1989 Chevrolet Beretta GT 2.8 liter V6 from North America

Summary:

A good car; I wish they were still made.

Faults:

I can't complain about my '89 Beretta GT. I owned it for 19 years, & had no major problems. I kept the oil changed, transmission fluid changed, and performed other routine maintenance.

There are two issues I would change: the seat belts and the door handles. The seat belts are unsafe because they are attached to the door, and not to the body. The door handles break.

The car was quick, sporty, and sounded real good. It had 169,380 miles on it when I sold it to get my daughter a new car. It was a Chevy also, a Malibu; a nice car also.

THE BIG T

DALLAS GA.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th November, 2008

1989 Chevrolet Beretta GT 2.8 V6 from North America

Summary:

A pretty fast car and will last a long time

Faults:

The first thing that I needed to fix right when I bought the car was the computer and a couple other small things that ran a bill up to 1 thousand dollars. then the brakes, spark plugs,. After a while of driving the car I needed to replace the alternator and the radiator hose.

General Comments:

It is a great car if it is keep it in good condition and replace parts as it needs it. it's a small fast car that is cheap. The car is very loud from things being loose when you are going at a constant speed. but other than that it's a very great car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 24th January, 2007

1989 Chevrolet Beretta GT 2.8 from North America

Summary:

Good car if taken care of

Faults:

I bought this car for $1,200 eight years ago. Since then I have had the paint or the clear coat come off in spots. Last year I had the ignition switch replaced, because I could not turn off the engine when it was put in park. The dash has cracked, the driver seat bracket that holds it to the floor broke. The door panels have also started to come apart. Last, but not least, the digital instrument cluster has just started to have problems by not being responsive. I know this sounds like a lot of things that have went wrong. However this has been a dependable car. It has never left me or any of my family stranded. Even tho I have had to repair all these things, (except the instrument cluster, I am still trying to figure that one out) I will keep this car as long as I can. It is fun to drive, a lot of power, and it just looks good!

General Comments:

If you can get one of the GTs that has been took care of get it, you will have fun with it.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th July, 2006

2nd Mar 2009, 13:20

I just bought a gt for 200. I don't expect much but it holds promise with only 35000 miles. I am hoping some of the things that are common problem areas have been replaced already. the paint has started the peeling and cracking on the hood. Well wish me luck.

1989 Chevrolet Beretta Coupe 2.9 from North America

Summary:

The cheap comes out expensive

Faults:

Something went really wrong with the car at about 149,000 miles. I couldn't come to a complete stop without stalling. I always had to rev the engine to keep from stalling. One time I stalled in the middle of a busy intersection and I could hear the car behind me squeal his tires to avoid hitting me. Before I could turn the car back on I had to put it in park. Eventually someone suggested I drive with both feet. This made driving tolerable and I didn't squawk tires everytime I had to stop.

Later, even when I didn't come to a complete stop, if I just slowed down, the car would move at idol speed until I put the pedal almost to the floor. Eventaully the car would only accellerate if I had the pedal to the floor.

The auto shop teacher at my high school said I had a cracked head. Maybe he was right. Who knows? Many, many parts were replaced before finally replacing something with the computer. This fixed the problems.

There was a also massive oil leak. Another embarrassing feature. I had to add nearly a quart a week. The leak was in a hard to reach spot that would require so many man hours to fix, it was uneconomical to try.

General Comments:

This car was purchased for me for $900 when I was 17 by my father. I guess he felt bad because I wrecked my Ford Explorer on an icy road (and he was tired of hauling me everywhere).

I wanted another 4x4, but my dad picked a car because he thought it would get better gas mileage. Shortly before selling the Beretta, I tested the gas mileage -- less than 15 mpg in a combination of city and hwy driving. Most full size trucks get better mileage than that!

One small point -- the power window buttons are on the center console. Odd...

Had I been doing the buying, I would have research the Chevy Beretta a little more and discovered the dismal reliability.

It is a pretty quick little car with the V6, but I would never own another one or recommend it to anyone. Don't buy it, no matter how small your budget. The cheap comes out expensive.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 13th April, 2006

30th May 2006, 17:41

I had the same stalling problem every time I stopped with an '89 Beretta GT. My dad's a mechanic and found out if you disconnect the transmission sensor it fixes the problem for some reason... in case anyone still has a Beretta, like me.

11th Oct 2006, 20:11

I don't drive a Beretta, but I had a Daewoo Cielo with the same transmission. It is a TH-125C, which is one of the most popular GM 3-speed front-drive trannies. Very reliable in general, and in my opinion the greatest ever built. Bar none.

The TH-125C had an electronic lock-up torque converter clutch. This means that at a given speed in 3rd gear, the torque converter would literally lock the transmission solid to the engine. This locking is carried out by a torque converter clutch solenoid. This locking prevents the inherent slipping of the fluid in the torque converter, and saves fuel. When the brake pedal is depressed, the torque converter disengages to allow slipping when the car comes to rest.

Earlier versions of the TH-124C had a known fault with the torque converter clutch solenoid going bad. When that happened, the torque converter would not disengage when the brake pedal was depressed, and so when the car came to rest, the locked torque converter would cause the engine to stall. What your dad's mechanic did (and probably charged you for) was to disconnect the solenoid (NOT a sensor). This was a common "under-tree" mechanic technique that didn't cure the PROBLEM, but rather the SYMPTOM. The result of this is that your car's torque converter no longer locks at speed, and so you will be burning a lot more fuel as a result.

The proper thing to do is to have the solenoid changed. It's a pretty straight forward thing that can even be done by a fairly competent do-it-yourselfer. See here for details on that http://www.automotivehelper.com/topic529773.htm.

As for the original writer, the window switches being in the centre console was something that VW and BMW did for years. It saves the manufacturer a lot of money by making less switches than they really need to.

21st Sep 2010, 21:07

I own a 1989 Beretta GT, I had this problem which is pretty annoying, but mine is a standard and it's a little hard to drive without 3 feet with that problem.

I replaced the intake hose because it was seriously cracked and broken, and because the computer has an automatic idle finder, a few restarts later it was back to normal.

In reply to 30th May 2006, 17:41

9th Dec 2012, 12:15

It's a typical issue, just a $15 map sensor. Usual wear and tear, like brakes.