quote Originally posted by datacop: Really. Fiero's are totally impractical. There's no trunk space to carry anything but a few bags of groceries.. and never ice cream.. There's no room for anyone except one passenger. They have tiny gas tanks so they can't go long distances.. They aren't the most fuel efficient cars out there.. They are under powered.. The plastic body panels hide any "true" problems the cars may have.. There are better handling, better performing, more efficient cars out there. If you have to come to an internet forum trying to justify or quantify why you should get a Fiero over car brand X, Y or Z... then No, A Fiero isn't the car for you. You'll get tired of all it's limitations, tired of throwing money at it, tired of it leaving you stranded.. and you'll grow to hate it and the last thread you'll be posting is how much of a POS it is, how much of a loser we all are for liking them.. and how you're leaving us to buy a Civic. We don't own Fiero's because we can justify them.. we own them cause we WANT them.. I have 3.

I do realize how small a fiero is, I never have passengers in my car, and I don't need a fuel efficient car. I just want a fun car to drive around. Later in life I will buy a bigger car that can hold groceries (and kids) when the time comes. But for now I'm a young kid who wants to have fun. I WANT to own a fiero, I would just like to learn more about them before I get them because, yes, I know how they can break down on you sometimes. My boyfriends fiero has done that to us before and my firebird was the same way, so that will be nothing new to me. And I know with a fiero I will be working on it a lot, either fixing it up or making it better, which can help me learn about cars and how to fix them up, which is something I've always wanted to learn. My boyfriend will help me fix it up as well (he says he's only going to tell me what needs to be done and how to do it, not do it for me), plus I will have this forum for any questions I may have. My choice of my next car is either a firebird, fiero, or a WRX, but I've already ruled out the firebird and WRX. The firebird's don't give me as much pleasure when I look at them compared to when I look at a fiero. And all around I think fieros would be way fun to drive and work on, making it my own.

And if anything, I will never buy a honda. I don't like how any of them look.

quote Originally posted by FireGirl: My question would be: should I buy a better Firebird or get a Fiero? I know you all will say Fiero but why? My boyfriend has a Fiero and he's always working on it (mostly just being mods) but it's the only impression of Fieros that I have: always being worked on. Are they reliable cars?

That was your first question.. are Fiero's reliable.. Which is why I answered in the way that I did.. if you want a reliable car, get a Honda Civic. Now I realize that I should have qualified my answer a bit better than I did in the first place as all of the sudden my ratings bar showed up (after 7 years) being half red... But I stand by what I said..

All to often people come to these forums.. full of people that love their Fiero's, work on them constantly.. knows the inner workings of them inside and out, intimately familiar with all of their little quirks and nuances (like a distinct lack of factory cup holders) and ask if an almost 30 year old car would be a good daily driver for someone with little or no mechanical skills, tools or access to either. Everyone here sings the praises of the Fiero.. and rightfully so.. we know and love our cars and wouldn't trade them for the world..

No, as a general rule of thumb, Fiero's aren't reliable.. No, they aren't convenient, No, they aren't whatever.. but they are our cars and we love them just the same.. we drive them not because we have to, but because we WANT to.

Of course, there's always exceptions to the rule, there are owners who drive their cars daily as their only mode of transportation.. there are owners who get 40+ mpg, etc, etc, etc.. But they are able to do that BECAUSE they KNOW their cars and are able to work on, maintain, or other wise KEEP them being that reliable.

quote Originally posted by FireGirl: I do realize how small a fiero is, I never have passengers in my car, and I don't need a fuel efficient car. I just want a fun car to drive around. Later in life I will buy a bigger car that can hold groceries (and kids) when the time comes. But for now I'm a young kid who wants to have fun. I WANT to own a fiero, I would just like to learn more about them before I get them because, yes, I know how they can break down on you sometimes. My boyfriends fiero has done that to us before and my firebird was the same way, so that will be nothing new to me. And I know with a fiero I will be working on it a lot, either fixing it up or making it better, which can help me learn about cars and how to fix them up, which is something I've always wanted to learn. My boyfriend will help me fix it up as well (he says he's only going to tell me what needs to be done and how to do it, not do it for me), plus I will have this forum for any questions I may have.

EXCELLENT! Your mind is already made up.. and you're going to get one for the RIGHT reason.. you want one.. As long as you get one for that reason, everything else will fall into place.

Welcome to the family

I do see your side and thank you for that. I know my mind has changed so many times during this post but that's how I am, indecisive. For now, I would like it to be my toy car to slowly work on, and I will have another car as a back up, until I really get to know my car and know how to work on it and all that fun stuff. Then I will make it my daily driver (in the summer at least, unless I move). Of course, I'm sure I will always have another car in case one breaks down, if I have more than one passenger, and of course, for when I get older and need the space. But for now, I want a fiero to have fun in and one that can teach me how to fix up a car. I'm pretty excited to make it look how I want it too, although this is all going to be so much later in the future

quote Originally posted by AWDimpreza-L: I work at a subaru dealer (and own subarus) and let me tell you, the wrx transmission is as strong as you want it to be, just dont drive like a retard, doing 5K sidesteps and trying to "burn " all 4 tires, and dont hammer on the shifter, its not a racecar, its a quick, reliable, pumped up econocar. As for the 2.0 eating rod bearings, yes they seem to spin them fairly often, but we've found that most of them are run on mobil1, and the fact that NOBODY checks thier oil, and cant understand that most turbocharged cars use oil! As for the wiring problem, I have no Idea what you are talking about, Ive never heard of or seen that problem, and my dealership is the largest in the midwest, I'm a member on nasioc, and I-club, and Ive never even read about that problem, so you must be mistaken. We have many 250K+ mile wrxs that roll through, and two 190K cars that our techs own (brothers) and not to mention my 96 impreza, which is a turbo'd n/a, and has 245K miles, original everything, runs like a champ, and made 100 more WHP than it was ever designed to. As for subarus being reliable, hell yes they are, we have an SVX that comes into the shop once or twice a year for maint that has 743K miles, no joke. My impreza now only pulls winter duty, as its gotten pretty beat up over the years, and I have the fiero and motorcycle to drive in the summer.

Can only go based on local evidence. The WRX was rarely sold as a new vehicle here, far more frequently it was sold imported from japan. And as I said, people see the rally car heritage and treat them as such. Same thing happens to the Lancer Evolution - trying to find a clean Evo is virtually impossible now.

The wiring loom thing I heard from an automotive electrician, it was apparently the early Legacy that was prone for it.

Things are as reliable as you want to make them, good maintenance counts for a lot. The trouble is for every good, well maintained high mileage car there's going to be many more that are beaten. That applies to any car mind you, Subarus and Fieros alike

quote Originally posted by Carcenomy: Can only go based on local evidence. The WRX was rarely sold as a new vehicle here, far more frequently it was sold imported from japan. And as I said, people see the rally car heritage and treat them as such. Same thing happens to the Lancer Evolution - trying to find a clean Evo is virtually impossible now.

This is exactly why every CRX/del Sol I have looked at here, has 3rd gear going out, and the clutch feels horrible. Someone saw a movie, and started driving everywhere in 3rd gear at 8000 RPM. But of course, everyone still wants a mountain of cash for their cars.

FireGirl, this is Tony. Haven't seen you in a minute. The folks here will get you in the right Fiero for you. Don't let anyone here deture you. You have the Inland Northwests help, and there is no better place to be.

Tony