2019-04-01 CAR UK (1)

APRIL 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 111

YUGOSLAVIA

Kragujevac

Vienna

Budapest

HUNGARY

SLOVAKIA

AUSTRIA

ITALY

GERMANY

BOSNIA AND

HERZEGOVINA

SERBIA

CROATIA

SLOVENIA

Munich

t’s 35 years since this car was built, in a country that
no longer exists. At times on an 800-mile drive from
Munich to the site of the factory where it was made
in 1984, the Yugo 55 feels so alien and antiquated
that it might as well be from another planet. But
when you forget about its crudity and unreliability,
you start to wonder if perhaps something precious
has been lost in the demise of cars this light, simple
and cheap.
Did I say cheap? If only. I bought this 55L from its first owner, a Serbi-
an-born Belgian pensioner. I paid him €2000, and within a couple of
weeks I’d had to pay a further €2850 in repairs, servicing, insurance and
other legal necessities. It broke down the first time I drove it, after it had
been trailered to me from Belgium. But the mechanic who helped me out,
Yüksel Avcitürk, reminded me of what I’d found so appealing about buying
this communist people’s car. ‘At last,’ he said, ‘a vehicle built for old-school
mechanics like me, and not for computer nerds who charge you three
figures simply for hooking up their laptop. Can’t wait to get on with it.’
After two hours, he got the engine to fire up. After four it was happy to
idle, and ready to begin our 800-mile drive from Germany, across Austria
and into Hungary, and then down into Serbia – which was part of commu-
nist Yugoslavia until civil war wiped that country off the map in 1992.
In modern fast-lane high-tech big-bucks Germany the Yugo doesn’t
make much sense. It’s small, light and slow, and other drivers act as if it’s
not there, impatiently squeezing past, clearly unimpressed by the various
shades of brown plastic, brown cloth and brown metal. But away from
the autobahns, the reaction is very different. This frail-looking hatchback
on skate-like 13-inch tyres got more thumbs-ups, more video selfies and
more friendly cuffs on the roof than a McLaren P1 shrink-wrapped in gold.
The Yugo gave every Eastern Bloc truck driver and every Serbian expat a
shimmer of rose-tinted dèjá vu. 
Initially, the top speed levelled off at an indicated 105km/h (65mph),
tip-in was rough enough to throw the slowly mounting momentum
off-kilter, the fuel gauge showed empty when the tank was full, wind noise
tried to out-howl road noise, and the fuel consumption worked out at a
Porsche-like 28mpg. But it was getting better by the mile. When Vienna’s
landmark ferris wheel appeared on the horizon, maximum velocity
climbed to 80mph, and since the respiratory tracts had cleansed them-
selves, the entire 59lb ft of pulling power was now on call.
Having said that, smoking was still out of the question due to the low-
octane fumes that filled the cabin, and it would take three complete cycles
in the washing machine before our clothes stopped smelling of petrol. ⊲

I

OUR ROUTE

BACK TO

THE ’80S

Everyone’s an

expert. And some

of them actually

are experts

Seatback

adjuster’s jammed:

grin and bear it

Other drivers

act as if it’s

not there,

impatiently

squeezing past