Despite its heavy relation to the frumpy Corsica sedan, I’ve always found the Beretta coupe to be one of Chevy’s more attractive designs to come out of the 1980s-1990s. Once very common sights, Chevy Berettas are far and few between here in New England, a likely combination of the climate and their history of owners over the last two decades. The chances of seeing such a clean one in bright red with original wheels is even more of a needle in a haystack, so it spotting this one naturally made for a red letter, or should I say Red Letta Beretta day?
Related Reading:
1989 Chevrolet Beretta (COAL)
What is sometimes forgotten is what great values these cars were. Here are some comparisons from 1992, don’t have 1991.
Beretta MSRP $11474 hp 110 weight 2649 EPA man 25/34
MX6 MSRP $13575 hp 110 weight 2560 EPA man 24/31
Accord DX 2dr MSRP $13315 hp 125 weight 2737 EPA man 24/30
With the dealing at the Chevy dealer, it was worth a look. The Beretta had driver’s airbag missing on the MX6 and standard ABS that was unavailable on either DX MX6 or Accord. Prices include destination and EPA numbers how they were reported in 1992.
You should have included the Ford Probe GL, it was only slightly higher in price than the Beretta, slightly heavier, and unlike the Mazda and Honda dealers, Ford dealers were likely to discount the price.
My reference lists Probe weight as 2,730 lbs and the base price as $11,691. But the same book shows a lower price than you give for the Chevy….so the Ford price “probably” includes freight and the Chevy doesn’t.
If nothing else, the Ford was available as a hatchback, a plus or minus….I guess.
I chose the MX6 because the body style is more a match for the Beretta than the hatch Probe. According to the same Consumer Guide cited above.
Probe GL MSRP $12587 hp 110 weight 2730 EPA man 24/31
Another screaming deal was the 92 Mustang LX 2 dr
Mustang LX MSRP $10655 hp 105 weight 2775 EPA man 23/30
I never saw a test of the late PFI twin spark? 2.3 but it may have been quicker than the earlier known to be slow 2.3 Lima. The Beretta was kind of in between, so could be compared to so many cars. I was going to include a Lebaron coupe but by 92 it had lost the option of the 5sp with the 2.5 base engine.
I say this every time we post a Beretta here, but here I go again: I bought one new in 1989 and loved it. I got a good one; it rolled for 8 years and 150,000+ miles with far, far fewer troubles (none major) than you’d expect from a Chevy of that generation. It was good looking for its day, and comfortable. I was sad to sell it when I needed a family car.
I wish my experience was as good as yours, Jim.
My ’88 was a Corsica. 4 with the stick. Great on gas and a ball to drive.
But the engine was on its way to a THIRD rebuild in 88,000 miles when we gave up and traded.
Good looking? Check.
Comfortable? Check.
Handled well? Check.
These cars, assembled anywhere near the level of a contemporary Honda/Toyota, would have become icons.
I wish…
Truly hope this current generation of Spark/Sonic/Cruze leaves a far more positive impression, long term. So far, so good, it seems.
I always found the proportions to be very off on these. The low window/belt line looked odd, making the greenhouse super tall and giving the impression of a cartoon car.
The Corsica didn’t have this issue and was a tidier design overall.
Not a huge fan of these, but I like the low beltline – it adds some visual interest from the outside but more importantly, it must have made for better visibility from the inside.
At least it didn’t have the awkward roofline (to my eyes) of its Somerset/Calais/Grand Am cousins.
The Somerset/Calais/Grand Ams were only distant, “kissing” cousins to the Beretta/Corsica. The BOP trio were built on the GM N platform, while the Beretta/Corsica were built on the L platform, which was a Chevrolet exclusive at the time. While there were similarities in the design of the underbody mechanicals, very few components would actually interchange from the N to the L.
Nice looking cars when they came out. I always remember GM being sued by the gun manufacturer Beretta.
http://articles.latimes.com/1989-02-23/business/fi-433_1_chevrolet-beretta
Oops. Much like Ford with the Fusion.
GM could have called it something else but must have really liked the name.
“Berlinetta” minus “lin”. I always liked the name, and the cars.
took my drivers ed in one very similar to this one. seemed to be pretty good cars to this 16 year old.
Yeah – I had an 89 GT. Loved the looks, handling, and was pretty quick for its time. Many issues including:
random stalling
driver’s door fell off (in my driveway)
broken driver’s seat
Silent recall on flaking paint
Although I will say, to Chevy’s credit, all of these issues were fixed for free.
A blown head gasket was what eventually killed it for me. Just after I finished paying it off too.
My driver’s seat broke, too. The single bracket that held it down sheared in two.
Had the same problem with mine. Jerry-rigged a replacement, and it’s still holding today (my kids have the car). But, the driver’s interior door panel is gone. The armrest screws pulled completely out of the door frame.
I had the same car all through high school and college. Loved it but I had a lot of the same issues.
The stalling was the tcc solenoid. The torque converter would lock up at speed, and then not unlock when you slowed back down. After that, you were stuck until it cooled off enough to unlock. I suffered for months with this until my mechanic had an epiphany. It was actually a pretty cheap fix, once he figured it out.
Driver’s seat broke while I was leaning back to get change out of my pocket. Another relatively cheap fix, I just swapped in the frame from a junkyard seat.
The paint was pretty traumatic. I hadn’t had the car that long and I was washing it. I was spraying the hood with an ordinary garden hose and the water caught a chip or a weak spot and blew a six inch strip of paint right off the hood. I ended up paying a body shop to respray the hood.
The final straw for me was water leaks in the firewall. I never managed to find the leak and seal it, and the carpets would get wet and disgusting every time it rained. I’d had it 8 years and it had something like 160,000 miles, it was just time to move on.
I always liked the looks of these. Remember the one off yellow “Indy Pace Car” convertible? The actual Pace Car editions were teal, a popular color back then.
Most of the Beretas around here didn’t live long enough for the tin worm or age to get them. They seemed to be the victims of their young first owners. I noticed from the start that they were getting the crap beat out of them from day one. They seemed to attract more abusive owners than the Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds, Accords, and small trucks did.
Too bad, they were nice attractive little cars.
Actually, weren’t the Pace Car replicas available in BOTH yellow and teal?
As far as the comments about the styling, I think the tail light panel was too…tall? If Chevy had ever bothered to spend some serious coin on a “facelift” or “buttlift”(?), that rear end treatment should have been at the top of the list.
One of the few sporty coupes I could have owned with an automatic transmission, but it would have had to have a V6, too.
You are right on the yellow. I had forgot about that, except for the convertible. Probably the reason I remember it is that I see the original GM promotional poster every day on my garage wall.
I agree on the tall butt thing too. I always thought that it was a little tall. I still liked the design, though. I just hated to see so many trashed so soon, and I am, obviously, not a Chevy guy.
I do remember the teal Indy Pace Car editions. Several years after I got rid of my 89 my sister-in-law bought a used one. She was so thrilled. At the time she didn’t have much money so one day while she was visiting I took it out to fill her gas tank for her.
What a bucket of bolts it felt like.
Minus the spoilers and fuzzy dice, the featured Beretta looks like my ’89! Liked the car a lot, but it was kind of a maintenance queen.
My doors remained intact, but I did experience the broken driver’s seat issue. Some spot welds in the seat frame broke. I just peeled back the upholstery, judiciously applied some damp towels and re-welded using the smallest gauge welding rods I could find at Home Depot. Problem solved!
I recall these cars were the result of an ill-fated marketing decision by Lloyd Reuss, the GM director notorious for making diasterous decisions.
Apparently, Reuss was so enamored with the Beretta that he devoted far more manufacturing and marketing resources to it, and less to its high volume sedan version, the Corsica.
This went against GM tradition, protocol and common sense. It cost GM plenty, because the Beretta came out first and was promoted first. However, the bulk of buyers wanted a 4 door version. When there were none to be found, they did not buy Reuss’ darling, they often bought a non GM product. To this end, the Beretta encroaches on Deadly sin territory.
Hopefully my recollection is accurate.
Good lookers (especially in Z26 format), but they are indeed almost extinct today. Nice job finding one in such good shape!
There is a black Z26 for sale that I see on my way to work every day. It has been sitting there with a For Sale sign in the windshield for several months. If I get a chance I am going to shoot some pics of it. Looks to be in nice shape, too.
I always thought these were nice looking cars with decent performance and reliability. They were everywhere back in the day. I especially liked the smoked rear taillights. Gave the back of that car such a cool effect.
My grandmother had one of these in a darker shade of red (it was the same shade as Jim Grey’s example) in the early and mid-1990’s. It eventually got passed on to my uncle, and he kept it going from the mid-1990’s until the mid-oughts. I believe it had somewhere around 150K on the odo when it finally gave up the ghost (echoing Jim Grey’s sentiments, again) IIRC, it had the somewhat rare digital gauge cluster. My mother had the kissing cousin Corsica, in blue apparently. Mind you she dumped it before I was born, so I have no real memory of it.
I too like the look of these. In salty Toronto though they seemed to disappear in none to many years. That is why, when, about five years ago a new hire at work arrived driving one, it was white with a (i think) red interior, I could not help but check it out every time that I was in the parking lot. It was 20 something years old but looked pretty good.
Sorry but I don’t get it. This and the Corsica were two of the most nondescript designs of the late ’80s. The perfect silhouette for a dictionary pic of “car”. The Lumina wasn’t too far behind.
For a similar price, the Mazda or Probe were mush better vehicles.
These were decent beater cars back in the day.
The sedans made no business sense though since the Corsica didn’t offer anything you couldn’t already get in the A-Car. The A-Car variants were also better beater rides, especially the later Olds/Buick ones.
Like many other programs GM ran in this time period, the L-Car was little more than welfare for engineers and UAW employees.
Official car of fat stupid girls named Tammy, usual attending Aesthetician college.
Note: this rule does not apply below Mason-Dixon line. Please substitute Camaro Berlinetta search parameters.
I loved the ’95 Z26 that I owned for a couple of years after my Mom had 11 years of trouble free service. I also agree that it was a sharp looking car, right through it’s run, but I’ll always be partial to the final Z26 offerings…. that was the ultimate Beretta package!
Parents bought me a new 1988 GT (I know, spoiled brat) to replace my 1981 Citation X-11. Black on Whorehouse Red interior with AC and a 5 Speed.
While it handled lighters better than the X Body and I though it looked great, the build quality was bad old GM: sometimes it ran on 6 cylinders, sometimes 5 or less. The AC gave up after 3 years. Put me off of GM cars forever.
Looks just like the one currently sitting across the street in my neighbors driveway, hasn’t moved in about 5 years. This one seems to have a rejected sticker as well.
A South Philly Italian secretary’s car if there ever was.
Not to be confused with a Baretta. (And you can take that to the bank!)