jayhawk, can you please explain more about the Fiero. Funnily enough, I am also looking for a Fiero
Well, I owned a 1984 Fiero, four speed manual. While the engine and transmission were rock solid, you could tell this was made during GM's "time frame" era, when they built cars that would last X amount of mile then completely fall apart, almost on cue.
The 4 cylinder engine was torquey, but gutless over 3,000 rpms. I mean, we are talking about 90 HP from a 2.5 liter. But, the Iron Duke is unkillable. I would go so far as to say it was one of GM's best engines ever.
The transmission was as I said, a manual. A four speed manual.
A FUCKING FOUR SPEED FROM THE YEAR 1984! Shifting it was like shifting a truck tranny, or more like rowing a boat, with about the same resistance, too. The clutch pedal was the equivalent of pushing down 200 pounds with your leg. I heard the automatic three speed was much worse, shifting with that long drawn out wheeze GM's are notorious for. I swear the transmission was designed not to be sporty and quick, but unoffensive to senior citizens.
The handling was...weird. It was damned quick and very precise around medium speed corners, terrifying on high speed corners when the rear decided it wanted to look and see what was going on up front, and not great in turns like hairpins ,where the engine would just give up and it would mildly project you out of it. The steering was quick, but that was because it was a manual rack from a Chevette. As was the front suspension. Let me repeat this again to you: it was from a Chevrolet Chevette. I believe the rear suspension was a hybrid from the front of a J body car of that era. Whatever the case, the two usually didn't agree with each other.
Now, the fit and finish of the Fiero was exceptional. GM had a special machine made just for the Fiero frame, and none of the body panels carried any load. Also, the people who built the car actually gave a shit about it, because they were a unique branch of GM. And it showed.
The interior was typical mid 80's GM, nothing too exciting, everything was laid out logically. The seat were very comfortable, and I can attest that for long drives it was a great car; it wasnt bothered going 100 mph on the Interstate, as it was relatively heavy.
Bottom line, it
could have been a contender. The original vision of the car was to have a 1.8 turbo with 150 HP and weigh quite a bit less. What we got was the result of a committee of bean counters. Think about it; the only other sports car from GM was the Corvette, this Fiero could have taken the world by storm and broke every bad stereotype about GM. Forever. But no, the designers sadly compromised on many things.
Still...it was, and still is a great looking car. The one element that was virtually left untouched by the bean counter was the exterior design, they really had a winner there, and it showed in the fall of 1983 when they hit the showrooms and rivaled the 1964 Mustang for initial sales.