Pontiac Fiero in Motorweek - Part 1/2

[@PhilipReeder]

I had a 85 Fiero GT. I was the third owner. Bought it in March of 94. It spun a rod bearing two months later. Ouch. Discovered the "joy" of removing the oil pan. You can't, not without raising and supporting the engine. Eventually I rented a garage and began my education into rebuilding the engine. Good thing I worked for CarQuest Auto Parts. Employee discounts are a good thing. What I thought would take a couple months to do took a year. Working mostly alone I had to find a way to extract the engine. Without an engine hoist. Its done by raising the rear of the car, disconnecting hoses and cables and rolling the engine cradle assembly sideways. Sounds like fun , eh? Eventually though I rebuilt the engine (I REBUILT IT!) reinstalled it, poly suspension bushings repainted it (at MAACO- that's another story) and discovered this car wasn't fun. (I really wanted to replace the 2.8 with a 3.8 supercharged V6 from a Bonneville, but the Fiero aftermarket was just starting then (HELLO "The Fiero Store!). It never had enough power to begin with but even though my rebuild compared on the dyno with unrebuilt, it never lite my fire. As is stated in the video, it' quiet. It' really just a cruiser. Like most TA's at that time. Hence the majority being automatic transmissions. My GT at 80 plus MPH on the highway got EXACTLY 20 MPG. With a 10.5 gallon gas tank do the math. I once planned on a trip to Orlando from St.Louis. Once I figured the mileage, and risk of a break down , I flee and rented a car while there. It was cheaper. Obviously a by then (1998) 13 year old car began having typical breakdown issues. Fuel pump. Distributor. Sunroof gasket leaked A LOT when it rained. Eventually I bought a 88 Ford Festiva with a 4 speed manual from a customer for $300. THAT car was a blast to drive! Light, surprisingly quick of the line. Yeah, the ol' Fiero started looking pretty long in the tooth. I saw it As a "garage queen". And I had no garage. So I sold it for $ 2,000. I had bought it for $ 1,500, invested about the same, so no regrets. I used the Fiesta for pizza deliveries (perfect for that) and bought my first motorcycle. Problem solved. Still love the look of Fieros , especially the 84 2M4, wish it had come with a 5 speed, A LOT more power (turbo) and better 4 cylinder at the time. Oh well.

[@TralfazConstruction]

The most difficult repair I ever had to do on my '86 Fiero GT was replace the alternator. It was an all-day affair in my cold garage in January 1998. The rear suspension on the passenger side needed to be disassembled to get that alternator out. I marked everything with a white paint pen. There was a little drama getting the pulley off of the old alternator. I was fortunate to get my brother to drive me to Pep Boys with six minutes to spare and the decent fellow behind the counter got the retaining nut off in seconds with the air gun he kept behind the counter. That helpful act of kindness and decency saved my Sunday and prevented my alternator issue from affecting my getting to work the next day. I remember that I also was able to get out and socialize a little that evening too. One other issue I had with my '86 GT was a blown fuse for the fuel pump. I discovered that there was a built-in safety that were the fuel pump fuse to blow that the oil pressure sensor would send a signal to the fuel pump to start once 5 psi was detected. Little things/tricks like that I learned owning two GTs dating back to August 1985. Most of the tricks I haven't had to use for a couple of decades now and I've probably forgotten a bunch of them. I learned to carry a spare ignition coil and ignition module too because the heat in the engine compartment had the tendency to cause those to fail prematurely.

[@rjobe76]

loved my 87... friggin thing was a tank in the snow... fun to drive..was very comfortable driving cross country... always started with no worries... loved it... ill own another for sure.. no question

[@MelancoliaI]

very similar experience with my 86 GT...loved it. White with gray trim and the spoiler

[@albear972]

I saw my very first Pontiac Fiero in October 1983 for the first time ever a cherry red one and my 10 year old kid jaw dropped to the floor. But then I saw how much of a dog the Fieros were. Looked dangged nice for the time. I do admit.

[@rodmunch69]

I had an '85 GT and I'm shocked by those performance numbers, that they're so low. Maybe that's why the guy I bought it from cut off the entire exhaust system, including that pesky catalytic converter and mufflers and just did straight pipes to baffles. I had an automatic as well and would think the 0-60 was closer to 8.0 flat, but it's hard to tell since the nut also lower the car, and when you're that close to the ground the car felt faster than it was. But I do know I'd race early 80s Mustangs and early 70s muscle cars and it would be neck and neck, so it certainly faster than than the numbers they got. Anywho it was the most fun to drive car I've ever owned, and I've owned a bunch of fancy and expensive sports car throughout my life.

[@dmoore0079]

It was the penny pinching management at GM that prevented this car from its true potential. If it was built with a freshly designed chassis and offered a better 4 cylinder choice than the iron duke, I don't think it would have received such bad press. Too bad that they cancelled the car right after they finally started to get it right in the '88 model

[@MrSoulauctioneer]

David Moore suspension sucked until the last year. when they had copied ferrari

[@subielife4life]

David Moore the last model year got the new suspension that was way better then the old one...I also heard the new 1990 model that was never sold, had a new way better engine a 6 cylinder with a turbo, rumor says that it was faster then the base corvette for that time, which was a big no no for GM, I love the corvette but I feel like many different cool cars were cancelled just cause they were better then the corvette, like the grand national

[@MelancoliaI]

"Not Firebird II?" God that would've been a stupid name for such a unique car

[@markmarshall39]

damn, a 2016 Pontiac fiero, probably would look pretty cool

[@rtesta]

mark marshall too bad Pontiac is dead

[@markmarshall39]

i hear ya on that, and I also think that a proper 2016 trans am z06 power, still have pop up headlamps, would be wider and lower than the vette, just imagine how that would look, and if pontiac was still around a crossover, wonder how that would look, I could go on and on but I better not:)

[@RazorFriendly]

My first car was exactly like the Fiero at the 09:00 mark down to the color! I loved that car. It was pronounced dead on Christmas Eve 1996 when I stupidly let my BF drive it and he totaled it.

[@EJubett]

Would be an interesting electric conversion platform.

[@fready2009]

No compromise lol, compromise was the only thing that allowed this car to see production. The fiero was nothing but compromise from bumper to bumper. The thing shared half of it components with the Chevet.

[@MrSoulauctioneer]

my 84 2M4 didnt do well on wet, front end was squirrelly and it tended to hydroplane, the wedge design saved my life when it ''door-stopped'' under a guardrail.

[@Barbralady86]

I just recently bought one of these as my first car... 87 4cyl 5speed.. And as a side note my shifter is. Rey short and deliberate

[@blaknite1333]

Gas mileage was outstanding.

[@jcpark7242]

Missing my 86 2m4... Loved that little car!

[@daved1974]

twelve grand equivalent to about forty to forty five thousand, that's more than what a solstice cost

[@d.e.b.b5788]

I always get a kick out of reviews that complain about brake fade. Exactly how many full on emergency stops does anyone make in a row on the street? Because if they do, then they are a terrible driver, and should be restricted to riding a horse.

[@marcleach75]

I'd love to put a L36 in one of these.

[@w41duvernay]

i rather do a LS4 version with a cam in it.

[@jcpark7242]

They should’ve done a quad 4...

[@Edmonchuck]

Wow. This makes me feel old.

[@Will_14_years_ago]

W41 swap sway bar and lowered with 16 inch gets wheels and wide tires it's bad ass

[@R6-D2]

0-60 in about a week.

[@daved1974]

and as for the fourteen grand GT, wait just a few more months and get about four or five grand more and get yourself the all new Corvette

[@MoodyJupiter9]

I just bought one

[@skip741x3]

i dont see any of these on the road anymore...ive got a 25 yr old 94 probe gt and These are rare, the fieros are extinct in my area... the probe would eat it for lunch anyway

[@briancooper4767]

Yeah you are right, the probe gt was a fast car with the manual trans. I own a 87 fiero gt but i didnt buy it for the speed or safety rating like most Fiero owners, i bought it for the nostalgia and styling.

[@St0RM33]

That's an incredibly good review compared to some car shows nowadays..

[@jamesshawshaw]

wow were they ever off on the numbers for the 85 GT

[@Ranzear]

>2590 pounds >Heavy What the fuck happened in three decades?

[@d.e.b.b5788]

Safety equipment. The Honda CRX of the time was only about 2000 pounds, so even with a smaller engine, it felt much quicker.

[@skip741x3]

power increased Alot so that carrying 3500 lbs is the New 2500lbs of 30 yrs ago

[@dmaster92289]

I don't get why GM only put the iron duke 4 cyl. in those cars during the first model year and didn't add the 2.8 v6 until the second.

[@exmerion]

Daniel Stewart he says it in the video, Fuel economy. It got 47 MPG on the 4cyl and it was in production during the aftermath of the oil crisis

[@MrSoulauctioneer]

Daniel Stewart I delivered 3 pizzas on one mountain dew bottle of gas.

[@superkovu]

Another reason the 2.8 was held back untill 85 was the lack of fuel injection, all 2.8’s 84 and older were 2 barrel carbureted units

[@dungeonsdragons1900]

i have a 87 with a 3.8 supercharged swap in my fiero there great cars easy to work on and quick as hell so much for mustang's lol

[@SurrealAdventure]

I had one of these, an 85' when I was young. This is a "feel good" review. It handled extremely poorly, especially if you hit water or sand or ice, you would literally lose control if you did anything other than hold the wheel straight. The mid engine configuration was not properly weighted as this guy is claiming, instead it was back heavy resulting in massive oversteer, and random loss of control when pushing this car on any surface other than perfect conditions. The brake force distribution and lack of weight in the front caused your front wheels to ALWAYS lock under any hard braking resulting in loss of control almost every time, and since the rear brakes were small, this vehicle took a lot longer to stop in an emergency. The gas mileage was a LIE, I'm pretty sure my perfectly tuned Fiero got somewhere around 20-24mpg at best, and less in the city. The roof seals leaked around the sunroof, the door solenoids became weak making the power locks next to useless. It was plagued with engine oil leaks, and a half-assed wiring design that put the main wiring harness within inches of the exhaust manifold, and when covered in oil from all the leaks, would catch fire (the car had a massive recall because of this). Sometimes you could get enough slack in this same harness where it would just ground out on the manifold literally shutting your car off while you were driving. For some reason, Pontiac felt that a 10.00 gallon tank would be swell, so you couldn't go far, and the inaccurate fuel gauge ensured you would run out of gas before you made it to the station. Despite all this, it did have a few good features, the seating was awesome, plenty of headroom for tall people, the AC was big enough for a cargo van, and it only had to cool a small space. The speakers in the seats was a nice touch....

[@stansmith4054]

You must of had a bad one. I have owned 5 and besides the sunroof issues, never had any of those other things.

[@kupidzheart]

exactly I was a negative 1 year old lol

[@manoman0]

A fantastic concept, fantastic design, fantastic layout and GM got all wrong *sigh*

[@d.e.b.b5788]

They went cheap and it showed. It was still a fun little car to drive, as long as you didn't try to race it. Just keep an eye on the oil, and it wouldn't go on fire. Nice little car.

[@e10hotrods]

I thought same about you!

[@JisINSANE3]

I took a fiero for a test drive once. Cause I was going to buy it. And it started on fire. Fiero = fire.

[@stansmith4054]

Sure you did.

[@PlutoniusX]

Um. No In 1984 12,000 would be equivalent to around 26,000 in 2013 dollars.

[@jettagliturbo]

I want to buy 1 but am wondering, as we all know we have heard of the fires because of rods. Can I ask owners more about this please? Any real experience than what I read on Wikipedia. Thank you.

[@Arrowhead_5666ccm]

only 84 Fieros had this problems because of bad connecting rods

[@jettagliturbo]

@@Arrowhead_5666ccm yes that I know. I meant more.

[@bufjayup7774]

I had an 84 SE. Bought it new in mid/late 84 I was told (or read somewhere - can't remember) that the oil capacity was wrong in manual, or that dipstick markings were wrong. Then, I bought another 84 SE about 2 years ago. Near pristine condition. Had a TON of documentation with it, including an Owners Manual addendum related to oil capacity. I believe that was part of the "I'm OUTTA here" con rod issue.

[@bufjayup7774]

.....yeah - here's what I remember now > "Worse still, because the engine was sourced from the GM parts bin, engineers had to design the car around the existing engine without altering the engineering, rather than design an engine optimized for the mid-engine layout. To accomplish this, they altered the design of the oil pan, which resulted in it always running a quart low. This blunder was combined with a misprint in the owners manual and on the oil dipstick itself, which incorrectly stated that the Fiero only had a 3 quart oil capacity, when in fact it could hold 4.5 quarts. This can cause engine damage at best, active fires at worst, and owners of 1984 Fieros had to pull a page out of the Ferrari ownership playbook and keep an extinguisher in their car (something Doug Demuro did, and Tyler “Hoovie” Hoover should have done). To add insult to injury, a batch of connecting rods were found to be defective and would break if the oil level was too low. The already low oil ensured at manufacture, misprint in the owners manual and on the dipstick, and the defective connecting rods altogether meant that some Fieros experienced complete engine failure, where the connecting rod broke, punched a hole in the engine block, and put the oil in contact with the hot exhaust components- and caught fire. In all, around 260, or 0.007%, of all Fieros caught fire and at least 6 people were injured. "

[@bufjayup7774]

.....and one more article "The "Iron Duke" 4-cylinder engine was a bad fit for a mid-engined sports car. It was heavy, with a long stroke that was better suited to use in a low-revving application (like a tractor) than a spirited sports car. The Iron Duke was also a bit too large for the Fiero, forcing engineers to under-size the oil pan. The engine essentially ran on low oil 100% of the time, making it likely to overheat." Ok - I'm done foraging now🤣

[@King250sx-R]

Yeah at 8:45 that car looked like the driver had his hands full just taking that turn at maybe 50 to 60 mph. It's a scary car to drive, and even worse to wreck. The tests were done using large flat walls to punish the car. Back then crash ratings weren't hard to accomplish high standards. Just in 79 less than 5 to 10 years before the fiero, the gremlin was released and we all know it's tragedy. The fiero is a death trap. My friend had one and an old lady mistook the throttle for the brake and hit him in the ass at 35 mph and it pushed a piece of metal through the firewall and if he didn't have a few pieces of wood behind the seats, would've impaled him. The car caught fire right on main street. It was completely gone before the fire company got there and they were two blocks away. Watch the crash video, how many times have you ever been asshole by a 6 foot tall wall at 35? Or t boned by a 4 by 4 block? Cars aren't shaped like that. They dive under other cars or hit at awkward angles. Also.... www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/stories/the-worlds-most-famous-explosive-cars.

[@longwalkshortpier]

King 250sx You are spreading misinformation like the rest of general masses! A piece of metal shoved into the firewall? Really? Which firewall? Do you know as owners how often we hear that "my friend had one..." and yet they can't even remember where the engine is located. If this wreck truly happened, the car would have to breach the rear frame rail, breach the trunk, then breach over 2 1/2 feet between the engine bay and then breach yet another thick firewall. I call BS on your story. As for crash test ratings, they are the same ratings from 84 as in use today with exception of offset crash rating. You are a complete tool.

[@King250sx-R]

Aside from being a fiero fanboy, you're ignorant. It's okay, it just means you fit right in. It was in the newspaper and he still has pictures. The car blew up on main street after it had caught fire. They're death traps. You keep driving yours. You'll eventually wreck it and we'll use a piece of it for your headstone. Just trying to help that's all. Take it or leave it.

[@zzzhuh]

X'D "Death traps" *oooo so scary!* Even in your own article (I didn't see a source where they got their information) however it states: “from our studies we have concluded that improper owner maintenance and improper service procedures continue to be the principal causes of engine compartment fires in four-cylinder Fieros.” *That’s right, every Fiero fire - including the one that happened at the GM proving grounds -was a direct result of faulty maintenance and not related to a possible design flaw on General Motors’ part.* A recall was put out, and bang now you've got a good amount of fiero's still on the road. It'll beat cars 4X the cost in a straight line, and is a blast to drive even with a 2.8L. BTW, an engine fire for a fiero is a percentage of .16%. The main fire is from the front of the car where the heater resistor is. Leafs and debree gets clogged up and the heater resistor heats em up and boom a fire. But that is also due to poor maintenance.

[@miragesmack007]

I crashed my 86 GT, left the road at about 80 and slid into a median, hydroplaning in a rain storm, and hit a sewer grate sticking up about a foot. I hit that sideways Sta at about 60-65 mph, and it ripped the whole drivetrain out from underneath, and rolled the car twice. I had accidentally released my seatbelt while bracing, so you think I would be dead, yeah? Not true. I walked out of that crash and I to the back seat of the trooper who was chasing me. I ended up with 2 broken ribs when my head hit the sunroof and knocked it out, but not a scratch on me. Not bad for a car you are scared to drive. I’ve owned 77 cars in my life, this was by far the safest. Probably why it got the 5 star crash rating that you poo poo, only topped in all five years by Volvo 240 wagon. Regardless what you think of how they reviewed cars back then, why didn’t all the others (including whatever you probably liked) also get a 5 star rating?!?

[@851995STARGATE]

Very incorrect, $12000 in 1984 is what today in 2013 would be $26,968.70, you would be correct if it was $20000 then today it would be 44k

[@can2ej6]

id get the datsun 200sx, but it was a good concept

[@bigboi51707]

john davis and about 50lbs lighter

[@oldtwinsna8347]

Fiero started out as promising but was a disappointment through its run. by '85 it was just a bad-engineered recycled parts POS compared to the "real" mid-engine sports car that came out - the MR2 supercharged edition, which blew the door offs and had a huge aftermarket for it with bolt-on parts. Meanwhile, the fiero turned into a poser car with mostly just Lamborghini look-alike body parts. lmao.

[@tsande1424]

I always thought Fiero meant piece of shit.

[@ChristianCohn]

Impressive how bad those american cars were against our german brands Of Mercedes, BMW and Audi during these times.

[@d.e.b.b5788]

well yes, but those cars cost 3x what the fiero did.

[@SteelRhinoXpress]

these cars were a pile of junk.