1986 Pontiac 6000STE and Fiero GT (Reaction) Motorweek Retro

#ACwJ #Pontiac #motorweek
Welcome back! This week's Motorweek Retro Reaction video is a double header - the 1986 Pontiac 6000 STE and Fiero GT!
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[@elizabethcarlson1321]

I was GM Master Tech in a Pontiac dealership from 84-87. These were challenging times, but Pontiac was really on its game for the time. One thing to consider with the 6000 STE economy gearing was CAFE standards. They probably didn't have a choice. I owned a 1990 6000 with 3.1 that could get wonderful milage and I didn't have to replace a thing including the battery for 13 years. At 129,000 miles I replaced the alternator. As for the Fiero, it was an amazing car. It had a full chassis roll cage not associated with the exterior panels. They were tough and could take a hit and bounce back with no issues. I loved them.

[@Noneofyourbusiness2000]

The Pontiac 6000 was the inspiration for the 6000 SUX from Robocop.

[@warrenny]

Another good review. I had a 87 Olds Ciera that was essentially a 6000 cousin. It was not interesting at all EXCEPT that it drove super well, was very comfortable and gave me the feeling I wanted at the time: young man driving a vintage old person's car. I liked it, but I agree it was not special. It was only nice if you wanted a super chill ride.

[@Todd.T]

GM A Platform, X Platform, and J Platform and anything like them was what earned them the name "Generic Motors." The same car with the same "wounded goat" sounding 2.8. They all developed the same emissions EGR failure, bad clicking CV joints, squealing HVAC motors, the front springs would break, the power steering required more and more effort to turn the wheel over the years until it felt like it didn't have power steering and same with the brakes. Most of the performance in these cars was in your mind. You'd floor it, the transmission would downshift and the engine would rev up and scream. Too bad you didn't go anywhere, you just made racket. Velour interiors to hold years of dead skin that are designed like a bunch of stacked tissue boxes with slighly rounded engines. Not only did we have one, many friends parents bought them. We all stood there one night and talked about how all the cars broke in the exact same way. The Fiero? Enjoy your fire. You'll get your @zz handed to you by a Plymouth Turbo Lazer, an Omni GLH, a Mistubishi Starion,a Buick Grand National, a Capri RS Turbo, a Mustang SVO, a Mustang, a Camaro, a Sunburd Turbo GT, a Grand AM Turbo GT, a... well just pick most anything. The great news is while you drive with your knees up your nose, you can easily reach over and roll down the passenger windows. I know someone that bought one and they and their familiy were all under 5'2"

[@christopherconard2831]

The Fiero was intended to be an econobox that happened to be (kind of) sporty. It's nearest equivalents would have been either the Toyota Celica (sporty Corolla), or Ford EXP. They were built to a price point. The engineers intentionally used as much off the shelf equipment as possible to show GM execs what could be done with only a minor investment. GM looked at the same studies that showed a two seat commuter car would cover the needs of a lot of drivers. Unfortunately they failed to take into account that even if people don't use the back seat, they still want it. It was only in it's final iteration, which GM had already decided to kill off, that it became more of a sports car.

[@1524mike]

I bought a 86 Fiero GT 5-speed 3 years ago. I absolutely love it. It’s a blast to drive. Plus I often get compliments on it when I drive it around.

[@stoneylonesome4062]

I wish they didn’t try and half-ass it some boring little economy car. In typical GM fashion, they ceased production as soon as they finally got it right. If I was in charge, I would’ve given it the same 3.8L Turbo V6 from the Regal T-Type and the AWD system from the GMC Typhoon/Cyclone, an active 4WS system like the Honda Prelude, and a 6-speed manual gearbox that could handle the torque. Those things combined wouldve put the Fiero into genuine, real-deal Supercar territory. It could’ve been a Lotus/Porsche/ALFA Romeo-killer.

[@andrewalmeida3029]

Awesome, Jon, treating your fans to a dual review! A friend of my Stepfather was a devoted Oldsmobile fan and bought nothing but Oldsmobiles for many, many years. He bought his only Pontiac in the 6000 STE and I remember him really wanting to show it off. He took my Mom and I on a little drive and I absolutely loved the 6000 STE. It had a great ride, comfortable seats, was really quiet and had a really strong new car smell. As a teenager I was most impressed with the electronic dashboard which looked incredible at night. It was a beautiful dark red with a grey cloth interior. Beautiful car.

[@8corymix8]

They were absolute awesome cars

[@andyk2763]

The engineers did a great job with the 6000 STE. Anyone that says they are just another generic 80's car, probably hasn't ever spent much time behind the wheel of one. They truly were great cars. The "typical 80's GM interior" was actually very useful and comfortable. I'll also note, the 6000 STE shared many components with the "pedestrian" or "bland" Celebrity Eurosport. The biggest difference was that the STE came standard with many features, but the Eurosport was a suspension and trim option available on the basic 4cyl car. The Celebrity could be optioned out like an STE, other than the digital dash and rear disc brakes. When equipped with the mpfi 2.8, the overdrive auto transmission with performance 3.33:1 final drive, bucket seats, console shifter and all the other bells and whistles, they were very hard to beat from a performance/comfort/economy/value standpoint. For the time, of course.

[@billolsen4360]

Had friends in Golden CO who had a 6000 STE for years. They really appreciate it, largely because it was reliable, big enough for the couple and their kids who were getting to be teenagers and the FWD traction in the snow because that was a real plus in the 80's. They also had a Wolseley 6/99 tucked away in their garage. Yeah, I don't like but don't hate the styling of this line of cars. By 1986, GM had been taken over by GMAC Financing, so the bean counters were running the show and the car guys like Harley Earl and John DeLoreon were just faded memories.

[@davidfairchild6882]

The Buick Century was a great car. It drove like a car twice its size (in a good way). Very quiet, soft, and comfortable. It was everything a Buick should be in a smaller package.

[@MyGuyJustinH]

I'm a huge fan of the Pontiac Fiero. One of my favorite game shows, $100,000 Name That Tune with Jim Lange, gave them away as one of the prizes that the winner of their tournaments would win. I don't know if it was a Pontiac Fiero GT, but the Pontiac Fiero was the car that the winners would get.

[@8corymix8]

Anyone beating up on the STE never had one. My dad had an 86 LE. He loved that car. They were on every corner. My 2nd car was an 83 STE. The STE was a beautiful car. Throaty exhaust, tight handling, buttons all over the steering wheel & awesome 80s digital dash. 86 thru 89 were the most attractive. The SE was cool too. Everyone needs to remember this was the 80s. If you owned an STE, you loved it & it was a very special car

[@davidgalinat4257]

My dad had an '85 LE with the sport suspension option, it was a great car for GM at the time.

[@gregwinson2832]

These are 1985 models. The '86 STE had flush-mounted headlights, and the '86 Fiero GT had the fastback-style roofline and larger taillamps.

[@95blahblahhaha]

I've always been a fan of the GM 2.8 V6. We had an 89' Corsica LTZ 'the sporty one' lol.. but it had a nice noise and peppy for the time too. It sounded different when they bored it out to 3.1 though

[@anthonygray333]

Had huge hots for the STE but since my big brother was selling Chevys at the time I got an 84 Celebrity Eurosport with the HO 2.8 V6. It wasn’t until much later that I got my mid sized Poncho with a 2000 Grand Prix GTP and its sweet supercharged 3.8.

[@johnnymason2460]

I would love to have a Pontiac 6000STE with an automatic, V6, and antilock brakes. At least the 6000 had power steering. No Fiero ever had power steering. That's a deal breaker for me.

[@johneldorado]

FWIW, I love the Pontiac 6000 version with the 6 headlights. My grandma had the Olds version of the GM X platform, a Cutlass Ciera with the 2.8. It was gutless with nautical handling. But honestly was a great car for what it was, just a really smooth, comfortable car. But there's no question why the imports eventually won when it came to sedans. Just nowhere near the level of quality of say a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry.

[@John-kx3ng]

The Fiero was such a cool car, especially the GT from 86 on. GM should’ve developed this car more R&D wise and it may have survived a little longer.

[@ianperkins8812]

Ma had a 6000 in the late 80s, that wasn't the STE. It might lave been the LE trim. It was reasonably comfortable on trips and I do not recall significant problems with it, only that the rear tires invariably got flat spots, even with regular, 5000 mile tire rotation. As I recall, the workaround was to rotate the tires every something like 2000-2500 miles, which was annoying. It was definitely a step down from the Regal we has previously. It wasn't the worst car we ever had, which is about the nicest thing I could say about it.

[@raymond_sycamore]

I watch every video now, Jon!

[@AllCarswithJon]

Thanks!

[@johneldorado]

They couldn't make the Fiero too great because Chevy had the Corvette as their flagship sports car.

[@colinschmitz8297]

That's precisely why GM is failing. The Corvette should only be the king of Chevrolet which is the entry level appliance division. Pontiac should have had a mid engine supercar priced above the Corvette to compete against supercars. If what I am saying sounds strange, consider how much sense it would make if VW was the only division allowed within its divisions to have a sports car, let alone that VW version has to be the fastest.

[@pizzaguy5250]

During that era you never wanted to buy a GM car the first year of a new design. However, 8 or 9 years later, after years of development, they were usually tough, refined, and dependable. Then they’d kill it. Ford would bring out a pretty well sorted car, then quality would tank as the tooling wore out.

[@RoadRunnergarage8570]

Hi Jon I would like to reccommend a book to you called Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits by Tim Boyd.. a great read and Mr Boyd has extensive knowledge of the Muscle Car Era as well as The Kits Themselves and the Kit Manufactures.... BTW I picked up the Monogram 1/24 85 Fiero GT model kit at a garage sale a couple of years back,built it,and now it is in my collection..

[@RoadRunnergarage8570]

The only drawback to Mr Boyd's book is that he only covers kits of cars from 1950 to 1974 so unfortunately nothing from the 80s and newer.. Still an excellent read though with many excellent pictures of kits built and unbuilt...

[@kc0lif]

i like the pontiac fiero.

[@MayheM_72]

The Fiero was a story of "what could have been"...it was a tiny, mid-engine, sports car that was just done wrong. It wasn't the hottest car around, and it wasn't for everyone, but it could have been a huge hit, with a longer run in the market. The whole "Fieros catching fire" thing pretty much killed it. Just another of GM's misses in the 80s and 90s.

[@aarons3695]

You are totally missing the point of the STE. First, the sueded pigskin upholstery, supplied by Wolverine Leather Company, was very special. It has the comfort of cloth and the scent of leather. Paint was STE only colors and better finished than the base 6000 cars. These were special cars, they were comfortable with plenty of power, a great dual exhaust tone, self leveling electronic suspension. Those of us who have owned them know how good they were and those who have never driven one just don't get it.

[@ciro356]

In the 1980s GM really was hampered by a God complex: they believed the success they had been enjoying for fifty years (literally they never lost money during the depression, even in 1932 they had a small *positive* profit of about $160k , not much but still more than zero) would carry on forever almost no matter what. Turns out, GM's success was rooted in the capability to differentiate its brands cheaply yet meaningfully for the customers (a 1950 Caddy did not cost 2 1/2 times to make for GM than a Chevy, but that was the markup they effortlessly charged). When stepping up from Chevy to Cadillac began to mean almost nothing in return for the customers, therein GM began to crumble, and it had become so strong that it took *a quarter century* of mismanagement for old GM to go bankrupt.

[@RoadRunnergarage8570]

BTW I really like Dr Pepper Zero Sugar and Wild Cherry Pepsi Zero Sugar..

[@luisvelasco316]

Pontiac/GM made a number of very good changes to the Fiero in 1988... and then cancelled the car, as was typical.

[@stanmarcusgtv]

Pontiac 6000 looked very old fashioned compared w/ the Audi 5000, which was the best-selling European luxury import at the time - before 60 Minutes did their lying hit-piece I think even in the name the Audi was the target for Pontiac, not BMW Ford admittedly borrowed much of the Audi styling for their Taurus

[@judih.8754]

While I liked the looks of the Fiero when I drove one I was not impressed by the interior or the "truck-like" handling. Admittedly I was driving a 914 back then which was lighter and had a better steering rack. I still like it but the blush was off the rose.

[@davidgalinat4257]

These were '85 models, not '86.

[@OLDS98]

This was an interesting video. I thought you might like to see this 6000 STE commercial from back then: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4bGfHyri9Wmn6c The only issue with the 6000 STE is was underpowered and they would not but the early version of the 3.8 liter V6 under the hood. They offered on Oldsmobile Ciera and Buick Century. It was building on the "excitement" theme and the direction Pontiac was heading. The times were changing. With a little more money and time this would have beat an Audi easy and Pontiac and GM would have had a focused drivers car. They did what they could with the budget they had. Please note it was in the early 1980's GM restructured. That is when the brands lost their identities and became more corporate.

[@courtneypuzzo2502]

neither of them had a long shelf life the 6000 only lasted 10 years and the Fiero lasted 5 years 1 generation where as The Grand Prix for example was in production for 46 years 1962-2008 similar to the Deville at Cadillac

[@danr1920]

Not sure of the time lines for the Miata, MR2 and S2000. If I was buying a collectable 2 seater sports car today, it would not be the Fiero. The 2.5 Iron Duke was a turd. 6000STE is generic GM. Todays money the 6000STE is $40,000! I know it was 1986 and engine power was terrible, use a bigger V6 or would the Corvette V8 fit? Did Fiero's sales tank because go the market, or they just weren't good?

[@royperry2859]

I almost bought a Fiero until I ran it by my auto insurance agent. The monthly premium would have been twice as high as the monthly payment so it didn't make sense in my pocketbook

[@stanmarcusgtv]

the Fiero was never intended to be a sports car and the Honda CRX ran rings around it in sales and performance and is considered the phenom and classic the Fiero was not so much designed, it was more cobbled together from spare parts the first year Fiero was the best selling year and it was all down hill from there read that GM invested $100 million in the 1988 Fiero and sales absolutely collapsed and GM canceled it because the Fiero plant was running at 20% of capacity

[@johnnymason2460]

The Fiero should have been a sports car. It was hampered by GM's obsession with the Corvette. That's why it's not around today(other than Pontiac not being around as well).

[@stanmarcusgtv]

@@johnnymason2460 the Fiero was gorgeous but was a cobbled together commuter car that sold like crazy - the first year. It had a gutless crap engine that caught fire and sales collapsed - GM spent a fortune turning it into a sports car for 1988 but sales collapsed further, utilizing only 20% of plant capacity so GM cancelled it

[@averyparticularsetofskills]

A 1985 model shown not an 86

[@steinravnik8692]

80's GM junk. It's no wonder the Japanese were stealing GM customers like crazy.

[@SVW1976]

Dont do that in your thumbnails. Stay professional. Its embarrassing.