Well, this is something to see. What you are about to watch is a Pinto vs Vega wagon on Car and Track in vintage tv style. This comparison test is either the funniest thing you have ever seen or the saddest thing you have ever seen. Seriously. These cars were awful and there was legitimately no way to hide how bad they actually were. 0-60 times were beyond glacial. We’re talking about more than 16-seconds to achieve 60mph. The 50-70 acceleration times are nearly that bad. Braking was marginal, handling at least for the Vega was freaking terrible and we all know what happened with the exploding Pinto, don’t we?
When the kids of today wonder why there are so many foreign cars on America’s roads we can cite this video of but one example. Not only were these things slow and marginally performing, they were also horribly unreliable and in many ways dangerous.
We have to give credit for the show on one important point. These cars were insanely well matched from a comparison standpoint. Outside of the wagon aspect of the Vega they nailed an even price, an even displacement, similar transmissions, and even horsepower. It is a pretty legit head to head test of the two cars, as horrible as they may be.
God bless all of you who lived through this crap in the 1970s. It makes my 1980s childhood seem high performance in comparison.
1974 was the year that pollution controls really sapped the power from the cars, and you really have slow times. The economy cars from Japan didn’t fare any better. I was able to buy a fairly abused 1971 Pinto runabout with the 1600 Kent engine and 4 speed. Very little in pollution controls, and no heavy bumpers. It was a very spritely and good handling car. I used to drive MGs and Triumphs at a dealership I worked at, and the ability to toss the Pinto around was comparable. With larger tires and wheels, it could have been a good little canyon carver!
The author of this article may not be old enough to remember that the performance of these cars was pretty average for the mid 1970s. Similarly priced foreign cars sold in the North American market weren’t any better…this was pretty average even when compared to the Ford or Chev cars in the early 1950s.
I really wish the “exploding Pinto” nonsense would go away, too. Statistically they weren’t any worse than the other cars from that time, but because Ford lost a court case, this image of the Pinto persists.
My 55power pack Chevy used to eat these things for breakfast
Set up the idle toss60 pounds of air In The tires and look out
They neglected to account for the Vega’s 18-month engine lifespan. But in all seriousness, comparing a wagon togeometry dash lite a coupe in the handling and suspension tests was hardly fair.