worked at a Pontiac dealer in 88. worst car i ever saw. cam shafts were breaking in half at IDLE. PASSIVE BELTS WERE BREAKING. parts came from Korea. they wouldn't air ship. all parts were sent by ocean freighter, 4 to 6 week wait for parts. they had a national holiday once, no parts could be obtained during this time because nobody was working those 2 weeks. last thing. when sold, they were touted as , European designed in Germany cars. the sales dept. really wasn't telling people they were made in Korea. had customers come in for work , and i had to tell them 4 to 6 weeks for parts. they would ask why so long, and when i would tell them where the parts were coming from they asked why. these people had NO idea these were Korean built cars! now a good one. there was a recall for the passive seat belts not working. people brought their cars in for the recall. but, we didn't receive the recall parts yet. now here is the kicker, GM made us keep the car and not return it until the belts were fixed. federal law wouldn't let us release a car with non-working seat belts. talk about mad people. we were in Ft. Myers, fla. some people drove their LeMans down there for vacation. were told we had to keep the car till fixed. they were basically stuck down there till the parts came in! most flew home, then came back down to get their cars. great way to wreck a vacation! also, GM didn't offer ANY help to these people.
@@scott8919 I bet 80% of the owners who had their cars "hijacked" during that recall with no compensation ended up trading them in on Honda's/Toyota's lol, or at the very least became anti-GM. I can't even imagine going through that situation.
Yet another potentially decent car completely ruined by good old fashioned GM mismanagement. Unfortunately this trend has continued well beyond this vehicles lifespan
Well, Thursday mornings suck, so I'm not sure what your comment means. I guess it's the day before Friday, so that's good, but it's the MORNING of the day before Friday, so...yeah, not seeing it.
I owned one of these with air conditioning. I actually liked the car a lot. It was a 5- speed and I actually put a super trap muffler on it. Sounded like a pissed off bumblebee. It was great on gas and was an overall fun car.
I had a 4 door GTE in the states as well as a 2 door 2.0 Aerocoupe, unfortunately a tree fell on the GTE & destroyed it ,I completely gutted its motor, brakes & most of the parts as they wasn't available in the USA
@@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY they were lucky in an era when Australia was subjected to Cloned Pulsars and Corollas just before the new age Astra came along in 1991 to get the good stuff.
In England it was called the "Vauxhall Astra". The GTE version was awesome fun, I think some had 2.0 8v engines too, but the 16v engines known as "red tops" are still sought after cars.
A convertible GSI was a dream of all 90's boys in Brazil, but a sw version called Ipanema was terrible ugly. Here in Portugal there are a few in really good shape still running.
I bought one of these the first year it came out, 1988. GM, in all its corporate wisdom, decided that they couldn’t sell it as a Pontiac In Canada, so they created a whole new dealership called Passport, and the Le Mans was called the Optima. They had some rebadged Isuzu’s and Suzuki’s selling as Passports as well. After a couple of years, (2+ years, you can’t make this stuff up) they gave up on Passport and changed the name to Asüna, I think the umlauts were over the u, same car, different name, then they gave up on that, and changed all the dealerships to Saturn, Saab, Izuzu, all makes that GM had an interest in. Anyway, I had a wife and two kids under 3, and my 71 VW 411 was starting to age dangerously, (I have a thing for oddball cars) so I HAD to get something new, and it couldn’t be more than $10,000, and the monthly payment couldn’t be more than $200. And I really liked the way the Optima looked. Much better looking than the Tercels, Mazda 323 Protegè, Civics of the day, and the Rabbit was slightly over my price point. So I got a red Optima VL (Value Leader)...4 speed manual, manual steering, roll up windows, power brakes (alone in the power group), no radio, fixed rear windows, no AC of course and no tach. I quickly put in an aftermarket sound system, and tachometer, but being so basic, it was light AF, and those hard working 74 horses moved that thing around like a bat out of hell. I bought it in Vancouver, my home town, which is lucky to see one snowy day every 2 years, but after 4 years I took a job up north, in 1992 where there was real winter, and that little car was parked outside for the next 6 years on Mile 52 on the Alaska Highway, in the snow and cold (it could get down to minus 40 for a week or two then warm up to minus 20 for most of the winter) oh, and after deciding on the 2 door hatchback, we had another kid the next year, so the 4 door would have been nice, but I still liked the styling of the hatchback better. To make a long story longer, we took all five of us regularly back to Vancouver to see family, a 14 hour drive through about 4 climatic zones, plus we took a road trip right across Canada to the east coast and back through the States, we moved to Kelowna, still no garage, Kelowna got a little snow but it could get up to 37 Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) for a good 3 months in the summer. Then I got a job back in Vancouver, while still living in Kelowna, which meant commuting the 4 hour drive every weekend for almost 2 years over two mountain passes, the highest being 3600 metres. My ears would pop when I came down, like in an airplane. Little Red now had about 220,000 Kilometres on it (137,000 miles) and it owed me nothing....other than maintenance, I had a new clutch installed, brakes got done, new muffler, oh and 3 windshields, (gravel roads) that was about it. That never garaged car, with that mileage after 14 years of crazy driving, looked almost as good as new, one tiny little rust spot on the fender where a rock chipped the paint, and ran awesome, until I blew a cylinder on the commute home, and that was pretty much it for Little Red. I wished I knew how to work on cars, with another motor that thing could have gone another 100K. But like I said, it didn’t owe me anything, and it saw me through some huge life changes, and never once let me down. I know it sounds stupid, but that little misfit, orphaned car, that everyone loved to hate, had been my best friend. I’m actually a little choked up as I’m writing this....folks and their cars! eh? Anyway; I just thought I’d step in to give a different story than I was reading here. Happy motoring all!
Great story. the paint was bulletproof on those cars. Mine was never garaged for 30 yrs and would wax up like new. This car was pretty much the cheapest new GM car you could buy at the time. This was such an easy and cheap car to work on.
@@rfalco627 Hey, I’m glad someone else had a similar experience. Yes the paint never faded, or anything. The only thing that fell apart, sort of, was the rubber shifter boot. The plastic clip/anchors broke off so there was nothing to secure it to the centre console. I also didn’t find the steering to be as they said in this review, I liked the road feel I got from the manual steering. I was sad to let that little car go, but 3 cylinders over 2 mountain passes, was NOT going to cut it. I was just glad I was able to limp home. It was at a mileage that I knew it was not a question of if, but when, it would break down, and if it totally failed in the middle of a mountain blizzard, well, that could have been the end of both of us, me and the car. So I dodged that bullet!
I too had a red AeroCoupe 4spd and loved it. It could hold an amazing amount of stuff with the back seat lowered. Gas mileage was awesome: I once got 500 highway miles on a tank of gas and had to stop because my bladder gave out before I ran out of gas. The seat was all-day comfortable which was a pleasant surprise at that price. Knowing how to put it in reverse was the best theft-deterrent available. It ran for well over 100K miles and never gave me trouble.
Yes!! I got about that in highway driving as well. We’d do the 1200km drive from the north down to Vancouver in a straight 14 hours and usually only stop for gas twice. When we drove across the country, and hit the flat straight prairie, I thought there was something wrong with the gauge and we were going to be stranded. I don’t know how many miles I went on that tank of gas, but I know it was the width of two provinces, because I recall commenting about that. Lol. When I finally broke down and bought snow tires for all four wheels that thing could go anywhere, I thought they just wanted to sell me two extra tires, but I relented and became a believer. A FWD car with 4 good snow tires gets around better in snow than an AWD with all-seasons. And for sure, that trunk with the seat folded down was like Mary Poppins’ carpetbag, things just disappeared into that thing. I once bought a table for six with chairs, and everything fitted in, the table for six (legs left on) and all six chairs were somehow jigsaw puzzled into place. I took pictures because nobody would have believed it. It was 12 years old, never been garaged, and was parked outside and driven in 6 minus 25 degree winters and had about 225,000km on it when it blew a cylinder climbing a mountain pass. I loved Little Red, but its time had come. And for an orphaned car I never had a problem getting it fixed, even getting a clutch replaced in a small northern city with one GM dealer and I had the only Optima they had ever seen. I never saw another one on the road until I got back to the big city. That crazy little car suited me fine.
2:06 When you see the moving camera tracking the car doing the 0-60, the camera wasn't mounted on a car, the cameraman was running alongside with the LeMans.... ;P
@@anthonyg6221 I sold my first pickup truck after completely restoring the body and it was around town for several years. And I was NOT nice to it (ever). 4.3L 700R4 and an open differential. These on the other hand, were garbage.
Wow. I had no idea that this car was Korean made! Its essentially the Chevy Spark of the late 80's!! It even has similar performance numbers of a Spark!
Not a bad car for the 1980's, but the decision to assemble it in South Korea was the biggest mistake. Should've come to the US straight from Opel factory.
Those made in Germany as Opel Kadett's in Rüsselheim plant were quite decent cars. They were simple and easy to run, had rust issues common for 1980's European small cars but mechanically sound.
I was the unfortunate owner of a 1988 LeMans and these things were built nothing like the original Opel was. Daewoo has never been great at building cars IMHO but these especially had atrocious build quality. One failure after the other, and this was with a car that was maintained and not abused. Parts were expensive and/or difficult to find, dealers ended up disavowing them, and they had nothing feature-wise or mechanically to offer.
@@jakobholgersson4400 I don't know if I'd go that far as to say it's on par with Yugo, but it ain't good and certainly not on par with Kadett's in EU from what I was told. Every Pontiac dealer around me hated those things and advised against buying them, every time I brought it in for service I got "the look" from the service advisor.. The parts for the car were sourced all over the place.. engine came from Brazil (Holden), tranny was german, electronics were mixture of german and korean, and this was not a vehicle that Daewoo designed, they simply slapped it together with a hodge-podge of parts and modifications for the US market. And again, Daewoo has not shown a good track record of assembling cars even when they DO design it. Having owned a LeMans I automatically blacklist any car that has anything to with Daewoo which these days is GM Korea
Well, just because the successor (the Astra) had a new name to fit with GMs naming policy. The Kadett was actually quite an okay car, especially the GSI. And the build quality was undoubtedly better than the Astra F, which was just... horrendous.
@@jakobholgersson4400 At least the Yugo worked when maintained, by work I mean would get you from A to B albeit crudely, these kadett's were worse in reliability. @ender519 Holden in Australian not Brazilian.
I remember seeing these when i was a kid. They were somewhat popular. This car looked very very modern in 1988. Especially for a small car. I suspect most of the ones sold in America are all in junkyards now.
Gorgeous little car! These were sold as the Daewoo Racer in the country used to live. They came as 4 door sedans though. they did sell these hatchbacks under the Pontiac brand as well, but they were uncommon. Always loved the design of old Daewoo cars. They were cheap and not very reliable, but they all had Italian design.
Here in Brazil we had a different version of this car, the Chevrolet Kadett. Our "Pontiac Lemans" was launched in 1989 and had very good 1.8 and 2.0 versions beetween 98 hp and 121 hp. The performance was very good too (0-60 mph in 9.0 s and a top speed of 122 mph in the "GSi" version with 121 hp), and it was a very well built, reliable and well equiped car. In that little square on the panel wrote "Lemans", our Kadett had a board computer with many functions, RECARO seats, digital dashboard, and the rear suspension had height regulation with air. A very good car. I had a GSi version and i miss it too much.
Even within GM's own family, there were better cars than the LeMans. A base Chevrolet Nova of this vintage was more expensive [but not ridiculously more expensive] and as it was based off the contemporary Corolla, it was a far better car. Built by US workers, too. I'd even think that the similarly-sized Chevrolet Spectrum (based off the Isuzu I-Mark and built in Japan) was a far better car than the LeMans. Fast forward 30 years and there is no more Daewoo, killed off by GM who, outside of North America, preferred to use the Chevrolet brand for cheap, crappy cars built in Korea. And yet over the same period, Hyundai and Kia - which first came to the US in the mid-1990s - have a significant market share and now make mostly respectable vehicles that no longer compete solely on price.
@jason9022 okay, I'll admit the 3400 V6 wasn't anywhere near as good as the legendary 3800, which is the one engine that GM should have used in the Aztek.
@jason9022 I've experienced the 2.8, 3.1, and 3.5 as well as the Series II 3800. The "High-value" 3.5/3.9 are on par with the 3.8/3.8 SC. I have the LZE 3.5 in my current car and it drives like my previous 3800. The 3.1/3.4 moaned and groaned; they made every vehicle they were in feel like a lazy cow. But the 3.5/3.9 aren't like that at all.
Another car that most wouldn't recognize today. Always interesting to see these videos. They shed light on cars I would have never heard of. I'm sure most aren't on the road anymore, and with no cult following, it seems time has no choice but to forget them.
@@gumballguy34 With the exception of Pontiac. Daewoo snuck this back over here as one of the early Daewoo models. I think the Nubira was the car that replaced the four-door version, and the Lanos replaced the hatchback.
@@cubdukat I always forget that Daewoo actually sold a few cars under their own name for a short period. I've only ever seen one Daewoo in the states and it's owned by some old guy in my town.
This was a popular car in the UK back in the day, sold as the Vauxhall Astra! Had all sorts of engines too, from 1.2 to a 2.0 16v which was an excellent engine popular in Caterhams. They sold diesel ones too, and saloon/sedan (called the "Belmont") and estate/station wagon. And the van version which was basically the estate without windows and seats. I'm sure they all, but especially the normal hatch, were meant to actually be very aerodynamic for that time.
Believe it or not I have a colleague who imported an Opel Kadett. Imagine my surprise seeing the guy pull into a parking lot in America in 2023 in an Opel Kadett.
Also known this car (in Europe) as the OPEL Kadett E (Vauxhall Astra B for the UK market). The opel kadett E GSi 16V (2.0 liter 156ps) was pretty fast (0-100kph in 7.7" and a top speed of 220kph) back in 80's (1984-1993) and it was a tough competitor for the Golf MK-2 GTi /Golf G60!
My parents had one these when I was still in car seats, had to have been around 1990, anyway, I don't know what ever became of that car, but I as a baby always enjoyed the automatic seatbelts clicking into place.
My brother got to drive one of these in Drivers Ed, the local Pontiac dealer gave the high school deals on them (I got to drive a Sunbird then a 6000 in Drivers Ed the year before). My brother hated them he would step on the gas and it wouldn't get anywhere. The instructor would always tell him to stop flooring it.
I grew up with a 1986 (UK) Vauxhall Astra 4 door Hatch; as the family car.. was brilliant.. until someone stole it in 1993 and joyrided it into a tree. lovely format with fond memories.. not exactly recreated truthfully for the North American Market but glad that you got it in one way or another. We had a Tipo after that; a format copied from 94' to become the Focus and then the Spacious Euro hatch for a lot for of cars post 95' Thank goodness for Tipo's the unsung hero of family four door hatchbacks. Clever engineers from Turin, Italy.
Well, he could laugh at the Chevette and T1000 all he wanted, but I think the owners of those had the last laugh compared to the owners of this hunk of s***.
Maestro_T agreed. The Chevette might have had some shortcomings, at least it was reliable for the most part. GM and Dawoo equaled junk! I knew plenty of people who overturned their odometers on their little Chevys, I don't know of any of these little Opal cars lasting very long.
@@PearComputingDevices Yeah, I remember seeing Chevettes/T1000s around for years, but these either didn't last or so few sold that it's hard to say. But I always got the impression they were VERY poorly made. I think any time I saw one, side trim was missing, and that's just you can SEE. Imagine what wasn't working internally. Hyundais were also really bad at the time, and Daewoo wasn't even up to their level.
Maestro_T They were the type of cars sold on game shows, because nobody else wanted them. Not even fleet models sold well to my memory. I am not out to bash on the marker or the car but Daewoo had never had a good quality image to start with. I remember the early Excell built in that partnership and it was of no better in terms of build or ride quality. But the price tag was ok. I remember when GM bought up the remaining stock in Daewoo I thought they were nuts. Anyone who has owned or worked on an Avaeo (hope I spelled that right) probably would agree. I think what's really helped KIA and that partnership in America is the fact most American cars are of not much better over all in their segments. Plus they're just really cheap with a good warrantee. That's smart marketing.
I bought one of these for a beater back in about 2008 and pulled the e-brake to drift around a corner about a mile from the seller's house. The rear motor mounts broke loose and I drove it the rest of the way home with the oil pan dragging on the asphalt. Great car
I remember my grandma telling me her husband at the time and her went to go test drive one when new and what an experience it was. She ended up sneezing upon getting in, the force exerted from the sneeze caused her to hit her head on the dash, leaving a huge crack. She said the dealer had never seen such a thing and quit his job that day. She ended up with a Honda Civic instead.
Ahh, my first car. It never ran out of gas, I think I only used what came with it from the dealer. Brakes were horrible; almost had to Fred Flintstone it a couple of times.
We didn't have the problems with ours that everyone else seems to have had. The only unusual issue with ours was that the front doors would freeze shut any time it got below freezing. By the time you got where you were going they would work normally. We live in Texas so this didn't happen very often. Aside from that it was a decent little car.
I got given a UK variant of this as my first car. It was a family hand me down (first bought by my father second hand, then given to my older brother and then to me). Mine was a 1991 (J reg for those in the UK) Vauxhall Astra Expression 1.4. Since it was my first car, I have mostly positive memeories of it as it enabled me to visit places I would never have otherwise gone to. We had a family friend who had a garage so my annual servicing and MOT would only cost around £30 plus whatever for parts. Being in my family it had led a hard life. I hardly did anything to it maintenance wise other than put petrol in it, top up the oil and replace worn tyres. I can't even remember cleaning it all that often. I had it for about five years before it finally died when the cam belt snapped on the motorway (the engine then ate itself). I ended up selling it for scrap for £30. In total the car survived four owners, ran for thirteen years and accumulated about 130,000 miles. Feel sorry for all those who suffered reliability problems but I can't complain too much about the one I had.
I got my driver's license in an 1988 Pontiac LeMans when I was in the Navy station in the naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Oar Harbor Washington State fond memories in that car when looking back today
As a US Army soldier stationed in Germany in the mid '80's, I remember the Opel Kadett E. I thought it was good looking solid handling car so much that I bought one during my last year in Germany( a 1986 1.8 2dr hatch).The Kadett lived up to my expectations. Couldn't be brought back to the US. so after I got back to the US, eventually got a hold of a 1988 Pontiac lemans 2dr hatch. Handling wasn't as lively as the euro version and build quality but, for me it was a good car. Except for front brakes pads wearing abnormally fast , it never left me stranded ( 35k miles and 3years routine serviced). STILL - should have came straight from Opel in Germany( would have been a way better car and had a better reputation here), and SHOULD NOT have been named Lemans!!!
One of my old nannies had one of these when I was little. It was a 4 door and was silver. I don't know what year it was. I haven't seen these in years. Wonder if I ever will?
What fantastic, heartfelt responses to this little abomination sold by General Mediocrity. This mutant makes my old 79 LeMans sedan look like a limousine in comparison.
It was my first car back then in 1998.The best thing is the red rear lights with blinkers have not only a SAE number, they have also an "E" in the circle.That means you can drive this tail lights in Europe (Poland, Germany) without anger to get a ticket from the police.
Dear Alexander, you're right, I'm as well from Europe. But I would say that it was rather rebranded Daewoo Nexia/Cielo. Opel and Vauxhall were much better built. However, while living behind the Iron Curtain, I used to think Pontiac is better than Opel because it's American lol.
Yes! There were even smaller engines in the original Opel Kadett E. From 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 1.6 and 1.7 Diesel, 1.8 and 2.0... Starting from 54bhp up to 156bhp.
I had one of these in the early 2000s and they're indestructible. It took neutral drops from the limiter everyday for 3yrs and a 150,000kms oil changes if it was lucky every 15,000kms
This was Opel Kadett in Europe, car that had solid reputation especially because of sporty GSi version which was most powerful car in its class at the time with 156 hp from 1.8 liter 16v twin cam engine. Later on, I remember that they didn't prove to be reliable a lot and even worse they rusted like crazy. When I gom my driving license 15 years ago (I was living in EU) I tried to find something cheap and sporty but these Kadetts were mostly destroyed by rust and they were very rare, like most Opels. On the other hand, Audis from same time could be bought in very good condition with barely any rust on them, which is why I ended up with one.
Wow.....the 4 door SE was priced at $8400.00 (about $18,000.00 in 2019 money.) For about 19,400.00 you can buy a new, far larger 2019 Civic with twice the power and safety features like lane departure warning and stability control. Hard to believe that we paid so much back then for so little....
The Pontiac LeMans is sold in the UK as the Vauxhall Astra and Belmont 4-door sedan; however in Germany, it's the Opel Kadett. In Korea, it's known as a Daewoo Nexia/Racer/Cielo/LeMans.
When I got my first car in 1996 my parents took me to see a used LeMans and a Hyundai Excel. Both were 1991 models and I ended up getting the Excel because it had a moonroof. It ended up being a great little car actually and I am glad I went with it over the LeMans although I liked the way the LeMans looked a lot more.
Eric Tremblay It really was a decent car. Excellent in the snow and got great gas mileage. I got it when it was 5 years old and only had 25,000 miles on it. It was always maintained by the book and never left me stranded. I was 16 so I was not always easy on it and took all of my antics in stride. It was so good that I ended up buying a Hyundai Accent for my first new car and that ended up being a great car too.
My first car was a 1987 Vauxhall Nova which was the smaller sibling to the Astra (Le Mans) and all the interior switches and seat belt holders were identical lol.
In 1991 (at 19 y/o) I obtained a 1989 Le Mans GSE, the "sporty" version! IIRC, it had a 2.0L 4cyl, with something like 120 HP! It had a spoiler (which did help the looks of the car), fog/driving lights, and body-color (red) molding and alloy wheels! It was actually a fun little car! Until it wasn't! Had about 2-3 good years with it.
I still have one of these in the same white/gray colors. I converted mine from 3 spd auto to 5 speed manual which makes the car safer when merging into traffic and more fun to drive. I also upgraded the brakes with 12" vented discs. What Motor Trend didn't test was the abysmal 15.1 second 0-60 with the 3 speed AT version of the car. My "cheap plastic dash" is still totally intact, so I guess looks can be deceiving.
@@boostiao2 Doing a quick Google search, I found two for sale online. After years of looking, I recently found a turbo 2.0L engine to put in mine, so I don't plan on selling it. After that, I just need to figure out how to get 1.5 degrees of negative camber in the front. I didn't mention that I swapped in the SAAB 900 Turbo front and rear suspension to get those awesome brakes. The LeMans is essentially bolt compatible in many places with a SAAB 900. So I run 225/50 tires on 16" SAAB Viking aluminum wheels. I used CV shafts from a 200x Daewoo to interface the SAAB hubs with the LeMans manual transmission. That was just luck. I was junkyarding and they looked like they might work and they were perfect. I have driven this car on a road course. Yes it was painfully slow and I thought it was the worst car to take to the track, but then I realized that it just has to be driven such the the throttle is always floored to not loose momentum. That's when the abyssmally slow steering made it really fun (and challenging) to drive. Constant wheel turning.
@@boostiao2 It does look like RUclips removed the links to the two cars I found for sale. Just try a search for the year make and model and the words "For Sale"
This was the Vauxhall Astra here in the UK. The kind of car your mum gave you after passing your test and tried your best to make it not look like a shopping car!
Parents bought a brand new '89 Pontiac Lemans GSE after driving the Opel Kadett version while on a family vacation in Germany. Night and day difference! The Pontiac was an absolute garbage! It got lemon lawed back to GM.
In Germany we bought an Opel Kadett 1.4 i, in Admiral Blue, with 5 speed. Reliable car which ate every year an rear exhaust pot, rattled and shaked like a rattle snake inside due to different plastic materials which did not work together. When we took the car from a great Opel Dealer we left the forecourt just to return through the back gate into the mechanics area. The lid from the glove box had come down and needed adjustments to close. Not a sign of quality for 19785 DM costing car in 1990. All the problems should then have been sorted out, as the Kadett (E) had already been in production since 1985. This was the time when Opel had been left with yearly changing management, from Detroit, massive savings resulting in huge quality problems and the beginning of the decade long decline of the company. But that's been solved very fastly after GM had sold Opel to PSA Peugeot Citroen. Since then Opel has gained profitability again after a row of 20 YEARS continuously producing billions of losses under GM. Thank god they managed soon enough to escape GM, before they have had the chance to cancel the brand just like SAAB before.
Pretty decent review actually I thought it would have failed miserably. Great to see a fair review given. Seems like it would have been a fun run around car to have.
My dad got one given to him for free and that car would not die. Took him everywhere for years and it finally lost a cv axle and my dad just junked it.
@@colthoover + I can remember that car and the night my father made her sell it like it was yesterday. Must've been the mid to late 70s and I was maybe 5 or 6. It's always been stuck in my mind. Cars used to be something special!
Brad Last Name ,Oh wow, why did she have to get rid of It? My moms parents bought hers brand new and then passed it down to her when she was going to school and college. It was her first car. My pap had repainted it at one point before they gave it to her. A drunk guy hit he and my Nanna as they were taking it for a drive and it screwed the fender all up. My pap said he would have took off after him if it wasn’t for the fact that the fender had caved in on the tire and it was smoking as he was trying to go after him 😂 my mom drove it with the paint messed up after he pulled the fender out.
@@colthoover + my father (88 and still grumpy now) wasn't a car guy. He just didn't want to keep up an old car. Especially after opec 1 & 2. Those cars were dinosaurs to him as far as he cared. I wish I had a family that passed down cool cars. I have a couple for my boys saved.
My parents bought one new in 1990 for my sisters to go to school lol it was a 4 door light blue in color then I ended up with it when I got to high school
Mike Gomez no better feeling than driving yourself to school, no matter what you’re driving or where it came from. Anything beats that big ugly ass yellow bus!
Hyundai/Kia are respected Mainstays in the American market today, it's easy to forget that there was a time when Korean cars were subpar, and this vehicle and it's legacy are a perfect example. Even though most of the blame belongs in the lap of GM executives and their chronically poor management
My mom had one of these, except it was a canadian-only branded Passport Optima. She'd been driving a chevette previously, so this car was a "step up". Yeah. Funniest thing is, she had no idea it was made in S. Korea. The 80s were a simpler time.
I had one for a few months in late 1991 early 92 while I was in the Navy. Central California in the summer NO A.C. Here’s a good one, I had a vehicle back into my drivers Headlamp. Ran vehicle for about three weeks with a simple piece of Cardboard over the lens to protect from further damage and to maintain some of the aerodynamic profile. The day before I was scheduled to bring to the dealer for repair I picked up the lens at the dealer. The insurance company had settled the claim (the other drivers not mine) all I had to do was drop off at the dealer the next morning and wait with it. About 1/4 mile from the base main gate I get pulled over by CHP for guess what....broken headlamp. During late morning with plenty of sun and daylight. Explained the deal and even showed him the new headlamp assembly on the passengers seat, explained that it was scheduled for removal/replacement the next morning. He would not hear any of it, issued a Fix-It Ticket which is basically show proof of repair within 14 days, get signed off by mechanic and local Law Enforcement authorities then bring to local CHP Office and ticket cleared. Cost me $25 plus all The extra time because this CHP had axe to grind or wasn’t having enough luck with speeders that day. Drove into base, found a few tools and replaced in the barracks parking lot.......figured out by looking and guessing since this incident preceded You Tube by at least 10-15 years.
If only Americans could have had the version we had in the UK called the "Vauxhall Astra GTE" it was (and still is if you can find one) a great hot hatch! They had 2.0 16v (some 8v) engines and were awesome fun.
worked at a Pontiac dealer in 88. worst car i ever saw. cam shafts were breaking in half at IDLE. PASSIVE BELTS WERE BREAKING. parts came from Korea. they wouldn't air ship. all parts were sent by ocean freighter, 4 to 6 week wait for parts. they had a national holiday once, no parts could be obtained during this time because nobody was working those 2 weeks. last thing. when sold, they were touted as , European designed in Germany cars. the sales dept. really wasn't telling people they were made in Korea. had customers come in for work , and i had to tell them 4 to 6 weeks for parts. they would ask why so long, and when i would tell them where the parts were coming from they asked why. these people had NO idea these were Korean built cars!
now a good one. there was a recall for the passive seat belts not working. people brought their cars in for the recall. but, we didn't receive the recall parts yet. now here is the kicker, GM made us keep the car and not return it until the belts were fixed. federal law wouldn't let us release a car with non-working seat belts. talk about mad people. we were in Ft. Myers, fla. some people drove their LeMans down there for vacation. were told we had to keep the car till fixed. they were basically stuck down there till the parts came in! most flew home, then came back down to get their cars. great way to wreck a vacation! also, GM didn't offer ANY help to these people.
And then people wonder why Japanese cars are so popular.
@@scott8919 I bet 80% of the owners who had their cars "hijacked" during that recall with no compensation ended up trading them in on Honda's/Toyota's lol, or at the very least became anti-GM. I can't even imagine going through that situation.
Yet another potentially decent car completely ruined by good old fashioned GM mismanagement. Unfortunately this trend has continued well beyond this vehicles lifespan
@@303nitzubishi4 ...wait, what are you talking about, the lack of cars from GM or the bean counters still doing their thing, LOL.
Cool story bro
MotorWeek Retro Reviews make Thursday Morning that much better!!
Neighborhood Car Reviews omg...this channel 😆 Pontiac LeMans! Hahaha
I love how he said "body roll well controlled" meanwhile that Asian made german economy car was darn near on its side lolll
Well, Thursday mornings suck, so I'm not sure what your comment means. I guess it's the day before Friday, so that's good, but it's the MORNING of the day before Friday, so...yeah, not seeing it.
I owned one of these with air conditioning. I actually liked the car a lot. It was a 5- speed and I actually put a super trap muffler on it. Sounded like a pissed off bumblebee. It was great on gas and was an overall fun car.
And good style
A pissed off bumble bee 🐝 🤣🤣🤣
I haven't seen one of these in 25 years.
@@michaelhungate7506 there's a good reason for that.
@@stevendaleschmitt yeah I know they were absolute piles of crap.
I love how this show brings in reviews of strange or significant stuff, always good
😆 dead
Available in the U.K. back then as the Vauxhall Astra, and the 2.0 16v GTE was pretty fast. They're actually appreciating in value today!
I had a 4 door GTE in the states as well as a 2 door 2.0 Aerocoupe, unfortunately a tree fell on the GTE & destroyed it ,I completely gutted its motor, brakes & most of the parts as they wasn't available in the USA
Right Hand Drive Pontiac LeMans in New Zealand has been sold from Holden dealers
@@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY they were lucky in an era when Australia was subjected to Cloned Pulsars and Corollas just before the new age Astra came along in 1991 to get the good stuff.
The Opel Kadett gsi was very popular in Europe, especially the 2.0 16v.
In England it was called the "Vauxhall Astra". The GTE version was awesome fun, I think some had 2.0 8v engines too, but the 16v engines known as "red tops" are still sought after cars.
Here in Brazil, too. But our GSi unfortunelly had a 2.0 8 valve version with 121 hp, instead the incredible 2.0 16V 150 hp from Opel.
A convertible GSI was a dream of all 90's boys in Brazil, but a sw version called Ipanema was terrible ugly. Here in Portugal there are a few in really good shape still running.
@@Daniel-wx3qn Ipanema não é feia!
Didn't the US get the Daewoo!! Tank approved.
I bought one of these the first year it came out, 1988. GM, in all its corporate wisdom, decided that they couldn’t sell it as a Pontiac In Canada, so they created a whole new dealership called Passport, and the Le Mans was called the Optima. They had some rebadged Isuzu’s and Suzuki’s selling as Passports as well. After a couple of years, (2+ years, you can’t make this stuff up) they gave up on Passport and changed the name to Asüna, I think the umlauts were over the u, same car, different name, then they gave up on that, and changed all the dealerships to Saturn, Saab, Izuzu, all makes that GM had an interest in.
Anyway, I had a wife and two kids under 3, and my 71 VW 411 was starting to age dangerously, (I have a thing for oddball cars) so I HAD to get something new, and it couldn’t be more than $10,000, and the monthly payment couldn’t be more than $200. And I really liked the way the Optima looked. Much better looking than the Tercels, Mazda 323 Protegè, Civics of the day, and the Rabbit was slightly over my price point. So I got a red Optima VL (Value Leader)...4 speed manual, manual steering, roll up windows, power brakes (alone in the power group), no radio, fixed rear windows, no AC of course and no tach. I quickly put in an aftermarket sound system, and tachometer, but being so basic, it was light AF, and those hard working 74 horses moved that thing around like a bat out of hell. I bought it in Vancouver, my home town, which is lucky to see one snowy day every 2 years, but after 4 years I took a job up north, in 1992 where there was real winter, and that little car was parked outside for the next 6 years on Mile 52 on the Alaska Highway, in the snow and cold (it could get down to minus 40 for a week or two then warm up to minus 20 for most of the winter) oh, and after deciding on the 2 door hatchback, we had another kid the next year, so the 4 door would have been nice, but I still liked the styling of the hatchback better.
To make a long story longer, we took all five of us regularly back to Vancouver to see family, a 14 hour drive through about 4 climatic zones, plus we took a road trip right across Canada to the east coast and back through the States, we moved to Kelowna, still no garage, Kelowna got a little snow but it could get up to 37 Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) for a good 3 months in the summer. Then I got a job back in Vancouver, while still living in Kelowna, which meant commuting the 4 hour drive every weekend for almost 2 years over two mountain passes, the highest being 3600 metres. My ears would pop when I came down, like in an airplane. Little Red now had about 220,000 Kilometres on it (137,000 miles) and it owed me nothing....other than maintenance, I had a new clutch installed, brakes got done, new muffler, oh and 3 windshields, (gravel roads) that was about it. That never garaged car, with that mileage after 14 years of crazy driving, looked almost as good as new, one tiny little rust spot on the fender where a rock chipped the paint, and ran awesome, until I blew a cylinder on the commute home, and that was pretty much it for Little Red. I wished I knew how to work on cars, with another motor that thing could have gone another 100K.
But like I said, it didn’t owe me anything, and it saw me through some huge life changes, and never once let me down. I know it sounds stupid, but that little misfit, orphaned car, that everyone loved to hate, had been my best friend. I’m actually a little choked up as I’m writing this....folks and their cars! eh? Anyway; I just thought I’d step in to give a different story than I was reading here. Happy motoring all!
Great story. the paint was bulletproof on those cars. Mine was never garaged for 30 yrs and would wax up like new. This car was pretty much the cheapest new GM car you could buy at the time. This was such an easy and cheap car to work on.
@@rfalco627 Hey, I’m glad someone else had a similar experience. Yes the paint never faded, or anything. The only thing that fell apart, sort of, was the rubber shifter boot. The plastic clip/anchors broke off so there was nothing to secure it to the centre console.
I also didn’t find the steering to be as they said in this review, I liked the road feel I got from the manual steering. I was sad to let that little car go, but 3 cylinders over 2 mountain passes, was NOT going to cut it. I was just glad I was able to limp home.
It was at a mileage that I knew it was not a question of if, but when, it would break down, and if it totally failed in the middle of a mountain blizzard, well, that could have been the end of both of us, me and the car. So I dodged that bullet!
I too had a red AeroCoupe 4spd and loved it. It could hold an amazing amount of stuff with the back seat lowered. Gas mileage was awesome: I once got 500 highway miles on a tank of gas and had to stop because my bladder gave out before I ran out of gas. The seat was all-day comfortable which was a pleasant surprise at that price. Knowing how to put it in reverse was the best theft-deterrent available. It ran for well over 100K miles and never gave me trouble.
Yes!! I got about that in highway driving as well. We’d do the 1200km drive from the north down to Vancouver in a straight 14 hours and usually only stop for gas twice. When we drove across the country, and hit the flat straight prairie, I thought there was something wrong with the gauge and we were going to be stranded. I don’t know how many miles I went on that tank of gas, but I know it was the width of two provinces, because I recall commenting about that. Lol. When I finally broke down and bought snow tires for all four wheels that thing could go anywhere, I thought they just wanted to sell me two extra tires, but I relented and became a believer. A FWD car with 4 good snow tires gets around better in snow than an AWD with all-seasons.
And for sure, that trunk with the seat folded down was like Mary Poppins’ carpetbag, things just disappeared into that thing.
I once bought a table for six with chairs, and everything fitted in, the table for six (legs left on) and all six chairs were somehow jigsaw puzzled into place. I took pictures because nobody would have believed it.
It was 12 years old, never been garaged, and was parked outside and driven in 6 minus 25 degree winters and had about 225,000km on it when it blew a cylinder climbing a mountain pass.
I loved Little Red, but its time had come. And for an orphaned car I never had a problem getting it fixed, even getting a clutch replaced in a small northern city with one GM dealer and I had the only Optima they had ever seen.
I never saw another one on the road until I got back to the big city. That crazy little car suited me fine.
Long story
2:06 When you see the moving camera tracking the car doing the 0-60, the camera wasn't mounted on a car, the cameraman was running alongside with the LeMans.... ;P
its so slow that cameraman can run faster
I had one of these. It was a good car for what it was. Took it on a 2000 mile round trip and averaged 40 mpg.
Thank you for sharing "more GM footage". I look forward more old classic GM footage and Lincoln footage.
It's a stretch to attach any GM heritage to this Korean junk. This is more like free entertainment from the MotorWeek vaults.
A neighbor’s son got one of these used as his first car around ‘92. I don’t think he had it more than a year or two before it started falling apart.
Literally any car gets destroyed when it's someone's first car.
@@anthonyg6221 I sold my first pickup truck after completely restoring the body and it was around town for several years. And I was NOT nice to it (ever). 4.3L 700R4 and an open differential. These on the other hand, were garbage.
Sounds like he got one of the good ones. LOL
Wow. I had no idea that this car was Korean made! Its essentially the Chevy Spark of the late 80's!! It even has similar performance numbers of a Spark!
really.i thought it would be closer to say a chevy sonic or what was a holden barina.i own a spark and it's very similar also korean but feels german.
Not a bad car for the 1980's, but the decision to assemble it in South Korea was the biggest mistake. Should've come to the US straight from Opel factory.
My cousin had one. It drove fine, but it literally fell apart in her hands. One of my worst mistakes was suggesting it for her for her 1st car.
Had one as a rental back then. It was kind of terrible.
Those made in Germany as Opel Kadett's in Rüsselheim plant were quite decent cars. They were simple and easy to run, had rust issues common for 1980's European small cars but mechanically sound.
@@redevilrrr wrong!
The were build in Bochum, not Rüsselsheim.
Even those assembled in Europe were crap...
I was the unfortunate owner of a 1988 LeMans and these things were built nothing like the original Opel was. Daewoo has never been great at building cars IMHO but these especially had atrocious build quality. One failure after the other, and this was with a car that was maintained and not abused. Parts were expensive and/or difficult to find, dealers ended up disavowing them, and they had nothing feature-wise or mechanically to offer.
Wait... build quality was EVEN WORSE than the Opel? If true, this thing has to be on-par with Yugo.
@@jakobholgersson4400 I don't know if I'd go that far as to say it's on par with Yugo, but it ain't good and certainly not on par with Kadett's in EU from what I was told. Every Pontiac dealer around me hated those things and advised against buying them, every time I brought it in for service I got "the look" from the service advisor.. The parts for the car were sourced all over the place.. engine came from Brazil (Holden), tranny was german, electronics were mixture of german and korean, and this was not a vehicle that Daewoo designed, they simply slapped it together with a hodge-podge of parts and modifications for the US market. And again, Daewoo has not shown a good track record of assembling cars even when they DO design it. Having owned a LeMans I automatically blacklist any car that has anything to with Daewoo which these days is GM Korea
@@ender519 Opels are terrible to begin with. There's a reason that what we see here was the last generation Kadett.
Well, just because the successor (the Astra) had a new name to fit with GMs naming policy. The Kadett was actually quite an okay car, especially the GSI. And the build quality was undoubtedly better than the Astra F, which was just... horrendous.
@@jakobholgersson4400 At least the Yugo worked when maintained, by work I mean would get you from A to B albeit crudely, these kadett's were worse in reliability.
@ender519 Holden in Australian not Brazilian.
The Pontiac LeMans was an cool car in the 80's, I was a fan of th four door sedan, light blue and red colors fit the car.
I've always called this one the Pontiac "LeMons".
they just shouldve called it Pontiac LOL
I was calling it LEE Mans until my uncle corrected me. Those WERE some pretty bad and sorry cars.
I remember seeing these when i was a kid. They were somewhat popular. This car looked very very modern in 1988. Especially for a small car. I suspect most of the ones sold in America are all in junkyards now.
We actually have a silver one in daily use where I live
They're so old the junk yards probably crushed most of these years ago
It did not look very modern in 1988.. what the Hondas and Toyotas especially.
The LeMans was a "hold my beer" reaction to the Merkur XR4Ti.
Gorgeous little car! These were sold as the Daewoo Racer in the country used to live. They came as 4 door sedans though. they did sell these hatchbacks under the Pontiac brand as well, but they were uncommon. Always loved the design of old Daewoo cars. They were cheap and not very reliable, but they all had Italian design.
I remember when I first saw one of these cars - my shocked reaction was "Didn't the LeMans used to be a really cool muscle car?"
Here in Brazil we had a different version of this car, the Chevrolet Kadett. Our "Pontiac Lemans" was launched in 1989 and had very good 1.8 and 2.0 versions beetween 98 hp and 121 hp. The performance was very good too (0-60 mph in 9.0 s and a top speed of 122 mph in the "GSi" version with 121 hp), and it was a very well built, reliable and well equiped car. In that little square on the panel wrote "Lemans", our Kadett had a board computer with many functions, RECARO seats, digital dashboard, and the rear suspension had height regulation with air. A very good car. I had a GSi version and i miss it too much.
Standard equipment includes defective steering and brakes. The big 3 really left the door wide open with a welcome basket for Toyota and Honda.
Even within GM's own family, there were better cars than the LeMans. A base Chevrolet Nova of this vintage was more expensive [but not ridiculously more expensive] and as it was based off the contemporary Corolla, it was a far better car. Built by US workers, too. I'd even think that the similarly-sized Chevrolet Spectrum (based off the Isuzu I-Mark and built in Japan) was a far better car than the LeMans.
Fast forward 30 years and there is no more Daewoo, killed off by GM who, outside of North America, preferred to use the Chevrolet brand for cheap, crappy cars built in Korea. And yet over the same period, Hyundai and Kia - which first came to the US in the mid-1990s - have a significant market share and now make mostly respectable vehicles that no longer compete solely on price.
I agree 100%. Our family had only imports. We mocked Anerican cars in the 80's and 90's.
Honey I shrunk the aztek
chaz l LOL 😂😂😂😂😂
Wow sorta does look like it. I wonder if this was the inspiration ? Lol
At least the Aztek is fairly reliable and very versatile, the former especially is something that can't be said about this piece of crap LeMans.
@jason9022 okay, I'll admit the 3400 V6 wasn't anywhere near as good as the legendary 3800, which is the one engine that GM should have used in the Aztek.
@jason9022 I've experienced the 2.8, 3.1, and 3.5 as well as the Series II 3800. The "High-value" 3.5/3.9 are on par with the 3.8/3.8 SC. I have the LZE 3.5 in my current car and it drives like my previous 3800. The 3.1/3.4 moaned and groaned; they made every vehicle they were in feel like a lazy cow. But the 3.5/3.9 aren't like that at all.
Another car that most wouldn't recognize today. Always interesting to see these videos. They shed light on cars I would have never heard of. I'm sure most aren't on the road anymore, and with no cult following, it seems time has no choice but to forget them.
That car was crazy fast! It owned the drag strips back in the day
Lol I forget these ever existed!
Everyone did
@@gumballguy34 With the exception of Pontiac. Daewoo snuck this back over here as one of the early Daewoo models. I think the Nubira was the car that replaced the four-door version, and the Lanos replaced the hatchback.
We all wish we could forget
@@cubdukat I always forget that Daewoo actually sold a few cars under their own name for a short period. I've only ever seen one Daewoo in the states and it's owned by some old guy in my town.
@@gumballguy34Many people will remember thanks to MadTV. NAME'S TANK!
3:51 John: However the seat belts are difficult to reach and easy to tangle! LOL
I love the Velcro wallet.
This was a popular car in the UK back in the day, sold as the Vauxhall Astra!
Had all sorts of engines too, from 1.2 to a 2.0 16v which was an excellent engine popular in Caterhams. They sold diesel ones too, and saloon/sedan (called the "Belmont") and estate/station wagon. And the van version which was basically the estate without windows and seats. I'm sure they all, but especially the normal hatch, were meant to actually be very aerodynamic for that time.
Also got them as Daewoo in the mid 90s as part of a dated, badly made but cheap car range
Can’t be many left now, but I still see the odd Mk 3 driving around.
What a horrendous thing to do to the LeMans name. Good riddance to what Pontiac wound up becoming.
Believe it or not I have a colleague who imported an Opel Kadett. Imagine my surprise seeing the guy pull into a parking lot in America in 2023 in an Opel Kadett.
Chevy from Latin America or Brazil.
Also known this car (in Europe) as the OPEL Kadett E (Vauxhall Astra B for the UK market). The opel kadett E GSi 16V (2.0 liter 156ps) was pretty fast (0-100kph in 7.7" and a top speed of 220kph) back in 80's (1984-1993) and it was a tough competitor for the Golf MK-2 GTi /Golf G60!
I came to know it as the Chevrolet Kadett here, and I loved it, especially the GSi model.
Kadett, like cadaver.
My parents had one these when I was still in car seats, had to have been around 1990, anyway, I don't know what ever became of that car, but I as a baby always enjoyed the automatic seatbelts clicking into place.
Car of the year...wow. Cars have certainly come a long way since then.
My brother got to drive one of these in Drivers Ed, the local Pontiac dealer gave the high school deals on them (I got to drive a Sunbird then a 6000 in Drivers Ed the year before). My brother hated them he would step on the gas and it wouldn't get anywhere. The instructor would always tell him to stop flooring it.
"But it won't go anywhere if I don't!"
I'm 1000%sure they're are none of these left on the road
I was thinking the same lol
Not true. I saw one just the other day.
@@herbiehusker1889 was it on the road tho lol
Sorry, but I was quite surprised to see one of these just this week. The one I saw was a white 4 door sedan.
There is an 1988 on e bay right now.
How far south Korean products have come, in Australia we got these as the Daewoo 1.5i and facelifted Cielo from 1994 to 1997
I grew up with a 1986 (UK) Vauxhall Astra 4 door Hatch; as the family car.. was brilliant.. until someone stole it in 1993 and joyrided it into a tree. lovely format with fond memories.. not exactly recreated truthfully for the North American Market but glad that you got it in one way or another. We had a Tipo after that; a format copied from 94' to become the Focus and then the Spacious Euro hatch for a lot for of cars post 95' Thank goodness for Tipo's the unsung hero of family four door hatchbacks. Clever engineers from Turin, Italy.
Well, he could laugh at the Chevette and T1000 all he wanted, but I think the owners of those had the last laugh compared to the owners of this hunk of s***.
Maestro_T agreed. The Chevette might have had some shortcomings, at least it was reliable for the most part. GM and Dawoo equaled junk! I knew plenty of people who overturned their odometers on their little Chevys, I don't know of any of these little Opal cars lasting very long.
@@PearComputingDevices Yeah, I remember seeing Chevettes/T1000s around for years, but these either didn't last or so few sold that it's hard to say. But I always got the impression they were VERY poorly made. I think any time I saw one, side trim was missing, and that's just you can SEE. Imagine what wasn't working internally. Hyundais were also really bad at the time, and Daewoo wasn't even up to their level.
Maestro_T They were the type of cars sold on game shows, because nobody else wanted them. Not even fleet models sold well to my memory. I am not out to bash on the marker or the car but Daewoo had never had a good quality image to start with. I remember the early Excell built in that partnership and it was of no better in terms of build or ride quality. But the price tag was ok. I remember when GM bought up the remaining stock in Daewoo I thought they were nuts. Anyone who has owned or worked on an Avaeo (hope I spelled that right) probably would agree. I think what's really helped KIA and that partnership in America is the fact most American cars are of not much better over all in their segments. Plus they're just really cheap with a good warrantee. That's smart marketing.
Jovan Thompson lol the price is right. lol
I would rather have a Chevette.
I bought one of these for a beater back in about 2008 and pulled the e-brake to drift around a corner about a mile from the seller's house. The rear motor mounts broke loose and I drove it the rest of the way home with the oil pan dragging on the asphalt. Great car
Yeah!
Originally it was the german build 1984-1991 Opel Kadett E.
Great car!
I remember my grandma telling me her husband at the time and her went to go test drive one when new and what an experience it was. She ended up sneezing upon getting in, the force exerted from the sneeze caused her to hit her head on the dash, leaving a huge crack. She said the dealer had never seen such a thing and quit his job that day. She ended up with a Honda Civic instead.
I was hoping to forget about these things.
I wanted the GSE model back in 88... I had just graduated high school really loved this design.
Ahh, my first car. It never ran out of gas, I think I only used what came with it from the dealer. Brakes were horrible; almost had to Fred Flintstone it a couple of times.
I had to use the e-brake to stop... every time.
Brakes were terrible! i swapped to the 2.0 L larger front brakes. Didn't make much of a difference! But 37-40 mpg was good then and still is today.
We didn't have the problems with ours that everyone else seems to have had. The only unusual issue with ours was that the front doors would freeze shut any time it got below freezing. By the time you got where you were going they would work normally. We live in Texas so this didn't happen very often. Aside from that it was a decent little car.
Same year as my Fiero. I think mine held up better haha
Heck yeah. The Fiero is 1000 times the car that this dimwitted piece of crap LeMans is.
@@hakeemsd70m 😁
Aztek..I am your father. And the Ford Aspire is your distant cousin.
This should be top comment
And the Ford fiesta the step brother!
@@panchopantera7321 and I'm guessing the Honda Crosstour
I got given a UK variant of this as my first car. It was a family hand me down (first bought by my father second hand, then given to my older brother and then to me). Mine was a 1991 (J reg for those in the UK) Vauxhall Astra Expression 1.4.
Since it was my first car, I have mostly positive memeories of it as it enabled me to visit places I would never have otherwise gone to. We had a family friend who had a garage so my annual servicing and MOT would only cost around £30 plus whatever for parts. Being in my family it had led a hard life. I hardly did anything to it maintenance wise other than put petrol in it, top up the oil and replace worn tyres. I can't even remember cleaning it all that often. I had it for about five years before it finally died when the cam belt snapped on the motorway (the engine then ate itself). I ended up selling it for scrap for £30.
In total the car survived four owners, ran for thirteen years and accumulated about 130,000 miles. Feel sorry for all those who suffered reliability problems but I can't complain too much about the one I had.
I got my driver's license in an 1988 Pontiac LeMans when I was in the Navy station in the naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Oar Harbor Washington State fond memories in that car when looking back today
3:00 The LeMans fishtailed!!!!🤣🤣
As a US Army soldier stationed in Germany in the mid '80's, I remember the Opel Kadett E. I thought it was good looking solid handling car so much that I bought one during my last year in Germany( a 1986 1.8 2dr hatch).The Kadett lived up to my expectations. Couldn't be brought back to the US. so after I got back to the US, eventually got a hold of a 1988 Pontiac lemans 2dr hatch. Handling wasn't as lively as the euro version and build quality but, for me it was a good car. Except for front brakes pads wearing abnormally fast , it never left me stranded ( 35k miles and 3years routine serviced). STILL - should have came straight from Opel in Germany( would have been a way better car and had a better reputation here), and SHOULD NOT have been named Lemans!!!
One of my old nannies had one of these when I was little. It was a 4 door and was silver. I don't know what year it was. I haven't seen these in years. Wonder if I ever will?
What fantastic, heartfelt responses to this little abomination sold by General Mediocrity. This mutant makes my old 79 LeMans sedan look like a limousine in comparison.
This car makes the 79 lemans look like a GTO
It was a good car in Brazil as Chevrolet Kadet
It was my first car back then in 1998.The best thing is the red rear lights with blinkers have not only a SAE number, they have also an "E" in the circle.That means you can drive this tail lights in Europe (Poland, Germany) without anger to get a ticket from the police.
Wasn't this just a rebranded Opel Kadett/Vauxhall Astra?
Alexander Stefanov Did you listen to what they said in the video?
Yes
@@maciejszumny6919 I did but after I wrote it, it's not too difficult if you spent the last 36 year in Europe
Dear Alexander, you're right, I'm as well from Europe. But I would say that it was rather rebranded Daewoo Nexia/Cielo. Opel and Vauxhall were much better built. However, while living behind the Iron Curtain, I used to think Pontiac is better than Opel because it's American lol.
@@maciejszumny6919 Are all Europeans smartasses like you? The guy asked a simple question all you had to do was say yes.
Did I heard it well? 4 cyl 1.6 liter? In Brazil it was 1.8 liter or 2 liters.
Yes! There were even smaller engines in the original Opel Kadett E.
From 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 1.6 and 1.7 Diesel, 1.8 and 2.0...
Starting from 54bhp up to 156bhp.
These cars are legendary in Europe. The GSI version was a dream car for teenagers here back then.
I had one of these in the early 2000s and they're indestructible. It took neutral drops from the limiter everyday for 3yrs and a 150,000kms oil changes if it was lucky every 15,000kms
This was Opel Kadett in Europe, car that had solid reputation especially because of sporty GSi version which was most powerful car in its class at the time with 156 hp from 1.8 liter 16v twin cam engine. Later on, I remember that they didn't prove to be reliable a lot and even worse they rusted like crazy. When I gom my driving license 15 years ago (I was living in EU) I tried to find something cheap and sporty but these Kadetts were mostly destroyed by rust and they were very rare, like most Opels. On the other hand, Audis from same time could be bought in very good condition with barely any rust on them, which is why I ended up with one.
The roof mounted luggage rack supports is a very cool idea.
Wow.....the 4 door SE was priced at $8400.00 (about $18,000.00 in 2019 money.) For about 19,400.00 you can buy a new, far larger 2019 Civic with twice the power and safety features like lane departure warning and stability control. Hard to believe that we paid so much back then for so little....
Ok???
The Pontiac LeMans is sold in the UK as the Vauxhall Astra and Belmont 4-door sedan; however in Germany, it's the Opel Kadett. In Korea, it's known as a Daewoo Nexia/Racer/Cielo/LeMans.
It made it to the UK as a Daewoo too, years after Vauxhall/Opel were done with them.
Here in Brazil Chevrolet Kadett (1989 - 1998) 2l 1.8l
I remember one of these in the driver's ed fleet in 1988. I got a 1988 Ford Tempo.
The 85 k wagon turned a tighter circle.
When I got my first car in 1996 my parents took me to see a used LeMans and a Hyundai Excel. Both were 1991 models and I ended up getting the Excel because it had a moonroof. It ended up being a great little car actually and I am glad I went with it over the LeMans although I liked the way the LeMans looked a lot more.
The Excel was actually a decent car indeed.
I own a 1989 one, 5MT, Hatchback. Got about 200 000 km out of it.
Eric Tremblay It really was a decent car. Excellent in the snow and got great gas mileage. I got it when it was 5 years old and only had 25,000 miles on it. It was always maintained by the book and never left me stranded. I was 16 so I was not always easy on it and took all of my antics in stride. It was so good that I ended up buying a Hyundai Accent for my first new car and that ended up being a great car too.
This is quite different from my 1972 LeMans.
Robert Read, The only thing they have in common is the shitbox "LeMans" could for fit in the trunk of your real LeMans.
This is quite different to a 1985 Vauxhall Astra.
Martin Jones 😃 I kind of feel like it’s not, my friend.
@@bobbyread it literally is a Vauxhall Astra MK2, just with a Daewoo engine
My first car was a 1987 Vauxhall Nova which was the smaller sibling to the Astra (Le Mans) and all the interior switches and seat belt holders were identical lol.
In 1991 (at 19 y/o) I obtained a 1989 Le Mans GSE, the "sporty" version! IIRC, it had a 2.0L 4cyl, with something like 120 HP! It had a spoiler (which did help the looks of the car), fog/driving lights, and body-color (red) molding and alloy wheels! It was actually a fun little car! Until it wasn't! Had about 2-3 good years with it.
I still have one of these in the same white/gray colors. I converted mine from 3 spd auto to 5 speed manual which makes the car safer when merging into traffic and more fun to drive. I also upgraded the brakes with 12" vented discs. What Motor Trend didn't test was the abysmal 15.1 second 0-60 with the 3 speed AT version of the car. My "cheap plastic dash" is still totally intact, so I guess looks can be deceiving.
Hey! Awesome you still have it. Is by any chance for sale? or you know where I can find one?
@@boostiao2 Doing a quick Google search, I found two for sale online. After years of looking, I recently found a turbo 2.0L engine to put in mine, so I don't plan on selling it. After that, I just need to figure out how to get 1.5 degrees of negative camber in the front. I didn't mention that I swapped in the SAAB 900 Turbo front and rear suspension to get those awesome brakes. The LeMans is essentially bolt compatible in many places with a SAAB 900. So I run 225/50 tires on 16" SAAB Viking aluminum wheels. I used CV shafts from a 200x Daewoo to interface the SAAB hubs with the LeMans manual transmission. That was just luck. I was junkyarding and they looked like they might work and they were perfect. I have driven this car on a road course. Yes it was painfully slow and I thought it was the worst car to take to the track, but then I realized that it just has to be driven such the the throttle is always floored to not loose momentum. That's when the abyssmally slow steering made it really fun (and challenging) to drive. Constant wheel turning.
@@zoomthumpthump for sale where? Glad youre doing all that, I know a thing or two about them DNA.
@@boostiao2 It does look like RUclips removed the links to the two cars I found for sale. Just try a search for the year make and model and the words "For Sale"
Where can i follow you to see your car
Fun fact: when she pulled out the headlight knob, she was turning on the courtesy (interior) light.
Vauxhall Astra mk2 in UK.
GTE 1.8 version was the "Hot Hatch" model.
I owned one back in 1991 and I never knew that the seat folded for extra luggage space in trunk! Wow
This was the Vauxhall Astra here in the UK. The kind of car your mum gave you after passing your test and tried your best to make it not look like a shopping car!
My first car was a opel kadett. Really good car. It was indestructable
Will you guys post the VW Fox test?
Wow, at 03:21 that looks like a Peugeot 505 facing the back of the car? That was the last Peugeot sold in the US market.
Parents bought a brand new '89 Pontiac Lemans GSE after driving the Opel Kadett version while on a family vacation in Germany. Night and day difference! The Pontiac was an absolute garbage! It got lemon lawed back to GM.
In the UK it was called the "Vauxhall Astra", this version was the "Mark 2". The GTE versions were awesome fun.
In Germany we bought an Opel Kadett 1.4 i, in Admiral Blue, with 5 speed. Reliable car which ate every year an rear exhaust pot, rattled and shaked like a rattle snake inside due to different plastic materials which did not work together. When we took the car from a great Opel Dealer we left the forecourt just to return through the back gate into the mechanics area. The lid from the glove box had come down and needed adjustments to close. Not a sign of quality for 19785 DM costing car in 1990. All the problems should then have been sorted out, as the Kadett (E) had already been in production since 1985. This was the time when Opel had been left with yearly changing management, from Detroit, massive savings resulting in huge quality problems and the beginning of the decade long decline of the company. But that's been solved very fastly after GM had sold Opel to PSA Peugeot Citroen. Since then Opel has gained profitability again after a row of 20 YEARS continuously producing billions of losses under GM. Thank god they managed soon enough to escape GM, before they have had the chance to cancel the brand just like SAAB before.
In my country "Brazil" , this cars was a Chevrolet Kadett GSI 2.0 8 valves with 121 hp
Pretty decent review actually
I thought it would have failed miserably.
Great to see a fair review given.
Seems like it would have been a fun run around car to have.
The Vauxhall Astra here in the UK and made at Vauxhall`s Luton plant.
My dad got one given to him for free and that car would not die. Took him everywhere for years and it finally lost a cv axle and my dad just junked it.
Good morning fellow MotorWeekers!!
Finally figured out where they took the design for the Aztec rear now. It's from the LeMans!
I remember thinking that when the Aztek came out. Almost as if they had to use what was in the parts bin
My mother's 1st new car was a 1969 Pontiac Lemans. It was a far cry from this thing. She raved about that old Pontiac until the day she died.
Brad Last Name my moms first car was a gold 72 LeMans! She always talks about it and loved it as well!
@@colthoover + I can remember that car and the night my father made her sell it like it was yesterday. Must've been the mid to late 70s and I was maybe 5 or 6. It's always been stuck in my mind. Cars used to be something special!
Brad Last Name ,Oh wow, why did she have to get rid of It? My moms parents bought hers brand new and then passed it down to her when she was going to school and college. It was her first car. My pap had repainted it at one point before they gave it to her. A drunk guy hit he and my Nanna as they were taking it for a drive and it screwed the fender all up. My pap said he would have took off after him if it wasn’t for the fact that the fender had caved in on the tire and it was smoking as he was trying to go after him 😂 my mom drove it with the paint messed up after he pulled the fender out.
@@colthoover + my father (88 and still grumpy now) wasn't a car guy. He just didn't want to keep up an old car. Especially after opec 1 & 2. Those cars were dinosaurs to him as far as he cared. I wish I had a family that passed down cool cars. I have a couple for my boys saved.
My parents bought one new in 1990 for my sisters to go to school lol it was a 4 door light blue in color then I ended up with it when I got to high school
Mike Gomez no better feeling than driving yourself to school, no matter what you’re driving or where it came from. Anything beats that big ugly ass yellow bus!
Your story seems forced and fabricated. I doubt this ever happened
Chick magnet for sure
Hyundai/Kia are respected Mainstays in the American market today, it's easy to forget that there was a time when Korean cars were subpar, and this vehicle and it's legacy are a perfect example. Even though most of the blame belongs in the lap of GM executives and their chronically poor management
How are halogen headlights a "feature"?
that rear end slip in the beginning LOL!
Sharp styling?
My mom drove one of these for 12 years, she still misses it.
notice how you never see one around anymore?
I would hope not,! 40 years later. 🥴😑
My mom had one of these, except it was a canadian-only branded Passport Optima. She'd been driving a chevette previously, so this car was a "step up". Yeah. Funniest thing is, she had no idea it was made in S. Korea. The 80s were a simpler time.
I had one for a few months in late 1991 early 92 while I was in the Navy. Central California in the summer NO A.C.
Here’s a good one, I had a vehicle back into my drivers Headlamp. Ran vehicle for about three weeks with a simple piece of Cardboard over the lens to protect from further damage and to maintain some of the aerodynamic profile. The day before I was scheduled to bring to the dealer for repair I picked up the lens at the dealer. The insurance company had settled the claim (the other drivers not mine) all I had to do was drop off at the dealer the next morning and wait with it. About 1/4 mile from the base main gate I get pulled over by CHP for guess what....broken headlamp. During late morning with plenty of sun and daylight. Explained the deal and even showed him the new headlamp assembly on the passengers seat, explained that it was scheduled for removal/replacement the next morning. He would not hear any of it, issued a Fix-It Ticket which is basically show proof of repair within 14 days, get signed off by mechanic and local Law Enforcement authorities then bring to local CHP
Office and ticket cleared. Cost me $25 plus all
The extra time because this CHP had axe to grind or wasn’t having enough luck with speeders that day. Drove into base, found a few tools and replaced in the barracks parking lot.......figured out by looking and guessing since this incident preceded You Tube by at least 10-15 years.
If only Americans could have had the version we had in the UK called the "Vauxhall Astra GTE" it was (and still is if you can find one) a great hot hatch! They had 2.0 16v (some 8v) engines and were awesome fun.
My favorite part of these videos has always been watching the penalty boxes work their way through the slalom. Shake your booty Pontiac LeMans!
03:28 Parallel parking a Pontiac LeMans between a VW Fox and Peugeot 505 - I bet that will never happen again in all of history.
Opel and Daewoo wow what could go wrong ?