As a Brit i love watching these POV drives after a drink so i can imagine going batshit insane and driving all over the other side of the road without any risk to myself or others. I mean i'd never do it in real life but here.. at my desk.. look at me! I'm a renegade for nearly 11 minutes!
+AfterDark3 Actually, it was unitized-chassis made of flat-steel arranged in a way that took-up all the open-space behind many of the body-panels... A.K.A.: Space-frame. The C4 Corvette used it too, only it had a iron triangulated-ladder backbone for the powertrain. P.S.: If you increase the capacity of the oiling system... by adding a oil-pan w/kick-outs, remote-mount filtration and/or a [front-mounted] liquid-to-air oil-cooler... and make a 1" slit along the back-side of the "power-bulge" of the engine cover, you'll never need to worry about oil-starvation related issues.
frankE91210 And who are you to speak on this car, other than another know-nothing licensed steering-wheel holder? Because comments like yours don't help.
As someone who daily drives an 87 GT (also my first car) I can say its taught me alot. These cars require 110% focus to drive. I absolutely love it, even if its not perfect. it gets SO much attention, and being still in highschool, maybe alittle too much attention lol. Seriously these cars are going to explode in value. They are already going up!
@@k00lkidz4 it’s a fun car, just respect it. I still have mine. They don’t handle like a normal car, and really won’t let you know until it’s too late. I’ve drifted me car on wet roads, and blew it up and replaced the 2.8. Hope you know how to work on cars, otherwise it will be a nightmare. Fun daily driver, but bought a 83’ camaro Z28 and later a real daily driver Jeep Wrangler. Fiero became more of a project car
Got myself a beat up 87 2.8 5spd GT. 196k miles and she still goes. Even though it's more of a commuter with its low power 80's V6 I've still given people a run for their money until their turbo kicks in lol
@@Trooper896 I have a 87 gt with 50 k on it and the engine has been cleaned really nicely and everything, however I like to say mine is quick but not fast, 0-40 is quick...anything else it’s kinda slow 😂
You DO realize it was a small number of early production 1984 models that actually caught fire, right? A lot of them were dumb issues twenty years later like maybe letting a spark plug wire touch the exhaust manifold..
Im seeing so many mis informed people in the comment section. The Fiero is a great car, and is very reliable. It is easy to live with, and gets plenty of peoples attention. The rumors that it catches on Fire is a *LIE*. It also out sold the MR2 3 to 1. How is that for a "failure?"
+zzzhuh Absolutely. I had a 1987 Fiero GT 5 speed in the 90s that had 30K miles. I drove that car everywhere and I worked a good 25 miles out. It was my daily driver for 8 years. When I sold it, it had 120K miles on the odometer. The only issues I ever had was clutch replacement, cooling fan switch and a dead battery. One of the best cars I've ever owned. I wouldn't mind pursuing a 1988 GT in the future.
p4horror They really are a blast. If you ever do, I'd recommend getting on the Pennock Forums. The people there are great, and any issue can be solved through them. Thanks for sharing.
Love my 86 GT! Got it for a grand a few years ago it needed some work as it sat around for 4 years. But after I fixed all the stuff that rotted away it's been super reliable never left me stranded. It's got 190k on it now I honestly didn't expect to keep the stock engine in this long but I can't replace a perfectly working engine. Once the stock engine dies I want to put a modified S/C 3800 in it. No idea why people on the internet hate on the car I get compliments on mine all the time and it's far from a show car.
XxViciousxX Yea the 3.8 is a great option. If you have an automatic I'd recommend using the transmission from the donor car. Otherwise, a F23 transmission is a great idea for manuals.
+zzzhuh Mine is unfortunately automatic but for a grand I wasn't going to complain too much. I figured I'd use the automatic that comes with the S/C 3.8 just beef it up a bit and put a shit kit in and it should shift plenty fast.
FYI the gear shift diagram / indicated is beside the shifter on the console. The body is not fiberglass its a plastic composite. A big part of what killed the Fiero was that it was effecting Corvette sales. 370,000 Fireo's were sold from 84-88. 180,000 Corvette's were sold during same time period, Corvette sales drop 1984 - 51,000 1988 - 22,000 The clutch pedal need a squirt to get rid of that squeak. All in all not a bad 30+ year old car.
+Ziggy Bowman Got a rental one and drove from Sacramento to LA. Was quite frightening since I'm used to driving big American or German cars that won't be blown away by the wind.
My first car was a 1988 fiero gt 5 spd 50k miles from original owner, the very first day i owned it a mechanic put it on a car lift wrong and it fell off two of the 4 points.. i didn't even get to drive it lol
A buddy of mine had one of these back when we where just getting into our 20's. We called it the Pontiac Ferrari GT and it was pretty quick for a car found on skid row behind the local gas station mechanic's bay. I think my buddy spent $800 for the car and it had problems like a math book and a ridiculous starting sequence. The paint was faded, the interior was coming apart at the seams, he had to carry a piece of a 2x4 with him for a parking brake. The best though was that he insisted on valeting the car every chance he could get, watching the poor guys face as he ran him through the starting procedure was gold. Sadly, the car died on I-95 in N. VA in a cloud of green and black smoke poring out of the engine bay. In went out with it's tires on, and is in car Valhalla now.
I had a 1985 Fiero GT - and I still say it's the most fun to drive car I've ever owned. The previous owner had for some reason lowered it and added in some minor engine and exhaust mods and while the car wasn't by any means fast, it was just fun. No power steering, no power brakes, I could literally from the drivers seat reach out and touch the ground without leaning over. It was a big go-kart that you could do anything in, it wouldn't break free, wouldn't spin, it just stayed velcro'd to the road. It also constantly overheated in traffic and the headlines broke a bunch of times and of course the air didn't work (and in FL that's a big deal), but still it was an awesome car.
Ahhh... I miss my crappy-bastard Fiero. Had a 1984 Fiero that had the heart transplanted out of a 1986 GT after the Iron Duke caught fire. I owned it for a couple of years... purchased it post-fire with the original engine for $500 back in 2000... sold it for $2500 in 2004 in good running nick except for a few odd intake issues that occasionally laid it up for a week or two while I stripped the intake manifold off, found nothing wrong and then reassembled it only for it to work for another few months. Good times. I too hated that long-throw shifter, but you get really used to it after a while. The Fiero was made as a commuter car, not a sports car so fast shifts were not considered necessary. It had enough power to get out of its own way, but barely... and honestly got pretty crap gas mileage... oh and cornering was an adventure with the skinny stock wheels and tires as oversteer was the watch-word of the day. Still miss it though. Most of my car's problems were rust thanks to salt on Missouri roads. Favourite memory; driving down I-70 and hearing a strange noise from behind me... looked in the rear-view to see one of my tailpipes clattering and rolling down the highway behind me. It might still be in that ditch between Earth City Expressway and the St. Charles Bridge :)
+Gavin Haslett only GM would build a mid engine car and build it to be a commuter car similar logic fail as the Pontiac aztek GM design by committee so everyone gets a piece of what they want and the customer gets a car trying to be 6 different things.
Y e e t juice it’s not the iron duke that’s the problem.. same thing happened to my buddies... there was a recall on them for the wiring so if you were to want one of these make sure it’s been done or you may not have it to long
GM killed a lot of cars when they realized "oy vey it can compete with muh corvette" Pontiac was really sneaky with the fiero Oldsmobile is gone because of this you should have known this im not even american and i do
+Joe Barbaro Yeah the Cadillac XLR (which was based on the Corvette Y-body) was discontinued too. They stuck a northstar in it and discontinued r & d for a proper dohc V8 replacement. The Cien would of been a proper halo car for GM...but it lets the Corvette get in the way, when the Cien would be aimed at different buyers entirely that are above market over a Corvette. The TTA ran neck and neck with the corvette of the same year and thus that experiment ended quickly.
@@04dram04 only the early cylinder models cought on fire because the oil pan was too small and caused the engine to overheat and warp the gaskets causing oil to leak onto the exhaust pipe.
GM killed the Fiero because it was flying too close to the sun. It was nearly as fast as the Corvette, and if Pontiac had kept going the way they were it would have been MUCH faster.
That is absolutely incorrect. You’re saying that the Fiero “flew too close to the sun”, as if it took on a life of its own. “Nearly as fast as the Corvette.” You are you being serious? I owned three Fiero GT models - an 86, 87, and 88 and while the 88 was definitely the best of them, it was not even close to the Corvette in every measurable category. Starting in 1985 the C4 Corvette had Tuned Port Injection, and by 1988 they were producing 240 HP, and far more torque than the small 2.8-liter V6 in the Fiero. The C4 also destroyed even the Formula Fiero in terms of handling performance. And why do you think the Fiero would have been “MUCH” faster down the road? The LT1 made it into the Corvette C4 in 1992, making 300 HP. Furthermore, the Firebird Trans Am was much closer in performance to the C4 Corvette, there was no controversy there. Your analysis is completely flawed,. Oh yeah, I also own a 1989 C4 Corvette as well, with 6000 original miles on it, and have driven many so I can speak from a great deal of experience here. Pontiac did have several very interesting ideas for what would have been the second-generation Fiero, and prototype was built, however no final decisions were ever stated as far what its engine would be outside of speculation and experimentation. I wish Pontiac did keep the Fiero alive, because they’re incredibly fun cars, but the Fiero and Corvette are completely different vehicles,.
I owned a 85 Fiero GT and two Corvettes, a 98 and an 82 - and no, the Fiero wasn't anywhere close to the Corvette in performance. Completely different driving experiences - the Corvette was fast, much bigger and a true sports car. The Fiero was supposed to be a very cheap 2 seat commuter car that GM bolted some low end performance parts and made the GT. I will say the Fiero GT I had was fun to drive, really fun to drive, you could throw it around without ever worrying about killing yourself. The car stuck to the road, wasn't ever going to spin out, wasn't slow by any means but certainly wasn't fast, not even for the mid-80s. The Corvette however - those are cars that you can easily get in trouble with, where you can quickly and easy end up in a ditch or in a tree. The Corvette demanded your attention, in particular the 98 with stock run flat tires on it. The Fiero meanwhile was a go-kart. If I could only have one of those three cars in like new condition today, it would be the Fiero - it was just so fun to drive. But GM killing it because it competed with the Corvette is nonsense. It's like saying Macy's competes with 7-11. Different income brackets, totally different experiences.
@@ScreamAndFly Yeah, I'm a fellow one-time Fiero/Corvette owner and you're completely right. The two cars didn't compete at all. I had an 85 GT and I still think the lack of power steering is one thing I loved since you had such direct control over everything. Power steering didn't come until 88 right - do you really think the power steering was an improvement? I never drove one, but in theory I always thought it was a bad idea except for when tooling around a parking lot.
back in highschool everyone had a mustang or camaro. i had a fiero. wasnt all that fast and didnt handle all that well. but at 18 it looked cool and its one of the first cars i remember where you opened the engine bay and the engine actually looked really cool.
Didn't handle well? What kind of Fiero did you have? I had an '85 Fiero GT and I could throw it around in corners like you wouldn't believe, the thing handled incredibly. I've owned multiple Corvettes, a Camaro, a BMW, a GTO, etc - and I'd put the Fiero right near the top in handling. Now, the prior owner did lower it for some reason but as far as I know there wasn't any other mods done for handling, but I've heard others say the Fiero didn't handle well, and that just was never my experience. BTW, I now own a Saturn Sky.
An old girlfriend used to have one of these with a 5-speed. It was a fun car to drive. The thing launched like a beast for stoplight to stoplight stuff. Unfortunately the engine started running a bit rough and overheating. I remember checking the oil and it looking fine until I took the cap off and could see the rockers and springs were DRY. That V6 had some serious top end oil starvation.
+Ignas359 minimalism is the last thing in todays dashboards, putting a confusing screen in is not only annoying and hard to use, but jumbles up the entire dash
Error in info at 8:05... He stated that it has a fiberglass body. This isn't true. GM called the Fiero body panels "Enduraflex". There is no material known as "Enduraflex". This is a marketing term. Four different types of reinforced composite plastic are used in Fiero body panels: SMC Sheet Molded Compound was used for the hood, roof, rear upper quarter, and rear decklid. RRIM Reinforced Reaction Injection Molded urethane was used for fenders, door panels, and lower rear quarters. The rear lowers were later changed to injection molded nylon. RIM Reaction Injected Molded urethane was used for front and rear fascias. TPO Thermoplastic Olefin was used for rocker panels. My first car was a 1984 Fiero purchased new in August of 1984. I've owned 3 over the years and can't wait to get a 4th.
***** That's true. GM merely wanted a piece of the pie. Overall GM sucks at taking risks and being innovative. They just don't know how to be edgy and can't afford it.
The turbo PT Cruiser was another weird attempt they made at a performance, cruiser-type vehicle. I definitely didn't understand the market niche they were after with that car.
+misamisatv I think the Sky/Solstice was a money-saving way of both Saturn trying to re-establish itself as a modern, cutting-edge division & Pontiac trying to be what it was intent on becoming since the showing of Harley Earl's Pontiac Bonneville concept during the '54 Motorama Show season: A sports-oriented division, complete with it's own sports-car. As for the SSR... Well, given GM's involvement in the Super-Truck series, and how it basically worked under NASCAR rules, plus how trucks were starting to be strongly seen as more than just workhorses at the time, I guess they were trying to slide a more aerodynamic body under the rules while trying to play the market... Especially the key demographic that watched the Super-Truck series, like they did with the Monte-Carlo SS & the Buick Grand-National.
Owned one very similar to this. Was a ball to drive, comfortable, and always got looks and questions about it in 1985 when it was brand new. Loved it, drove the hell out of it. Wished I still had it.
What was running through my head during this video: BUT I WOULD WALK 500 MILES AND I WOULD WALK 500 MORE JUST TO BE THE MAN WHO WALKED A THOUSAND MILES TO FALL DOWN AT YOUR DOOR
@@rolux4853 It's a reference to the TV show "How I Met Your Mother", one of the characters owned a hand-me-down Fiero with a cassette deck that had a stuck tape with that song on repeat.
just purchased an 84 fiero Indy as my first "im going to work on this myself and have something fun" car. i saw an ad for a fiero in my area and fell in love. it looks like an 80s space cruser to me inside. i got a chance to sit in one (mechanic buddy-mentor has one he is working on) and that sealed the deal. happened upon an indy edition one in kansas that has a good body and needs a little love for its iron duke engine (which happens to be the same engine as in my 86 Chevy Celebrity, which tickled me) im damn excited to start wrenchin
Mr. Regular can you please change the position of your gopro? its all roof and sun visor at the moment.. Just experiment with something different maybe even video recording glasses? preserves the head movements and make shooting easier but slightly lower
My 85 gt was my first car in high school. It’s honestly a different kind of feeling driving a car no one else at school had. A lot of people didn’t even know what it was until they saw mine. I have another one now but not the same one. My first one overheated and died. I miss it all the time but I have the other one to fill the hole.
It's been said that GM suits were afraid of the Fiero from the get-go because they feared it would jeapordize Corvette sales. The Fiero's designer created it to be a serious sports car but GM brass sabotaged it by giving it a crappy engine and drivetrain. GM has a history of this.
It's a mix of materials. The rear deck lid was fiberglass, side panels were plastic etc.. Even my Saturn is a mix, with plastic side panels, metal hood and fiberglass roof.
@@subavairpine I think I covered all of that. If you want to get specific the roof,quarters, hood and trunk are what was referred to at the time as glass reinforced plastic which is a form of fiberglass. The rest of the car is the flexible urethane plastic at least the outer skins are.
Can't believe you don't know how a GM parkign brake handle works. Every car in the 80s and 90s had them the same way, 3rd & 4th Gen Firebird Trans Am / Camaro & Fiero. Even the 80s & 90s Honda Accord and Toyota. You pull it up, then to release, you pull it up a little more then the button will release tension enough so you can push it in and put the handle it all the way back down, disengaging the parking brake.
PhenomProductions23 -- the fiero was different you pulled it up then it would go back down as you had to go over it to get out , to release you pulled up again then pressed thumb button and let down to release
Every time I see Mr. Regular drive a manual I am immediately thrust back to learning how to drive stick with my dad screaming at me not to ride the clutch. "THE CLUTCH IS LAVA"
thank you for coming back to this amazing car. i posted on your subreddit about a month ago asking if you would and it generated a bit of attention. thank you for delivering. i invite you sometime if you ever come back to the west coast, to visit and review my daily 86 GT with a 5-speed. Most of the issues with the 4-speed you mentioned, sort of go away, plus i have a short throw installed along with a beefy 2.8 stroked to a 3.2 thanks again mr.regular
+Brandon Depew - True, other than being clunky by today's standards, the 5 speed is a fine transmission. I installed a shift kit and a short throw on mine. I can shift just using my fingertips without moving my hand.
I miss my 86 and 88 GTs. Sold them for practicality reasons, but loved them to death. Wasn't a fan of the 4 speed manual in my 86 though. Like in the video it was all too easy to put into reverse by accident and it always terrified me lol. 1988 GT or Formula is the Fiero you want.
the 88 fiero gt was a true independent rear suspension.light years better,but just in time to discontinued.if only a 3.8 gn turbo were installed woulda made it legendary
Canadian Carguy if you were in the 80's you wanted a 60's car because you could afford it and work on it. 80's cars were too expensive for the average kid when they were new. I lived it.
There actually were a few second generation Fiero prototypes built. The look inside and out was very 4th gen Camaro/Firebird and that combined with the overblown quality issues of the early '84 cars caused it's early demise. GM probably didn't see a reason to keep around a second sports car to compete with it's own Fbodies. The second gen would've most likely had a DOHC I4 that rivaled the outgoing 2.8 V6 in performance and the DOHC 3.4 V6 in the GT. That engine made 215hp in things like the Lumina Z34. That and being a few hundred pounds lighter would've kept it very competitive with the LT1 Fbodies.
When I was 8 years old, I thought this was a badass car. One of the teachers at my elementary school got one, and it definitely stood out in the parking lot compared the the "old lady cars" that the other teachers had parked near it.
I had a 1987 SE V6 2.8 it's my favorite coolest car I ever driven and owned I still love it! I will have one again, my had the battery and oil pressure extra read outs, basically a GT a year before the GT sports back was made.
I've always wanted to drive one of these. Just like what you did here, Mr. Regular, confusing reverse and first gear is the thing I hate about manual cars with a an "up and to the left" reverse position. Reverse should always be all the way to the right and down.
The 88 fiero concept car was basically built by lotus brake and suspension wise. There were also proposed v6 and v8 asperated options. Basically... GM liked it more as a "weird idea" than actual competition for Corvette. I mean... The c4 Corvette as light weight as it was was still a heavy bitch in comparison. I'm fairly certain the 88 Fiero GT was going to promise something along the lines of 180-200 hp for the non-asperated models which would have actually probably struck closer to 160-175 on the road. But it was going to have a few more frills (power ASSIST steering box instead of the rack and pinion you experienced) basically everything was going to be slightly improved. The story is that Corvette was lowering in sales or at least plateauing off and GM knew that the 88 Corvette brought very minor and some undesirable/risky changes for the 88 model. Fiero was about to make some leaps and bounds right into TRUE sports car territory. And with lotus designers backing the Fiero GT and the lending a hand in design (clearly even with the e-brake) you can see Esprit all over the Fiero GT. Corvette took the 88 Fiero GT out into a wheat feild the two did battle long into the evening. So ending with the Fiero on it's knees without it's head. The Corvette felt the tremor of the quickening and there could be only one... And there was... And the Corvette received the prize (LT1). The Fiero lay dead... Unburied... Disgraced... Ultimately forgotten and decaying in the long grass... Somewhere... Silently... John deloreon wept into his thin, cold, prison issue pillow. (I was told John Deloreon had drawn the better part of the initial Fiero designs slated in the late 70s but got shit on by GM ultimately making him leave. GM kept the Fiero designs... Deloreon started fresh and DMC was born)
I bought one new in 1986. The 4 cylinder "Iron Duke" was not nearly powerful enough and it had a problem with the "idle control motor" that would cause the engine to start gaining RPM at idle and not stop until I turned the engine off. Sitting at a light the thing would rev up to 4000 RPM and climbing before I could turn it off. The dealer never was able to fix it. The car used the transaxle and struts from FWD Chevy Citation in back and the suspension from a Chevette up front. Pretty much needless to say the car didn't handle worth a damn. The concept was great, the final product was crap. The Fiero could have been a fantastic car. It was the 80's and most cars were crap and GM didn't want competition for the crappy "disco 'vettes" of that era.
@@BuzzLOLOL : Your claim that the 151 cid Iron Duke is half of a DZ 302 Chevy small block is completely & utterly false. For the first few years it did use a Chevy small block V-8 bellhousing until Pontiac changed it to the bellhousing the 2.8 liter V-6 used, but that was the only chevy part ever put on an Iron Duke, Everything else in & on it was all Pontiac. Chevy had their own 153 cid four banger that was a completely different motor.
@@rogergoodman8665 - As I recall, the 153 used 283 bores and the Iron Duke used 327/350 bores... makes sense to use a piston size you are still making elsewhere... I think the Pontiac OHC 6 version of the Chevy 6 was also converted to BOP bellhousing... and came in Chevy cubes sizes... The Chevy or Iron Duke 4 also came in 181" size that was only used by Mercruiser... which makes it bigger than the Chevy 2.8L V6...
@@BuzzLOLOL : You are correct about the 151 Iron Duke & certain 350 Chevys both having a 4" bore but I believe the pistons overall height, piston pin location & ring placement were different between the two. (not all 350 chevy's used a 4" bore) some modern Iron Duke enthusiasts I believe have found a way to use 350 forged pistons with 327 rods but alot of machine work is needed from what I understand. The Iron Duke displacement stayed 151 cid thru out its entire production run. It was never modified for larger displacement. Pontiac did change its name from Iron Duke to 4 tech towards the end though, The mercruiser 4 cylinder you mentioned was the 153 Chevy , not the 151 Pontiac. The 151 was used however in a few other GM brands other than Pontiac over the years & also in some AMC cars, jeeps, & Grumman U.S.P.S. delivery trucks. The late '60s Pontiac OHC 6 cylinder engine was a Pontiac exclusive engine & had nothing really in common with any other GM inline 6 including Pontiac's other conventional inline 6 cylinders. No other GM division ever developed a OHC inline 6 cylinder including Chevy.
+Kuddlesworth NA Just looked it up, and at first glance, for some reason it reminds me more of earlier RX7s than a Fiero. Still a pretty cool-looking car, though.
I feel like GM ditched the Fiero because when you're trying to sell something as a "working man's alternative to the typical commuter car," not having a back seat is a pretty big deal. I love these cars, but I'd still probably opt for a larger vehicle just to have the option of putting my kiddo in the back seat.
The Fiero concept was under development during the second gas crisis as a cheap, small commuter car that used many existing components from the GM parts bin and sipped little gas. But the need for such a car waned as gas became relatively cheap and plentiful once again, so the focus became more of a sporty mid-engine two seater. The first few years produced an attractive vehicle with underwhelming performance due to it's econobox heritage. But further refinements began to turn it into a true contender. Why GM and Pontiac didn't continue with it is a mystery. Perhaps because the Toyota MR2, introduced around the same time, set the bar too high. Chickenshit GM beancounters!
I had an 85 Fiero GT, identical to the one in the video, except that mine didn't have a spoiler. It was a great car, and the video reminded me of the car's many quirky features, such as the parking brake. I lived in San Francisco, and the car was a bear to parallel park on those steep hills with the manual steering. The 4-cylinder models gave the car a bad reputation. Too bad Pontiac wasn't more committed to the Fiero. Although there is a limited market for 2-seaters (i.e. Buick Reatta, original T-Bird).
People gave these cars such hell back in the day for looking so sporty but being so slow, but really ... everything was this way back in the ‘80s (especially when compared to the cars being built today). It would have been worth GMs effort to have spent some time creating a high output 2.8 v6 as a standard for this car when it was released in ‘84. Maybe with a small turbo from the parts bin? Unfortunately, these were the days when GM was fashionably trying to make every new car introduced as fuel efficient as possible (odd, since gas floated around 95 cents per gallon, at the time), so the Iron Duke was the motor of choice upon introduction i believe that power, and lack of interior storage space of any kind, spelled the end of the car.
The headlight lift motors use a nylon gear which strips under even the slightest conditions. Which is why you see so many one-eyed Fieros out there. Thankfully you can now get an aftermarket one with metal gears.
Just a thought on why GM may have killed the Fiero. Originally it was meant to be a fuel efficient city car with the first year only available w/ a 4cyl. By '88 the GT with its revised front suspension and v6 was encroaching on firebird/camaro performance.
I miss my Fiero. :( I still have it if it hadn't got rear ended. It was only a four cylinder automatic. I love to get the six with manual transmission.
you should review the old Honda insight. people acted like the prius was groundbreaking, when Honda laid the groundwork. The cars seem to have a lot of personality, especially in their aging and not entirely reliable systems, but some eco enthusiasts swear that it remain, to this day, the efficient hybrid car ever sold stateside.... and it's from 1999.
To finish off what the owner would have said. The front suspension is off a Chevy Citation, and the rear suspension is off a Chevy Chevette. This suspension set up was in use from 1984 to 1987, and by 1988 GM spent $10 million dollars to develop a new suspension for the Fiero that was ultimately better, but was later axed at the end of the 1988 MY. The greatest could of been of GM in the 80's in my opinion, what would of happened if they were able to get two more years off that new suspension design, and could we have seen another generation if GM wasn't afraid of it's Corvette line being encroached upon. Let's face it, it would of helped GM in the long run, make the Fiero affordable and make the Corvette for immortals with cash.
A short shifter cost me $10 bucks back in the day and took minutes to install and made all the difference lol Was it the best car I ever owned but who that likes driving wouldn't enjoy driving a gokart with a v6 lol because that's what it felt like!
I owned two Fiero's back in the 80's. The 84 4 cylinder was a terrible engine. It over heated, blew the head gasket after just 28,000 miles and had crappy little tires. However, one year later I traded it in for a black 1985 GT. What a difference in styling, handling, and performance. Why did you buy a Fiero back then? Because you couldn't afford a Toyota MR2!
I would argue Subarus that aren't drive-by-wire are of the best to learn stick on. Many have hill assist, which is a huge help. The shifter is also pretty notchy so you definitely know when you're in all the way. Since they're AWD, they decrease the chances of wheel spin too. Newer Subarus aren't that great to learn on (speaking from experience).
Man! The very first example of the Fiero was in October 1983. I was a very impressionable 10 year old and loved that cat! It was a red one. I thought it was the bee's knees. Funny how GM's plan for this car was simply to be a commuter car. I still think it looks pretty danged good as opposed to the endless mediocre 80's car stylings. Around the same era as the TV show night Rider. I was sooooo impressed by the self-driving car, and as an old geezer I don't fully trust them now. Yeah.
I always think that old 4-speed manual transmissions are the best on a Mercedes for the simple reason that you cannot go into reverse without pulling the shifter upwards and into first. My first car was a 4-speed manual Mercedes and I had troubles when I started using 6-speed transmissions because of this. Even in the newer Mercedeses you would still pull up the shifter but instead of first you are shifting into second and I had troubles with that being afraid that I would put it up into reverse while driving. :D It had a good lockout though. The other good manuals are the ones with a button on the shifter for shifting into reverse. I don't like the VW ones where you have to push the shifter downards and put it into first. I had a fun time trying to shift into reverse in a 6-speed VW and putting it into first instead 5-6 times in a row.
lol @ the ending...Yea Mr Regular - it's just like every other re-brake in the 80's, 90's, and 00's, lol. Fiero is a cool car, very 80's. Would be nice if they were a bit more popular. Kinda curious how they stack up to the MR2 SC in terms of performance.
+LA Rally I'd take a notchie over a fastback any day of the week. Oddly enough, the fastback is actually heavier and slower, despite its name having 'fast' in it.
As a Brit i love watching these POV drives after a drink so i can imagine going batshit insane and driving all over the other side of the road without any risk to myself or others. I mean i'd never do it in real life but here.. at my desk.. look at me! I'm a renegade for nearly 11 minutes!
They were actually the second safest car of the mid to late 80s due to that tubular frame, the first, obviously a Volvo.
+AfterDark3 VOLVOOOOOOO
+AfterDark3 My '92 740 naturally aspirated wagon with 220k miles is still treating me well!
VOLVO POWA
***** Why? Because o^lo^!
+AfterDark3 Actually, it was unitized-chassis made of flat-steel arranged in a way that took-up all the open-space behind many of the body-panels... A.K.A.: Space-frame. The C4 Corvette used it too, only it had a iron triangulated-ladder backbone for the powertrain.
P.S.: If you increase the capacity of the oiling system... by adding a oil-pan w/kick-outs, remote-mount filtration and/or a [front-mounted] liquid-to-air oil-cooler... and make a 1" slit along the back-side of the "power-bulge" of the engine cover, you'll never need to worry about oil-starvation related issues.
frankE91210 And who are you to speak on this car, other than another know-nothing licensed steering-wheel holder? Because comments like yours don't help.
It's too bad so many of these become hideous kit cars instead of appreciating it's place in American auto history.
You got that right
As someone who daily drives an 87 GT (also my first car) I can say its taught me alot. These cars require 110% focus to drive. I absolutely love it, even if its not perfect. it gets SO much attention, and being still in highschool, maybe alittle too much attention lol. Seriously these cars are going to explode in value. They are already going up!
Yo same I just got one as my first car in highschool 😂👍
@@k00lkidz4 it’s a fun car, just respect it. I still have mine. They don’t handle like a normal car, and really won’t let you know until it’s too late. I’ve drifted me car on wet roads, and blew it up and replaced the 2.8. Hope you know how to work on cars, otherwise it will be a nightmare. Fun daily driver, but bought a 83’ camaro Z28 and later a real daily driver Jeep Wrangler. Fiero became more of a project car
@@kevinhendley8524 im currently replacing the throttle cable, but I hope to put a 3.8 engine in it later
I'm 14 and I want to buy a 1985 Pontiac Feiro GT for when I get my drivers liscence. Should I?
87-88 Fiero 2.8 5 speed is the most underrated car of all time.
Got myself a beat up 87 2.8 5spd GT. 196k miles and she still goes. Even though it's more of a commuter with its low power 80's V6 I've still given people a run for their money until their turbo kicks in lol
@@Trooper896 I have a 87 gt with 50 k on it and the engine has been cleaned really nicely and everything, however I like to say mine is quick but not fast, 0-40 is quick...anything else it’s kinda slow 😂
love the fierro. I wish pontiac was still around, it was the best part if GM.
+InfiniteFire1988 yeah, buicks have been the weak link in GM, except the GNX and grand nationals of course. Those were good cars.
+steven victoria I heard Buicks sell like crazy in China nowadays, I think that's the main reason they kept it.
+iRaceCroatia silly china, buicks are actually worthless 😏
Not in Ghina :)
Dualshock GT3 It honestly was.
I don't understand why people don't like the Fiero
me neither.
+ledzeppelin27 I honestly quite want one, even today.
they kinda caught fire a lot.
You DO realize it was a small number of early production 1984 models that actually caught fire, right? A lot of them were dumb issues twenty years later like maybe letting a spark plug wire touch the exhaust manifold..
+histotoxic I like a car that lives up to it's name, lol
Im seeing so many mis informed people in the comment section.
The Fiero is a great car, and is very reliable. It is easy to live with, and gets plenty of peoples attention. The rumors that it catches on Fire is a *LIE*.
It also out sold the MR2 3 to 1. How is that for a "failure?"
+zzzhuh Absolutely. I had a 1987 Fiero GT 5 speed in the 90s that had 30K miles. I drove that car everywhere and I worked a good 25 miles out. It was my daily driver for 8 years. When I sold it, it had 120K miles on the odometer. The only issues I ever had was clutch replacement, cooling fan switch and a dead battery. One of the best cars I've ever owned. I wouldn't mind pursuing a 1988 GT in the future.
p4horror
They really are a blast. If you ever do, I'd recommend getting on the Pennock Forums. The people there are great, and any issue can be solved through them.
Thanks for sharing.
Love my 86 GT! Got it for a grand a few years ago it needed some work as it sat around for 4 years. But after I fixed all the stuff that rotted away it's been super reliable never left me stranded. It's got 190k on it now I honestly didn't expect to keep the stock engine in this long but I can't replace a perfectly working engine. Once the stock engine dies I want to put a modified S/C 3800 in it. No idea why people on the internet hate on the car I get compliments on mine all the time and it's far from a show car.
XxViciousxX
Yea the 3.8 is a great option. If you have an automatic I'd recommend using the transmission from the donor car.
Otherwise, a F23 transmission is a great idea for manuals.
+zzzhuh Mine is unfortunately automatic but for a grand I wasn't going to complain too much. I figured I'd use the automatic that comes with the S/C 3.8 just beef it up a bit and put a shit kit in and it should shift plenty fast.
FYI the gear shift diagram / indicated is beside the shifter on the console. The body is not fiberglass its a plastic composite. A big part of what killed the Fiero was that it was effecting Corvette sales. 370,000 Fireo's were sold from 84-88. 180,000 Corvette's were sold during same time period, Corvette sales drop 1984 - 51,000 1988 - 22,000 The clutch pedal need a squirt to get rid of that squeak. All in all not a bad 30+ year old car.
Stephen Dowling wow did not know that
This thing squeaks more than the Christmas Bat.
+CJ DASHCAM Classic GM interiors. They suck rofl. Good solid car, but a bland plastic interior that WILL dry out and break.
+Nick Caldwell (Me) Drive a '14 Sonic and even that is starting to rattle
+Ziggy Bowman Got a rental one and drove from Sacramento to LA. Was quite frightening since I'm used to driving big American or German cars that won't be blown away by the wind.
That's another thing, even for a small car crosswinds makes it wander a lot on the highway.
Oops, my bad. Thank you :)
My first car was a 1988 fiero gt 5 spd 50k miles from original owner, the very first day i owned it a mechanic put it on a car lift wrong and it fell off two of the 4 points.. i didn't even get to drive it lol
What happened next?
+Marcos Cruz was totaled
+Thisisfuckingannoying That totally explains your username. Major bummer.
+Nevin Williams haha the name was from google plus integration
+Thisisfuckingannoying Which understandably, is pretty fucking annoying.
A buddy of mine had one of these back when we where just getting into our 20's. We called it the Pontiac Ferrari GT and it was pretty quick for a car found on skid row behind the local gas station mechanic's bay. I think my buddy spent $800 for the car and it had problems like a math book and a ridiculous starting sequence. The paint was faded, the interior was coming apart at the seams, he had to carry a piece of a 2x4 with him for a parking brake. The best though was that he insisted on valeting the car every chance he could get, watching the poor guys face as he ran him through the starting procedure was gold. Sadly, the car died on I-95 in N. VA in a cloud of green and black smoke poring out of the engine bay. In went out with it's tires on, and is in car Valhalla now.
I had a 1985 Fiero GT - and I still say it's the most fun to drive car I've ever owned. The previous owner had for some reason lowered it and added in some minor engine and exhaust mods and while the car wasn't by any means fast, it was just fun. No power steering, no power brakes, I could literally from the drivers seat reach out and touch the ground without leaning over. It was a big go-kart that you could do anything in, it wouldn't break free, wouldn't spin, it just stayed velcro'd to the road. It also constantly overheated in traffic and the headlines broke a bunch of times and of course the air didn't work (and in FL that's a big deal), but still it was an awesome car.
Ahhh... I miss my crappy-bastard Fiero. Had a 1984 Fiero that had the heart transplanted out of a 1986 GT after the Iron Duke caught fire. I owned it for a couple of years... purchased it post-fire with the original engine for $500 back in 2000... sold it for $2500 in 2004 in good running nick except for a few odd intake issues that occasionally laid it up for a week or two while I stripped the intake manifold off, found nothing wrong and then reassembled it only for it to work for another few months. Good times.
I too hated that long-throw shifter, but you get really used to it after a while. The Fiero was made as a commuter car, not a sports car so fast shifts were not considered necessary. It had enough power to get out of its own way, but barely... and honestly got pretty crap gas mileage... oh and cornering was an adventure with the skinny stock wheels and tires as oversteer was the watch-word of the day.
Still miss it though. Most of my car's problems were rust thanks to salt on Missouri roads. Favourite memory; driving down I-70 and hearing a strange noise from behind me... looked in the rear-view to see one of my tailpipes clattering and rolling down the highway behind me. It might still be in that ditch between Earth City Expressway and the St. Charles Bridge :)
+Gavin Haslett only GM would build a mid engine car and build it to be a commuter car similar logic fail as the Pontiac aztek GM design by committee so everyone gets a piece of what they want and the customer gets a car trying to be 6 different things.
I believe you're thinking of the pontiac vibe /toyota matrix which was a Toyota with pontiac stickers the aztek was all GM though I'm pretty certain.
Gavin Haslett LMAO. It actually caught fire? Oh, man... The Iron Duke must be one of the most pathetic engines ever
Y e e t juice it’s not the iron duke that’s the problem.. same thing happened to my buddies... there was a recall on them for the wiring so if you were to want one of these make sure it’s been done or you may not have it to long
GM killed a lot of cars when they realized "oy vey it can compete with muh corvette"
Pontiac was really sneaky with the fiero
Oldsmobile is gone because of this
you should have known this im not even american and i do
+Joe Barbaro GM won't let anything in their umbrella touch the Corvette
+Joe Barbaro Yeah the Cadillac XLR (which was based on the Corvette Y-body) was discontinued too. They stuck a northstar in it and discontinued r & d for a proper dohc V8 replacement. The Cien would of been a proper halo car for GM...but it lets the Corvette get in the way, when the Cien would be aimed at different buyers entirely that are above market over a Corvette. The TTA ran neck and neck with the corvette of the same year and thus that experiment ended quickly.
Most people didnt like the fiero. What killed it was the rumor that they all caught fire.
Car
@@04dram04 only the early cylinder models cought on fire because the oil pan was too small and caused the engine to overheat and warp the gaskets causing oil to leak onto the exhaust pipe.
GM killed the Fiero because it was flying too close to the sun. It was nearly as fast as the Corvette, and if Pontiac had kept going the way they were it would have been MUCH faster.
That is absolutely incorrect. You’re saying that the Fiero “flew too close to the sun”, as if it took on a life of its own.
“Nearly as fast as the Corvette.” You are you being serious? I owned three Fiero GT models - an 86, 87, and 88 and while the 88 was definitely the best of them, it was not even close to the Corvette in every measurable category. Starting in 1985 the C4 Corvette had Tuned Port Injection, and by 1988 they were producing 240 HP, and far more torque than the small 2.8-liter V6 in the Fiero. The C4 also destroyed even the Formula Fiero in terms of handling performance. And why do you think the Fiero would have been “MUCH” faster down the road? The LT1 made it into the Corvette C4 in 1992, making 300 HP. Furthermore, the Firebird Trans Am was much closer in performance to the C4 Corvette, there was no controversy there.
Your analysis is completely flawed,. Oh yeah, I also own a 1989 C4 Corvette as well, with 6000 original miles on it, and have driven many so I can speak from a great deal of experience here. Pontiac did have several very interesting ideas for what would have been the second-generation Fiero, and prototype was built, however no final decisions were ever stated as far what its engine would be outside of speculation and experimentation. I wish Pontiac did keep the Fiero alive, because they’re incredibly fun cars, but the Fiero and Corvette are completely different vehicles,.
I owned a 85 Fiero GT and two Corvettes, a 98 and an 82 - and no, the Fiero wasn't anywhere close to the Corvette in performance. Completely different driving experiences - the Corvette was fast, much bigger and a true sports car. The Fiero was supposed to be a very cheap 2 seat commuter car that GM bolted some low end performance parts and made the GT. I will say the Fiero GT I had was fun to drive, really fun to drive, you could throw it around without ever worrying about killing yourself. The car stuck to the road, wasn't ever going to spin out, wasn't slow by any means but certainly wasn't fast, not even for the mid-80s. The Corvette however - those are cars that you can easily get in trouble with, where you can quickly and easy end up in a ditch or in a tree. The Corvette demanded your attention, in particular the 98 with stock run flat tires on it. The Fiero meanwhile was a go-kart. If I could only have one of those three cars in like new condition today, it would be the Fiero - it was just so fun to drive. But GM killing it because it competed with the Corvette is nonsense. It's like saying Macy's competes with 7-11. Different income brackets, totally different experiences.
@@ScreamAndFly Yeah, I'm a fellow one-time Fiero/Corvette owner and you're completely right. The two cars didn't compete at all. I had an 85 GT and I still think the lack of power steering is one thing I loved since you had such direct control over everything. Power steering didn't come until 88 right - do you really think the power steering was an improvement? I never drove one, but in theory I always thought it was a bad idea except for when tooling around a parking lot.
back in highschool everyone had a mustang or camaro. i had a fiero. wasnt all that fast and didnt handle all that well. but at 18 it looked cool and its one of the first cars i remember where you opened the engine bay and the engine actually looked really cool.
and as luck would have it i have a solstice gxp now.
Didn't handle well? What kind of Fiero did you have? I had an '85 Fiero GT and I could throw it around in corners like you wouldn't believe, the thing handled incredibly. I've owned multiple Corvettes, a Camaro, a BMW, a GTO, etc - and I'd put the Fiero right near the top in handling. Now, the prior owner did lower it for some reason but as far as I know there wasn't any other mods done for handling, but I've heard others say the Fiero didn't handle well, and that just was never my experience.
BTW, I now own a Saturn Sky.
Hey RCR, I love you for revisiting the Fiero.
yuss
An old girlfriend used to have one of these with a 5-speed. It was a fun car to drive. The thing launched like a beast for stoplight to stoplight stuff. Unfortunately the engine started running a bit rough and overheating. I remember checking the oil and it looking fine until I took the cap off and could see the rockers and springs were DRY. That V6 had some serious top end oil starvation.
Really REALLY wanted an '88 GT.
+jtl909 88GT/Formula fastback with the reworked suspension is the most desirable Fiero model.
jtl909 Don't just want one, get one. I own one.
The 80's auto industry was better at minimalism than what we have today. Dammit I miss simple dashboards like that.
+Ignas359 minimalism is the last thing in todays dashboards, putting a confusing screen in is not only annoying and hard to use, but jumbles up the entire dash
Simple? There's enough going on in there to give someone aneurysm.
..like slightly more buttons than the average car from that time?
Nowadays, dashboards look like a gigantic iPad stuck in the middle of the Grand Canyon.
Error in info at 8:05... He stated that it has a fiberglass body. This isn't true.
GM called the Fiero body panels "Enduraflex". There is no material known as "Enduraflex". This is a marketing term. Four different types of reinforced composite plastic are used in Fiero body panels:
SMC Sheet Molded Compound was used for the hood, roof, rear upper quarter, and rear decklid.
RRIM Reinforced Reaction Injection Molded urethane was used for fenders, door panels, and lower rear quarters. The rear lowers were later changed to injection molded nylon.
RIM Reaction Injected Molded urethane was used for front and rear fascias.
TPO Thermoplastic Olefin was used for rocker panels.
My first car was a 1984 Fiero purchased new in August of 1984.
I've owned 3 over the years and can't wait to get a 4th.
5:01 you can see the owner holding the handle. They're such comfortable handles on this car. a good, solid grip in a very good position.
Pontiac always has the best handles.
The fiero doesn't have a fiberglass body, they are plastic panels over a space frame
Later versions of the "GM could afford to do weird things" list: HHR, SSR, Sky/Solstice?
+joh n I wouldn't call the SSR and Sky/Solstice a dramatic sales success... The HHR did better though.
***** That's true. GM merely wanted a piece of the pie. Overall GM sucks at taking risks and being innovative. They just don't know how to be edgy and can't afford it.
The turbo PT Cruiser was another weird attempt they made at a performance, cruiser-type vehicle. I definitely didn't understand the market niche they were after with that car.
+joh n Well, that certainly explains the Prowler: A hot-rod styled car with it's only available powerplant being a V-6.
+misamisatv I think the Sky/Solstice was a money-saving way of both Saturn trying to re-establish itself as a modern, cutting-edge division & Pontiac trying to be what it was intent on becoming since the showing of Harley Earl's Pontiac Bonneville concept during the '54 Motorama Show season: A sports-oriented division, complete with it's own sports-car.
As for the SSR... Well, given GM's involvement in the Super-Truck series, and how it basically worked under NASCAR rules, plus how trucks were starting to be strongly seen as more than just workhorses at the time, I guess they were trying to slide a more aerodynamic body under the rules while trying to play the market... Especially the key demographic that watched the Super-Truck series, like they did with the Monte-Carlo SS & the Buick Grand-National.
Owned one very similar to this. Was a ball to drive, comfortable, and always got looks and questions about it in 1985 when it was brand new. Loved it, drove the hell out of it. Wished I still had it.
What was running through my head during this video:
BUT I WOULD WALK 500 MILES
AND I WOULD WALK 500 MORE
JUST TO BE THE MAN WHO WALKED A THOUSAND MILES
TO FALL DOWN AT YOUR DOOR
+ilvanezzo Thank you, I was searching for this
I see you‘re a man of culture as well 🧐😎
Did they drove in a Fiero when listening to that tape?
@@rolux4853 It's a reference to the TV show "How I Met Your Mother", one of the characters owned a hand-me-down Fiero with a cassette deck that had a stuck tape with that song on repeat.
Hey, you tricked us Mr. Regular! Even a POV drive is a quasi review. I'm not complaining though!
just purchased an 84 fiero Indy as my first "im going to work on this myself and have something fun" car. i saw an ad for a fiero in my area and fell in love. it looks like an 80s space cruser to me inside. i got a chance to sit in one (mechanic buddy-mentor has one he is working on) and that sealed the deal. happened upon an indy edition one in kansas that has a good body and needs a little love for its iron duke engine (which happens to be the same engine as in my 86 Chevy Celebrity, which tickled me) im damn excited to start wrenchin
Mr. Regular can you please change the position of your gopro? its all roof and sun visor at the moment.. Just experiment with something different maybe even video recording glasses? preserves the head movements and make shooting easier but slightly lower
My 85 gt was my first car in high school. It’s honestly a different kind of feeling driving a car no one else at school had. A lot of people didn’t even know what it was until they saw mine. I have another one now but not the same one. My first one overheated and died. I miss it all the time but I have the other one to fill the hole.
It's been said that GM suits were afraid of the Fiero from the get-go because they feared it would jeapordize Corvette sales. The Fiero's designer created it to be a serious sports car but GM brass sabotaged it by giving it a crappy engine and drivetrain. GM has a history of this.
Thinking that they could go around punching themselves in the face... and win. 🤪
I had an 85 Fiero 2m4. It was auto. Driven several manuals. 5 speeds are excellent.
Fiero's are not fiber glass. They have plastic body panels like the Saturn's had.
Glad someone else caught that.
Not completely correct there are a lot of plastic panels but there are also a lot of GRP or SMC panels which are a form of fiberglass.
@@henrybinkowski2392 They did not have the color all the way through the panels. They are painted just like a normal car.
It's a mix of materials. The rear deck lid was fiberglass, side panels were plastic etc.. Even my Saturn is a mix, with plastic side panels, metal hood and fiberglass roof.
@@subavairpine I think I covered all of that. If you want to get specific the roof,quarters, hood and trunk are what was referred to at the time as glass reinforced plastic which is a form of fiberglass. The rest of the car is the flexible urethane plastic at least the outer skins are.
Interior looks good for an 80's car
It looks so fresh almost as is if it was detailed every month
Can't believe you don't know how a GM parkign brake handle works.
Every car in the 80s and 90s had them the same way, 3rd & 4th Gen Firebird Trans Am / Camaro & Fiero.
Even the 80s & 90s Honda Accord and Toyota.
You pull it up, then to release, you pull it up a little more then the button will release tension enough so you can push it in and put the handle it all the way back down, disengaging the parking brake.
PhenomProductions23 -- the fiero was different you pulled it up then it would go back down as you had to go over it to get out , to release you pulled up again then pressed thumb button and let down to release
PhenomProductions23 he’s a moron. Millennials can wipe their ass without a safe space
Love seeing crispy 80s/90s interiors like this. Nostalgia.
I just noticed that you're subscribed to Accursedfarms. That's super cool.
Man this makes me miss my 88 Formula. :(
That sticker was for the SHIFT light that comes on after about 2500 rpm ;)
I have an 88 GT. I have had it since late 87. I am always excited to drive it. It was the best that the Fiero was allowed to be.
The clutch in starter sensor goes bad in all years, so if it does not start look there.
finally something with a fiero thats easier to comprehend than the last review...
Every time I see Mr. Regular drive a manual I am immediately thrust back to learning how to drive stick with my dad screaming at me not to ride the clutch. "THE CLUTCH IS LAVA"
thank you for coming back to this amazing car. i posted on your subreddit about a month ago asking if you would and it generated a bit of attention. thank you for delivering. i invite you sometime if you ever come back to the west coast, to visit and review my daily 86 GT with a 5-speed. Most of the issues with the 4-speed you mentioned, sort of go away, plus i have a short throw installed along with a beefy 2.8 stroked to a 3.2
thanks again mr.regular
+Brandon Depew - True, other than being clunky by today's standards, the 5 speed is a fine transmission. I installed a shift kit and a short throw on mine. I can shift just using my fingertips without moving my hand.
I miss my 86 and 88 GTs. Sold them for practicality reasons, but loved them to death. Wasn't a fan of the 4 speed manual in my 86 though. Like in the video it was all too easy to put into reverse by accident and it always terrified me lol. 1988 GT or Formula is the Fiero you want.
the 88 fiero gt was a true independent rear suspension.light years better,but just in time to discontinued.if only a 3.8 gn turbo were installed woulda made it legendary
Ah the 80's. The one decade that makes me wish I wasn't a 90's kid.
Canadian Carguy if you were in the 80's you wanted a 60's car because you could afford it and work on it. 80's cars were too expensive for the average kid when they were new. I lived it.
There actually were a few second generation Fiero prototypes built. The look inside and out was very 4th gen Camaro/Firebird and that combined with the overblown quality issues of the early '84 cars caused it's early demise. GM probably didn't see a reason to keep around a second sports car to compete with it's own Fbodies. The second gen would've most likely had a DOHC I4 that rivaled the outgoing 2.8 V6 in performance and the DOHC 3.4 V6 in the GT. That engine made 215hp in things like the Lumina Z34. That and being a few hundred pounds lighter would've kept it very competitive with the LT1 Fbodies.
Man, I'd love to see you pov a old Miata roadster, see what your opinion on that would be.
Am I weird because I want to find a good condition fiero and put a better engine in it and some nice wheels? My friends think Im crazy
Rex Holes Not crazy, Go for it.
Who else did a double take to make sure Regs clapped his shoes before getting in?
I have an 88 Fiero GT. 119k miles. First owner. Handles like no other.
When I was 8 years old, I thought this was a badass car. One of the teachers at my elementary school got one, and it definitely stood out in the parking lot compared the the "old lady cars" that the other teachers had parked near it.
A fiero where both headlights work? amazing!
A Toyota MR2 owner admires a Pontiac Fiero. Lovely
I had a 1987 SE V6 2.8 it's my favorite coolest car I ever driven and owned I still love it! I will have one again, my had the battery and oil pressure extra read outs, basically a GT a year before the GT sports back was made.
I've always wanted to drive one of these. Just like what you did here, Mr. Regular, confusing reverse and first gear is the thing I hate about manual cars with a an "up and to the left" reverse position. Reverse should always be all the way to the right and down.
15,000 and it still runs? This is quite the find!
+Drunken Ira Hayes You don't say?
+Drunken Ira Hayes The earth is flat.
+Drunken Ira Hayes yeah... That's what he meant...
Power steering? "I don't think so" How can you not fucking know?
I drove as 4-Speed Fiero ...two of them actually...for almost 6 years and never once hit reverse when looking for 1st gear! Weird!
LOVED my Fiero's!
The 88 fiero concept car was basically built by lotus brake and suspension wise. There were also proposed v6 and v8 asperated options.
Basically... GM liked it more as a "weird idea" than actual competition for Corvette. I mean... The c4 Corvette as light weight as it was was still a heavy bitch in comparison. I'm fairly certain the 88 Fiero GT was going to promise something along the lines of 180-200 hp for the non-asperated models which would have actually probably struck closer to 160-175 on the road. But it was going to have a few more frills (power ASSIST steering box instead of the rack and pinion you experienced) basically everything was going to be slightly improved. The story is that Corvette was lowering in sales or at least plateauing off and GM knew that the 88 Corvette brought very minor and some undesirable/risky changes for the 88 model. Fiero was about to make some leaps and bounds right into TRUE sports car territory.
And with lotus designers backing the Fiero GT and the lending a hand in design (clearly even with the e-brake) you can see Esprit all over the Fiero GT.
Corvette took the 88 Fiero GT out into a wheat feild the two did battle long into the evening. So ending with the Fiero on it's knees without it's head. The Corvette felt the tremor of the quickening and there could be only one... And there was... And the Corvette received the prize (LT1).
The Fiero lay dead... Unburied... Disgraced... Ultimately forgotten and decaying in the long grass... Somewhere... Silently... John deloreon wept into his thin, cold, prison issue pillow.
(I was told John Deloreon had drawn the better part of the initial Fiero designs slated in the late 70s but got shit on by GM ultimately making him leave. GM kept the Fiero designs... Deloreon started fresh and DMC was born)
I bought one new in 1986. The 4 cylinder "Iron Duke" was not nearly powerful enough and it had a problem with the "idle control motor" that would cause the engine to start gaining RPM at idle and not stop until I turned the engine off. Sitting at a light the thing would rev up to 4000 RPM and climbing before I could turn it off. The dealer never was able to fix it.
The car used the transaxle and struts from FWD Chevy Citation in back and the suspension from a Chevette up front. Pretty much needless to say the car didn't handle worth a damn.
The concept was great, the final product was crap. The Fiero could have been a fantastic car. It was the 80's and most cars were crap and GM didn't want competition for the crappy "disco 'vettes" of that era.
Eh my 86 GT still handles great feels like it's on rails. Mines not even the 88 with the reworked suspension.
You needed a different dealership/mechanic... The 4-banger is half of a Chevy DZ302 V8 racing engine, just needs the HP upgrades...
@@BuzzLOLOL : Your claim that the 151 cid Iron Duke is half of a DZ 302 Chevy small block is completely & utterly false. For the first few years it did use a Chevy small block V-8 bellhousing until Pontiac changed it to the bellhousing the 2.8 liter V-6 used, but that was the only chevy part ever put on an Iron Duke, Everything else in & on it was all Pontiac. Chevy had their own 153 cid four banger that was a completely different motor.
@@rogergoodman8665 - As I recall, the 153 used 283 bores and the Iron Duke used 327/350 bores... makes sense to use a piston size you are still making elsewhere... I think the Pontiac OHC 6 version of the Chevy 6 was also converted to BOP bellhousing... and came in Chevy cubes sizes...
The Chevy or Iron Duke 4 also came in 181" size that was only used by Mercruiser... which makes it bigger than the Chevy 2.8L V6...
@@BuzzLOLOL : You are correct about the 151 Iron Duke & certain 350 Chevys both having a 4" bore but I believe the pistons overall height, piston pin location & ring placement were different between the two. (not all 350 chevy's used a 4" bore) some modern Iron Duke enthusiasts I believe have found a way to use 350 forged pistons with 327 rods but alot of machine work is needed from what I understand. The Iron Duke displacement stayed 151 cid thru out its entire production run. It was never modified for larger displacement. Pontiac did change its name from Iron Duke to 4 tech towards the end though, The mercruiser 4 cylinder you mentioned was the 153 Chevy , not the 151 Pontiac. The 151 was used however in a few other GM brands other than Pontiac over the years & also in some AMC cars, jeeps, & Grumman U.S.P.S. delivery trucks. The late '60s Pontiac OHC 6 cylinder engine was a Pontiac exclusive engine & had nothing really in common with any other GM inline 6 including Pontiac's other conventional inline 6 cylinders. No other GM division ever developed a OHC inline 6 cylinder including Chevy.
Would it be wrong for me to say it looks like a Fiat Bertone X19. But then there are lots of cars that look like that.
+Kuddlesworth NA Just looked it up, and at first glance, for some reason it reminds me more of earlier RX7s than a Fiero. Still a pretty cool-looking car, though.
+Kuddlesworth NA would it be wrong for me to say the fiat looks like a porsche 914? :P
+xployalist I see the similarities with the RX7. Namely the tip of the nose, it's a wedge, with a blunt edge.
+Kuddlesworth NA Looks like an MR2 of the same time period.
+Kuddlesworth NA It would be right for you to say that. The designer was specifically influenced by that car.
I've heard when they first planned the fiero they were supposed to have a 305 V8 but it got changed before they produced it
Fiero did have one of the coolest interiors of all time.
I feel like GM ditched the Fiero because when you're trying to sell something as a "working man's alternative to the typical commuter car," not having a back seat is a pretty big deal. I love these cars, but I'd still probably opt for a larger vehicle just to have the option of putting my kiddo in the back seat.
The Fiero concept was under development during the second gas crisis as a cheap, small commuter car that used many existing components from the GM parts bin and sipped little gas. But the need for such a car waned as gas became relatively cheap and plentiful once again, so the focus became more of a sporty mid-engine two seater. The first few years produced an attractive vehicle with underwhelming performance due to it's econobox heritage. But further refinements began to turn it into a true contender. Why GM and Pontiac didn't continue with it is a mystery. Perhaps because the Toyota MR2, introduced around the same time, set the bar too high. Chickenshit GM beancounters!
Your kiddo wants the driver's seat...
You guys heard the bad news?
R.I.P Lemmy Kilmister =\
+Bruno M He was Motörhead, AND HE PLAYED ROCK AND ROLL!
David Beecroft wat m8?
David Beecroft xD funny edgy 4 chan memez XDDDDDDD
I forgot to add one more comment. The 1988 Fiero in red is still to this day a day I will take a second look at.
One of those cars I would love to own.
I have an '88 and boy is it fun to drive.
I had an 85 Fiero GT, identical to the one in the video, except that mine didn't have a spoiler. It was a great car, and the video reminded me of the car's many quirky features, such as the parking brake. I lived in San Francisco, and the car was a bear to parallel park on those steep hills with the manual steering. The 4-cylinder models gave the car a bad reputation. Too bad Pontiac wasn't more committed to the Fiero. Although there is a limited market for 2-seaters (i.e. Buick Reatta, original T-Bird).
that interior is so futuristic.
People gave these cars such hell back in the day for looking so sporty but being so slow, but really ... everything was this way back in the ‘80s (especially when compared to the cars being built today). It would have been worth GMs effort to have spent some time creating a high output 2.8 v6 as a standard for this car when it was released in ‘84. Maybe with a small turbo from the parts bin? Unfortunately, these were the days when GM was fashionably trying to make every new car introduced as fuel efficient as possible (odd, since gas floated around 95 cents per gallon, at the time), so the Iron Duke was the motor of choice upon introduction i believe that power, and lack of interior storage space of any kind, spelled the end of the car.
My Uncle actually own's (or owned) a yellow Pontiac Fiero, It currently sitting in the garage of my grandpa/ma house...
The headlight lift motors use a nylon gear which strips under even the slightest conditions. Which is why you see so many one-eyed Fieros out there. Thankfully you can now get an aftermarket one with metal gears.
God I miss my 85 fiero probably my most favorite car I had until it caught on fire lmao
Like the X-4 concept (Cir. 1969), the Fiero was intended to be an economical mid-engine commuter/sports car.
Just a thought on why GM may have killed the Fiero. Originally it was meant to be a fuel efficient city car with the first year only available w/ a 4cyl. By '88 the GT with its revised front suspension and v6 was encroaching on firebird/camaro performance.
If remember when they canceled the Fiero, GM beam counters said though it was profitable, it wasn't profitable enough to interest them.
:/
I miss my Fiero. :( I still have it if it hadn't got rear ended. It was only a four cylinder automatic. I love to get the six with manual transmission.
Most be a blast to drive with that little V6 even tho its only 140hp!
My brother still has his '86 SE v6 auto. It has less than 50k and has been sitting for 20yrs. in its day it was a fast car
My late older brother called it the "what if" car.
you should review the old Honda insight.
people acted like the prius was groundbreaking, when Honda laid the groundwork. The cars seem to have a lot of personality, especially in their aging and not entirely reliable systems, but some eco enthusiasts swear that it remain, to this day, the efficient hybrid car ever sold stateside.... and it's from 1999.
2 ashtrays, 0 cupholders, Headlights go up, Headlights go down.
I just sold my 85 Fiero GT. They're a nuisance to work on. And to drive.
To finish off what the owner would have said. The front suspension is off a Chevy Citation, and the rear suspension is off a Chevy Chevette. This suspension set up was in use from 1984 to 1987, and by 1988 GM spent $10 million dollars to develop a new suspension for the Fiero that was ultimately better, but was later axed at the end of the 1988 MY. The greatest could of been of GM in the 80's in my opinion, what would of happened if they were able to get two more years off that new suspension design, and could we have seen another generation if GM wasn't afraid of it's Corvette line being encroached upon. Let's face it, it would of helped GM in the long run, make the Fiero affordable and make the Corvette for immortals with cash.
The past few videos, Mr.Regular just does not care about his face anymore. I can die in peace now that i've seen it
I love the colour of that interior, it just screams 80's
A short shifter cost me $10 bucks back in the day and took minutes to install and made all the difference lol Was it the best car I ever owned but who that likes driving wouldn't enjoy driving a gokart with a v6 lol because that's what it felt like!
I owned two Fiero's back in the 80's. The 84 4 cylinder was a terrible engine. It over heated, blew the head gasket after just 28,000 miles and had crappy little tires. However, one year later I traded it in for a black 1985 GT. What a difference in styling, handling, and performance. Why did you buy a Fiero back then? Because you couldn't afford a Toyota MR2!
I would argue Subarus that aren't drive-by-wire are of the best to learn stick on. Many have hill assist, which is a huge help. The shifter is also pretty notchy so you definitely know when you're in all the way. Since they're AWD, they decrease the chances of wheel spin too. Newer Subarus aren't that great to learn on (speaking from experience).
Beautiful Car
Man! The very first example of the Fiero was in October 1983. I was a very impressionable 10 year old and loved that cat! It was a red one. I thought it was the bee's knees. Funny how GM's plan for this car was simply to be a commuter car. I still think it looks pretty danged good as opposed to the endless mediocre 80's car stylings. Around the same era as the TV show night Rider. I was sooooo impressed by the self-driving car, and as an old geezer I don't fully trust them now. Yeah.
I always think that old 4-speed manual transmissions are the best on a Mercedes for the simple reason that you cannot go into reverse without pulling the shifter upwards and into first. My first car was a 4-speed manual Mercedes and I had troubles when I started using 6-speed transmissions because of this. Even in the newer Mercedeses you would still pull up the shifter but instead of first you are shifting into second and I had troubles with that being afraid that I would put it up into reverse while driving. :D It had a good lockout though. The other good manuals are the ones with a button on the shifter for shifting into reverse. I don't like the VW ones where you have to push the shifter downards and put it into first. I had a fun time trying to shift into reverse in a 6-speed VW and putting it into first instead 5-6 times in a row.
GM was contemplating a rear engine Corvette at the time, this was their test mule
lol @ the ending...Yea Mr Regular - it's just like every other re-brake in the 80's, 90's, and 00's, lol.
Fiero is a cool car, very 80's. Would be nice if they were a bit more popular. Kinda curious how they stack up to the MR2 SC in terms of performance.
I'm 17 and I drive my 1986 fiero gt as a daily driver. It is the other body style though which looks much better.
+LA Rally I personally prefer the notchback over the fastback
+LA Rally I'd take a notchie over a fastback any day of the week. Oddly enough, the fastback is actually heavier and slower, despite its name having 'fast' in it.
Yes! You're going to review a Fiero!
I can feel the owner's terror every time Mr Regular hits the headlight switch
+TwistedKestrel he didn't get the wipers and brights with the turn signal though too
+TwistedKestrel - True those 84-86 motors are a big POS and only have so much life in them.