Assuming the speaker is not in the kid-demo themselves, “Kids today …” is almost never followed by “… really have it tough,” even though kids today do have it pretty doggone tough when it comes to housing affordability, the job market, and other adulty-stuff. Where kids do have it pretty easy is the relative luxuriousness of their cars, even if all they can afford is a bottom-rung model like a Corolla or Civic or Versa in the most affordable trim level.
But as obscure YouTuber Doug DeMuro points out below in his look at the 1986 Civic, “basic” transportation today means you get cloth seats instead of leather, a not-huge infotainment screen instead of what appears to be an iPad Pro perched on the dash, and perhaps a mere six speakers instead of – I dunno, twelve?
But power windows? Air conditioning? Bluetooth connectivity? That’s just expected stuff.
I’m sure many of my fellow oldsters have driven (or were transported in as kids) very basic machines like Doug’s 1986 Civic above. I’ve had cars with even fewer features than that – zero heating and windows that are fixed in place come to mind – but that’s because the “features” were broken, not omitted.
What’s the most basic car you’ve owned or otherwise had in your life? The Autopian is asking!
1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser, the options were cloth seats and air conditioning, as well
As a FM radio. No passenger side mirror no power windows, base engine 2.5 liter Iron Duke. The 2001 Corolla I owned briefly was base model, I added the full gauge package and upgraded the radio.
1984 F150. 300 I6, 4 speed with the optional “fuel economy” rear gear that made it slower.
No A/C, no radio, no carpet, vinyl bench.
Did have an 8′ bed that never had to be made, so that’s pretty luxurious.
I suppose my 94 Pickup. 22re, 2wd, manual, injected, no ps, no ac. Super simple gauges.
’88 Chevrolet Cavalier coupe VL (value leader)
2.0l pushrod 8v making 90HP through a 3-speed slushbox
Power steering, power brakes, rear defrost and A/C. End thread of features.
With the gray plastic bumpers, right?!
That’s a good question…it was that light/medium blue (light sapphire blue metallic upon looking it up). I think the bumper covers were actually painted body color, but had that black rubber rub stripes that faded, cracked, and sagged.
Nice. I esp. recall the ’90s era VLs, as their unfinished bumpers really stood out given the jellybean styling of the time (no angles/trim to break up the expanses of bodywork). I always thought those bumper covers were a fairly good function-as-beauty approach to things…Ford did it too on some cars I remember.
1960 VW Beetle. My parents bought it new and passed it down to me in 1964. This was the basic model with no options. Radios, fuel gauges, etc., were for sissies who needed them when you were controlling 36 raging horsepower? I later had a brand new 1967 AH Sprite Mark III with no options, but it had such Space Age features as disc brakes, so it was not quite as basic.
The 1969 King Midget that I daily drove for two years may have been more basic, but I did not own it.
So this topic gets a thread and a half today! 😉
Easily the most basic car I’ve ever owned is the Yugo currently sitting in my garage. No A/C, no radio, no glovebox even. Strangely it does have rear defrost (I’ve already heard the joke) and a rear wiper/washer, which are activated by one each of the five switches it has. There are three control stalks but honestly I don’t remember what two of them do because it’s been a while since I drove it. High beams I think? There is no tach. Honestly it’s about as basic as a car can actually get while still retaining legally required equipment.
My most basic vehicle is my ’76 Beetle. Its luxury features include vent windows, an AM radio that doesn’t work, and adjustable backrests for the front seats.
My other contender would be my ’77 F250. Its luxury features include power steering, vent windows, and a rear window that doubles as a headrest. It does have a three speed automatic transmission (which is technically an optional upgrade) and four wheel drive, so it could be more basic.
A 1984 S-10 with the Izuzu 1.9, a four speed, and the only option was an AM radio. Power nothing. Vinyl bench seat. It was painted a fetching red. It was slow and my ass sweated in the summer. No, I do not want another one, there is zero nostalgia for it…but I would take a nice later S-10 with the ZR-2 package.
I’m pretty sure I win this one, since a Yugo is my closest rival in the comments so far, and it’s the pinnacle of luxury compared to my first car: a Dacia 500 Lastun –Wikipedia link
TLDR: 500cc air-cooled 2cyl carbureted engine making 22HP (when new), 4-spd console shifter (kinda like a Renault4); mine wasn’t new, and it also had a fuel pump issue where the only way to prime it was to suck a mouthful of gas from the carb line, then spit it in the carb, re-connect the fuel line, then start the engine. After a while I could tell lower quality gas by taste.
Also there were no ‘features’, like a radio, or anything else.
My 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt LS XFE. It doesn’t have power windows,power seats,power mirrors, or abs. It does however get 36 mpg though.
Personally, it was my 09 Mazda6. Base model with a stick, cloth and no Bluetooth. It did have a/c though.
Family wise, 72 Ford Ranch Wagon police package. No air, vinyl seats, AM radio, crank windows. This was followed one car later by a 1984 Crown Vic police package. No air, crank windows, rubber floor lining. My dad put in a Lear Jet stereo, so that helped.
I had a 1986 Chevrolet Sprint Plus. It may have had a radio. Maybe that was standard on the 4-door.
I bought a 1995 Ranger XL brand new. Only options were heavy springs and 10mm wider tires.
I bought a 1989 Dodge Omni brand new. Zero options.
Options on my ’65 Corvair include two-speed wipers, windshield washer, a pushbutton AM radio, a day/night mirror, and a driver-side exterior mirror (yes, an option, costing $11; it became standard—read: Federally mandated—in 1966). Because it’s the “luxury” Monza trim, it also has carpet and slightly nicer vinyl and individual front seats on the inside, and reverse lights (!) and full wheel covers and a little more chrome trim on the outside.
Power nothing: not windows, or locks, or brakes, or steering. The optional Powerglide automatic features a whopping two speeds. It has a heater and a cigarette lighter.
It’s the first car I owned, it’ll be the last, and there’s never been a better one.
A 1979 Dodge Omni.
4Spd stick
no: A/C, P/S, PB.
Had an AM radio and seating for 5 people, nothing else.
Easy one. My 1987 VW Fox. No A/C, no power anything, except brakes and steering, no radio. It doesn’t get much more basic. At least it was light and therefore fun to drive.
That must be the SEAT Ibiza first gen 1.2 that was over 10 years old when I got my driving license and my mother rarely used.
The tires had crystallized and it would skid on a sharp turn at 25 mph.
Well I loved my Honda Civic DX and at no time thought it cheap. I guess the most basic was a 1974 Jensen. Manual transmission, manual windows, 3 fuses for the entire car, no ac, manual convertible top, total vinyl interior, no heat insulation, and I loved it and want another.
Probably one of the more modern ultra basic cars, a base model 2011 Hyundai Accent hatchback. This was the year before the accent got nice. It had AC, a CD player, and XM radio (lol). But it didn’t have cruise control, ABS, traction control, or really anything else that you would expect to be standard this century. My 89 Geo Prism seemed like a luxury car by comparison.
1986 Mazda 323 four door. Beige over brown, 5 speed, manual windows and locks, and no A/C.
Got it in 1990 when I came home from freshman year of college and my sister used it while I was away and took it to college with her when she went. We both learned to drive stick on it (though not on the same clutch . . .). She was initially pissed about that, but ended up becoming quite the car/motorcycle/snowmobile person herself and was glad she learned early.
Never could get the previous owner’s cigarette smoke out of the upholstery, but that provided a nice cover story for whatever we happened to be smoking.
After our ’67 Mercedes 220, parents bought a first-year VW Rabbit, a pile of crap, and turned that in for an early Honda CVCC Wagon, both basic enough. I still have what is considered an upscale VW, a ’67 squareback, which compared to other cars is pretty basic.
1967 Rambler American 220 with rubber flooring, vacuum wipers, unassisted steering and brakes, crank windows, no clock, heat but no A/C. Yes it had a driver side mirror and an AM radio. See the road test in August 1967 Road & Track magazine.
98 Mazda Protege LX, which was actually pretty fancy. It had a sunroof! 5 speed, power windows. The Sentra after that didn’t have a sunroof, but did have a six speed and substantially more power, and was a kickass yellow, and so feels fancier.
In 1989, I traded in my somewhat broken 1976 Lancia Beta Coupe for a used 1987 Yugo GV. You see, the Yugo GV was an assemblage of Fiat stuff built in what was then called Yugoslavia. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was reliable but boring, so after a few months I sold the Yugo and bought another Fiat 124 Spider.
Plenty of style, yet few features, I can’t think of anything I’ve owned more basic than my 1966 Chevrolet Biscayne. No radio, no clock, no power steering, no power brakes, no power anything. 3-gears-on-the-colomn, 4-doors, and 6-cylinders was about all it came with. Fun to drive though – I’ve managed to squeeze 9,000 miles out of the $1450 Craigslist find so far.
85 Sentra wagon. Manual 5 speed, was my first car back in 1995.
I also had a 91 civic dx hatchback also a manual. I think they both had power steering and a rear wiper.
My EV6 is the complete opposite of my cars I had in the 90s.