Over the years, the inevitable subject of worst cars ever comes up,
and the Vega
is always at or near the top of the list. I've seen it a hundred
times. I feel I should
put in a good word for the little car.

My sister got a new Vega in early 1973 (a stripped-down one at that,
about as basic
as was available). I then inherited it in late '74 and drove it
merrily for another full
year. That little car was never ONE ounce of trouble. It cruised at
75 mph like
a charm, never burped or coughed, and I actually don't know that the
oil was
ever changed!!!! Maybe the car was serviced when my sister had it,
but I know
it wasn't during the time I had it (young and car stupid I guess).
When
I traded it in for my dream car at the time (the dreamy '75 Toyota
Celica GT),
it had about 42k miles on it and still performed like a trooper.
Maybe it
was a rare gem off the assembly line I don't know, but I had three
friends
who also had Vegas and I don't remember any of them being lemons; one
did have notoriously squeally brakes though IIRC.