---
title: 'The Chevy Sprint Turbo: The 1980s Hot Hatch You Never Knew About'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=JVeYuvi-A6c'
video_id: 'JVeYuvi-A6c'
date: 2026-08-27
duration_sec: 87
channel: 'Doug DeMuro'
---

# The Chevy Sprint Turbo: The 1980s Hot Hatch You Never Knew About

> Source: [The Chevy Sprint Turbo: The 1980s Hot Hatch You Never Knew About](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JVeYuvi-A6c)

## Summary

This video showcases the 1988 Chevy Sprint Turbo, an obscure 1980s hot hatch that flew under the radar. The presenter highlights quirky interior details, particularly the steering wheel's unusual horn button placement and leather covering, emphasizing the car's cost-saving design choices.

### Key Points

- **Introduction of the 1988 Chevy Sprint Turbo** [00:03] — The video introduces the 1988 Chevy Sprint Turbo as an iconic but obscure hot hatch from the 1980s that flew under the radar.
- **Quirky Horn Button Design** [00:15] — The presenter points out the steering wheel's horn buttons on the edges of the spokes, noting that the same button design is flipped upside down in the middle and bottom, creating an inverted horn icon.
- **Cost-Saving Philosophy** [00:46] — The unusual horn button placement is explained as a cost-saving measure, with savings passed on to consumers looking for an efficient car.
- **Leather Steering Wheel Quirk** [00:58] — The presenter highlights the leather covering on the steering wheel, which is cut and placed over the plastic vinyl with open ends showing on the spokes, a design that looks non-OEM but was the best they could do in the 1980s.

### Conclusion

The video celebrates the Chevy Sprint Turbo's quirky, cost-cutting design details, particularly the steering wheel, as charming relics of 1980s automotive engineering.

## Transcript

in existence. This is a 1988 Chevy Sprint Turbo. There were a lot of iconic hot hatches that came out of the 1980s, but this this one flew under the radar.
Certainly one of the more obscure. Probably my favorite interior detail is edges of the spokes of the steering wheel, you can see horn buttons. And typical horn button, but then you go down to the middle and the bottom and
they took that same button and just flipped it. And then on the other side, flipped. Now to the point where the horn icon is completely upside down. This takes why make three buttons to a whole new level because it really shouldn't be
like that, but they wanted to save costs and pass those savings on to the consumer who was looking for an efficient car, and this is how they did that. My favorite quirk though of the steering wheel is that it's leather
where you can actually see where they've put the cut leather over the plastic vinyl steering wheel with sort of open ends just showing on all of the spokes. They couldn't figure out a better way to do that, I guess, back in the day, and
so they just sort of leave it there. It does not look high quality or OEM like an automaker did it, but it's the best they were going to do back in the '80s. You were lucky you had any leather in this car, and you should be thankful.