Who killed the Pontiac Fiero?
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- Introduced in 1983, the Pontiac Fiero holds the title as the first and only mass-produced mid-engine sports car by a U.S. automaker.
But its short five-year production run, along with its propensity to catch fire, has left the Fiero dangling in automotive folklore.
"Did the Fiero get a bum rap?"Motoring TV host Brad Diamond asked. "And did Pontiac bail out too early?"
And so it was in 1997 that Brad and the Motoring TV team set out to find out who killed the Pontiac Fiero.
(This segment originally appeared on Episode 18 of Motoring 1997.)
**Watch full episodes of Motoring TV at MotoringTV.com**
When GM produces a car that people like, they immediately discontinue it. i.e. Fiero, Saturn, Impala, etc.
I owned an 88 and drove the hell out of it...Never failed to start and I never spent $$$ on anything but tires and gas...Only problem was that the front end needed additional weight added for counterbalance...I loved this car. The seats were the best:)
My sister bought an '88 Fiero Formula new. Still has it. 28,000 miles.
Ric Havic: 28,000 miles- that happens when you replace the original tires with milk crates
She got the fiero & you got a computer ?
but he had one hell of a day off:)
imnotsmartbutimtryin bueller.. bueller...
@@4g6_miragecolorado00 that was actually a Ferrari in that movie...
They are very attractive cars and I would love to own one some day.
I am happy with my 86 Trans Am though.
Like the fiero and firebird
GM guy: "the Mister2 from Toyota" HAHA
I'm glad I'm not the only one that caught that hahaha
In Japan, the third generation MR-2 was called the MR-S, definitely not a name that would work in the American market.
Benjamin Barrera I've only known it by that name lol
Bwahahaha! The MR2 was a solid car, at least mine was at 25 years old, with 200k+ miles. A modern cd player from Toyota plugged right in and operated the busted paper subwoofer under the driver's seat which I replaced. The copied hardware store keys the car came with were pretty chewed up. I went to the dealer and got some original style keys cut from a code, and the little plastic doohicky that holds the prop rod bottom. The rest was cleaning. It was 3 quarts shy when I picked it up, (less than 4 quarts when full,) the car was abused and filthy. 1.6l 4 cyl still revved out all the way, would beat my 5.0l Camaro and any GM car or truck I've ever owned. Dr. Jekyll until you opened the T-VIS valve, then it was Mr. Hyde. The engine went on to get a supercharger, later versions had ITBs and 5 valves per cylinder. Fiero GT had the looks and .1 or something in the 1/4 mile.
The Toyota MR2 in Quebec was call MR DEUX.....MRDEUX....
I have been involved with the Fiero since 1980. I know the history from start to end. Some of what is told here is true but there is so much more to this than just what is presented.
Yes GM did not want the car and it was canceled several times till it was approved. Pontiac hid the program at a company called Entech to hide it till they could present it as a commuter car with full intentions of doing a sports car from the start.
The problem is they had to build the car at a plant that could make 250K cars a year and they had to over build and over sell the car. Lets face it how many 2 seat cars can you really sell and keep it going?
While this was going on GM had the plan to put the FWD F body replacement the GM 80 platform set to move into the plant to eat up excess production. Well Ford had planned to use the Probe as the new Mustang and with good sales on the RWD they chose to keep the Fox body around.
Once that happened the unpopular GM 80 was killed and the 4th Gen F body was put fourth. Once the GM 80 was killed the Fiero was a sitting duck.
Yes the Corvette people were not happy as they were seeing sales drop as the C4 was aging and they need to protect ever sale they could. They wanted the Fiero dead as the 1990 was going to get a DOHC V6. While the Corvette would still have been a faster car the lower price may have taken enough sales to put them in trouble.
Fiero sales even in 1988 were still really high for a two seat car at over 30K units a year. They really should have been selling even lower numbers to support sales as the Miata even sells less than 20K average per year.
As I was told by John Schinella the head of Design on the Fiero Chevy sells more cars and Chevy get more say on what happens. It killed the Fiero due to plant under capacity issues. This lead to UAW issues and bad blood between Pontiac and GM. The culture was toxic and GM did more damage internally than externally.
Power was not an issue as even at 140 HP the Corvette was only 185 HP at the same time and heavier. More power was on the way. The Turbo was not a 2.8 but a 2.9 all aluminum engine. It was not crazy power like today but impressive for the time. Two cars were built with it and called Porsche Eaters. They had to remove the name from the tail lamps in 1985 as the 1988 Suspension though designed by GM was tuned in the front by Porsche Engineering for turn in and feel. Many claimed it was Lotus but that was never true.
The car was killed but the design lived on. The 1990 design was used for the 4th Gen F body. they used the over all shape and cues for the new car when they transformed it to the larger platform with Front engine. Note they did carry over some of the sheet molded panels too.
There is a lot more but this is the bones of the story. I got much of this from people in the Fiero program and even the book Inside the Corvette by John Mc Clelland also states the same. He even said the concept of the mid engine V6 was from the GM tech center and offered to the lead Fiero engineer as a way to lower the cowl of the car. Hulki took what they offered and adapted it to his program.
Odds are the Fiero would not have lived much more than 5 years anyways. The life of a 2 seat car that is not a Corvette or Miata is generally 10 years or less. The volumes are low and the return on the dollar is not much. Just look at all the two seat cars that did sell well and how short their lives were. Even cars like the RX7 etc all had limited lives.
Pontiac was failing and not a global brand so they were on their way to death a long time before they died.
I still own my Fiero I bough in 1985. I show it and even have a some prototype parts on it. It was never a perfect car but like a MG or Spitfire it is a fun and affordable car.
The fires did not help and what they said is true. The worst part though is the fire would start and right over the fire was a plast deck lid. Just kindling for the fire. Once they start they kept going. Most fires are due to leaking V covers and if they were sealed with a gasket vs RTV it may never had been an issue. Most were the Iron Dukes as their covers all leaked no matter what car. Just in the front the air flowing though prevented it from igniting.
The Fiero is a good snap shot how how damaged GM culture was back in those days. GM did not fail years later they failed years before and it only took that long to show. Today things are much better and most of the people who were the problem are now gone.
Thank you for this
Steven Swisher
You are incorrect about your hp figures.
In 1984, the Fiero was limited to the 92 hp 2.5L, and the 84 Corvette had 205 hp CFI engine.
In 85, Fiero got the optional 2.8L V6 with 135 hp, Corvette switched to TPI and jumped to 230 hp.
Pontiac's problems didn't start in the 80's, their styling was great then, and so were sales. No, Pontiac's problems started in the mid-late 90's, with tacky exterior styling.
All that gaudy ribbed cladding, that looked like it started life as vinyl house siding, and the Aztec....
From bumper to bumper, that thing was just plain UGLY...
And sales plumeted for the Firebird when they restyled them for 1991. The "Batmobile" nose, and bizarre lower cladding on these cars turned off customers.
The 4th gen Firebird was an improvement in overall styling, except for the long sloping windshield, which forced the cowling halfway over the engine, and those hideous windshield wipers...
The 98 restyle of the Firebird again didn't do it any favors, and sales once again slumped from tacky styling.
It's almost as if Pontiac's exterior styling engineers wanted to harm the very company they worked for.
There were still some overall nicely styled cars from Pontiac in its last years. The Bonneville and G8 looked good, but it wasn't enough to make up for the pitiful styling on most of their other models.
In 1985 the V6 was rated at 140 hp. My 1988 GT is rated at 135 hp. Same engine different way of calculating the hp.
The one thing to remember the 84 fires, the actual number of fires weren't really that high. Your 2006-2011 BMW has a better chance of catching fire than a Fiero!
0.7% Cars had fire issues.
Not sure why they get hounded by that. GM killed PMD in 1978, anything after is just a restyled Chevy.
GM screwed up getting rid of PMD.
Those guys are right anything that threatens the Vette will get crushed at GM. Which is funny to me because in those days Vette owners were bald, fat, and over the hill looking to pick up anything that gets wet. Any one south of 40 years old wasn't interested in a vette. GM could of sold both.
My Dick yep same happened the grand national
Same holds true today!
Gm has made mistakes. Bad ones since the early 80s. Making crap cars. Trying to fool customers. I dont buy gm anymore. They had me...never going back.
My dad bought a pristine, low milage 2 door fastback, 1968 Pontiac Grande Parisienne (Canada) in 1971 from a friend of his, cheap. Spectacular car. Had it for, oh, 9 years. 327CI, 4 barrel carb, premium wheels and brakes. I learned to drive in this car, took maintenance care of it and paid for my gas $$$$. A premium gas guzzler but, man, this big car could go like hell ! How many Corvettes and 'stangs I humiliated with it ! He finally decided to sell it cause a slipping trans, in need of a major valve job. He bought my dumb bro in law leased late '70s Catalina. What a piece of crap that car was. My younger brother totalled it when the brakes failed in a country road 2 years later. No injuries. Dad was relieved. For my kid bro but also getting rid of that POS Pontiac. I had him test drive & buy his first Accord. He never looked back. Ever. Damn GM's CEO Roger B Smith and his beancounters.
"Gm has made mistakes" That is the understatement of the century. I built GM cars for 15 years and I can tell you first hand that they build low quality, cheap cars that can't compete with most of the foreign competition, it's not even a question. I drove GM vehicles exclusively for 20 years, but then I switched to Honda after I left the company and never looked back. I will never own another GM product.
@love is my religion
Except that they are obviously not all the same. All you need to do is look at the annual quality and safety rankings, but this requires a person to accept objective truth, which some people just can't do, since they are 'fanboys' of this brand or that brand and will defend those brands to the death. I'm pretty sure GM doen't have a single model in the top 10 quality or safety rankings this year. I think all but one model in the top 10 is from a Japanese or Korean brand.
I Dad bought a 1983 Chevy diesel V8 4x4 pickup. The paint and primer peeled off, the transmission went out and the diesel engine was nothing but trouble. No help from GM. After this bad experience, he refused to buy anything GM. Since then, he has had a 1988 Dodge Ramcharger, 1990 Honda Prelude si 4ws, Ford Focus and currently owns a 1987 Suzuki Samurai(project), 1999 Ford Expedition, 2012 Ford F350 4x4 4 door dually and a 2016 Ford Taurus. Think of all the money GM would have made if they would have treated him right.
Love is religion ...even sell out the ppl who made them ... That's why Detroit is a slum now
typical GM corporate BS. They could have made so many great cars that people would want to keep around as collectors that were fast and fun and could have competed with other sporty cars but no. nothing could be as fast as or faster than, or even more popular than the fucking corvette.
i'm bashing GM, not the corvette. Corvette is a good car, but the idea that GM wouldn't allow any of their other cars to be great and bring in more money is just fucking retarded. We would have more Buick GN's and GNX's, we would have had a 2.8 V6 Chevette that would be fast, the fiero would have been fast, we'd probably still have a Pontiac Division which was starting to become the RWD division until Obama said no more) Oldsmobile would still be around with the Tornado... just saying the corporation could have done so much more in the 80's and 90's but no, corvette.
Indeed Pontiac actually produced the first official muscle car back in '63 and from then on it was GM's official performance division. They innovated a lot of great designs, some of which the Chevrolet division wound up claiming. Example: There wouldn't be a Camaro without Pontiac, yet everyone thinks the Trans Am was just a derivative of the Camaro. Very sad.
Chevrolet played constant and consistent oneupmanship to Pontiac and the Fiero was the last straw. It's got "CANNED by Chevy!" written all over it.
And you hit the nail on the head. Allowing Chevy too much muscle in the corporation is what sank GM.
Yeah, Fiero got better looking and better handling than Corvettes... and pulled sales from 'Vettes for anyone not concerned with maximum HP... and was much lower priced... Fiero was supposed to be a $6,500 little car to start with using off the shelf parts from other models and a plastic body... but when GM saw how it sold, as usual, they cranked it toward $20,000 as fast as they could...
I mean the zl1 1le is now faster than the vette z06 and they stil didn't come out with the z28 yet. yeah there is still the zr1 to come out but its gonna be close to the z28
Max Jonson I remember a few of the tricks that they used to do to hobble the Camaro so it wouldn't be as powerful as the Corvette. Mainly in the exhaust. I always told my Chevy friends they were being ripped off. The Corvette was lighter than the Camaro you could put the same engine and both and the Corvette still would have been faster. But GM had to let Corvette owners feel like they bought a more powerful car. Same thing GM did with the GTO and the Firebird back in the day. There was the infamous tab on the 4 barrel carburetor of the Firebird that limited how far it could open up so the gto could have more power.
thats also what killed the grand national the gnx was faster than the vette and gm was not happy about it
Christopher Earl
No.
The entire G-body line was reaching the end of its life cycle.
Buick built the GNX, knowing it was going to be a one year only car, and production was deliberately kept low to ensure it had almost immediate collectible status. Only 547 were built.
they most definitely wasn't happy about that. 👍
GM went to a front wheel drive W platform because apparently their personal luxury coupes were losing both the styling and performance war with Ford's aerodynamic T-bird. Better looking exterior and interior, and drivetrains that outperformed GM on both the NASCAR circuit and the street.
I've got a pontiac fiero right now, and the cars is great it's like a street legal go-cart its fun as hell
I had a GT V6 for years, really liked it.
I got one aa well.. lol
The most comfortable seats ever...I loved my 88. So reliable.
Great concept....tons of potential...wrong company....GM makes a mess of most things they are involved with.
2:48 straight up Waffen S.S. symbols on that car hahaha
Hunter Hunter lol wtf
That is NOT the way to compete with Volkswagen. Must've been the "88" model. When you're a racist asshole, but stylish as fuck.
If someone cant fix a Fiero they are a lousy mechanic and i wouldn’t let them work on any of my cars. It’s pretty simple.
Who killed the Fiero - the executives who decided to put that clunker of a low performance engine in a promising car.
Who killed it? GM did. They raised the price while the press was full of recalls. GM is famous for starting a new car and fixing the bugs over the years and than cancelling production when the kinks are all fixed. GM is a joke.
Chevrolet killed it.... Too much of a threat to the Corvette. At least it's potetnial was...
I also wondered why they discontinued, but it wasn't for lack of appearance-very sharp car. I thought it's plastic body panels were an ingenious idea.
Man, I am sick of hearing about Fieros and fire. The only ones that caught fire were 4 cylinder, manual transmission cars that had oil leaks and had not had the oil diversion kits installed AND suffered a catastrophic engine failure at high RPM due to abuse by the owner. When you tally those up next to the production numbers, 0.07% of Fieros caught on fire. That's less production vehicles catching on fire than pretty much any car ever made. Unless you owned a very specific version of the car and neglected maintenance AND abused your car, you have virtually no chance of your Fiero catching on fire. If your Fiero catches on fire, buy a lottery ticket because ridiculous odds favor you.
Sadly, as did the Fiero go by the wayside, so did Pontiac Motor Division.
Yep, after they lost the V8, they became nothing more than restyled Chevy..
Yes I like a fucking Pontiac!!
I hope someone buy the defunct Pontiac and revive it to its prime
MrChad97Z exactly
the 1988 Fiero GT V6 was actually a decent car they finally pulled that Chevette front end from underneath it and put a real front-end underneath that they got the handling down the breaking down and the motor the V6 was actually a decent motor and then they killed it makes no sense to me. but the four cylinders were junk.
The Fiero GT was a great car. I had 2 in the UK, one mildly tuned to about 150bhp with performance headers, cam and Chip. I also had a Renault Alpine GTA V6 Turbo. A very similar car in design, rear engine, full endurflex body. Very light. And super fast. The Alpine was definitely the better car but never sold in America.
Long ago, a work buddy of mine had a Fiero and he told me that he was frequently turned down by mechanics to fix his car. I even witnessed one of them hanging up on him, right after he told him what car he drives, LOL!
I HAD TWO FIEROS LOVED EVERY MINUTE I HAD WITH THESE CARS YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU MISSING ,
True. Once the Pontiac team threw in a better motor/suspension-that was like throwing dirt in the face of all Corvette owners. As for the styling of the Fiero the GT fastbacks hold their own for many years, but if you add some tweaks to the exterior body with wheels it's back on top and that's 30-yrs later. Granted, GM did the same for the Cadillac XLR (but over priced) but in either case the Fiero and the XLR (although a short production run) still looks better than most cars today.
The XLR never overcame having the north star which was inferior to an LS v8 reliability wise, smooth but not a good performance motor when the company making it makes several sturdier models.
So, the marketing guys of GM saw the Fiero outclass the Corvette, they saw Fiero sales go down, and they saw a Toyota MR2 rising, so they decided to throw the towel and quit to avoid having to boost up Corvette power and avoid losing money. Well, I can follow that logic, but still I would have made different choices.
Fiero sales dropped because they stopped advertising it and Chevy wanted it gone...
Ronald de Rooij: As much as I disliked the Fiero once I actually drove one (I almost traded in my 1980 FIAT X1/9) at least they didnt do what Ford with that stupid front drive 2seater from Australia, FWD no less.
I own an 84 SE with 236,000 miles on it. Owned for 24 years.
What killed the Fiero was GM banking on the SUV market going into the 90s. Chrysler's success with their minivans was a clear market indicator that customers wanted practicality and utility over sport. This also killed the large Sedans by the mid 90s, GM's bread and butter since the 50s. Even today practical vehicles outsell sport coupes by silly numbers. Sure they are desirable to rich Europeans but that's it. Terrible market
Right, way back when I was a young Pontiac Tech these cars were well known for fires, oil leaks, and blown engines but here no one seems to know this.
I had a 1987 Fiero GT with the stock 6 cylinder..... Was a great car. I called it the poor man's corvette alternative. Was nimble fast and eye catching for it's time and still is today in 2019. There was an article in the 1990's edition of High Tech Performance Magazine in which a Cadillac NorthStar Engine was shoe horned and added more HP to the rear axle. Another place was Archie's V8 engine swap..... That allowed you the ability to install a small block V8. Holley had upgrades that helped the 84-88 year models.
I would like to get a 1988 Fiero one day in Silver
I've owned several of these and loved this car...
The mr2 is doing good and the corvette isn't? Better kill off our mid engine car!
I used to love GM vehicles, for this reason I went to European cars with better style.
GM seems to always kill off the the wrong cars.
The Custom Trans Am vents in that Fiero look strange flipped..
The Fiero looked like a sawed-off Trans Am or the bastard child of a Trans Am and a Porsche.
I owned a brand new 1987 Fiero GT, silver, with no rear deck spoiler, 5 speed manual, V6. Had if for 2 years and enjoyed almost 50k trouble free miles. A real looker, as it was constantly mistaken for an exotic car, and I enjoyed giving many young ladies a 'ride' in it.... At the time, I chose this vehicle over a similarly priced RX7 and MR2 as they were under powered compared to the Fiero, and frankly, were not as exciting to look at or to drive. Nothing but great memories for me regarding my 1987 Fiero GT.
My first sports car was an 87 GT, maroon, same as yours - no spoiler (thankfully). I bought it in 92 with just over 40k and drove the living hell out of it until I sold it with just about 100k, still running well. And the worst thing I had to deal with during that time was replacing a worn out clutch, which was certainly no fault of the car. My next sports car was an 86 Porsche 944 Turbo - which was faster in a straight line run, but I very much preferred the handling of the Fiero over the front-engined, unevenly balanced 944 and although less HP, the overall package allowed for really stretching the GT out on curvy back country roads, which was a life-threatening pursuit in the Porsche (that model, specifically, not the air-cooled serious Porsches of course).
People who automatically dismiss Fieros don't know squat about the 86, 87, & 88 GTs. And just when Fiero was getting really good, they kill it to keep from upsetting the Corvette club. All I can say is I wish I had kept mine.
I drove the hell out of my 88 and the only repairs were gas, tires, and 1 clutch...Loved it...:)
The RX7 was underpowered? Dude did you even drive one? A series 4 would walk your Pontiac all day long- not even the same ball park.
@@garethcurtis7545 13b or 12a 13b turbo
@@garethcurtis7545 I don't know why you responded to me...I didn't say a damned thing about any RX-7.
LS swap seems to fix all.
;-D
How many 2 seater cars can sell? MILLIONS. That's why Mazda is bringing back the Miata. That's why other OEMs are making 2 seater cars. Because, at the end of the day, if you look around, MOST cars only have a driver and maybe 1 passenger. Hell most cars with back seats are totally useless for anyone other than a double amputee. Lotus Elisse/Evora Tesla. I'll just leave it at that.
This car could have stayed in production for 30 years easily. Imagine this thing as an EV? It'd be a rocket and cost basically nothing to drive. I need a pickup for work and only drive it once a week, maybe 10 days. I saw a used fiero for sale and seriously thought about buying it just to go out for a fun blast down the back roads and as a grocery getter.
It would also make a great car for college kids to get to school. Just myself I knew 4 guys looking for cheap used cars for their daughters who were off to college and needed wheels.
All these North American car makers cancelling production of "cars" are idiots. They "say" sales are so far down but if you look around ANY parking lot, you'll see literally thousands of cars. I live in a very rural area and pick ups rule but there's still literally 10's of thousands of cars.
This, or a car like it, would be the perfect second car to someone who owns a monster SUV or truck.
The BIGGEST problem with North American auto makers is they are no longer run by "car guys". They are run by bean counters. They want you to buy vehicles they want you to buy, not vehicles you want. I'll cite Ford and the Focus R/S, Ford Ranger as two prime examples of this. People were literally screaming for them and Ford would NOT bring them to North America.
370k Fieros were made, only 135 4 cylinder Fieros had a issue with fire. 135 too many but less than .03%. GM of late, in my opinion, has lost its 'mojo'. But in the fifties thru '70s GM products were ahead of their time. When the media sensationalizes on a product, it brings it down with lies & lower sales volume. Examples, the Corvair, & Fiero. You, who are into cars surely know of other vehicles killed by exaggerated lies.
Embarrassed to to admit I own a FIERO?! I think not! I've owned one of each model produced. The only American mid-engined car. Ironic the brand that killed off FIERO is now producing a mid-engined Corvette. Karma may be a bitch, who's going to buy them the top 1%?! AMF Corvette.
Why GM fails... "don't make the Corvette better, just axe the car that's cutting into it."
GM--Chevy they f everything up!! HATE THEM THEY KILLED PONTIAC, even when Pontiac was selling twice what Buick was selling!!
The Mera (Ferrari Fiero) was built for almost 2 years after Fiero production ended. GM had quite a few dealers nationwide order end of production Fieros for their transformation into the Meras by Corporate Concepts in Capac Michigan. Bob, owner told me GM had to keep the Fiero plant open longer than planned to fulfill the last minute spike in orders. The last Fieros were good cars in the end & a prominate car magazine in europe rated it as the number one sportscar in the world for it's class. All because Corvette was worried about their own volume of sales. The same thing happened to the Buick Reatta. Sales were good & promising the last year of production for the Reatta but Cadillac pulled the plug because of concern that it would be taking away & hurt Cadillac Allante sales. What a joke. The Cadillac Allante production was halted one year after the Reatta was killed. GM had a habit back in the day of shooting themselves in the foot.
Never drove one, or owned one but road in them a few times. They were okay...but I'm over 6 foot tall...and when I got out of the car, I just opened the door, pivoted in my seat, and crawled out onto the ground. Then stood up. Also, due it's height, pickup truck lights hit you right in the eyes.....now that does happen with other vehicles, but it was somehow just worse with this car. But I have meet their owners who do quite simply love them. Even knew a man who was a club member of a Fiero group and just loved it.
The answer, some dick at Pontiac. Axed just when the car had been perfected! The Formula Fiero was the pinnacle of affordable performance! RIP Fiero...
Last few comments were right. Ppl we're buying the fiero more than the Corvette at the time CEO of GM and CEO of the Corvette was nervous that the Corvette would died. They killed their new baby Fiero.
Auto shop in high school had a Fiero pace car. Have also driven one with a Cadillac Northstar swap. Much more fun to drive.
I had a 87 pontiac Fiero GT v6 it was Blue and Siver with Sunroof rear wing bought it New never had any problems with it luv the car. Then i sold it to a friend. Im not sure if he still has it. Wish they bring it back. Would luv to get one again and put in a turbo motor in maybe a grand national v6.
Gm needs to be shut down this isn't the first time a car was discontinued because it beat sales of that shitty corvette.
I asked my Pontiac field rep why my Fiero GT didn't have a turbo available as an option and I was told that because that would make it a Corvette killer GM quashed the idea.
some iron duke fires were caused by poorly cast connecting rods supplied by Chevrolet. the damn things broke at an alarming rate puncturing the block.
That whole corvette and mustang B.S. really stifled the performance of several cars and even prevented some from being put into production. Kinda sad when you think about it. Lol you ever wondered why they couldn't just make the corvette's and mustang's faster and better so they didn't have to worry about little Fiero's or Taurus S.H.O's outperforming their flagship counterparts? Owell can't change the past, but people sure remember when they get dusted by a Fiero or a $800 Taurus SHO 🤤😲😊
I had an 85 v-6, manual 4 speed. it was fast, handled like crazy and looked so cool. so fun to drive. best, most fun car I ever had. It quit running and vandals completely destroyed it. miss that car.
I have an 86, never caught fire.
Owned the 87 GT and had 180K on it, and if the ex wife didn't get it I'd still be driving it.
“Balanced and blueprinted...” it’s a 90 degree V6. It’s never going to be balanced.
Fiero was two different cars and the final GT was also two cars. The original Fereo was a disappointing car from many aspects. Low power poor handling, ugly shape. The GT fixed many issues and the last production run of the GT has a completely reformulated front suspension. That final GT was a handling dream on the road for a small light mid engine standpoint. The square hard plastic dash was the only embarrassing attribute that remained in the final pretty close to perfect mid engine sports car. We owned a True GT Fiero and it was a fun car to drive. Like all mid engine cars they were somewhat unsafe on public roads as they can drive somewhat uncontrollably in certain conditions. Great fun car to drive.
Only the first few in 1984 caught fire and by time they got it right in 1988 they killed them.
Definitely a great car!
I have an 84 Indy fiery and no it hasn’t burned. That’s an overblown wives tale
A: Chevrolet. It was interfering with Corvette sales too much.
Ha! I lost out on a potential girlfriend in 1985 cause "the other guy" had a Fiero.... Who's laughing now!!!! Hope you're still together with kids that don't visit and maybe an Aztec in the driveway..... Ha!!!
panther105 funny stuff, he deserves that Aztec
I'm sure it isn't just because he had a fiero lol.
Lol my mom got a brand new 84 fiero for her 16 birthday. Still have it. Great car
She did you a favor. She probably left that Fiero guy for another who had a Vette. Just then that happens the kids start coming and that vette has to go and she went right into a crappy Chrysler's back then.
but the important thing is you're over it. :)
Fiero's were never $25,000. Mine was just over $16k for the GT.
5 years.. 84, 85, 86, 87, 88. Nothing like a rviewer who is misinformed
@ Vance Ogden It's still four years, dumbass. 1984 to 1985 is one year. 1984 to 1986 is two years. 1984 to 1987 is three years. 1984 to 1988 is FOUR years. There was no 1989 Fiero. The proposed 1990 model was a prototype never greenlighted for production.
@@houseofno it was produced for 5 years, stupid. The 84 was produced in 83 = 1 year, 85 produced in 84 = 2 years, 86 produced in 85 = 3 years, 87 produced in 86 = 4 years, 88 produced in 87 = 5 years. The CAR WAS INDEED 5 YEAR NOT 4. PS. I fucking hate know it alls
they finally got it right there last year they changed from the corvette front end.
I bought a new 6 cylinder one , I must say it was a fast, fun car.
It was the best American car from the 80s, but it still wasn't good enough. Not in the first years at least. Shame, they got so much right of that car. But the irony is that GM should have known that there is nothing the American home marked dislikes more, then a poor reliability record.
What are you snorting? There is nothing best about a car that spontaneously combusts and is plagued with drive train problems from normal operation. It's idiots like you that keep corps and their death traps like this in biz
@@blogshagify only 200 fieros ever caught fire....dumbass.
@@frigglebiscuit7484 Yes it is an exaggerated statistic. Like the Suzuki samurai would spontaneously flip over if you tried turning.
corvete also killed the gn early too.there was a 1988 montecarlo. on rwd platform but no grannational.
the problem was that cooling system...
I owned the 85 v6 new back in the day. It handled great. It sounded great and it looked great. Never any major mechanical issues. Never a dent! It was even good in the snow. My G35 is the coolest car I own but my rsxs gets my daily driver award.
With my "engine fire bug" recall, they replaced the entire engine. It cost me just $1. My car lasted 18 1/2 years. It did not die of age.
Instead, a guy lost control of his car and ended up smashing into my car while it was merely parked in my apartment outdoor parking lot spot.
I bought a new 1987 base model Fiero (2.5 manual) and kept it for 7 years. Not a single problem. I loved it. My situation changed and I had to sell it. I had 115,000 miles on it. Wish they still made them. It was ROGER B. SMITH that killed the Fiero. May he rot in hell.
SMH, He inspired the movie Roger & Me!
Did he say " Mister 2 "? ( MR2 )
That's its nickname... Mr. 2...
Noob
It was also called that.
Have you ever seen GM make good decisions? Nope
The '88 GT actually looked good...
I remember someone made a tube frame Pro Street one and dumped a blown BBC in one..must have been a wild ride..
Only the first year 84 fiero caught fire.
I'm in Canada and I remember this..... It was very expensive to insure for some reason. That's what discouraged me from buying a GT model in fact any model.
This is true! The initial engine fires caused the insurance companies to jack the rates up. This is one of the prime factors that killed the car. I found this out from a lady who was an ad exec on the Pontiac account.
Keep the vette..but gm has made terrible choices over the years
TLDW: GM killed it, by making them shitty. Never had a good drivetrain (the 2.8 v6 was a turd, and GM had the Quad 4 at the time, would've been a good home for it), and they got the handling and looks just right just in time to stop making them.
The 2.8 was a good, reliable engine, the Quad 4 was not, but I agree when GM made it better, it was axed.
You can tell a segment is pretty bias when in less than 1 minute they point out these love to catch fire. When in reality 0.38% were ever recorded catching fire and all affected units were recalled.
That's over 1/3rd of them catching fire. Not a good ratio
@@blogshagify
Think you read that percentage a bit wrong there, bud
I had 2 of them... And I loved them both. Now... I will be getting one more to restore to keep until I die.
GM is a disgrace as a corporation.
My 1985 Brand new Fiero was a lemon from the start. I would take it back to the dealer, still have problems, they wouldn't let me trade it in, they would rather work on it and inconvenience me to miss work .I had no sympathy for the workers when GM had to layoff their workers in Detroit, that car cost me thousands of dollars and time off work!
GM as usual always shooting themselves in the foot, like they did with the EV1
Car was Brilliant. I bought a new one the first year they came out. I was in a hard side impact accident and it was fine while the car that hit me was packed up to the windshield. I had a V6 automatic later, and should have never sold it. Great CAR!
Love my 1988 Fiero GT w/t-top
Dad bought it for me,Loved it!!!!
Love the fiero .... I'm 36 and have had 5 sence I was 16 .... and still have 3 of them .... even today they are head turners
It is a good looking car no doubt about that
Pontiac fiero is a classic
Had a buddy who had a 1984 SWEEET Fiero..NICE FUCKIN car... I Still WANT a 1988 GT on MY bucket list BEFORE I die WHUUFFF😄🔥 SWEEETTNESS 🔥
Taurus-Astrobike I bought my first Fiero in 89...an 86 4 cylinder with 21K on it and proceeded to run the odometer up to 142K when it began to need a new clutch. I then bought another 86 that just had the clutch replaced and ran it up to 202K.....still parked in my yard. It too needs some clutch work. I had always wanted an 88 with the V6 and five speed; my wife located one in Mankato MN. It had only 21K on it and an unusual story. The dealership bought and displayed it on the showroom for seven years and then the shop owner took it for his personal car, relocated it to Florida and drove it there when he was on vacation. I flew from Monterey Bay, CA back to MN, bought it and drove it home. I have now owned it for three years and love it and still has only 37K on it. I am now 77 and have driven a Fiero for almost 30 years as my primary transportation....unless you wish to count my 58 3/4 ton GMC pick up.....or my Honda ST 1100 motorcycle.
Better buy one as the prices are going up real fast as collectors and enthusiast are rediscovering the virtues of the "88 GT car. Still have mine since 1999. I get offers on almost every Sunday drives.
Another car that could have been loved like the MR-2 is. GM had not take the cheap way out.
i remember these things when they first came out - a Toyota was faster & cheaper ... you had to be dumber than dog sh*t to buy one !! .... then the mechanical problems started happening ... EVERYONE who had one, tried selling them - NOBODY wanted it ..... i laughed & cried
Sad to see it go.
Bring back the fiero!!!
Especially the '88, it's a cool looking car. I liked the look since i first saw one in '84.
I love Pontiacs but the company kept shooting itself in the foot and people lost trust.
I think that by this point, Pontiac was the red-headed stepchild of GM with a mean bully of a big brother in Chevrolet and Daddy Roger B. Smith.
I was driving my 1987 Fiero 2M6 SE Notchback Silver, sunroof, full body kit with large spoiler 2.8l v6 4 speed and 76k miles. I purchased it for $1,800 in 1993 and I sold it for the same $1,8000 to another student in 1998 after high school. It was AMAZING I LOVE IT STILL, now at 40 years old I have a Yellow 1988 GT T-Top, I just swapped my 56k mile 2.8l with a new crate 3.8l Supercharged making 475HP to a 6 speed transmission. It's not your mom's Fiero that's for sure, It is scary fast. Hello from Colorado
Chevrolet's selfishness and greed is why the Fiero is the automotive version of a Members Only jacket (i.e., a fad of the 1980s). >:-( .
I loved my Fiero! I owned 2. One for me and another my wife drove. We never had a problem with the cars!
Great video
Five years!
Typical Generic Motors quality issues, once again poor management. How does this company survive.