buyers and force everyone to spend more and more on anything "entry level"
ppl are forgetting about the quad for `90... in the gtz that was like 180hp nd this was just a visual upgrade....
+Dequavis Hardaway Too bad its reliability/durability were bad.
I had a 1987 Baretta GT. The original owner had ordered it with the 3.1 V6 with the 5 speed automatic. It was a really nice car.
@Jonathan A The guy I bought it from special ordered it. I know, I drove it for 7 years.
@Jonathan A sorry man... it was a 5 speed manual. My bad
@Jonathan A Yep, my bad. I mistyped. It was a 5 speed manual mated to a 3.1 V6. The manual added pep and made it a sublime car.
My bad, bro
I remember reading in an auto magazine before the Beretta was official announced that it was the new Camaro. I wonder if I still have it...
It was meant to be a competitor to the lebaron convertible. They were going to kill off camaro convertibles, not the camaro itself. In the end, market sales for convertibles plummeted, so they just continued it as a coupe
my good friend bought a 88 GT in silver , the digital dash stopped working, the engine used oil and the 5 speed shifter came off in her hand. The driver door hinges failed and dropped the door down on the ground. later the windows jumped the track and fell down into the door.
hutchcraftcp Lol, it was a crap shoot to get a well built one.
Can you say "lemon"?
Sharp looking car for it's day but it was just a disposable appliance.
+corvusala Yes it was, which is why so many are gone.
Just like every single car made nowadays
Best way to describe the Lumina and Beretta. We lost the well built G-Bodies for these pieces of shit. Thank Roger Smith and his band of idiots at GM in the 80's for most of these horrible, horrible cars.
2:28 How do they get only 130hp out of a 2.8L V6!?
Starting in 1973 the US government tried to kill the car market by placing ridiculous emissions laws on anything sold in the US. They kept changing the laws as well to make them tougher and tougher and US standards were much more harsh than say those in Europe and elsewhere. By 1981 you had a Corvette being sold with less than 200hp, that being with a 350 V8 in it. But by the late 80s car manufacturers, with the help of a lot of computing, were just starting to get back on track and by the mid-90s you started to see more and more cars, that were affordable, that had respectable 0-60 and quarter times.
Another thing to keep in mind, but this is prior to 1972, car manufacturers would claim something like a 7-liter V8 would have only 240hp - this again was before emissions - but in reality that thing would be putting out closer to 400hp, this was due to automobile insurance. The rates were skyrocketing for muscle cars and my understanding is that insurance companies would back then group cars by their horsepower rating, along with theft rates, etc. So manufacturers, with a wink and a nod, would claim these muscle cars that weighted 4000lbs with a 454ci V8 under the hood, that could do 0-60 in 6 seconds on those old super garbage tires (with modern tires that would be more in the 4.5 to 5.0 0-60 range), they'd say that thing made some obviously false low HP rating. Then they changed not only with emissions but where they measured the HP - I believe changing it from the flywheel to the axle (although I could be completely wrong on that), not sure this change was related to the insurance rates or not, but its strange it all happened at the same time.
I had the cherry red one back in 2001. It went through 2 engines before I had it and 2 from me and finally I sold it and the new guy wrapped it around a tree.
I miss those low beltline designs of the late 80s. Visibility was phenomenal compared to today’s cars.
Im a physicians assistant ,Its 2020 and loved that car when I was 8 years old...still want one but cannot find one. That car needed a turbo and at least 250hp.
These cars with the V-6 were great Bracket Racing cars. No joke.
using Beretta in the same breath as Grand National is just wrong.
+SerenityNow well it is the successor... and to be honest i drove a friends dads z26 with the getrag 5 speed and it its a really fun car when you push it hard its not spectacular but if you found a nice z26 for under 1500$ it would make a decent budget track car
Syclone/Typhoon is more of a successor to the Grand National.
tbh the car itself wasnt bad, gm was just stupid and didnt load the engine up like the did the grand nat. berettas could have been so much more but again gm is good and just dicking off and going for the basics... thats why most gm cars are better perfomers after a good owner gets them
They do that to everything. Do it better, or just add some stickers, plastic and leave drum brakes or something stupid. They always choose the latter. If it's not v8 there's no aftermarket support either.
PGTMR2 yea but if you're smart you can figure it out out. I've had a few of these and most of em I tore up from being young and stupid but I have a couple of them still and they're great when you build them up. hot rod guys are good to talk to as they teach you how to rat rod which is similar to what you have to do to make things work
I had one of these. Unfortunately I hit pea gravel on a sharp curve that was before a one lane wood bridge with no gaurd rails and landed upside down in a creek.
I had a 88' GT with digital dash. Nice fun car but! Even with the manual shift it was still 1980's HP emissions restricted. It was not nearly the best GM I ever owned but hot at the time.
Here's a MotorWeek Retro Review of the Chevrolet Beretta GTU from 1988.
I really wanted one of these back in the day......lol
Did i hear the price right or was that the option package.
+Tampa0123456789 Option package
I’m fixing to by a 1988 Beretta GTU with 98k original miles for my wife and it’s a automatic but the transmission I think is bad, what all other GM cars transmissions will fit the GTU Beretta?
My Beretta GT 5 speed with 2.8 V6 got 38 MPG on the highway at 70 MPH with the cruse on, it was Black with Red accents. digital dash. it was awesome..
Nothing against smoking, I smoke myself to this day but these cars reminded me of empty Marlboro red packs on the floor and under the seats with half full mountain dew bottles scattered everywhere and stained carpets.Those were the days!
So... it's a Corsica with 2 doors and a body kit.
Yep
What was really the difference between the GTZ, GTA, GTU besides the lettering?
GTZ had the 2.3 quad 4 engine. It was loud and buzzy, but had more punch to it. As for the others, well, in the 80s most cars with "GT" or "sport" in the name gsve you tape stripes, plastic body cladding, and ground effects that must made the cars look faster.
Good acceleration times for a late 80's car, I never knew you could get a 5 speed manual with a V6.
It was rare but GM did offer the 2.8/3.1 with a manual transmission. I've seen a few late 80s FWD Grand Prix and Olds Cultass Supreme with them.
In '98 I made one of these red beauties my first car! God I miss it!
My youth, I mean
why not give it a turbo and all wheel?
I loved the looks of the car,I didn’t buy fwd back then and still don’t really care for it today.
a friends dad had a black gtu made the wheels pop
Beretta IMSA car is badass. A far cry from the Road car. But the front air dam, and ground effects
What did the U stand for??
Uterus
The Beretta looks good with wide offset wheels
I wanted this car so bad in high school
Those gauges are freaking amazing, I bet they were constantly failing like most digital gauges.
+Spin Lathes They did, hence why they dropped them in later years. Cavalier digital cluster was just as troublesome.
For '88 this is a very modern looking car.
Nice car.. I want one!😀
The Beretta was basically a corsica with a sport coat.
Along with Corsica, Beretta was offered in my country in 1991. Not many sold, may be too expensive.
Lol @4:36 classic GM-250rpm even with the engine off
Dennis Midkiff kinda like a runaway diesel. I remember the 86 iroc z my dad had it would sometimes run for 10 seconds with the key off🙁.
They were electronic and didn't register correctly until the car started. I had 2 Oldsmobile Calais back in the day.
I actually had a white one like this back in SC! It actually could hang with a camaro v8 of that same year! Got a lot of looks with that car.Boy have cars come along way! Interior was a let down except on the "Indy" model.
Please review the 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Coupe, 1987 Dodge Ram Charger, 1990 Nissan Maxima, 1994 Mercedes Benz E320, 1996 Geo Tracker 4-Door, 1999 Acura 3.2L TL.
I swear, GM put that 2.8 in every damn car. In laws still have a running 89 Celebrity station wagon with the 2.8. Damn thing has nearly 300k miles.
'87 GT test & Corsica test, please?!!!!
Oriental competitors?
My mom had the corsica with the 2.8 muiltiport v6 it was fast including the beretta gts the styling were ahead of their time back than i remember hearing that a lot of people that had the gtus' have tore them up because of the power they had.