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Growing up, I always had a fascination for hot hatchbacks. Even as a 12-year-old, while friends spoke of their future dreams of owning a Porche 911 or Lamborgini Countach, I was eyeing Ford Fiestas, Rabbit GTIs and Escort GTs.

In middle school I had a friend, a science teacher, that also shared a love for cars. He once had a Le Car (I always thought he must be cool to have once owned that car) and was driving a Honda Wagon 4WD. He wanted something sportier. The Toyota Corolla FX-16 and Acura Integra were too much money, as were the VW Scirocco and GTI 16v. I told him how fast the Sprint Turbo was supposed to be and that they were very cute. He bought a new 1987 cue-ball-white Sprint Turbo with a pop-up moonroof and AC for $10K.

I recall taking the car up the Santa Teresa Hills of the South Bay. It moved out, and it had a nifty Rainbow Brite-like seat style. Later he added Enkei 13-inch wheels with 175/60 tires and had the springs cut an inch and a half. It stayed quite flat while handling. He owned that car until 1998 and then sold it to his son-in-law. I still knew that one day I was going to have my own hot hatch.

After a brief ownership of abeige 1979 Honda Accord (a royal POS), upon graduation I received a new Montana Green 1992 VW GTI 16v. It was my favorite car of all time, next to the Sprint Turbo. Since this post is not about that car, I will wait until a later date to get into more detail. Let’s leave it at this brief description. My parents divorced, there was no money to pay the payments, and I was naive and obviously over indulged with having been gifted such a nice car at a young age. The car was repoed with $12K still owed on the car two years later with 30K miles on the clock. 

I was in California, where the infrastructure is less than ideal for car-less living, and I needed a car. I was considering a 1983 or 1984 GTI, as my budget was $2K. The first one I located by complimenting a gentleman’s very clean original black GTI at a classic car wash. He said was was likely selling to buy a Mazda RX-7. We met, I drove, and was willing to pay him the $1,500 asking price. At the last minute, he decided to keep it in the family and give it to his brother. D’oh! Not a surprise, though, as GTI owners can be very attached to their machines.

Next I thumbed through Auto Trader. Out popped an ad titled “Little Red Rocket.” The rest of the text went: “1987 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo- CC, AC, cassette, new windshield,  $2650.” I had articles in Car and Driver and Road & Track that attested to how fast these cars were. 0-60 in 8.7 seconds–not bad!

I called the owner to book a test drive within 30 minutes of San Jose in the nearby suburban Gilroy area. The owner was a middle-aged man with kids. His wife felt the car was too fast and small–dangerous for the under 5-year-olds to be driven in. He originally bought it from a guy that sold the car in order to buy new rims for his BMW. I had to laugh to myself because this car is cooler than a BMW, let alone some fancy “rims.”  New BBS wheels on your BMW 635, or a kick-ass Sprint Turbo? Which would you rather have?

My buddy Scott came with me, and we were offered the keys to take a test drive. We were kicked back in our seats. The rush of power had us both giggling. What a fun car! I told him I was interested but needed to get some more money. I had $1,500 on me, and we agreed on $2150. I came back after taking the car home for one day post-down payment to pay the remainder and receive the title.

I was suddenly experiencing a level of buyer’s regret. What if the turbo blows? Is this turbo three-cylinder engine reliable? I was worried that I was manipulated by the sheer rocket-like acceleration and that now I would have to pay the price with a money pit. What was I thinking?

My Dad’s long time mechanic friend had worked for several years at a Chevrolet Dealer, so I thought I should visit him for his opinion. He called his other mechanic friend to confirm the car’s history and said that he had never remembered issues with the cars. He said they were actually very reliable and parts held up well over the long hall. The brakes rarely needed work, likely due to lack of weight to stop.

I had the maintenance items taken care of–a new timing belt, as it had 107K miles and I didn’t have the records, along with belts and tune up. The car kept running just as well. Tires were another $25 apiece six months after purchase, and over the last nearly 17 years and 70K miles I doubt I have spent more than $350 on tires.

Friends often played pranks on me and my Sprint. A group of five friends used to pick the car up at 2 a.m. and place it on bricks in front of our house. One guy would impress his other buddies by lifting the rear end all on his own. One evening he was particularly smooth; while lifting the back end up off the ground at a coffee shop, he smacked the rear pop out window with the back of his arms, shattering it all over the ground and rear seat. $20 at Pic-N-Pull with a screwdriver took care of that, of course. 

This car would park anywhere. In super tight spots, that same friend would just lift up the rear and place the car in a spot that usually only Yugos, Subaru Justys, Daihatsus and motorcycles could fit in. San Francisco road trips from San Jose involved $10 in gas–that included including driving around San Francisco through Haight to Pier 39 and back. Scooting up hills with four people in the car is no problem. For $20 I can go 250 miles on 92 octane gas, even with today’s gas prices that are nearly double what they were when I bought the car.

Despite it’s pint size, I managed to fit 2 bikes from a garage sale in the back with the split folding seats dropped and the passenger seat folded forward.

I looked up my prior teacher and met at his place to show him my red Sprint. He still had his cue ball white one outfitted with the Enkeis, complete with white lips to match with the paint. Right next to it, the complete opposite of speed, stood a green late 1970s Volkswagen Westfalia Bus. We test drove each others’ cars and I was taken by his car’s flat handling through a twisty up to the freeway, but it was not nearly as fast as my car. He noticed the same thing. Since then, he has purchased an Audi TT.

Over the years I have had to replace a turbo after it began to trail smoke out the back, a clutch at the same time (129K miles), a distributor about a year later, a water pump five years later, and, per recommendation of a mechanic, I replaced the engine and tranny mounts in the late 90’s. Just for maintenance, I had the front rotors and shocks/struts replaced a year ago. Otherwise about three tune ups and consistent $25 3,000-mile oil changes with two treatments of Slick 50 have been the car’s history since late ‘92.

I would say it has been an affordable and fun car with lots of charm and that is handy to scoot in and out of tight areas. Never before have I driven something that returns so much fun for so little expense. It feels like a go-cart, but is well built (OK, a little “tinny,” but the fit and finish is better than you might imagine), and offers a practical interior with a decent ride for being 1,670 pounds. Four real-world-sized people can sit in this car.

The non-assisted steering is spot on, the turning radius is amazing, and the car is quite balanced despite little 12-inch wheel/tires. I considered low-profile tires and lowered ride height, but I was concerned that the acceleration and MPG’s might be adversely affected. The brakes are effective and the transmission shifts as smoothly as the day I first bought it. The driver’s seat could use a re-foaming and new seat cover fabric–I am looking to have this done soon, I recently found the fabric at a shop near my city.

Recently, I have seen these cars trading for over $5K if they are in good shape. I do not think I would sell mine even for $6K. I know everything about it, it costs so little to run, it runs like crazy, and it gets more than 45 MPG in the process. I recently saw a restored 1989 Canadian car, a later body-style version of my car, on eBay for more than $12K. I also saw a fairly heavily modified ‘87 like mine for almost $8K. Hey, gas mileage like a Prius with the same emissions, for 1/4 of the price, a lot more uniqueness, and power like a V-8 Mustang? Not a bad deal at $5K if it is a good example.

Seeing that I bike commute and run errands on my Breezer bike more than drive nowadays, I can see this car getting at least 15 years more use from me simply because I do not drive more than 4k miles per year between it and my other car combined.

My love for this little go-cart is not just an OCD thing. There are others infected. Spend some time reading multiple posts on www.carsurvey.com–people with more than 300K miles on their Sprint Turbos have nothing but positive comments to make about the little beast. I have pulled a BMW Z3 convertible, been pulled by a mildly modified 1999 VR6 GTI, beat a 1987 Scirocco 16V with an exhaust, cam, and K&N air intake … and smoked an Integra as well as a Beretta GTZ on the freeway.

My car is not going anywhere–okay, maybe for $6K, maybe, only so I can continue to restore my other fave car, another 1992 VW GTI 16V I bought for cash in 2000, this time in red. All right, maybe for 6 grand, maybe, only so I can continue to restore my other fave car, another 1992 VW GTI 16V I bought for cash in 2000, this time in red. 

–Kenny Heggem