I could not believe how some people could own these cars! Very small, and dangerous in my view. Did anyone on here ever own one or know someone who did?

I could not believe how some people could own these cars! Very small, and dangerous in my view. Did anyone on here ever own one or know someone who did?


My sister had a friend that owned one. He was *always* having trouble with it! Speaking of small cars, how 'bouts the Ford Pinto or AMC Gremlin? The Pinto came with the optional exploding rear gas tank, which was taken to task in the 80s Val Kilmer flick "Top Secret".  ;)

I think small cars have come back in big time. Wasn't the Yugo some crazy Yugoslavian car?

Here're some wikipedia excerpts:

The Simpsons: Episode #9F07 (Mr. Plow) makes a reference to the Yugo. After totaling both family cars in a drunk driving incident, Homer Simpson makes his way to "Crazy Vaclav's Place of Automobiles" and test drives a subcompact car from a country that "no longer exists". Crazy Vlaclav goes on to tell Homer that the car "gets 400 hectares to a tank of kerosene." As Homer attempts to start the car Crazy Vraclav shouts for Homer to "Put it in 'H'!", which is a reference to the Cyrillic alphabet used in the Serbian written language. In Serbian the word for 'Neutral' is 'Neutralan', which is written "Неутралан" with an H. Another reference occurs in episode #EABF01 (The Great Louse Detective) which indicates that Homer's pink sedan may be a Yugo. After discovering that he cannot drive whilst reading a magazine and crashing his pink sedan, he summons a tow truck. He informs the mechanic that he wants his car fixed "with quality GM Parts". The mechanic informs Homer that his car was "made in Croatia" from "old Soviet tanks". Visual cues suggest his car may be a Zastava 1100, AKA 128 Skala, which was never sold in the U.S.

Yugos hold many racing records all over the world.
Motor Trend magazine's comment on the cessation of Yugo exports to America was "It's a shame. America needs a car like the Yugo."
You cannot accidentally leave your Yugo's headlights on as they automatically extinguish when the key is turned off.
Yugo's introductory advertising slogan "Introducing the same old idea" compared the cars to Ford Model Ts and Volkswagen Beetles, other basic-transportation vehicles.
Although Yugo was voted Car Talk's worst car of the millenium, the poll results are questionable since it was taken years after exports ceased and it is unknown how many of the respondents actually owned one.
When it was first brought to America, the Yugo only cost $3,990 USD.
When the Yugo first came out, many people placed orders before they ever saw one.
Yugo employees report that cars destined for American export underwent much more-stringent quality-control procedures than domestic models.
A Yugo was blown completely off the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan by a strong wind. High speed may be also be to blame.