(first posted 7/1/2015) Benign neglect. This was just one of the many manifestations of the poor parenting GM provided to its products during the 1980s and 1990s. Some children entered the world with developmental difficulties and were nurtured and experienced great personal growth, only to be cruelly kicked out of home (Fiero, Allanté). Others failed to live up to lofty expectations in the real world, and had their allowances cut as punishment (GM-10s). Older children were allowed to stay in the nest far too long because their paychecks were help keeping the lights on (A-Bodies). And finally, others received the warmth and admiration of their parents, only then to be completely and utterly ignored. The Chevrolet Beretta (and its Corsica sibling) was a one-generation wonder, sold for an overly long period of time, and left to wither on the vine until finally being axed.
It all seemed to start so well for the bouncing baby Beretta. Both it and the Corsica represented a shift from GM’s increasingly tired design language of sheer sides and upright glasshouses, and an embracing of the new, more aerodynamic design language that Ford had helped popularize.
If General Motors of the 1980s was a parent, though, they really needed some classes. To GM’s credit, they managed to almost completely modernize their lineup in a very uncertain climate. Fuel prices were rising at the genesis of GM’s front-wheel-drive revolution and imports were seriously eating into the juggernaut’s market share. GM had to change its huge model lineup to help lure import buyers back into the fold, meet government regulations and not scare off traditional buyers.
But for all their good intentions, there were a lot of horrible misfires and GM found themselves in an increasingly precarious financial situation, shedding money and market share. And for every new child they brought into the world, they seemed ill-prepared to send the older children out of the family home. The front-wheel-drive N-Body was to replaced the RWD G-Body, but when fuel prices levelled off, the G was given a stay of execution. The B-Body survived multiple attempts at being kicked out, and GM shot themselves in the foot by retaining the aged A-Body Century and Cutlass Ciera when they launched the much ballyhooed GM-10s. The L-Body Beretta/Corsica seems to be another example: although scarcely larger than the J-Car it was somewhat related to, it instead was sold alongside. And the same cruel neglect inflicted upon the J-Body was echoed with GM’s treatment of the Beretta.
But while its parent’s eyes were gazing adoringly upon it, the Beretta enjoyed considerable attention. Like the Corsica, it enjoyed a year of beta-testing in rental fleets for 1987. Whether this was intended to be beta-testing or a way to generate buzz is unclear, but the Beretta was fortunate enough to receive it. GM could not afford to have another botched launch like they experienced with the FWD X-Body: huge sales, but huge losses when those buyers never bought another GM after their first-year reliability nightmare.
The Beretta started just a tick over $10k, similarly priced to the base Dodge Daytona. Ford didn’t have a direct rival yet: the EXP was too small, the Tempo coupe too stodgy. But there were plenty of imports in and around this price range, as this was the Golden Age of affordable Japanese sports coupes: Prelude, Celica, Impulse, MX-6, et all. The Beretta’s base price undercut them, but its base engine showed why: a 2.0 fuel-injected four borrowed from the Cavalier, and putting out only 90 horsepower and 108 pound-feet of torque. If you wanted more oomph, you had to pony up for the GT, equipped with GM’s now ubiquitous 2.8 V6 which featured 130 hp and 160 ft-lbs. Either engine was available with a choice of five-speed manual or three-speed automatic. Mechanically, then, the Beretta was barely evolved from the Cavalier: out back was a simple beam axle. Handling was competent, though, especially in GT trim with its Z51 suspension tune.
But if the powertrain offerings were disappointing, the interior was even more-so. GM was still capable of putting out at least pleasant-appearing interiors, even if the Japanese were often superior in material and assembly quality. The Beretta’ s interior, though, was identical to the Corsica and featured an awkward looking dash that looked like a long shelf. Ergonomics were questionable, with radio and HVAC controls positioned quite low on the dash. Noise, vibration and harshness were keenly felt in this low-rent cabin.
The first “special” Beretta was the GTU, with a racy bodykit produced by Cars & Concepts of Brighton, Michigan. Chevy wanted to go IMSA racing with the Beretta body, and thus had to sell at least 500 production Berettas with the new rear spoiler design. An extra $2500 over the GT V6 netted you unique “meat-slicer” wheels, ground effects and the new rear spoiler. The overall look wasn’t over-the-top, but it was a hefty premium for a slightly sportier appearance. As with the GT, 0-60 was accomplished in around 9.5 seconds, which was about average for the segment.
Ford would finally launch a compelling compact FWD sport coupe with the 1989 Probe. Utilizing Mazda mechanicals, the Probe offered a more modern and refined four-cylinder engine as its base offering. To tackle this, Chevy would release a Beretta with a more modern four. GM had launched its first domestically-produced, double overhead cam four-cylinder engine in 1987 – the gutsy Quad 4 – but so far had kept the engine in Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac models. For 1990, a High Output version of the Quad 4 would make its way into the new performance flagship Beretta GTZ.
GM arrived right in time, too. The compact sport coupe segment was boiling over, with the new Probe a success and the Diamond-Star triplets garnering a lot of attention. The GTZ’s cosmetic improvements kept the basic Beretta looking fresh. There was a smooth, grill-less front, as well as a GTZ-exclusive suspension tune and body-colored 16×7-inch rims in Goodyear Eagle VR55 tires. But it was what was under the hood that really mattered. The DOHC, 16-valve HO Quad 4 was a high-revver and pumped out 180 hp at 6200rpm and 160 ft-lbs at 5200rpm. Torque down low was adequate, but giving it some gas unleashed a swell of power. 0-60 was accomplished in 7.6 seconds: very impressive for a naturally-aspirated four-cylinder. A five-speed manual was the only transmission available.
But if you couldn’t feel the Quad 4’s power, you sure could hear it. If the GT and GTU were noisy, the GTZ was positively raucous. This was a criticism levelled at all GM products with their modern new engine.
Handling, though, was neutral and the ride not too harsh. Motor Trend found in their 1990 “Bang For Your Buck” special that the Beretta bested all of the entrants bar the 300ZX in the slalom. The Beretta also handled better than the N-Body Grand Am and Cutlass Calais, and was quicker from 0-60 than the Probe GT Turbo. Overall, the Beretta finished 8th out of 20 in the overall “bang for your buck” score. But although the GTZ had plenty of power for an atmo four, it was priced right in Mustang LX and Camaro Z28 territory. Front-wheel-drive traction was a selling point in snowier climates but the Beretta wasn’t considerably more refined or better-built than the aging Mustang and Camaro.
Another new Beretta that Chevy was touting was its planned convertible variant, also scheduled for launch in 1990. The Beretta convertible, featuring a roll-bar similar to the new Cutlass Supreme convertible, was publicized by GM in brochures and magazines and paced the Indy 500 in May 1990. It was all but expected to arrive in Chevy showrooms – some dealers had commenced taking orders – but GM announced just a few months later that plans for the convertible had been scrapped. Apparently, the contracted engineers just couldn’t ensure an acceptable degree of chassis stiffness, which seems odd considering the existence of the J-Body convertibles.
Although the convertible didn’t happen, 1990 was still a significant year for the Beretta beyond the flagship GTZ. Lesser Berettas now came with a 2.2 four or a 3.1 V6, up 5 and 10 horsepower respectively over the previous four and V6. There was also a limited edition Indy model which was quite possibly the most early-1990s looking car ever.
The following year would be less momentous for the Beretta, but there were still meaningful improvements. All Berettas received a driver’s side airbag and a new dash layout. Although similar to the cheapened dashes now in GM-10 cars, it was an improvement over the chintzy, original Beretta dash. If you wanted the slick appearance of the GTZ without the noisy Quad 4, you could now get a GTZ with the 3.1 V6 but only with a three-speed automatic. Although stickshift V6s would return, it would be short-lived: 1993 would be the last year you could buy a Beretta so equipped.
GM made a big deal out of the widespread availability of airbags and anti-lock brakes in its cars, to the point of pasting “ABS” logos on their exteriors. But as automakers rushed to roll out safety features in their cars, the Beretta was quickly left as one of the few cars on the market without dual airbags. And that wasn’t the only way the Beretta was now outmoded: the base four was saddled with the three-speed automatic right until the model’s axing, despite the availability of a four-speed automatic in the V6.
The last few years of the Beretta’s run would see the shuffling of trim options (GTZ became Z26, for example) and minor engine tweaks. That V6 was now up to 160 horsepower, but still wasn’t as powerful as the Quad 4. The raucous, rev-happy Quad 4 would be gone after 1994. Either buyers weren’t happy with its refinement, or the lack of an automatic killed its sales potential. And if you were one of those buyers who wanted a manual, it was now the 2.2 four or nothing.
You would have been misguided to buy a new 1996 Beretta, unless you got an amazing deal on it. Chevy was touting its Special Value Packages at this time, but the Beretta’s MSRP was still squarely in Probe territory. And that Probe wasn’t the door-stop shaped, Back to the Future coupe launched in 1989. A new, more aggressively-styled Probe had launched for 1993, once again with Mazda mechanicals, and it made the Beretta look like the flaky, outmoded coupe it was.
For 1997, the Corsica would be replaced by the new, more modern Malibu. Conspicuous in its absence was any kind of Malibu coupe. The market had spoken: coupes were no longer hot property. The Beretta nameplate would disappear from the North American market alongside names like Talon, 200SX, Laser, Probe, 300ZX, MX-6, Daytona, Impulse, Storm, Prelude and del Sol. Although the segment had been withering and dying, it’s interesting to note that for such a fashion-conscious market, Chevy did fresh little to keep the Beretta looking a little fresh. Other than changes to wheels and bodykits, the Beretta remained visually the same for its entire run.
It was as though the Beretta’s parents had realized they had other, bigger kids (Silverado, Tahoe) that could give them the glory they sought. They had given the Beretta some attention six years ago, why should they keep that up? If the Beretta couldn’t go out with what they gave it and make some money, why bother keeping it around? Instead, they decided to shower some attention on the even more neglected Cavalier instead, before repeating the same vicious cycle all over again. Perhaps the problem wasn’t with the children. It was the parent.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: Chevrolet Corsica and Cavalier
Curbside Classic: 2002 Chevrolet Malibu
The Beretta/Corsica was an interesting story. During this time, it was unusual for GM to dedicate a platform and styling exclusively to one division that wasn’t a halo car. Granted, the L-body was related to the N-body and J-body, but the Beretta/Corsica were heavily unique from other GM cars. And of course, the fact that they continued unchanged for a decade.
These used to be quite common, but they’re only rare sights today. This was the last Beretta I saw, several months back.
Here’s my 1994, still running strong with 190k miles! Owned it for almost 20 years now.
Excellent! Glad to see one being cared for.
You brought back memories with this one. My high school drivers ed car was a red GT. They way things worked in the little eastern TN town I grew up in was the drivers ed cars were loaned by the Chevy dealer to the high school. The football coaches taught drivers ed and drove the cars home every night. A nice example of small town America. The Chevy dealer gets a little good karma and advertising by donating the use of the car, the kids get some drivers ed right at school, and the coaches get a little perk by driving the cars home each night. High school football and the coaches that run it were a big deal and important members of the community.
God bless the coach, some of the kids had literally never driven a car before and we all just piled in and went. He really was a good and patient teacher, working with each kid as necessary, just like he did with the football players. By the end of the semester everyone learned the basics and even the worst drivers could take us on a drive out and about town without any drama.
Back to the car, these were hot stuff when they came out.
Ditto to everything you typed except swap TN for Louisiana and ours was a gold base model instead of a GT.
Your local Chevrolet dealer didn’t donate those Beretta’s out of the goodness of their heart…They got between $500 to $750 per car from GM.
He took advantage of a GM program…just like dealer demos.
The dealership I worked for “donated” every Buick that he ordered to the County schools (Pinellas County, Fl. pop 1 million) for driver ed. After 2000-3000 miles he gathered them up and sold as new.
Al made millions before he sold a car!
Hard to sell a 3000 mile Century as new to the older generation when the Buick dealer in the next town sold 0 mile cars for lower that we did.
I bought a 4-cylinder Beretta new in 1989 and drove it for 150,000 miles over the next 8 years. I was upsold — I had been looking in Cavalier/Sundance-Shadow/Tempo territory, and wasn’t that impressed with any of them. The Ford salesman tried to get me into a base Mustang; the Dodge salesman showed me a base Daytona. My memory is that they were enough extra money that I said no. But when the Chevy salesman put me into a Beretta, I said yes. For less than a full step up in extra money, Chevy offered a car that felt like two steps above those entry-level machines.
I got a good one: repairs were limited to a faulty windshield-wiper motor, a bad power-steering pump, and a broken ignition rack (a common fault on these). For Chevy in 1989, that was a monumental achievement.
Mine was manually shifted. Right after I bought the car, I don’t remember why, I drove a loaner 4-cyl Beretta with the automatic. Acceleration was so bad it was maddening. The 5-speed let me wring minimally acceptable off-the-line performance out of that engine. It was good enough for that time in automotive history.
I drove that car from Indiana to Toronto, Niagara Falls, New Jersey, and West Virginia on various trips. It was a comfortable cruiser. I was a much younger man then, of course, less prone to cramping up behind the wheel. But in comparison, I could feel fatigued driving my dad’s ’86 Escort across town.
And I rather liked the dashboard. By the way, the glove box was a drawer. I wish they all were.
I was sad to sell my Beretta, even though it was pretty used up at 150,000 miles, when I needed to buy my first family car.
Enjoyed reading this mini-COAL. I owned an ’88 Mustang LX 4, and also dated a girl in HS who had a base Beretta. There was no question in my mind which was the better car, but I loved my Mustang for that magical name.
I wrote this car up full COAL style a few years ago. If you search around the site, you’ll find it, and the rest of my COAL story, which includes an Oleg Cassini Matador and a Renault Alliance (Motor Trend Car of the Year Edition).
Thanks William for the writeup. I owned a 95 Baretta and previously a 93 Corsica so have a good deal of experience with these cars. One thing I might argue with is the idea that they withered on the vine. A drivers air bag in 91 and ABS in 92 were made standard. You mention this but perhaps don’t realize how big it was. At the time the driver air bag was far from universal and ABS was an expensive option rarely found on basic models domestic or import. There were many buyers, including myself, for whom this was a decider.
Another thing to mention is how much the engines improved over the course of the model run. On the four, power went from 90hp to 120hp and torque from 110 to 130. The V6 went from 135hp to 160. There was little weight gain through the run so a late four was nearly as fast as an early V6. A manual 120 hp model would have done 0-60 in around 9.0 seconds. You would not know this from the car mags because they weren’t bothering to even test them by then.
In your article, you compare mainly a Probe which is fair. So many comparisons are fair. You could think of yours as a budget personal luxury car, it really was a lot like the W body coupes, except you paid less and got better mpg. You could compare it to an Accord coupe, except you paid less and got better mpg, 25/32 vs 23/29. Plus the safety features the Accord lacked. For my wife and I who married in 93 and had a new business and a child in 95, we were able to buy new with no problems, the Corsica was completely trouble free and the Baretta only had a huge appetite for right front blinker bulbs.
The cars were just good value. Perhaps because of that, the clientele of the cars was poorer or at least more value centered than those flocking to the imports. Plus by the nineties many were just not willing to consider a car from Chevy made by the UAW. While many import buyers and auto writers were snearing and by then ignoring the choice we made in my new family I was snearing back that they were sending money abroad that didn’t need to be and the arrogance of only one choice was the right one for everyone. I now admit my snearing was wrong. Do they?
William thanks for the writeup. I will be in the small minority here in my love for the later versions of these cars. But every car has a story, and my Baretta story was a happy one.
So much glass compared to a modern car, especially from the side
I was given the keys to a 1988 Corsica as my first company car. I put 120,000 miles on it in three years, then our controller bought it and took it over the 200,000 mile mark. Basic maintenance all the way and no major issues. At the same time my personal car was a 1987 Honda Accord that was a disaster, including having its wiper blades continually pulled off the wiper stalks by the heavy snows of a CNY winter.
I had an ’87 that wasn’t a bad car. I think the Beretta was in limited release in 1987. The ignition rack had broken, and the radio/heater control pod had bailing wire holding it back in after the mounting plastic had broken away. Really, the biggest fault in the car was that the interior just utterly fell apart – door panels disintegrating and falling off, the dash pad curling up and warping, the seat breaking and rocking back and forth, just stuff like that. It was a 2.8/automatic and was pretty quick for the time, and quite good on fuel too.
The funny thing was that the seats & carpet held up VERY well! Unfortunately everything else that could delaminate, delaminated. This was such a shame because I am a big fan of these cars,, especially the earlier ones.
Oh goodness, how could I forget that the driver’s seat in my Beretta broke? A bracket holding it down sheared in two. I suddenly found myself hurled back and looking at the ceiling.
I should have added the seat “upholstery” clause to my seat comment. These Berettas had a weird center single slider track instead of the normal dual tracks.
My carpool buddy had a 180HP GTZ for a few years and it made the 40 mile commute each way fairly entertaining… certainly more so than my commuter ride at that time: a Suzuki Samurai.
Excellent writeup of one my favorite 80’s domestics. They still look good to me. I always thought, though, that the N-bodies were replacements for the X-cars, not the G-bodies. Maybe that was just my perception.
I think the N body coupes were originally to replace the G body coupes. As the market told GM they had gone too far downsizing they backed off and waited for the larger W body to replace.
The Corsica did replace the Citation although with a two year gap between during which they offered extra strippo Celebritys. They even had a hatchback Corsica for two years.
Right on. Thanks, John.
When the Corsica was under development in the mid 1980s, magazines were actually referring to it as the “Citation III:”
https://books.google.com/books?id=kAAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20&dq=chevrolet+%22citation+iii%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=j_eTVfmdDo3roATrvaiQCw&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=chevrolet%20%22citation%20iii%22&f=false
So was the car named for the Italian pistol or the character Robert Blake played in the TV show of the same name? Perhaps GM should have approached the producers of the show about product placement. Oh wait, the show was off the air before the automobile was introduced. Too bad.
Baretta, Corsica, all GM-10 bodies: certainly victims of parental neglect.
They eventually paid the gun maker for every Beretta sold. It would have been funny if Car & Driver had used their often repeated headline from that period on this car.
“America fights back, with a Beretta!
Car and Driver actually did a joke comparison test between the car and the gun:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-126343.html
The Itallian gun maker didn’t really have legal ground to stand on and it was settled as a nuance suit. GM donated $500,000 to cancer research in the gun maker’s name, traded them a GTU for a hunting rifle and agreed to state that the name was used with permission in their marketing materials. They asked for $250 million and got a GTU while GM got a hunting rifle which is now probably worth more than the car currently is.
I thought it was named after a hair piece.
If I recall correctly GM had to pay the Italian gun maker a royalty to use the name.
I looked at several of these back in the day but never pulled the trigger on a purchase, too debt adverse back then. Liked the GTZ or the Z26, but the Indy, ugh, too over the top.
I thought (and think) the Beretta was a reasonable attractive car. I had friends that had a variety of Berettas and Corsicas during their model run. They all seemed quite satisfied with their cars – no one complained about them or talked about any excessive repairs.
It was such a shame the GM did so little modernize these (and most of the other models) during their run.
“pulled the trigger” – I see what you did there. I chuckled.
This car brings back a lot of good memories for me. One of my best friends in high school–the first to get his drivers license–had a 1988 with the 2.8 and automatic. Believe it or not, it was a pretty cool car in the mid ’90s! Even prior to him having his Beretta, I always admired the design of these. The styling of the back end really worked well, and the silhouette was actually kind of classy and even sporty in my opinion. The door handles on the B-pillars was a really neat touch. The seat fabric was attractive and durable. All in all, it left a positive impression on me.
I would have considered one a few years later, though I was so ardently opposed to anything with an automatic transmission…and it seemed like it was fairly hard to find one with a manual where I lived. The vast majority of them seemed to have the 2.8 (or later, the 3.1) and the automatic.
Great write up, and a very accurate capture of the history of this car…and my impression of the model through the years. I barely ever see them anymore, but they certainly bring a smile to my face when I do.
When these came out, I figured that GM had finally cracked the code on how to make and sell a decent compact. They were quite popular in the midwest, at least in the early years when GM was still king in these parts. And I thought that they were both good looking cars, the Beretta particularly.
So many missed opportunies here. Chrysler’s LeBaron was about the same size, and it came to dominate the 4 passenger cruiser convertible segment – Beretta could have been right there.
By the time I finally got behind the wheel of one of these, I had spent 2 years in an 85 VW GTI, and then married an 88 Accord. Both of those cars offered it’s own kind of silky, refined driving experience that was utterly lacking in these cars. In the time these were selling, Honda went through 3 different generations of the Accord. GM just could not bring itself to invest in these enough to make them contenders.
My impression is that these were genial little cars. There are two or three of them around here, kept in great shape.
At one point in about 1998 I was looking at newer-used cars. These were high on my list but strangely hard to find in Nashville. It would have been perfect: the right size, vaguely sporty and easy to take care of.
Even in Oregon I can’t remember the last time I saw one of these that was in good condition. The indifference they were built with seems to be reflected in the indifference they receive by people. Too bland to be sporty, too sporty to be functional.
I agree, but also, the West Coast went import gaga sooner than other parts of the country. I occasionally see Corsicas though.
Few things epitomize the “wither on the vine” product development philosophy better than the Beretta and Corsica. The cars looked decently contemporary in 1988, and weren’t too outclassed in performance at the time. But by 1992 they were passé, and by 1996 it seemed downright pitiful that these were still being sold.
It’s surprising that GM never gave these cars any kind of midlife facelift. They coughed up a few pennies to change the taillight lenses on the ’91 Corsica, but for the Beretta they wouldn’t even do that.
Amazing for how popular these were, you NEVER see them anymore. They always seemed to end up being young driver beater cars. I had a friend that had a Corsica which he bought brand new and he thought it was the greatest car ever because it reached 100k miles. When he replaced it with a Civic Hybrid that went well over 200k miles without a single problem he never looked back at the Chevy again.
GM had a LOT of cars and platforms in that era. I recall thinking when these came out: “Oh boy! Another front drive GM product with no heritage and a base 4 engine!” And lots of compromises, – door mounted seat belts, a proposed convertible with a basket handle, generally an air of built to a price point and not a standard, derivative styling that looks a lot like the first generation Lumina two door.
Most likely the Corsica / Beretta won conquest sales from other GM cars. If this was a premium compact over the Cavalier, wasn’t Pontiac and Oldsmobile supposed to be covering this segment?
I believe that the Corsica / Beretta sold in decent numbers for a few years, but even GM was probably wondering at times why they had so damn many cars covering the exact same market space. While building these cars for as long as they did probably made sense in an effort to amortize the tooling, it left GM with another car in their showrooms where it was obvious that even GM had no enthusiasm for it. If GM had any Greatest Hits in the late ’80s and early ’90s, it was hard to tell from the watered down sales figures spread over so many cars.
Likely the best decision ever made for these cars? Cancelling them.
Imagine if GM had put the energy and money expended on these cars into better versions of their existing models.
Imagine if GM had put the energy and money expended on these cars into better versions of their existing models.
I agree. To me the L-Car is a definite Deadly Sin – apart from the aero-styling, if didn’t offer anything GM couldn’t have gotten out of a Chevy variant of the N-Car or an updated A-Car.
I agree as well. Too many platforms chasing too few customers with no clear reason for being. And while your at it, let’s also include Saturn, a huge boondoggle that I never understood. Why spend so many billions to create a whole new car and a whole new company when you could just as well spend the money to improve the small cars you’re already building, such as Cavalier and Sunbird.
At various times friends/family have owned Berettas/Corsicas/Cavaliers from the late ’80s-late ’90s and after riding in them I would have to say they are all largely crap. It’s no wonder GM has shriveled up and is now only a mere shadow of what it once was.
Non-Cadillac GM really could have gotten through that era with J, A, H and B-Cars. Maybe keep the G-Special for RWD specialty coupes. Naturally the Corvette would demand a unique platform.
N, L, Saturn and W-Cars were largely useless Tweeners – their money would have been better spent upgrading interiors and powertrains (More the interiors, since their powertrains were actually on their way to being pretty good).
Good point, Dave. This was around the period of time when GM was pouring most of its resources into cars when the truck segments were really booming. Ford and AMC/Chrysler were cleaning up with the Explorer and the Cherokee, which set the curve in the SUV market, and GM gave us nothing more than the warmed-over Blazer, and was quite late on updates to the full sized truck platform.
Theres one of these sitting in my neighbors driveway right now, it hasn’t moved in several years.
I had an 89 Beretta GT same color scheme/rims as the one in the top photo. I also had the tilt/removable sunroof with a handy lined sleeve for it in the trunk. Mine didn’t have the trunk rack.
Not a bad car to drive – it was fairly quick – I had the 2.8 liter v6/automatic. It handles well – and was pretty good in the snow.
I did have various problems over the four years I owned it:
Intermittent stalling problem – finally fixed under warranty
Bad/Peeling paint – fixed under recall
Driver’s door fell off in my driveway – fixed under warranty
Driver’s seat broke – fixed under warranty
The final nail in the coffin was when one of the head gaskets failed. It was too expensive to fix and I sold it to one of those “Fast Cash for Cars” places.
Time heals all wounds and I do have fond memories of the car. My wife and I drove it from NJ to Florida and back – trouble-free. I really liked the way it looked and sounded. Nice V6 burble.
The driver’s door fell off in your driveway? Wasn’t that what the seatbelt was anchored to? Wow, just wow.
Yep. opened the door one morning to drive to work and one of the hinges broke. The door was dangling by one hinge. I picked it up and shoved it back into place so it latched and drove right to the dealer to have it fixed. They didn’t flinch – must have been fairly common.
I remember these well. Up til about ’92 or ’93 these were one of THE cars to have if a mustang or F body was out of reach. Base models looked like the cheap cars they were but if you popped for one with the racier trim these were really sharp cars. The GTZ was impressive. A buddy had a hand me down Cutty Calais sedan with the Q4. Even with a slushbox that car was quick, so i can just imagine how a manual GTZ would run.
I miss the days of plentiful sports coupes. Sedans are just SO boring and lame…
Watching these whither away on the vine for a decade reinforced it to me that GM wasn’t serious. Perhaps GM sold the Corsica only to rental fleets because the already knew they’d never sell them to retail customers on the West Coast; the Corsica was DOA out here, and the Beretta found a very limited following. But you wouldn’t barely ever see one on a Chevy dealer lot in the Bay Area; it was wall-to-wall Suburbans, pickups, and corvettes. GM was essentially dead in terms of retail sales of its passenger cars there by the mid-late 80s and up. A preview of things to come.
I agree — from my recollection, these things were a real hit when they were introduced in ’87. Why GM fell asleep at the wheel here is beyond me. It’s so frustrating because GM built so many cars that “spoke to me”…. if they had just invested a little (lot?) more into Quality Control, maybe we’d have a few more years-worth of Berettas, Corsicas…and yes, Fieros.
From my experience, it seems the problems didn’t seem to be assembly-related as much the parts themselves. Whoever picks the vendor to supply dash panels, interior plastic, etc. ought to have their eyes held open & sprinkled with degraded “door panel chalk”. Sorry for the mini-derailment.
The funny part given Ford’s success driving the aero design language with these cars is Ford seemed to completely crib the rear window and C pillar shape off these for the 1989 Thunderbird – put a Hofmeister kink on the Beretta’s quarter window and it would be a 7/8ths scale Tbird.
I always found the Beretta an attractive car to look at, to this day. Corsica, not so much, if there was a car that screamed generic boring sedan the Corsica would be it, followed closely by the N body Malibu. I have zero seat time in one though(despite a GTX/X26 being on my first car wish list as a 16 year old) and it’s kind of funny to realize this is the first time I think I’ve seen the dashboard of one, which bleh.
The Thunderbird was a rather more direct copy of the BMW 6-series. GM styling was not all that influential in Dearborn in the late 1980s, and for good reason. Even with the aero Thunderbird released for MY 1983 and the Tempo for 1984, GM ignored Ford’s stylistic leadership entirely and brought out the H-bodies just in time for the Taurus to make them look instantly obsolete in the 1986 model year. And the Saturn, L-bodies and early W-bodies still held onto the hard creases and right angles that characterised the “sheer look”, when radiused corners and non-square angles were the order of the day. GM didn’t really get with the new direction in vehicle styling until the 1991 Chevrolet Caprice and Buick Park Avenue hit the market. Even then, the Caprice in particular was viewed by the GM faithful as being shocking styled for looking similar to a then-five-year-old Ford Taurus.
I remember a then prototype Park Avenue was guessed as Caprice in the magazine in the late ’80s early ’90s, as their styling was so similar.
I understand that fully, but I’m not talking about the Hofmeister kink in the side windows. There is an uncanny resemblance in the execution of the compound curved back glass between the two, and it’s a detail that is not found on the E24 or any other BMW, nor the preceding Thunderbirds.
The Beretta was very much aping Ford’s styling though, even if other contemporary models weren’t. They were much more aero than shear in every corner and the aircraft style doors it uses were repopularized by the 83 Tbird. The rear window is a question of who copied who, the Beretta came out first but the MN12 Thunderbird was under development for several years prior to release so maybe in the usual Detroit industrial espionage fashion GM pulled that detail for the Beretta, or vice versa. Either way, I can’t imagine it’s coincidence the glass is nearly identical, it’s not exactly a usual design.
Building a car is hard. Lots of little details. By the time the Beretta came along I’d have thought picking a name for this thing would have mustered up somebody in R&D who was familiar with a certain 9mm Pistol? Even the name was a half hearted mistake. How much did that mis-step cost GM? I re-named these Barf-etta’s in order to better reflect GM’s commitment to quality products.
It cost them $500,000, a GTU and some legal fees, added a couple of cents to each one sold, in other words it didn’t cost enough to mean anything.
Having driven a few of these over the years, the one that stands out is a 2.8 V6 unit equipped with the 5-speed — it was a real pleasure. I hope to find an early one so-equipped someday..preferably with digital instrumentation.
This girl I knew had one of the earliest ones and her one complaint was the dash design. In her words, “I hated the dash because everything I set on the “shelf” would fly out the passenger window whenever I turned left!” That was kind of a poor design actually.
Marvelously metaphoric introduction makes me want more GM family history. (Hummer marches off to war, Saab goes from sauna to snow bank, Olds grows old, etc.) It’s just so darn dysfunctional.
Yes, with Buick as that responsible eldest child who keeps following orders from it’s crazy parents.
Over 12 years ago I had met someone through a friend who was learning auto mechanics and he had purchased a used white Beretta with the V6 engine and manual transmission. There was a welded spot above the rocker panel when you opened the drivers side door that looked like an accident repair, of which the previous owners failed to mention. His was a more basic model but he had installed some skirts found at a junk yard from perhaps a red GTZ model and painted them white to match, along with an under glow kit. He did a few changes like painting the interior panels blue, installing an aftermarket deck and adding a cone air filter.
My dad used to own a 1990 Pontiac Tempest (rebadged Chevy Corsica Canadian clone) till 2004 with the same V6 3.1L engine. It was an automatic, two tone paint; medium garnet red with silver base/bumpers, and a burgundy interior. It had power door locks, a trunk release button and cruise control, but the windows were crank. You could see the similarities and I still have the Haynes repair manual for these Corsica/Beretta cars. I also remember reading a newspaper article that described these cars as a grilled cheese sandwich; (not grand or exciting but) something that just hits the spot. I had recently seen one of these Tempest/Corsica cars in a parking lot and I sometimes check the internet for local sales but they are harder to find. I had a lot of memories with my dads car like getting my drivers license, driving to high school, cruising, and breaking down, but I doubt that I would want to relive that time by buying another car like it. You either have to be a mechanic or be good friends with a mechanic to own one.
Here is an old article that I found:
http://www.wheels.ca/car-reviews/forget-me-chevys-corsica-beretta-two-of-gms-lesser-stars/
These enjoyed a reasonable following in Northern Europe too. Reasonable meaning that they were being sold at all, through a select number of Opel / GM dealerships. European size, American looks. They were directly distinguishable as US-cars making them interesting for a small group of car buyers. This moreover raises the question as to why the US seemed to be so much more victim to change in car buying trends than for example Europe. Over the past two decades European and Japanese car makers never needed to reconceptualize their car line-ups and reinvent themselves to the same extend as the Americans had to. Could this be related to the higher fluctuations in the US fuel prices compared to elsewhere?
It is because reinvention is the American way. There are many second acts here.
You raise a very interesting point. Maybe, just maybe we should cut the D3 a little slack. Did anyone else have to deal with such a sea change every few years while being attacked by competitors?
I had forgotten about the European versions. They seemed to be sold with quad headlights for some reason.
http://beretta.net/model_info/euroberetta.htm
Oh yes. The euro parts were all the rage back on B.net back in the day. I think besides the unique sealed beam headlights (which still fetch over $300 a pair in the US), they have amber lensed rear lights, a different spoiler, folding mirrors, and some fender flares for some countries. I forget if they were rear, front or both.
I’ve got a US Beretta ad somewhere bragging about the car being sold in Europe, with a picture of a Swiss registered one.
Let’s not forget the Euro Chevy Corsica. Quad headlights and some unique taillights as well.
Later on there was this, the Chevrolet Alero. An Oldsmobile in the US, correct me if I’m wrong.
Remember those too. They redefined plasticky and had no resale value or whatsoever. Absolutely impossible to get rid of those used…
I wonder if there are any Corsicas on Corsica? 🙂
I think a big reason why GM was unwilling to invest any more money on the Beretta is directly related to the aborted Convertible. GM contracted Cars & Concepts to develop the drop-top, and the end result was promising, including a power activated top, cosmetic “roll bar” for seat belt anchor points, and glass rear window. It made it’s public debut at the same time as the prototype GTU in early 1988. It has been said that removing the Beretta’s roof severely compromised the rigidity of the platform, so GM spent the following year attempting resolve the issue, eventually developing what they thought to be an acceptable solution. The planned 1990 Beretta convertible was included in many factory literature sources, was shown to the press, and even made the auto show rounds in late 1989 / early 1990. GM even went so far as to discontinue the Cavalier convertible for 1990 in anticipation of the Beretta. So why would GM go thru all this trouble, only to drop it at the final hour? Rumor has it the convertible was dangerously unsafe when put thru safety crash test standards, and none of the methods GM tried to reinforce the car could achieve acceptable results. Supposedly, close to $20 million went down the drain during this failed project. Within this context, I could see why it would be hard to justify throwing any more good money after bad on the Beretta.
Glad there’s some love out there for these. From the moment I first laid eyes on them until their demise, I always thought they were the perfect symbol of generic “car”. I couldn’t understand how GM could producing something so bereft of style in comparison to the Probe, Prelude, Diamond Stars, etc. Hell, even the Cordia.
And the interiors were brutally plain. Wasn’t this around the time GM nearly tanked in bankruptcy? It was obvious.
Finally, many old beater Corsicas are off the streets!* Duller than a cloudy day. Rented a few and it was like driving an East German import. [As I would imagine, since never been there!!]
* Now, waiting for the 1997-2005 Malibus to get crushed!
I fell in love and married my college sweetheart who had a four cylinder Beretta. It was an attractive car. While the engine never quit – it seemed that the body was made out of the cheapest plastic ever put into a car.
We needed to drive it and make due as we started our careers. So we nursed the Beretta along, trying to be as gentle as possible using it. To no avail. A few weeks before we traded it in, we were having lunch in a booth with the car parked across from the window from us. What I thought was an imperfection in the window, turned out to be something else. The grille was warped and looked like it had melted.
Did you ever have a car made of plastic that turned white and flaked off like dandruff? Thanks to the Beretta, I can say I have. I used to apply Armor All to the interior in an attempt to rehydrate the plastic that had become so brittle it snapped off as easily as a disposable fork. Did you ever have a car that had seating material that seemed to have aged into crispy Styrofoam? Not only did the seats begin crumbling with use, the material used, (kind of like a velour), became brittle and started tearing if stretched. The instrument panel decomposed in the sunshine, sending an oily vapor or something similar up onto the inside of the windshield. The edge of the dash began to curl up as the IP seemed to slowly disintegrate into the atmosphere.
The cloth covering the headliner fell. The ignition switch started to suddenly send up puffs of white smoke like an Indian signal from an old movie western. The switches started to behave like they were cracking off.
I’ve never experienced an interior composed of so much unbelievably cheap plastic, vinyl and velour.
After we chose to replace the Beretta with a new Saturn SL2, we waited a week to take delivery. During that week, my wife and I both imagined that the Beretta knew it was nearing the end. That week, we discovered that the rear shocks had rusted through and that the body of the Beretta bounced uncontrollably, detached from the frame as it was.
It was a good looking car. GM just made it as unbelievably cheap as possible – and it showed.
Some wonder, but the L body was supposed to be the ‘1987 Citation’, and a compact, while the J’s were sub-compacts. But they also had NUMMI-Novas, Spectrums, and Prizms crowding the lots.
Also, GM predicted the ‘Cor-etta’ would be the #1 selling car in late 80’s, then the little Honda Accord came up the ranks to get there. [Automotive News]
I wanted to like these cars, and came close to owning a Beretta. I did eventually buy a new ’95 Grand Am. Like most GM cars from this era, it’s as if they stole defeat from the jaws of success. If only…………
I didn’t know that the Beretta/Corsica cars were plagued with the horrible interior materials I saw several years later in many Luminas at work and my Grand Am. What I find especially disdainful, is that they used these deplorable interior materials many years before my Grand Am. You would have thought that wiser heads would have prevailed, and seeing that there were durability issues, that maybe they would have upped the quality of the interior materials by 1995. But GM didn’t.
I remember these cars well….They were actually very attractive…Nice clean styling, low belt line with a huge green house and a pleasant departure from the “formal” roof lines of so many GM cars. I especially liked the 2.8 litre 6….Great sound with a nice burble on tip in.
The one thing I can say about these cars is that the bodies lasted very well in the snow/salt belt. Living in Buffalo they lasted a lot longer than any comparable Japanese car and certainly better than Fords.
Alas I can’t remember the last time I saw one though.
The best version of the Beretta was with the Quad-4 engine and a 5 speed stick. About as light as a 6cylinder ’65 Mustang with nearly the performance of a 289 ’65 Mustang.
Points to whoever finds a Corsica 5 door hatchback. Had a lot of experiences with the Corsica/Beretta. I thought they were pretty sound compared to what was available in 1990, saw very little mechanical trouble with them outside of Delco’s infamous CS series alternators. Interiors were a little sketchy, particularly the electrical switches. Not a bad car at all, but indeed a car that GM ignored after introduction.
Ah, the Corsica hatchback…I remember those. Almost bought one once.
I spotted a mint one in NYC but managed to take only one blurry photo (it was moving and so was I)
i’m going to Alabama this weekend & will take pics of a 2.8 V6 5-speed Corsica Hatchback I purchased from the Birmingham impound auction for $50 some ten years ago. It was one of the cars I couldn’t bear to let go when the mobile crusher came in & wiped out half of my collection.
I apparently lost the one picture I did have of the car.
So who looks after it?
My buddy does when he’s home. I never planned to leave Alabama but “it” happens. There are 56 cars still rotting away down there. Well, 55 after this weekend I hope.
I always thought these were very good-looking cars–a little generic, sure, but all the details just worked right. The profile was very good, lots of glass, sporty without being overly so, the full-width taillight panel with the sharp “lip” over the top portion. It just worked, and seeing these photos, I still feel that it does. Somehow the similar Corsica ended up being much more anonymous. The Beretta sold reasonably where I lived, but it never seemed all that popular–outclassed by the competition, I always assumed. But it looked good regardless. The mother of a childhood friend bought one in ’89 or ’90, and my drafting teacher in high school had a very nice white Z26. The grille-less design and subtle sills/spoilers of the GTU and Z26 also really worked well.
It is unfortunate that they were left to wither–but I didn’t even know they were still available in ’96. The coupe market was already drying up, I suppose, and with much more compelling choices, it is indeed hard to imagine who bought them by that time.
Extreme Chevy traditionalists, presumably…a friend of my mother’s, a divorcee in her 60’s, bought a new Corsica in 1995 to replace an ’87 Subaru DL that had been totaled. As I kept up with cars, she asked me for some ideas when she started shopping, so I gave her a list of several good choices and discussed strengths, weaknesses, and the like with her. The Corsica was *not* on the list. I was frustrated when that’s what she showed up in …her rationale as that her brother-in-law, who went shopping with her, bascially told her she was buying a Chevy and that was that. Better choice than a Cavalier at least. She actually still has the Corsica…she’s in her 80’s and the car is now 20, but it’s still running and appears to be in decent shape other than one dent. They at least got the build quality sorted out by the end (though it probably doesn’t have much more than 50k miles on it…)
It is very frustrating when you’re asked for car advice – which I love giving – and they buy something else. And then you have to smile and nod and say they made the right purchase (or at least not a horribly wrong one) because they just shelled out a lot of money on it! But then you don’t want to lie and say they made an excellent choice because this is your car advisory reputation at stake!
As for the Beretta, its such a foreign concept nowadays to have a sporty car with such a big glasshouse and low beltline… Even a family sedan is never this airy today!
This may sound strange coming from Mr. GM beater, but I had forgotten how good-looking those things were, even considering their buzziness!!!! And I always loved that cup holder that popped out of the passenger-side dash. That was a really cool touch, even in the Corsica. The L was a strange child for a strange niche, but I somehow liked them. Please don’t tell anyone!!!
Ah, the Beretta, a design I thought was decent. I purchased a used 1992 V6 with the 3.1 and 3-speed auto as my first “drivable” car (having had a 1973 Chevelle Laguna and a 1977 Camaro as projects.)
I had that vehicle from February of 1993 to February of 1998. In that time – about 100,000 miles total on the car – it had 3 starters, a replacement transmission, several brake jobs, and a leaking rear window that would cause water to migrate to the floor of the rear passenger seat. I remember one particular instance when I started driving down a hill and a bunch of water migrated forward into the driver’s floor! Needless to say, there was a certain “funk” in the car by the end of my ownership. One of the exterior door handles broke off in my hand during a particularly cold winter day.
I made an effort to make it more appealing (it was white with burgundy velour interior) by swapping out the 14″ stock wheels for some Prime 119 16″ wheels with Nitto tires. I’ve attached a picture of the car and it’s clear that the picture looks almost like a bad Photoshop job. I assure you this is not the case: the wheels just made the wheel gaps all the more apparent. I also swapped out the AM-only radio for a more substantial stereo with CD and replacement speakers, including a Kicker box with 2-12″ subs in the trunk.
The lack of a folding rear seat into the trunk seemed very odd to me. Something unique was the two cup holders in the dash and the third holder in the console. I remember putting a large cup of Sprite in the center cupholder at night, and the shift indicator light lit up the entire cup!
One winter day a guy plowing a neighbor’s driveway backed into the back end of my Beretta. I did get it fixed, but I had had enough of the other problems and I traded it in on a 1996 Trans Am.
I still have 89 GT that runs, almost 217K. It looks horrible and the interior is pretty much non existent. Not sure how it’s still running either, except I keep adding oil & coolant to it! Best $250 I ever spent lol. The 2.8 exhaust note is one of my favorites, and I had one similar as my first car so I’ll always have love for these.
I’m amazed that some people managed to rack up that much mileiage on these insipid clunkers. Aren’t American cars of that era supposed to dead long before 100K?! I owned an ’88 Beretta with the 2.8 V6. Yes, a V6 was optional on all Berettas, not limited to the GT model. Anyway, my ownership with my Beretta was not a terribly pleasant one. The 2.8 liter was well known for being a rather torquey motor, but it’s also well known for its serious oil leaks that mine incurred early on. Two failed spark modeuls, an alternator, water pump, windshield wiper motor and catalytic converter all failed around 40,000 miles. That’s deplorable! Another gripe I had with my Beretta was with the power brake booster. The brakes felt like they had virtually no boost at all. When the brakes were cold it was very hard to stop the car. My dealer said it was “normal.” I also went through three steering wheel horn pads because the cheap, poorly engineered cruise control buttons kept breaking off. The large greenhouse on Berettas also meant an extremely hot interior even on mild summer days. The weak A/C system could barely keep the interior cooled. Also the top of the gray dash board turned an ugly murky brown from the heat and began cracking within a few years of ownership. My Beretta was at least comfortable riding, had decent seats, excellent visibility and ample interior room. But overall it was a crappy car in terms of quality and reliability. I sold the Beretta in ’93 with 85,000 miles on it, and I got myself a new ’94 Nissan Maxima which was a marvelous car for 14 years; never a problem. In 2008 I purchased a new Infiniti G37 that’s my current daily driver. My G37 is sheer automotive brilliance. I think back to those dark, dark, dark, automotive days when my Beretta was a new car and wonder how the American auto industry managed to survive.
Really good article! I think I read it when new, but I enjoyed the rerun. I remember kind of liking the Beretta when it came out, but not loving it by any means. It’s amazing that they built the car for 9 years with no substantial cosmetic changes.
I’m probably the only reader that has owned two Berettas at the same time, a 1990 GTZ, white with the 2.3L HO Quad 4 and 5 speed just like in the picture, and a maroon ’91 base coupe with the 2.2L pushrod 4 and 3 sp automatic. What a difference the engine and suspension tuning make. The GTZ was fun to drive and eager to play, even if the Quad 4 was loud (bystanders commented that it sounded fantastic from outside at full throttle). The base coupe was a penalty box, the engine droning tiredly whenever you wanted to move. I sold the base coupe a few months later and kept the GTZ for 6 years, with many fond memories of that sharp, head-turning car. I think GM made an honest effort at a genuine sports coupe in the GTZ; it’s too bad that goodness didn’t filter down to their lesser models.
I really like the styling of these, especially in later Z26 form. I will venture that they’re one of the best looking sporty FWD coupes of the era, though I also like some of Ford’s and Chrysler’s offerings too. It seems funny that these have been used up, thrown away, and many have forgotten that they ever existed. Or maybe I’m getting old.
The only Beretta I’ve driven was a GT with a 3.1 and a 5 speed. I’ve always been fond of Chevrolet 60 degree V6 and the sounds they made before adopting mufflers that actually muffled, so this was an enjoyable car to drive. Coming from the ha ha horsepower cars of the 1970’s and 80’s, it moved along quite well!
Anyone recall the Indianapolis Oddball Edition?
I’m not motivated enough right now to look it up.
Oh! It was covered by the author. hehe
So he skim reads some.
I was considering the Beretta but no 4 spd auto available with the Quad Four. Thanks GM, my former employer, GM lost another sale. Bought a Ford Probe. Drove the Probe for 18 years, doubt the Beretta would have lasted any where near that long. GM kept putting lipstick on the pigs and wondered why the customers were leaving.
I will never comprehend any warm fuzzies for these excrementally lousy cars. Every part of them reeks of Eh…take another fifty cents out of it, who cares.
My third-year university roommate (“Hah! Ah’m Vaughn, f’n Tinnessee! Mah daddy’s a preacher, lak his daddy wuz ‘n’ ah’m gom be! Ah neyver met a Jyewish person b’fowur!” as he fixed his gaze on my scalp, presumably looking for the horns) had one of these. Even though I was one o’ thim thar heathen unBelievers he let me –
drav– drive it a few times. It was only a year or two old, without many miles on it, but it felt like a 10- or 15-year-old beater. Visibly sloppy build; switches and controls that felt as though long past their break-before date; creaks and rattles everywhere; a balky, deeply unpleasant shifter and clutch; that dumb gargle muffler GM put on almost everything that didn’t have a “Brougham” or “d’Elegance” badge…it was such a stupid car on its own, as thrown together, that the NASCAR and Jack Daniels stickers Vaughn had plastered all over it really didn’t make much difference. I reckon that was just about a perfect match between car and owner.And oh, how very very sick to damn death I quickly grew of that delusional “Heartbeat of America” ad campaign.
(At least the ’70s television show made a positive contribution to the culture; we all got to learn what “jamoke” meant.)
I received an email relating to this post and I see the story has been reposted. This has given me some opportunity to reassess/append to my comment from 2015. Looking back, it seems I didn’t write much about the “replacement transmission” comment. Well…one winter, reverse decided it was done. That resulted in at least a week at a local dealership while the problem was repaired. It was a long time ago but I think the starter failures followed the transmission work.
The speedometer would peg itself at a stoplight. During a trip to Cape Cod, the dash lights decided to cut out for no good reason. The fuel gauge would rise and fall depending on whether I was turning left or right. The car was 3 years old at that time.
The exhaust note was particularly obnoxious with its gargling, more-noise-than-power sound. The seats were uncomfortable for anything more than very short trips. The brakes were weak. I believe it used to burn out exterior lights at an alarming rate.
I had put a big red Chevy logo sticker on the rear window so it would get lit up with the CHMSL. In hindsight, this was the car that made me realize that brand loyalty is a somewhat ridiculous concept.
I still have 1994 Beretta 3.1 Recently I just did a 3400 swap the engine came out 2004 Pontiac grand am.I really enjoy my car. She’s an antique now..I got a predator body kit on her.I put 18×8 wheels on they are direct bolt on with no spacers.Am missing my front airdam due to hitting an animal.