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Once again, you're dumping on cars you probably have little or no direct experience with. Last time I looked, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were part of Europe, not the third world.
The Fiat 124 came out in 1966, same year as the 140, and was remarkably similar in both mechanical and visual design, though about 15% smaller. Yes, the materials and build quality were often pretty poor, but they sure did go around corners well. The Twin Cam engine in the later models was the first successful production engine with a timing belt (Glas and Pontiac OHC 6 were only made for a couple of years, the Fiat for about 25) and its system of shims and tappets was directly adopted by Volvo for the B21 and later models, where it has proven to be one of the most trouble-free parts of the car. The Fiat Twin Cam was designed by Aurelio Lampredi, formerly of Ferrari, who once designed a winning Formula One engine in a single day.
Skoda is a very old company that first produced cars in the 1920s. While their products from the Communist era were indeed pretty miserable, they greatly improved with the opening of the Iron Curtain. The Rapid, of the late 80s, the final rear engined model, had four disc brakes and a propely designed rear suspension and was supposedly great fun to drive where previous models were merely scary. Skoda is now a part of the VW group, and their cars are well up to Western standards. They are quite competitive in rallying.
I won't disagree with you about the Yugo, it was typical of exported Fiat technology---they liked to sell off obsolete production tooling to other countries.
The C30 may well turn out to be attractive, especially if after a couple of years they simplify it and come out with a basic 4 cylinder version.
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