Sonic vs Spectrum - Then and now. . .

[JTee2017]

I was just thinking about the current Chevrolet Sonic in comparison to a counterpart from +28 years ago. Many may not remember that GM had a connection with Izuzu in Japan. In fact, GM had a partnership with Izuzu in producing small trucks and even a diesel engine. But that came later.

Back in the late 80's Chevrolet imported from Japan and sold the Izuzu built I-mark as a Chevrolet and later branded "Geo Spectrum". The car was sold in both hatchback coupe and sedan forms. We had a sedan with 5 speed manual. Comparing it even to the base mode Sonic with the 1.8L engine is eye opening. The 1989 Chevy Spectrum engine produced 70 HP and 87lb/ft from its 2 barrel carb 1.6 liters. With 5 speed manual transmission it would do 0-60mph in about 12.2 and the 1/4 mile in about 18.2 at 73MPH. Fuel economy with the 5 speed was pretty amazing. We regularly got 33-38MPG in daily driving (winter-summer) and on highway trips at 60-65MPH we would often get 42-44MPG with 3 small kids in the back seat and a bit of trunk cargo. Even with just a driver the car was not fast taking off from a dead stop. There was no rushing it.

The 2017 Chevy Sonic LT Hatchback 1.8L, as we know, produces 138HP and 125lb/ft. With the 1.8L and automatic, the Sonic will do 0-60MPH in 9.7 and 1/4 mile in 17.1 at about 80MPH. We have been getting about 29-30MPG in mixed city driving and between 33-36MPG on a few highway trips at 60-70MPH. Not a record setter, but in comparison it is much swifter and a heck of a lot more fun to drive. And, by golly, built here in the U.S.A.

I think it gives interesting perspective to review cars in a similar class from the past to see and appreciate where they have improved and compare.

Here are Links to see full comparisons:

1989 Geo Spectrum Sedan (since mid-year 1988 for North America U.S.) specs review


2017 Chevrolet Sonic LT Hatchback 1.8L automatic (since Autumn 2016 for North America ) specs review


We had one identical to this sedan - - -

Current 2017 Sonic LT Hatchback

 

[Papasonic]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo_%28automobile%29

Here's a little Chevy/Geo history! There were three different Japanese manufacturers involved: Toyota, Suzuki, and Isuzu.

 

[JTee2017]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo_%28automobile%29

Here's a little Chevy/Geo history! There were three different Japanese manufacturers involved: Toyota, Suzuki, and Isuzu.

Yup. .. . once Chevy changed the "brand name" from Chevrolet to Geo for it's small cars, more players were involved. For the Chevrolet Spectrum, it was only Izuzu.

All Izuzu models started out with the Chevrolet brand first, then after 1989 it became the Geo Spectrum and the 3 cylinder Metro was added in from Suzuki, but made in Canada. The Geo Prism was a rebranded Toyota Corrola made in California and was not very good at that time.
I knew a guy who bought and drove those little Metros to death. He put 25K to 30K miles on them a year, changed the oil every 3,000 or so, and they would last him 4 to 5 years usually. He got +45MPG on the highway with manual transmission.

The Geo models were a mix of the different import makers as the article points out. But Chevrolet Spectrums and Storm were always Izuzu. the Geo branded cars started in late 1989, before that, they were various Chevrolet branded names.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isuzu_Gemini

 

[zomby woof]

A little better comparison to today's Sonic.

Spectrum and Sprint turbo.

https://youtu.be/bJJSrdVct-4

I still have an 87 Sprint turbo (Pontiac Firefly actually) and it's an excellent car that does everything well with few mods. I've run a 14.7 on the stock motor and turbo (with mild cam)

I've raced and built Metros and as far as I know I'm the only performance parts manufacturer for the 3cylinder G10 - very stout motors, especially the pre 89's

 

[JTee2017]

Yes.. better comparison of the turbo Sonic . .. . to turbo Spectrum . . Sprint. Thanks for the video!

Yes, i couldn't believe the durability of those little 3 bangers in the Metros. The guy I knew just beat them and they kept going.

I was comparing the non turbo Sonic to the non turbo standard Spectrum. Easily almost twice the HP and significant increase in torque for an NA engine.

 

[zomby woof]

Good call. Didn't notice that.

I still have a turbo in my shop from a spectrum, and one from a similar age 626. Same turbo, different sizes, you can mix and match housing to get fast spool, big boost on a turbo sprint
Just never got around to it

 

[2014 Blue RS]

I had a Chevy Spectrum! Comical story but it did alright

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[JTee2017]

I had a Chevy Spectrum! Comical story but it did alright

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What I thought was amazing is that we were getting 44MPG (easily 41 to 42 MPG) often on the highway with a 1.6L engine and manual transmission. That was in 1989. Today, touting 44MPG is a big deal and here we had it back in 1989 with a low tech engine.

 

[zomby woof]

Because modern small cars are 1000lbs too heavy

 

[JTee2017]

Because modern small cars are 1000lbs too heavy

Oh I agree. . .

1989 Spectrum HB - 1962lbs

2017 Sonic HB - - - 2848lbs

 

[2014 Blue RS]

The height of fuel economy. Then people wanted power & sound dampening again...

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[thebaron]

Well I got the Sonic hatchback due to my favorite first/second/third car:

Chevrolet Citation II X-11 Hatchback Coupe automatic, model year 1985, version for North America U.S. (up to September)
3-door coupe body type
FWD (front-wheel drive), automatic 3-speed gearbox
petrol (gasoline) engine with displacement: 2838 cm3 / 173.2 cui, advertised power: 97 kW / 130 hp / 132 PS ( SAE net ), torque: 210 Nm / 155 lb-ft
characteristic dimensions: outside length: 4488 mm / 176.7 in, outside width: 1735 mm / 68.3 in, wheelbase: 2664 mm / 104.9 in
reference weights: base curb weight: 1175 kg / 2590 lbs
how fast is this car ? top speed: 185 km/h (115 mph) (theoretical);
accelerations: 0- 60 mph 10.4 s; 0- 100 km/h 11 s (simulation ©automobile-catalog.com); 1/4 mile drag time (402 m) 17.8 s (simulation ©automobile-catalog.com)
fuel consumption and mileage: 22 mpg (U.S.), 10.7 l/100km, 26.4 mpg (imp.), 9.4 km/l EPA combined ratings; average estimated by a-c: 12.8 l/100km / 22.1 mpg (imp.) / 18.4 mpg (U.S.) / 7.8 km/l

 

[MaD]

I would be deathly afraid of taking ANY Citation over 75 mph... let alone anything over 100 mph...[emoji33] just sayin...

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[Papasonic]

The X-11 Citation, now that's one you don't see very often, even when new!
I looked at them when they first came out 1980/81. Ended up buying a K car; 1981 Dodge Aries wagon with a 2.6 Hemi 4 cyl auto.

 

[JTee2017]

The X-11 Citation, now that's one you don't see very often, even when new!
I looked at them when they first came out 1980/81. Ended up buying a K car; 1981 Dodge Aries wagon with a 2.6 Hemi 4 cyl auto.

We had an '83 Citation. It was just the plain vanilla 2.5L "Iron Duke".

Can we say sloppy noisy timing gears anyone? They would get so bad after 40,000 or 50,000 miles and the "fix" was to adjust the timing so that 2 cylinders were a little early and two a little late if I recall.

But, they were good for maybe 80K or 90K usually before they really needed some serious work . .. . or just dump them.

And as I recall, a lot of those K cars were not so great. Depended on the year and engine.

Mostly, a lot of really bland cars and drive trains back then. Even the early 80's ('82 and 82 1/2?) Corvettes with the amazing Cross-Fire Throttle Body Injection were a whopping 200 HP (some say really 170) !

I did have my eye on a 1983 'vette for awhile. <wink>

Ahh . .. the early days of EPA influence . . .

 

[Papasonic]

And as I recall, a lot of those K cars were not so great. Depended on the year and engine.

Our 1981 Aries K wagon was a fine car. I optioned it up when ordering it. The engine was a Mitsubishi. Its downfall was rust; I had it Ziebarted for rust protection, had the annual inspections and resprays performed, and it still had major rust damage that had to be repaired; Ziebart paid to fix. I sold it because of it needing a head gasket replacement; coolant leaking externally.

 

[JTee2017]

Our 1981 Aries K wagon was a fine car. I optioned it up when ordering it. The engine was a Mitsubishi. Its downfall was rust; I had it Ziebarted for rust protection, had the annual inspections and resprays performed, and it still had major rust damage that had to be repaired; Ziebart paid to fix. I sold it because of it needing a head gasket replacement; coolant leaking externally.

Ahh. yes, the Mitsubishi engines were good. We had a 1989 Dodge Caravan with the 3.0L Mits engine in it. We could get 29 to 30 MPG in it on the interstate down to Florida no problem. Overhead cam, 3 valves per cylinder port fuel injected.
Then, Chrysler changed over to it's own 3.3L V6 engine in 1991 and we "updated". It was less HP and a push rod engine. Not only did it have the transmission problems from that year, but that Mopar 3.3L would barely get 24 or maybe 25MPG on the same trip. We sold the 1989 minivan to our neighbor friends and did the same 3,000 mile trip down to Florida at the same time. He got 28 to 30MPG at the same gas stations when we filled up.

 

[Ponchoguy]

We had an '83 Citation. It was just the plain vanilla 2.5L "Iron Duke".

Can we say sloppy noisy timing gears anyone? They would get so bad after 40,000 or 50,000 miles and the "fix" was to adjust the timing so that 2 cylinders were a little early and two a little late if I recall.

But, they were good for maybe 80K or 90K usually before they really needed some serious work . .. . or just dump them.

And as I recall, a lot of those K cars were not so great. Depended on the year and engine.

Mostly, a lot of really bland cars and drive trains back then. Even the early 80's ('82 and 82 1/2?) Corvettes with the amazing Cross-Fire Throttle Body Injection were a whopping 200 HP (some say really 170) !

I did have my eye on a 1983 'vette for awhile. <wink>

Ahh . .. the early days of EPA influence . . .

The '82 Corvette was the 5.7 liter vin 8 "Missfire", I mean Crossfire 350 small block Chevy V8. The '82 F cars (Camaro and Firebird) has the 5.0 vin 7 and then vin S (1983) Crossfire engines.

There was no '83 Corvette sold to the public, so I think you meant an '84 Corvette which had the carry-over engine from the 1982 model. .

 

[Ponchoguy]

The X-11 Citation, now that's one you don't see very often, even when new!
I looked at them when they first came out 1980/81. Ended up buying a K car; 1981 Dodge Aries wagon with a 2.6 Hemi 4 cyl auto.

My neighbor had an '80 Citation X-11 that belonged to his son (who was never home, I think he was in the military). He used to leave it with another neighbor who had a shop and I used to drive it. I remember the shifter having very positive notches to it. It was a fun car to drive.

Quality on the GM "X" cars was outright poor at best. This was GM going into the small car market kicking and screaming and it showed. LOL.

 

[Ponchoguy]

We had an '83 Citation. It was just the plain vanilla 2.5L "Iron Duke".

Can we say sloppy noisy timing gears anyone? They would get so bad after 40,000 or 50,000 miles and the "fix" was to adjust the timing so that 2 cylinders were a little early and two a little late if I recall.

But, they were good for maybe 80K or 90K usually before they really needed some serious work . .. . or just dump them.

And as I recall, a lot of those K cars were not so great. Depended on the year and engine.

Mostly, a lot of really bland cars and drive trains back then. Even the early 80's ('82 and 82 1/2?) Corvettes with the amazing Cross-Fire Throttle Body Injection were a whopping 200 HP (some say really 170) !

I did have my eye on a 1983 'vette for awhile. <wink>

Ahh . .. the early days of EPA influence . . .

Yes, I remember this well. LOL. You could also pour oil into the fill on the valve cover and almost watch it come out of the engine. LOL.

They used two gears that meshed together as I remember. Before (at the time in the later 80's) Sealed Power and others had a listing for the gears they were a dealer only item and the local GMC truck dealer (who carried parts for all makes of GM) stocked them by the dozens!