Chevrolet Vega - Reception

Reception

Initially the Vega received awards and praise, but subsequently there were lasting criticisms.

The Vega received awards including 1971 Car of the Year and 1973 Car of the Year in the Economy Class; from Motor Trend; Best Economy Sedan in 1971, 1972 and 1973 from Car and Driver; and the 1971 award for Excellence in design in transportation equipment. from American Iron and Steel Institute.

Favorable reviews at launch included Motor Trend who in 1970 described the Vega as enjoyable, functional, comfortable, with good handling, and ride; Road and Track who praised its visibility, freeway cruising and economy. and others who praised the 2300 engine's simplicity, the handling package and brakes, and one said the car was well matched to the tastes and needs of the 1970s, Others praised its looks. Comparisons with other contemporary cars such as the Ford Pinto, Volkswagen Beetle, AMC Gremlin, and Toyota Corolla were done by a number of magazines. The Vega came out well, scoring praise for its combination of performance and economy"; as well as its speed, comfort, quietness and better ride.

The Center for Auto Safety criticized the car. A letter from its founder Ralph Nader to GM Chairman Richard Gerstenberg contained a list of safety allegations, and said the car was a "sloppily crafted, unreliable and unsafe automobile" that "hardly set a good example in small car production for American industry". Criticisms continued long after production ceased. In 1979, Popular Science said free repairs in the 1970s cost tens of millions, continuing up to two years after the warranty ran out. A 1990 Time article said the Vega was "a poorly engineered car notorious for rust and breakdowns." In 1991, Newsweek magazine called the Vega costlier and more troublesome than its rivals.

Joe Sherman's 1993 book In the Rings of Saturn said that "by its third recall, ninety-five percent of all Vegas manufactured before May 1972 had critical safety flaws", and that the model's "checkered history only reinforced the belief that GM made inferior small cars. This legacy would prove far more important than any direct impact the Vega would have on GM's profits." Motor Trend said in its September 1999 50th Anniversary Issue: "The Vega seemed well placed to set the standard for subcompacts in the 70s, but it was troubled by one of the most vulnerable Achilles heels in modern automotive history; an alloy four-cylinder engine block that self destructed all too easily, and all too often. Once the word got out the damage was done, even though the engine had been revamped." The April 2000 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine said: "The Chevy Vega has become a symbol of all the problems Detroit faced in the 70's." Robert Freeland's 2005 book The Struggle for Control of the Modern Corporation said "poor planning and perfunctory implementation . . . led to an extremely poor quality automobile beset by mechanical problems," In his 2010 book Generation Busted, author Alan Zemek said, "Chevrolet's answer to the Japanese car, left it with a black eye."

Auto magazines and websites have included the Vega in lists of worst cars, for example Popular Mechanics, Car and Driver, and Edmunds.com. In 2010, John Pearley Huffman of Popular Mechanics summed up the Vega as "the car that nearly destroyed GM."