1985 AMC Eagle Reviews

You say the car has "horrible exceleration" but you rated performance a 9/10?

Slow acceleration + 16 mpg or less. Sounds like a great car alright.

I have a 1982 Eagle wagon. It is under powered has mediocre fuel economy. To spite these traits I love this car. It is comfortable to drive reliable at least half of the time and fun to drive all of the time. That said... its not for everyone. This is the last real Rambler. Everything AMC learned from decades of making cars went into its design and production. No matter what Subaru says the Eagle was the first of that class of vehicle. every other 4wd car made since has borrowed much from the Eagles design.

Um, yeah, any 20 year old car is going to need work, most likely on things like floor, fenders, exhaust, fuel and brake lines, etc. So what are you complaining about? I see you said your other 2 Eagles weren't this bad, so why aren't you driving them? If you still have them, use 'em for parts. The carbs used on the 258 were never known for quality, clogged jets are an oh-so-common problem with these. One quick thing you can try is to place your hand over the air inlet, making a tight seal, then have someone work the throttle a few times. This might help loosen some stuck dirt, but most likely, as you experienced, you will need to rebuild the carb. I had a 1980 wagon and I had to sit in the car with my foot slightly on the pedal on cold starts to keep it from stalling, and occasionally I had flooding problems which means I too likely had clogged jets and a choke problem like you have. I miss my ol' red wagon like hell now, sure wish she was still around.

Too bad your experience was a bad one. I have had several and they have been mostly good cars. Almost all eagles have quirks, if you can live with them they are pretty good cars. I think with a little work the car you had could have been fine. U-joints go out on any car. And the carb problem prolly attributed to the poor acceleration. I've had quite a few and most of them were not too bad accelerating, except my last one. I think it has a blown head gasket and worn timing gears. The thing was badly maintained before I got it though. And the carb was shot. I have a 92 chevy caprice too and the eagle rides just as well as the caprice. The eagle a good car for the cruddy roads that I live on. The basic body shell for the eagle came out in 1970 as the hornet. Which accounts for the odd styling. I also never had any trouble getting parts for it. Any good automotive parts store should have any parts you need for it. I have found parts cheap and plentiful in my area.

Eagles are a poor mans car, they keep going and going and going until you have the money to fix the problem if it ever happens, which with any car it does, but it never has a problem that causes you to be stranded on the highway, I had to a 82 sedan and an 83 wagon, I prefer the sedan over the wagon, rear hatch never stayed up, but a stick worked just fine, and the rear slid around when traveling down a slick hill, but other than that, I paid 1500 for the car used and had the thing for 7 years, hell if I tried I could probably bring it back to life, just needs repairs from an accident (not my fault) but I couldn't part with it anyway. love eagles, I would buy one in a heartbeat if they were still made. better than a ford, LOL, that's not even a comparison anyway.