27th May 2008, 11:47
So he got a 20 year old car as a graduation gift and had to put 5 grand into it. Is that all?
Anyway, here are my 2 cents.
I bought my 84 in 84.
The 84 sales were very high and the head work was farmed out to a mill that didn't clean castings so the heads cracked.
After 2 engine rebuilds with cracked heads within the first 5 years I found a shop that rebuilt it with a good head and still driving it after 17 more years.
Another problem was bent clutch pedals that falsely caused clutch replacements that were not necessary. Replaced pedal with a steel one and that problem went away too.
After 430,000 km I finally rebuilt the entire car from the ground up. Spent 3 grand and had it appraised for 6 grand. It now sits in my garage with a coat of wax and waits for the weekends when I proudly take her out for a spin.
27th May 2008, 18:56
By the way, Pontiac stopped making the Fiero because GM's Pontiac based plant, which built the Fiero among others, was closed down.
13th Sep 2009, 09:13
Nope he is spot on they are bottomless money pits. But if you put in the right replacement parts, the car will shine. I have just over $5000 in my GT and I am driving it every day. It takes me back and forth to work, and nothing that I have replaced has surprised me, it's a 20 year old car. You cannot buy the car I have today for under $5000.
I don't blame the OP, as it would sting to get a car given to me that needed that much work, but he put the money into the car because he enjoyed it. If he didn't like the car, he would have let it sit after the first time it let him down.
14th May 2010, 19:17
I bought a 1986 SE V6 auto Fiero 2 years ago with 66k miles for 900.00. Best thing I ever did, it passed smog twice, I changed all sensors, put in an all aluminum radiator, shocks, brakes. It has 84k miles now. It's all about what it is and how to take care of it.
22nd Jun 2010, 20:44
I've had 7 Fieros and they all were a blast to drive, as I've told others you must be mechanically inclined to own one. I have an 86 GT, and you just need to tinker to love them.
19th Oct 2010, 16:53
The reason that Fieros were discontinued was because Chevrolet didn't want the competition for their Corvette! There were 1989 Fieros in the works with new bodywork and upgraded engines... and they would have blown the Vette into the weeds... The build quality was just starting to get up to decent levels, but Chevrolet put a stop to the program.
11th Dec 2010, 18:25
Well I have a 1986 Fiero, and could not be happier with it. It is fun to drive, have not had problems with it, and anything I need to do to it is nothing out of the ordinary. It is now almost 25 years old, and looks like new and runs great. The steering is a bit hard, as there is no power steering, but it is a great handling car, and what a deal for the cost.
12th Dec 2010, 17:30
Actually the reason they stopped making them is because of falling sales numbers, and the limited profits GM was making from them. I think the number of recalls on earlier Fieros and the fire issues that had with some of them throughout their 5 years of production, started turning off buyers by the end of the run.
The Corvette was never really in competition with the Fiero. The top Fiero was a V6 with 130 HP when it was discontinued. You can't go by pre-production concept cars as what they would have actually released as an '89 Fiero. They likely would have scaled back the engine choices like they always did on their production cars back then, and you would probably still be looking at the 2.8 litre engine as the top choice maybe with 20 or 30 more hp.
They were fun to drive and fairly quick, but not any threat to a V8 powered car. The ZR1 had come out in 1989, so the Vette was anything but threatened by anything with a 6 cylinder. Even the base 1989 Corvette was 240 HP.
I had a brand new '88 Mustang 5.0 back then, and even that was way faster than a Fiero GT, never mind a Corvette.
4th Jan 2011, 10:31
Well actually the Fiero always made money for GM, but they did NOT want competition for the Corvette. The 1989 Fiero would have been quicker and faster than the 'vette at about half the cost.. do the math.
4th Jan 2011, 13:18
You need to research better there... I looked it up after your last comment about the Corvette as I was interested in why the Fiero failed. Read my last post as that was why. Sales had dropped way off and GM was making little profit on the car. The first thing everyone thinks about when a Fiero is mentioned, even today, is the fire danger. It was a major turn-off and a big reason these cars dropped off heavily in sales.
Also, again, you can't go by any pre-production car as to what the actual '89 Fiero would have been like. Go to any car show even today and you'll see way over estimated HP figures and the like on new concept cars. This was even more prevalent back in the 80's at car shows. They never even came close to developing concept cars back then... I remember being disappointed every time they released a watered down version of what I had seen at the show.
The Fiero GT was no match for a 5.0 Mustang. The Vette would never have been in jeopardy from any Fiero. Sorry. You would never have gone from a 130 HP car to a Vette beater in one model year. I guess you can keep dreaming about that one though if you like.
13th Feb 2011, 18:20
Yeah, the sales drop off because of the Fiero's bad rap from 85 when the 4 cylinders were catching on fire, but they fixed them on the '86, but it was too late. I have an '86 Fiero GT, and it is the greatest car I've ever had. I don't mind putting money in it.
14th Feb 2011, 12:34
The Fiero GT is a fun car to drive. I wish they had been able to continue as it would have been interesting had they put more power into them in the 90's. Even the 3.1 would have been better, but the 3.8 in there would have been a rocket.
15th Feb 2011, 20:15
The Fiero sure was a good looking car, though. I think one of the things that doomed it was that it shared components with the Chevette.
13th Jun 2011, 11:36
I have a 1986 Fiero GT and cannot get it to pass smog, have tried 4 times. Any suggestions?
13th Jun 2011, 14:46
Go on the Internet to look for ways to pass smog... there are a few tricks you can use to pass... sometimes it's as easy as getting one of those cheap Asian made catalytic converters... they are basically only good enough to pass smog, but they are a lot cheaper than buying a factory one...
22nd Sep 2007, 13:08
To previous commenter:
If you read the report, you would have noticed that he received the Fiero as a GIFT for his graduation. Thus, he's upset about sinking 5 grand into a car that has given him much trouble, making this review helpful for others. No matter what you say, this car is not a Honda or a Toyota and the problems it encounters is relevant to readers.