Pontiac Fiero as first car? Thoughts...

She could get a loan on and buy a bitching Jag. I hear some jerk in Boston is selling his.
 
I owned a Fiero. So, I think you need to take me seriosuly when I say this:

DON'T BUY THIS CAR!!!! THIS IS A TERRIBLE VEHICLE FOR A FIRST CAR!!! IF YOU ENCOURAGE HER TO BUY THIS VEHICLE, YOU MUST HATE HER DEARLY. IF SHE BUYS THIS CAR, THEN THE SAYING "a FOOL AND THEIR MONEY ARE SOON PARTED" IS TRUE!!

DON'T BUY IT!

Have I made my point? :|
 
:+1:
God do not buy a fiero. A guy in my local car club has one and I swear it never runs. There is always something breaking and it is a bitch to work on.

For 1500 maybe an older Camero or at the opposite end of the spectrum a Civic hatch? Can have fun with both for cheep depending on what you are looking for. Also can you get an e30 for that?
 
Mustang?
 
Starlets were sold in the US until 1984 and all of those were rear wheel drive.
 
Wow thanks for all the responses guys. Some genuinely good suggestions here. I hadn't looked at CL yet but you already did some legwork on that and I see some good offers. A old Merc would be pretty cool, rare, and reliable... and a pickup truck would be a good little runabout as well. I think i'd like to get her in FWD first... but with decent tires and a couple snow-covered-parking-lot fun trials I think she should be fine. We don't get much snow here in Boise anyway, that usually goes to the higher elevations.

As stated in my original post I don't think the Fiero is a good first car and i've reinforced this to her multiple times. But it is a cool looking car, for cheap, so she wants to look. And I see little harm in letting her look at it (or maybe that would cause even more harm lol). BTW that MR2 ad on CL is gone. MR2's are good cars but slow... which is good for a first driver. But we aren't looking for a mid-engined car by any means, there just happened to be one in her price range she was interested in.

Anyhow we couldn't look at the Fiero tonight but we checked out the Scoupe. The body is not in good nick with quite a few dings and scratches but the paint is in overall good condition, no bad rust or oxidation of paint. The front left fender was apparently hit while parked and buckled the hood a bit, and the hood being unlatched wasn't noticed apparently and so it flew up and cracked the windshield in the lower corners when they drove it after it was hit. You can still see out and it should be fine for a couple months easy. The driver door doesn't open all the way because its hitting the front left fender so that would require some work. He said he tried to push it in the proper position but he isn't a body guy he works on engines. The interior isn't too terrible but the dash has been torn apart for a stereo and the turn indicator stalk is broken. The guy said he would install a CD player he has sitting around and get a new indicator stalk if we were to buy it. He said the car is suffering from some electrical problems which are not his area... the interior lights don't work or are missing (didn't get a good look it was night) and I don't think there were any reverse lights while in reverse gear, but they could of just been really dim. The headlights work (but suck compared to my Z's HIDs) and the hazards worked...

I test drove it probably 8 miles or so, town and freeway and it felt pretty good, 5 speed manual changed gears nicely, no problems finding gears or grinding... the clutch felt good and didn't notice any slipping or jerking or clutch burning smells. The idle sounds good and it drives nicely... Steering is good, no slack or knocking or anything. Drove straight without touching the wheel although he did put new front tires on it recently. Front brake pads had about 60% left and it stopped well (no ABS i'll have to teach sis how to not lock up the fronts).

Only concern is mid RPM's full throttle was giving a hissing type sound when the cylinders fired, sounds like a possible exhaust leak, but i'm not an engine guy and don't really know. So other than that everything seemed good mechanically. I let the engine oil warm up before doing the little amount of WOT action so don't bark at me for it.

I told the guy I would let him know in a couple days as we're still shopping. He wants $600 for it which I think is too much. I would probably offer $400 and see what we can hash out from there. Since it needs some body work, a new front windshield, and possibly engine/exhaust repair if that is indeed the problem. I will take it to a shop I trust to have them check it out first.

I still will take her to go look at a few other cars first, including those listed in CL.

Thanks for all the help guys.
 
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syncview said:
RWD Toyota Starlet!
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A Starlet? Are you mad? Good luck finding one that hasn't rusted to bits in the bottom of Lake Okeechobee or is sitting in some guy's yard in rural Saskatchewan with a sticker of $3000 despite the lack of a motor and wheels because the shrewd bastard knows it's a "collector's item" and won't let whackjob enthusiasts get the best of him.

:p
 
Bah, compared to the AW the SW is heavy and just not as fun in the twisties. I should know, I had a N/A SW21 that I thought was very nice, right up until I drove an '87 with busted suspension, and I was blown away. The SW is definitely better in a straight line and over long distances, to be sure, but then it's less sports and more GT.
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I just really like the looks of it.
 
Nissan Micra. Cause it's crap.
 
prizrak said:
I just really like the looks of it.
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I'll give you that. Heck, that's the main reason I bought it. Every time I walked up to it from a distance I just stared, which I wouldn't do with an AW or a ZZW. But which I still do with the Jaaaaaag....

matt2000 said:
Nissan Micra. Cause it's crap.
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Location: Boise, Idaho - USA

Try again.
 
I guess a Geo Metro would be an option, but those are probably crappier than Micras.

I've always liked the looks of Saturn coupes and Geo Storms..

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[YOUTUBE]a9YuG2Ge4SQ[/YOUTUBE]

I thought this was a nice comparo.
 
Labcoatguy said:
Location: Boise, Idaho - USA

Try again.
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I thought as much, but no thread asking for car suggestions for a girl can go past without a mention of the mighty Micra. :p
 
Fortunately no Micra here! But now they brought the Nissan Cube stateside... ugh... I hate it.
 
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