Good morning! Today’s cars were chosen for one reason only: their dashboards. Both are the “fancy” versions of their respective lines, and back in the late ’80s, that meant you got a digital dash. Which is the better car in which to watch those bar graphs? We’ll find out.
Yesterday, We looked at a couple of beat-up little commuter cars, and it’s really no surprise that the less-damaged one won, even though it was more expensive. That Civic would be the right choice if not for the rear-ending, but that’s a hard hit. Chances are it doesn’t track straight anymore.
And the Festiva looks like it could be fun anyway. I’ve always liked tiny lightweight cars like that; they’re never going to be fast, but they don’t need to be. In fact, you probably don’t want them to be, as wispy as they are. When your car is built like a cookie tin, it’s best to keep the speeds sane.
Now then: Even if you were somehow unfamiliar with today’s cars, you’d know immediately what era they were from. I don’t think you can actually get more ’80s than these two. Turbocharged engine? Yep, we’ve got one. Monochromatic wheels? Those too. Cassette decks with a thousand tiny buttons? Check and check. Digital dashboards? You bet. And one of them was a prize in a soft drink giveaway, which I think makes us winners at ’80s car bingo. Let’s check them out.
1986 Chrysler LeBaron GTS Premium – $2,500
Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 2.2-liter overhead cam inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Odometer reading: 97,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
One of the complaints leveled at the Chrysler K-based cars back in the 1980s is that they all looked the same. The difference between a Chrysler and a Plymouth and a Dodge was often just some trim and badges. And they all had the same formal upright rear window design, because Lee Iacocca wanted it that way. It wasn’t until 1985 that Chrysler’s designers were allowed to mess with the formula and release this variant: the Chrysler LeBaron GTS and Dodge Lancer. These were five-door hatchbacks, meant to be a little fancier and sportier than your average Aries or Caravelle.
This is the Premium model of the GTS, with all the bells and whistles that entails. This one has cloth seats instead of leather, and they look to be in pretty good shape. Yes, it could use a good shampooing. Yes, that’s the rearview mirror sitting in the passenger’s seat, but that just needs to be glued back on; it happens to a lot of cars. No, I don’t know what’s in the plastic bag. Jeez, you ask a lot of questions.
You could get the GTS with or without a turbo; this one has it. You could also get it with either a five-speed manual or a three-speed automatic; this one is unfortunately an automatic. It runs and drives just fine, according to the seller, who recently pulled it out of storage where it sat for ten years. There seem to be a lot of long-slumbering ’80s cars coming out of the woodwork recently; I suppose Radwood has something to do with that. The question is, why were they put in storage to begin with?
It’s in reasonably good shape, but I think the seller is talking it up a bit in the ad. The paint is shiny, but I do see some rust along the rockers. There’s a scuff in the corner of the bumper, exposing the yellow plastic underneath. And obviously the struts holding up the hatch are shot; hence the broomstick.
1989 Pontiac Grand Prix SE – $1,500
Engine/drivetrain: 3.1-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Madison, IN
Odometer reading: 67,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Younger readers might not remember the “Pepsi Challenge,” or the “cola wars” that followed. Coca-Cola claimed to be “The Real Thing,” but then changed their formula in 1985 to be more like Pepsi. It backfired; New Coke was a flop, and Coke ended up walking back the decision. Pepsi, meanwhile, tried to convince us that they were the “Choice Of A New Generation,” with elaborate commercials featuring various pop stars. Both brands had sweepstakes and giveaways all the time, with fabulous prizes. In 1989, Pepsi gave away five hundred brand-new Pontiac Grand Prix coupes in a sweepstakes – and this is one of those cars.
Apart from the stripes and graphics, and the fact that it only cost a can of soda, the Pepsi Special Edition is a standard-issue Grand Prix SE, which is not a bad thing. GM’s W-body coupes were pretty nice cars for their day. It’s powered by the ubiquitous 3.1 liter V6 and an overdrive automatic. This one runs and drives well, and it should, with only 67,000 miles on the odometer.
That odometer is, of course, digital, but Pontiac’s approach to digital gauges didn’t extend to the tachometer or accessory gauges; those are still dials. Pontiac experimented with a heads-up display around this time, but I think that was only available in the Bonneville, not the Grand Prix. It seems to run well, but the seller’s claim that “everything works as it should” is a bit overshadowed by the check-engine light being on. It’s probably minor, but it’s not nothing.
I get the feeling that this car has such low miles because the original owner – the contest winner – probably thought it was a future collectible. And maybe it is, to the right person. But sadly, it’s still a late-80s GM car, painted white, which means it’s losing paint at an alarming rate, and having it repainted would mean losing those “original” Pepsi decals. What a dilemma.
Both of the sellers of these cars claim they are something special, and they both are a bit rare these days. But that has more to do with three and a half intervening decades than any sort of inherent specialness. As they stand, they’re both functional used cars, for cheap prices, and that is enough. No need to try to talk them up more than that, so I won’t. Which one grabs you?
(Image credits: Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace sellers)
I’ve got a bone to pick with the Pontiac. There’s a “vehicle systems monitor” in the instrument cluster that has the outline of a car. However, the idiot lights are just placed arbitrarily on the screen. What the hell? Why is the check engine light on the roof and the seatbelt on the trunk? Horseshit.
It really makes you wonder why they bothered.
I’m going for the Pontiac but don’t necessarily hate the Chrysler. I was reflecting the other day after the Sundance, it seemed 80s Mopars with sealed beams were thin on the ground by the mid/late 90s, but any with composite lights were still around, at least in the P and AA cars vs. their predecessors. Not because of the lights of course, just an odd demarcation line that sticks out to me; I always looked out for original Chrysler vans with the stacked lights. More likely it’s attributed to the number of model years as well, since the P and AA cars were made for more years and generally with simpler powertrains.
I do think we had neighbors across the street with such a LeBaron or Lancer, that got totalled and was replaced by a Cirrus.
The digital/analog blend seemed to be Pontiac appeasing the critics of digital dashes (see: any MotorWeek of the era) by having a little of both.
At least in the case of the Sundance/Shadow I think it was simply that the sealed beams only ran for 2 years (87/88) and the composites went ’89-’94. There were just more years of them sold to be around.
Exactly, it’s actually a little strange they arrived with sealed beams given that was after a lot of cars switched, but guessing that would have made the rest of the lineup like the K and E cars look that much more aged when they were still a couple years out from their own (boxy but flush-headlamped) replacements.
I didn’t really like the sealed beams or the tail lights that accompanied them. The ’89 glowup was a big deal for that car. Then the ’91 changes really made it into the car it needed to be in my opinion.
Pontiac. I once owned the platform mate to this LeBaron, and while I have reasonably fond memories of it, there isn’t a chance I’d ever elect to buy another one out of Minnesota (speaking here as a former Minnesotan) as I like my cars in a non-Swiss cheese condition.
I’ll admit that I don’t really love the Pontiac, but somehow GM knew how to rust proof their cars back then and make them nearly unkillable, all for the low tradeoff of goofy exterior design and interior plastics that made Fisher-Price seem like high-end luxury.
Excepting the Bonneville of this time period – there was something up with the rust proofing on that model or lack of it. I remember a girl in high school had one that made me wonder how it still moved under its own power. There were literally holes in it.
I honestly wonder if there was a major difference between where they were assembled, because I would pristine H-bodies of this era just as often as I would see rusted-out ones. A good friend had Bonnie that had zero rust bubbling even after 25 years of life in Minnesota and Wisconsin. However, a guy who worked in the same building as me had an H-body with so much rust that the door handles had fallen off and he used gate latches and padlocks to secure the doors. I’m honestly not sure what brand it was, only that it was an H-body, because there were rust holes where every emblem used to be, and the grill had fallen out from rust. It seemed to run good, though.
You might as well save $1,000 and get the Grand Prix. It’ll never be worth more than a bucket of cold spit, but that doesn’t matter. You could repaint it and put on new Pepsi graphics if you want to increase the value to a bucket of cold spit plus $100. Better to just leave it as is and have a weird car that can start some short and very one-sided conversations.
Chrysler is leaning harder into the digital dash than Pontiac’s weak attempt.
Phone dials! Who hates phone dials?
In immortal words of Mr Regular, “Grand means big and Prix means pricks”.
So…Pontiac for me, it is.
Even if they were the same price I would go Grand Prix, but at a grand cheaper, that’s a Grand Grand Prix!
The first time I saw a LeBaron GTS was in shop. It had a beautiful gunmetal over silver two tone paintjob. I was smitten at first look.
Sold!
Had a sister car to the Pontiac in college, ’88 W body Buick Regal. The 2.8/3.1 engine will run forever and GM knew rustproofing on these cars. Any mechanical repair is harder than it needs to be and side terminal battery. The 4T40 transmission is fragile and the rear disc brake design had not yet been perfected (the parking brake regularly jams destroying pads and rotors). The interior plastics were either made of iron or fell apart. I hate the GM multi-stalk and cruise control setup. The door mount seatbelts were a pain and another source of problems in my ownership.
I’m actually going LeBaron hatch on this one. This era Chrysler was comfy if boring and arguably as well built as the Pontiac. Plus – hatch!
I never thought I’d say this but I like the cut of that Chrysler’s jib.
I’ll take the Pepsi Challenge.
“This Notes forYou”.
The LeBaron would get my vote if it were a stick. The GP will probably run until the end of time with minimal maintenance while the paint flakes off. I’m picking the GP so I can be blessed with the trailer park mating call that is the GM 60-degree V6 exhaust note.
It is distinctive, is it not? The cars fall apart around these motors.
90s-2000s GMs run like shit longer than most cars run. It’ll develop a misfire at 20k miles and then run 300k more with said misfire.
The LeBaron, if only for nostalgia purposes. My mom’s 85 was my first car and what I spent my childhood in, though I only drove it for a few weeks before a problem somewhere in the front end convinced my dad to sell it. I also remember helping him change the muffler when I was 7 or 8.
A friend of mine had a Grand Prix coupe like this one although not the Pepsi version. And maybe grey? It was 24 years ago that he bought it, my memory is fuzzy. So voting for it out of nostalgia. And a general avoid Chrysler products I was raised with.
I’m a small sucker for a Grand Prix and, judging by some of the comments here, not the only one.
Google keyboard inserted the word small into my comment for some reason. What a miserable interface it is.
For this reason – and certainly no other – the 1980s will always be associated with coke.
Pontiac, please!
It is definitely an car, has a nice price, and the 3.1 would probably be fine. I appreciate the low mileage while not caring in the slightest about the pepsification, and so would have no qualms about getting it repainted.
Also I couldn’t bring myself to drive the Lebaron, even ironically.
It seems the owner of the GP has been trying to unload it for years – behold a write-up of a previous Craigslist ad from 2017:
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/07/rare-rides-pepsi-cola-pontiac-grand-prix-1989/
The paint’s a bit worse now, but the seat covers appear to be providing protection and not camouflage, so that’s good.
Also, I like the LeBaron GTS, but not THIS one. We’ll take the Pontiac.
All things being equal I just went with the cheapest option today.
The Pontiac. I had an 88 grand prix, white on white just like this (without the pepsi decals). This one is optioned properly, with the 7 way adjustable front seats. Do you enjoy driving with one supported in a higher or lower position than the other leg? This grand Prix is for you! The rear buckets are comfortable and supportive for passengers. Combo lock on the glove compartment, digital dash, and both door handles still functioning. Someone please buy this!
While the LeBaron seems to be in mildly better shape, I have scars from the fancy digital dash. Nothing makes driving more exciting than your speedometer and everything else going to 0 until you can stop and restart the car. Assuming the cel isn’t anything to bad, the grand prix should be fun. I always liked them and their gm cousins.
This one was tough. I picked the Poncho, but only because I’m a little freaked out by the time the LeBaron has spent idle. Love the rims on both!
Pontiac put the HUD in the 1990 GP GT with the turbo 3.1. I lusted after those cars (even without a stick).
GP is and easy choice, I wanted one growing up, ended up with a 1993 Grand Am GT instead cause I could get a stick.
Pepsi Man approved! Grand Prix all day long for that price
My nostalgia blind spot is for W bodies in general and Grands Prix in particular.
My first car was a white GP sedan with the 3.1, but no digital dash.
I was always jealous of the lines of the coupe, and I still think they look sharp today, especially compared to the dumpy LeBaron.
I thought this was gonna be a turbo grand prix now I am disappoint.