I just got my new copy of Motor Trend and when straight to the article on the Solstice. Here is a direct quote.

"Neither Dodge nor Pontiac have a history of small sports cars (hold that letter for the editor, the Pontiac Fiero was designed to be a "commuter" car)."

Was it really designed as a commuter car in 88? I thought they went to a sports car idea after 84 with the intro of the GT and the V6.

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AIM: DR650SE
2 Black 86 SE's V-6 4-SPD

they're right... it was originally thought of to be a commuter car. but... as you can tell, it ended up taking on some more changes. I thought i read someplace once that the mustang was designed to be a small car with good gas mileage.

Must people have never been in a sports car to know the differents. The guy from Motortrend most like drives a Volvo everyday to work. "Now that is a true sports car" I love my Fiero and I would have to say it is the best example of a true sports car I have ever driven. There is nothing commuter about it..."does not have four seats, (Firebird does),is not front or rear engine!(Every other car made), and never have comericals that said HI (Neon).

Well, as someone who read the automotive press quite voraciously in the early eighties (junior high car geek) I rememberevery article referring to the Fiero as a "commuter car". That description had nothing to do with the magazine's view of the vehicle, but rather GM's focus on it.

as i read it then they had to get "commuter" in the car description to get a go from gm, but were hoping to bring out more of the sport car aspects later.

The worst thing about Fiero ownership was hearing people claim it wasn't a sports car.

From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: sports car
Function: noun
Date: 1928
: a low, small, usually 2-passenger automobile designed for quick response, easy maneuverability, and high-speed driving

Philphine's right that the Fiero project team sold the car to GM management as a commuter car. But no matter what Motor Tripe says, the Fiero is a sports car.

[This message has been edited by ChadMan (edited 04-04-2002).]

How many active posts are we going to have for this topic?

Fiero was designed as an economical sports car, and sold to GM brass as a "commuter car" to get it approved. The original cummuter-Fiero was going to have something like a 1.8L engine and push 50 MPG. That was dumped in the early 80's in favor of the 2.5 Duke as oil problems had subsided some. basically the folks at Pontiac always wanted a two seater sports car, and saw this as their opportunity to get one.

Also... is the Solstice any more of a sports car? It uses a variety of parts bin parts... including the rear Aztek suspension and the j-body Cavalier platform. Oh well... the masses are going to think what they want to.

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John
AOLIM: Fformula88

1988 Fiero Formula
1985 Fiero SE 2M6
1997 Ford Probe SE (I gotta have a daily driver)