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!
It’s a competition between three cars:
I’ve owned the same base-model Civic as Doug, but mine was a 1988. The only amenity it had was an AM/FM radio. Four-speed manual, crank windows, no A/C, no power steering, vinyl seats. Beige.
I’ve also owned a 1964 Chevy Bel Air. 6-cylinder, no power steering or brakes (4-wheel drum). No A/C. Heater core broke and was tied off. Had an AM radio. That one did have a two-speed automatic, though. Pure luxury.
My 1990 VW Fox had a four-speed manual and lacked power steering, but did have power brakes. Again, no A/C, no power windows or locks, but it did have a nice AM/FM/cassette player (which was stolen three times) and mouse-fur upholstery vs vinyl. So not quite as basic as the other two.
Of the three, I would take the Bel Air, as long as it was new. What a rustbucket that was. But new, I think I would enjoy sailing around the neighborhood in it, land barge that it was.
I owned an ‘85 civic DX, no air, crank windows, wide 4-speed. If I had a passenger or two I’d have to downshift to third to maintain highway speed. Loved that car
I had an 89 crx dx in white over blue with a 5spd manual, no AC/PS/PW/PL.
I would say the 1990 Mazda B2600I 4×4 pickup. Standard cab, manual, no A/C or Stereo when purchased originally.
I have a ’82 B150 that came with no windows in the back, manual gearbox, windows and steering (it also has manual brakes as well, but I think the previous owner removed the brake booster?). Plus, it has the leaning tower of power (90 whole horses!) that has been upgraded with a two-barrel carter. And, of course, the back is just a penalty box. And if you’re wondering, there is no A/C.
My 1st of eventually 4 A-bodies, a 1983 Cutlass Ciera 2 door, manual everything, 2.5 Iron Duke, no pass. side mirror, 3 speed auto. A bodies are actually good cars, still see them around daily.
1974 Pinto in its worst form – with a trunk, not the hatch. Bought because I was stupid and my father insisted it was a great car. Never listened to dad after that regarding cars 🙂
We had two Pinto Shooting Brakes. They were pretty decent cars…for the early 1970’s. I will say the Colone 2.0 was a bit better than the Lima 2.3 of the time.
1992 Chevy S-10: 2.8L V6 with throttle-body injection, 5-speed manual transmission, regular cab, cloth bench seat, manual windows and locks, no AC. It did have a rear window that slid open and an AM/FM radio with a tape deck though. Drove that until 2007 when it wouldn’t reliably start anymore and the body was rusting out due to the WI/MN winters.
One thing I miss from that vehicle is the air vents – the pull handles that sat under the dash on the driver and passenger sides of the car that would let air blow in from the outside. Great way to get some fresh air in the vehicle without rolling down the windows.
I didn’t get my license until after I graduated HS in 1994 since we skateboarded everywhere. I had 1978 Chevette passed down from my grandmother, already an ancient car at that point. After that I bought my own 1987 Jetta GL for $1500, everything was manually operated on both of those cars. At least the Jetta had cloth seats and a sunroof instead of the vinyl in the ‘vette.
1991 Toyota pickup, my 1st. It was basically a powertrain with some sheet metal on top. Vinyl bench seat, vinyl floors, 5spd. AM/FM radio with 2 speakers, single cab, manual windows, no A/C, not even a rear bumper. I bought it living in Virginia but ended up driving it for 4 summers in Phoenix. Luckily it had a sliding glass window, so the hot air would come in there and blast down my sweat covered back if I leaned forward.
1958 Citroen 2CV – 12 hp, lawn chairs for seats, only instrumentation was a speedo and current meter, flip-up windows, 425 cc air-cooled twin, so ‘heat’ was pretty theoretical and cooling meant opening a window.
Yeah but how about that suspension?
Suspension is genius, but still very basic and simple!
I had a 1993 VW Fox. Got it brand new for, I believe, under $10k. It only came with a manual (imagine that) and it was not offered with power windows, locks or power steering. Yes, a new car in the ’90s that could only be had with a manual trans and no power steering.
1991 Geo Metro.
3-cyl. 5-speed.
12=inch rims.
No cruise control.
No power anything.
Same here. White ’91. Bought it in ’96 with 70,000 ish miles. Watched the odo roll over twice. The speedometer cable snapped at 86,000. Kept driving it a while longer just guessing my speed. I’d like to think it made it to 300,000 miles but it was probably shy. It was soo wore out when retired in 2007. The simplicity of that machine wasn’t intimidating to work on and taught me the basics of wrenching. I will forever love that car!
1993 Toyota Tercel
No A/C (heat only worked on high), no power steering, mirrors, windows, vinyl seats, no tach, aftermarket radio (with only speakers in the back), and a 4 speed manual. I think it might have been the last car in the US to come with a 4 speed.
It have dual mirrors, an ash tray, and an cigarette lighter, so it could have been worse.
Had to add a quart of oil after every other fill up but always started on the first try. Sold it to my bother-in-law with 145k on the odometer.
1977 Chevrolet Impala. Green with green INTERIOR!
As far as “Basic” is concerned…
I had a 2003 Ford Mustang V6 coupe. The automatic transmission was the only option checked. Everything else it had was standard equipment by 2003. Four speaker CD player, Four-way power driver’s seat, ABS, Traction control, Cruise control, power windows, power locks, power mirrors, dual front airbags, and remote entry. It did have a leather-wrapped wheel, which may have been an add-on, but that was it. I bought it in 2004 for $13,000 and owned it for seven years and 130,000 miles!
My 1st car, a 1975 Civic sedan: not a 5-speed, but a 4-speed manual; not a CVCC, a carb’ed 1200 w/ a manual choke; not a hatchback, a trunk; no AC, of course. My 3rd car a close second: 1988 VW Fox wagon, still basic (4-speed) but AC & a much nicer interior, and a 1.8 FI engine. Loved them both! Power windows? Never heard of ’em.
My 1993 Mazda Miata, the third Miata I owned. No options, manual everything, and it didn’t even have air conditioning. Other than the top going down, of course.
My 1991 Honda Civic wagon (FWD, not RT4WD) comes close, but it at least had cloth seats and a basic stereo, unlike Doug’s most basic example.
4 door cutlass ciera. Roll down windows, Am only radio. No passenger side mirror. barely had an interior.
That thing was basic even for its time.
1980 Renault LeCar. No radio. Manual choke on the dash. No automatic anything. No AC. But it was cheap and got good mileage until the head gasket gave up around 60,000 miles. I also had a Pinto but that doesn’t count as Basic because it had a sunroof.
98 Nissan Sentra 1.6L, manual trans, manual windows, manual locks. It did have AC though
87 Mercury Lynx L. Anemic 1.9 that made all of 80 scintillating hp, 4 spd manual trans made sure you weren’t in a hurry. Clutch went south on my way to school one day, so i Woke it up with a drivetrain and wiring harness (literally everything was different, back to the taillights) from a Lynx XR3 (120 hp! 50% bump! woohoo!) and an interior i swapped in from an ’84 Lynx RS Turbo. Would do two wheel burnouts through 2nd, and chirp one wheel into 3rd! Amazingly, that car lived to be 200k miles old, which was a remarkable achievement on everyone’s part
I had a 1986 Cutlass Cierra Cruiser, in faded maroon. That’s the wagon, you know. It had a rusted through sway bar that got welded back together, and I had to run the steering from lock to lock half a dozen times before driving to “wake up” the power steering. The fellows called it “Fugly II”, the follow up to the Dodge Ares wagon (in pink!) of my mom’s that I wrecked before I had this…thing.
Current car is 2014 Fiesta hatch. 5 speed manual, roll up windows, has AC, CD, blue tooth, central locking…perfect. A luxury barge compared to my 77 Accord and 85 CRX, both of which did not have the AC, CD, central locking. But upgraded both with aftermarket am/fm cassette units. Those were the days.
in my younger years, I drove a 1960 Ford 1 ton truck. it was the greatest worst car I ever owned! It had a super basic 292 V8, single barrel carb, points, not even a radiator overflow can. Generator, so the headlights got real dim at a stop. No seatbelts, no radio, no A/C, no heat, no power anything including brakes, didn’t even have turn signals. The dash consisted of a speedometer, fuel gauge (broken), clock (broken) and a light for when the generator wasn’t charging. It had a 3 speed manual trans with a granny low you only used with a load. You basically started in 2nd and shifted to 3rd around 20mph for a top speed of 50-55 miles an hour.
I still miss rolling slow on the avenue, brisk evening, windows down, sounds of gas sloshing around in the sketchy tank behind the seat and the skipping clicks coming from my D battery powered CD player under the seat.
…winning.