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ZMW - What do you think?
Does (did) anyone have a Yugo? What did you
think about it?
think about it?
Just curious about everyone's opinion on the new
"Yugo" - aka the ZMW.
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Shucks! I created a "dead" discussion on Edmunds. What an ego-buster.
I used to own 3 Fiat 128s. Yugo adopted the design from Fiat for the Yugo. I personally think they were good cars (if you stayed on top of the repairs). Reliable,never let me down (ok they would stop in a heavy downpoors due to the dist getting wet).
I think this new Yugo from the pictures will sell. Unfortunately ZMW has the Yugo rep to ward off. ZMW seems to be giving you an expensive look for not a lot of money. I would like to see more pictures before I make a final jugdement.
Lets see, should I buy a BMW or a ZMW...HMM.
Revka
Host
Hatchbacks & Station Wagons Boards
No one will notice they're BACK.
Who says you can't skin a sheep twice?
I can't find any dates on the web, but based on my limited search,
Zastava (the maker of Yogos) has been doing business with other
countries in Europe.
At this point, I'm curious.
also before I go I just read that ZMW will try to bring them to the US market next year at a cost of $5,000 to $10,000. If I find any thing new Ill post it.
I'm not too sure about the styling of these. The Jaguar-inspired front of the "Florida" model (as it's known in Europe) is at odds with the boxy form it is attempting to dress up. It might've been simpler (and more elegant) to emulate something like VW's styling.
The smaller new model "Koral" actually has more unified design overall but easily gives away its Yugo origins. It strongly resembles the current Hyundai Accent but with hints of a recent Alfa hatch.
I would actually consider buying the truck. A mini-truck hasn't been on the US market in years.
http://www.zastavasa.co.yu/Index1.htm
but I couldn't get the pictures to copy/paste.
(NOTE: Click on Automobili.)
http://www.hszk.bme.hu/~oj002/yugo/flsedan.htm
http://www.hszk.bme.hu/~oj002/yugo/kcurrent2.htm
I haven't found a picture of a new truck yet. I also found out that www.zastava.com is NOT the forthcoming US sales website. It is some other company.
That front end looks very different depending on the angle. The rear is just as controversal. All in all a nice design (especially in this price range). You can still see the Fiat 128 origins.
Koral
Neat design. Interior is a little lacking. Makes my Hyundai seem like a luxoboat. I like the front end treatment the most. Since when have you seen projector headlights in this price class. They may be onto something.
As for the Florida, its design looks very mid-80s, like a box on wheels. The rear end styling is strange to say the least and the front only looks good head on. I don't like it and I'm not sure that model would sell too well here. I mean the side profile looks like a Hyundai Excel sedan or an Isuzu I-Mark.
Subaru 360 (importer), Bricklin(mfr), Yugo (importer).
I doubt he'd know a good car if one ran him over.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
besides, i think the front of the hatchback is cool looking....same with the back of the sedan. But yes, the interior needs a bit of work....of course, those that beat up on interiors won't care about that, will they?
The one angle I dislike is the trunk(deck) lid/corner..looks like a Spectrum!
If they'd at least round out the corners on it...then it might gel better with the sort of rounded off front end.
For 10grand, it looks alot nicer than a Rio/Accent/ECHO, that is for sure.
Now, as everyone else has stated, If they hold up and have enough delaerhsips,etc, in 2-3 years, yeah, I'd may consider one for a work car, perhaps.
The truck had 2 large tractor tires in it. Should be ok to haul some stuff.
It reminds me of a 1980's truck, in size and looks. Hey, if they hold up and are no more than 10 grand, they could sell? Retro look is in, ya' know.
I'm convinced it is all financed by Greenpeace or Algore 2004 or some other group of environmental-wackos who are secretly attempting to make americans hate cars.
In the course of researching this, I've come up with some information about the ZMW venture that might interest some people.
First of all, there are going to be 12 distributors, not 12 dealers. There will certainly need to be more dealers than that if ZMW is going to get anywhere.
This article indicates that Bricklin signed a pre-contract with Zastava at the beginning of October, so the process is indeed moving forward. A lot is riding on the success of Zastava in terms of the former-Yugoslavia's economy, so their government is paying close attention to this deal.
Here is a photo of a current production Zastava Koral:
I don't know whether the US version will look like that, or like the one in the Belgrade show pics that have been circulated recently. Personally, I kind of like the way this one looks.
-Andrew L
Although the US models may have different fascias, lights, doors, and such, I wouldn't expect any major changes in the roofline. They are going to have to spend a fair amount of money to get these things air-bag equipped and such for the US market, so they are probably not going to spend more on major structural changes, aside from those required to meet crash standards.
I assume this car will still be based on the old-fashioned Fiat undercarriage, although the drivetrain will be completely different than the old Yugo's, with a new engine sourced from Peugeot/Citroen, and an optional automatic transmission.
I'm interested to see what comes of this. I expect to see press releases and stuff during the first months of 2003.
-Andrew L
Malcolm Bricklin claims he will be able to sell them starting at $4990. Of course, that would be a "get you in the showroom" price for a car with absolutely nothing -- manual trans, no a/c, maybe even no radio. One with decent equipment would probably be around $7000 MSRP. That's still cheaper than a Hyundai Accent. However, there's always the possibility that the ZMW is such a bad car that people would rather spend $3000 more on an Accent. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess.
-Andrew L
http://www.myZMW.com
-Andrew L
Yeah, I like the truck too. I imagine you'll be able to snag a strippo model for $7-8K. By the way, it looks to me like the pics currently on the website are of the Serbian-spec models already in production. I think the changes for the US (air bags, better interiors, possible exterior styling changes) are still in the works.
I really like what they've done with the hatchback. You can still see the old Yugo in there, but the new front fascia looks much less frumpy than the old Fiat-esque one on the original Yugo. If they can just keep the build quality at a reasonable level, and keep the price in the $5-7K range, the 3-door could be the next VW Beetle.
-Andrew L
No idea on the warranty. I'm not an "insider" or anything, just going on information I've found on the net. It better be a decent warranty though, because people need some assurance that they won't be out of luck if the car falls apart. Upping the warranty coverage worked wonders for Hyundai...their sales doubled from 1998 to 1999 when the warranty was extended.
As with most cheap-o imports that are new to the US market, I expect that these things will not be up to par quality-wise during the first few years. But that's not necessarily a death sentence; after all, Hyundai made it through. ZMW just needs to be very attentive to customer satisfaction and feedback, making constant improvements in response to complaints and not ignoring customers who get a lemon.
One idea I had was that perhaps they could set up an online forum that was exclusively available to ZMW owners - you would get a password when you bought the car. The forum would be moderated by a few ZMW employees, who could help people out with problems, and take notes on what problems are cropping up freqently, so design changes could be made. Because initial sales volumes will be low, this could probably work. Imagine being able to post on a forum that such-and-such part keeps failing on your car, and have the manufacturer's employee tell you they just got on the horn with Engineering and told them to redesign the component! How cool would that be? I think something like that would really cement the customer loyalty.
-Andrew L
Anyway, they're saying 2005 model year now, which means these cars could be introduced at any time next year. And basically, they're gonna steal SCION's market target before SCION can even grab it. But I still want to know more about their cars, such as ride quality, build-quality, reputation and such. If it's decent, then I can see 3 doors and those "pickup trucks" parked in high school and college parking lots, probably with "go-fast" bolt-ons under the hood.
Figure an $8000 loan for 5 years, and it only comes to about $150 a month. There are high school kids out there who make enough to cover those payments. Of course, who knows what the insurance will be like...theft risk will probably be low though.
A friend of mine told me about some guy he knew who had a Yugo, and I guess he hyper-tuned the engine on it and added a turbo, and got a mountain of horses out of it (I forgot the exact number). One never knows. Of course, the body fell apart on the sucker...