1984-1987 Fiero and 1988 Fiero

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Tinton
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1984-1987 Fiero and 1988 Fiero

Post by Tinton »

1986 Pontiac Fiero SE

Overall: 3.88

Handling: 4.0
Power: 3.0
Comfort/Ride: 2.5
Fuel Economy: 4.5
Style: 4.5
Practicality: 3.0
Fun: 5.0
Reliability: 4.5

Handling:
The suspension design on the car came off the Chevrolet Citation and Chevette to save costs. Because of this, the tie-rods in the rear are supposed to be connected to a steering rack and not the engine cradle. This bad geometry causes bumpsteer stock. The car is pretty unstable over bumps and because of the stiff suspension each bump hits hard, but on flat pavement it handles like a dream. The car is small, low to the ground, mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, and the handling is similar to much more expensive cars that share the same drivetrain layout. When I got the car the suspension was pretty soft but I've replaced some mounts, replaced the shocks and struts with stiffer KYB ones, added new swaybars, and some other things. The car has no bodyroll at all now and the handling is neutral in most situations with a tendency towards oversteer. Stock it would understeer because of the lack of a rear swaybar.

Power:
This car should've had a larger V6 or a V8 as an option, stock. 140 hp and 170 tq isn't bad though, from a 80's 2.8L pushrod V6. Most of that power is in the low-middle rpm range because of the torque though. In city driving and in mountain/autocross driving the car feels like it has plenty of power because of the torque but anything above 80 mph and the car just doesn't have enough HP to really extend 4th gear on the 4-speed manual transmission. The redline of 6000 is also pretty low but I think the low-end power makes up for it.

Comfort/Ride:
This car wasn't really made for comfort. Every bump hits hard, even with rubber bushings almost everywhere. The seating position is also the lowest I've ever encountered in a car, the only 1 to rival it is a Lotus Elise. Besides those 2 things the Fiero is actually pretty nice inside. The cloth seats offer plenty of support, much more than the seats that were in my '00 Camaro. I also think the cloth holds you better than leather. The interior also has plenty of room, apparently the main designer of the car was tall (like 6'6") so he designed the car so he could fit in it with ample room. It is the biggest interior I've ever seen in a small car, my friend who is 6'3" 275 lbs would never stand a chance of fitting in a S2000/Miata/MR2 but he fits in my car with room to spare. In terms of driving, the car is a bit rough to handle. It lacks power steering so at slow speeds, like when parallel parking, its a bitch to turn the car. I think its worth it to have the road feel and feedback of manual steering. The shifter is also heavier and it takes much more force to shift than a Honda shifter, I'd say its pretty notchy. The brake and gas pedals are both pretty stiff and require at least a bit of force to move them, and the clutch pedal is very heavy because of a performance clutch. The clutch grabs about an inch from the floor. The pedals in this car are also perfect for heel-toe. I like having heavy controls, it makes driving the car feel like more of a effort/workout. The 1 unique thing, comfort-wise, about the car, is the headrest speakers. It makes it feel like you have surround sound in the car 8).

Fuel Economy:
This car is really night and day, depending on driving style. Flooring it to redline in every gear usually gets about 18-20 mpg out of the V6 while normal city driving gets me about 24-25 mpg. Highway is a different story altogether and the car will easily get 32-35 mpg cruising at 75 mph on the highway with the windows down. I've also managed to get as much as 44 mpg by hypermiling it, driving at 55 mph on the highway with the windows up. I like the car, it sucks down the fuel and has power when I want it to and it can sip fuel when I want it to.

Style:
Ok, its ancient, painted 3-4 different shades of white, and it has a luggage rack. Almost any other car with that description would be ugly as sin :lol: but I actually like the black-white contrast of the car and the sharp body lines. The notchback body style on this car looks much more dated than the fastback style on my '88 Fiero GT but I think it emphasizes that the car is mid-engine much more. The car isn't perfect looking, but I think with a new monotone white paintjob with gloss black trim and lowering this car would look very sleek. I also love the car because it looks unique, there really isn't anything else on the road that looks like it besides rare exotics.

Practicality:
Yes it is a very tiny car, so its a bitch to try and fit anything big in it. Large amounts of small items fit in this car easily though, I can fit $200 or more worth of groceries in the car using the trunk and passenger seat. The luggage rack, though it may not look nice, is also very handy, especially when carrying things like my bike. The trunk is also sized perfectly to fit 2 sets of golf clubs. The front compartment doesn't have the engine (duh) but it wasn't really designed as a trunk so I just keep automotive fluids up there.

Fun:
Its small, low to the ground, lightweight, and mid-engine RWD. It also has a 4-on-the-floor like a muscle car. Its basically like driving an oversized go-kart in the way it handles and everything, and it never fails to put a smile on my face when I drive the car. Even if it is unstable over bumps, on smooth pavement it handles perfectly and there's nothing quite like going WOT mid-turn just to have the rear tires grip even more, and to have the rear-weight bias angle the car in the right direction. It also has a fun factor besides just driving, the car is rare and people like to comment on it randomly.

Reliability:
I got this car when it was 19 years old and it had 133,000 miles on it. I expected the engine to last 6 months at most, then I was going to do an engine swap. This car is more reliable than my '88 Fiero GT though and the engine just keeps on going. Same with the transmission. My '88 Fiero may let me down fairly often but this car is a bastion of reliability. I think its around 160,000 miles now, one of the only things not working on the car is the odometer :lol: and I don't see a point to fixing it now because it'd be horribly inaccurate anyways.

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT

Overall: 3.94

Handling: 5.0
Power: 3.5
Comfort/Ride: 3.5
Fuel Economy: 3.5
Style: 5.0
Practicality: 2.5
Fun: 5.0
Reliability: 3.5

Handling:
The 1988 Pontiac Fiero got a completely different suspension design from the 1984-1987 Fieros. This suspension, unlike the previous suspension, was tailor-made for the car and it corrected issues of bumpsteer and understeer that hurt the handling of the previous Fiero. The '88 GT and Formula Fieros also came with a rear swaybar stock, unlike all other Fieros. Also included in the improvements were larger vented disc brakes all around, as opposed to the smaller solid discs that were used in previous years. This is the Fiero that should've been introduced in fall 1983. The handling in this car is simple, you simply point the car where you want it to go and it goes. Whereas my '86 Fiero understeered stock and now oversteers a bit with the rear swaybar, my '88 Fiero has almost completely neutral handling. Over bumps or smooth pavement it doesn't matter it holds to the road like a rock.

Power:
The 2.8L V6 in this car is almost exactly the same as the engine in my '86 Fiero but it has different (internal as opposed to external) balancing and a couple of other things. These other things rob HP and I think for '88 the Fiero V6's power decreased from 140hp/170tq to 135hp/165tq. This car has a ported/polished upper intake (this is the main restriction point in airflow in the Fiero V6), bored out throttlebody, computer chip, Ocelot exhaust, cat delete, and 1 or 2 other things done to it so it doesn't have stock power. My old automatic '88 Fiero GT got 107 hp and 135 tq to the wheels(which computes to about 135hp/165tq at the flywheel) and it felt slightly slower than my '86 Fiero SE, so I think my '86 Fiero SE has all its HP after all these years. My '88 Fiero GT 5-speed is a whole step above my '86 Fiero SE in terms of speed, I think it has around 160 hp and 200 tq right now and that doesn't feel that bad in a 2700lb car.

Comfort/Ride:
The suspension improvements in the '88 Fiero greatly increased the car's handling and ride quality over 84-87 Fieros. Even with poly bushings everywhere the car is at most only as harsh as my '86 Fiero with its rubber bushings. Even so all bumps hit hard in this car. This car also has leather seats and a slightly better interior than my '86 Fiero. The 5-speed shifter is just as notchy though, and brake and gas pedals are just as heavy. Because of the cheaper clutch I had put in this car though the clutch is pretty light, and the engagement point is almost identical to my '86 Fiero.

Fuel Economy:
I'm not sure if its the modifications to the engine or not but this car gets worse gas mileage than my 1986 Fiero. It gets about 22-24 mpg city and only 27-30 mpg highway. I've tried hypermiling with it but I could only get 30 mpg.

Style:
This car is much better looking than my '86 Fiero. The fastback body style gives it a 90's look but its still fairly boxy and it has clear body lines. I think it looks like an exotic like a Ferrari or Lotus, somewhat :? . I think the style of the Fiero stands out very well against most other cars. I also love how the "PONTIAC" lights up with the taillights at night, apparently the 86-88 Fiero GT and 91-93 Trans Am GTA are the only cars that have that.

Practicality:
It is indeed a small car like my '86 Fiero, and even smaller since it doesn't have a luggage rack. I can still fit the same amount of stuff in the trunk and in the passenger area, but I can't carry anything big with this car.

Fun:
Yup, go-kart handling in a tiny RWD car = fun :mrgreen:. The car is about as fun as my '86 Fiero, it might be slightly more fun since it looks better, it handles better, and because its just an overall better-made car. Both cars are a 5/5 though because they both put a smile on my face every time I drive them.

Reliability:
I fix this car, it works for a month, then it needs more work. Even with low miles this car needs almost constant attention to keep it running. It does work though, most of the time, and at least nothing major has ever broken and left me stranded.


People always wonder why I have 2 cars, but I always wonder why someone would spend $20,000 on a single car when they can get 2 or 3 cars for half the price. These cars are cheap, easy to fix, fun, look awesome, and aren't THAT bad in terms of practicality.
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Tinton
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 3086
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:01 pm
Cars: 91 MR2t, 88&86 Fieros
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Re: 1984-1987 Fiero and 1988 Fiero

Post by Tinton »

Lots of views, no replies. I'm not sure if I should make a write-up for the 2 :P.
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Bawked
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Re: 1984-1987 Fiero and 1988 Fiero

Post by Bawked »

Tinton wrote:Lots of views, no replies. I'm not sure if I should make a write-up for the 2 :P.
Haha do it son!
<3 fwd
Evicatos
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Re: 1984-1987 Fiero and 1988 Fiero

Post by Evicatos »

You forgot to rate it for sexability.
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Bawked
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Re: 1984-1987 Fiero and 1988 Fiero

Post by Bawked »

sexability: weaksauce....

i'd say you sitting on the passenger seat with the girl on top is your best bet :wink:
<3 fwd
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