Is the Pontiac fiero a good first car to own?

1988 pontiac fiero formula?

• ok i have found a pontiac fiero formul, (Year 1988) it is an AT, 4cyl, and it gets 28 mpg highway i think, i was wondering would this be a good first car i have always liked feiros ...show more

• Answer:

  Most importantly, if you buy a Fiero, you will need to be a decent mechanic, or ready to become one. They need attention, and if you plan to hire a mechanic the bills will get out of hand quickly. If you need advice on a repair/maintenance problem, the Pennock forum is a great resource, lots of people there who collectively know these cars better than GM does. But don't consider a Fiero unless you're willing to work on it yourself. The parts themselves are generally pretty cheap compared to a newer car. But you'll be buying them pretty often especially early on when you haven't got all the issues ironed out yet. [edit] Check for rust up against the wheel wells underneath the trunk carpet. If it's rusted there, the frame underneath is rotten, walk away. Also keep in mind the car's history. Most of them have been handed off through several owners over the years, and some of them may have been negligent with maintenance, and may have done some clumsy hacks when they repaired things. Every Fiero owner complains about previous owners. ---- The Formula was a no-frills performance options package. All Formulas are V6s, so if it's a 4cyl it's not a Formula. They typically have fewer creature comforts than the GTs, and they use the notchback body style. From a performance standpoint an 88 Formula is one of the best models, because the 88 has a better rear suspension and the Formulas are generally lighter than GTs (but the weight of auto trans will offset that). Fieros are faster with a manual trans, and the manual also gets much better highway mileage. Downside with the 88 is the availability of parts for the suspension. It was only ever used on that 1 car, so some parts are hard to get and expensive. Front wheel bearings and brake rotors I believe are big ticket items, but I've never owned one. 84-87 models use parts that are in common with other cars, and there were a lot more of them made. You're not likely to get 28mpg highway with the auto, but it's not real far off if you don't drive too fast. I get about 25-26 w/ my 86, driving 60-65mph, and my lockup TCC is disconnected. If I had lockup I can see cracking 27mpg highway on a good day, not going too fast. If you want to cruise at 75+ the auto will guzzle gas, it's not geared for it. The advantage of the auto (besides driver preference) is reliability. The manuals have more issues, the THM-125C auto trans is known for it's build quality. Also, manual trans cars tend to get abused and overrevved. IMO Fieros aren't any more prone to catch fire than any other 25 year old car. There was a recall on 1984 model 4cyl Fieros, where a combination of issues led to some fires. Those issues are irrelevant today because they were all modified to fix it, and it never applied to V6 models. There were about 300 cases, not a large pct of the population, but fire gets people excited so the car has been tagged with that reputation ever since. A Fiero that catches fire today is for some reason that is not particular to Fieros, just a general maintenance problem.