I have a personal connection with the Yugo. My father’s younger brother worked for Malcolm Bricklin for many years, including with Yugo America. Years later, my uncle made it to the front page of the Wall Street Journal in an article entitled A Drag Racer Turns Handicap Of His Yugo to His Advantage.
“Introducing the same old idea.”
Famously advertised with a base price of $3,990, the 1986 Yugo GV was a response to escalating prices—the average transaction price of a car in the United States had just passed $10,000. Built by Zastava in Yugoslavia, the Yugo was a shortened variant of the Fiat 128—a design dating from 1969. Serial entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin saw potential in the Yugo and created Yugo America to import the car into the United States. The GV stood for Great Value.
The Yugo was a tiny car by mid-1980s standards, with a 139-inch length and an 84-inch wheelbase. The slightly more expensive 1986 Chevrolet Chevette hatchback coupe was 18% longer and had a 13% greater wheelbase, while the same year’s class-leading Honda Civic hatchback was 8% longer and had a 12% greater wheelbase. The also newly available Hyundai Excel hatchback coupe was notably larger.
Power, if you could call it that, was provided by a 55 bhp 1.1 liter/68 ci inline four with a two-barrel carburetor. A four-speed manual was standard, and Car and Driver recorded a 0-60 time of 14.0 seconds. Fuel mileage was rated at 25 city/31 highway by the day’s standards (22/29 by modern measures). With a small 8.4-gallon gas tank, a Yugo owner could expect a short range of 195 to 210 miles with a 10% fuel reserve.
Standard exterior and mechanical equipment on the Yugo GV included opening front vent windows, a rear-window wiper, front-wheel-drive, rack and pinion steering, front disc/rear drum brakes, and 145R13 74H tires (now barely available) on 13-inch wheels. Inside, cloth/vinyl reclining front bucket seats, a fold-down rear seat, a rear-window defroster, and a small tool kit were included. A full-sized spare tire was stored under the hood.
The Yugo offered few options—neither air conditioning nor an automatic transmission were available for the 1986 model year. Yugo buyers could choose a variety of dealer-installed radios.
Many Jokes & One Survey
Yugo jokes were many. Just a few of them:
- What do you call a Yugo with twin tailpipes? A wheelbarrow.
- What do you call a Yugo with a flat tire? Totaled.
- How do you make a Yugo go from 0 to 60 in five seconds? Push it off a cliff.
- Why do Yugos have rear-window defrosters? To keep your hands warm.
- How do you double the value of a Yugo? Fill the gas tank.
- What’s on the first page of the Yugo owner’s manual? The bus schedule.
Popular Mechanics‘ owners survey for the Yugo GV found that Yugo buyers wanted a new car instead of a comparably-priced used one, and that, as one said, “you have to keep the car in perspective.”
The View From 2025
Oh, these are vanished. Bring a Trailer has sold a grand total of eight over nine years, and they’re long gone from Hemmings and eBay Motors.
Make mine Adriatic Blue, please.
Eighties Cars 