Trabants smoked like an Iraqi oil fire, when they ran at all, and often lacked even the most basic of amenities, like brake lights or turn signals. But history has been kind to the Trabi. Thousands of East Germans drove their Trabants over the border when the Wall fell, which made it a kind of automotive liberator.

The Trabi was often called Rennpappe ('racing cardboard'), as it was mainly made out of plastic. People called this kind of cheap plastic 'cardboard'.

The Trabant was a very basic car with a pre-war DKW-designed twin-cylinder two-stroke engine. Initially the engine produced 15 hp. The bodywork was made of lightweight Duroplast, which gave this later 26 hp model a reasonable top speed of 105 km/h (65 mph).

The price for a new Trabant in 1985 was 8,500 Mark for the 601 Standard, and 9,700 Mark for the most expensive model, the 601 Universal S de Luxe.