Today
Years after its demise, the Yugo is still a common sight in Serbia, with almost 60,000 examples that are still in use, most of which are ones built in the late 2000s. Parts are still readily available at most auto parts stores and in scrapyards across the country. However Yugos are rare in other Yugoslav republics, particularly in Slovenia and Croatia, because most of them were "imported" back to Serbia in the early 2000s, most likely because most of them were in good shape for their age. In Bosnia and Herzegovina Yugos are a rare sight since they were never popular in that republic, where most people chose Volkswagens built in Sarajevo. In the United States there are not many Yugos left in service, most likely because of international sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, which limited the supply of spare parts and service locations. The United Kingdom has around 100 Yugos still in existence and an owners club has been created. Unlike in the United States, the Yugo was never considered to be one of the worst cars ever imported in the UK, partly because there were other much worse imports from Eastern Europe, and partly because the expectations were not so high as in the United States.
One interesting version of the Yugo, the automatic one, is increasingly rare and estimates say that there is around 20 left still in use in Serbia, and most of those were sold back in 1992 just after the sanctions have been imposed. A small number of newer Yugos can be found with automatic transmission and were mostly built by request and featured a 1.3 liter engine.
Because of no major changes to the body or the drive train of the car, it is very easy to pinpoint the year of manufacture of the car. Early 1980-1985 models featured butterfly opening windows, round side indicators, only a single set of taillights on each side of the car, no rear defroster, and usually a black interior with a black dashboard, and many metal trim pieces such as window crank handles and door handles. Since around 1985, the cars got much nicer seats, a blue or brown dashboard, a two set taillights on each side, square side signals, rear defroster, redesigned instrument cluster, and butterfly windows that didn't open. In 1990, a fuel filler flap was added instead of a twist cap, and some minor interior and instrument cluster changes were implemented. In 1991, the dashboard was redesigned first for the Yugo GVX and then for the European model, side butterfly windows were removed, and a bigger tank was introduced. In 2000 the car received a new front fascia with new bumpers, rear spoiler, a redesigned dashboard, and seats. The latest changes were in 2007 with the introduction of a new instrument cluster.
One popular "upgrade" to older (and even new) Yugos is autogas (LPG) conversion which has gained widespread popularity in Serbia. Because most Yugos don't feature fuel injection, converting them to LPG is cheap and easy, and is paid off very quickly. One drawback of such conversions is that an already small trunk becomes almost useless since a LPG tank takes up a lot of space. Such converted cars achieve better reliability since use of an unreliable gasoline pump is avoided, however some cars have problems starting up in very cold weather, because of improper LPG installation.
Read more about this topic: Zastava Koral
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