This is kind of a fun question because I've always wondered. Fieros seem to be known now as problematic cars, at least where i come from... They are trash talked for reliability issues. I, more or less, understand why people say these things based on the issues ive had with my own. But were fieros always like this? Out of the factory ? Mine seems to have held up great the past 109k miles it had before I got it, but the past 3k miles Ive put on it already has required alot of new parts. Back in they day, were fieros more trusty?
------------------ 87' GT 5 speed 😤 16 years old My IG for daily motivation: Alpha_Photos
Just my view. 80's cars weren't the best. Also, modern technology should be better. That having been said, they only had minor issues when new. There are a few oddities, being a mid-engine car, but it's almost 30 years old now. New was a long time ago. If you bought any used car, it would probably have issues. I've bought my Fieros out of town, and driven them back without breaking down. Several were driven more than 5 hours home. A lot depends on the care that was taken of a car before you bought it.
Think of it this way: of the other cars from the same era, how many are still being used as daily drivers?
I've had more problem with sensors that are supposed to detect problems in my 2008 Sky than I've had with my Fiero (or actual problems with my Sky). Neither is a daily driver for me, but until last Fall the Fiero was my daughter's daily driver for a couple years (she went off to college and the Fiero did not).
Modern cars rely heavily on software and sensors, neither of which I have found to be particularly reliable.
What Fieros are is 30 years old. And any car 30 years old is going to have age-related issues- anything plastic or rubber is going to start drying out and failing- connectors, hoses, insulation, clips, yadda. If you expect otherwise you might end up frustrated.
[This message has been edited by lorennerol (edited 02-18-2016).]
Triumph, Lotus, Ford, Chevy, Audi, NSU, Mercedes Nissan.. The Fiero is in top of the heap. Worst part is the irritating emergency brake and rear calipers. My 85 GT engine has never been apart, 140K. Original coolant hoses. This is reliability we're talking. lol
[This message has been edited by hobbywrench (edited 02-20-2016).]
Having put close to 300,000 miles on stock and swapped Fieros since my first Fiero in the mid-90's, I have found that the Fiero is as reliable as any other car from the era. As with any machine, maintenance is the key to reliability.....
IMO a big part of reliability is how you take care of your car. I have had 2 Hondas, 1 Saturn, several Pontiacs and 2 Nissans. My Nissans have been the best so far. I bought one of the first V6 Fieros new in 1985. My original Fiero from1985 was bulletproof. It did overheat once and was fixed under recall, I also replaced the cold start injector at 5 or 6k miles. Other than that, I had no issues for 6 1/2 years as a daily driver and 60,000 miles. I was ok about oil changes and maintenance but not as faithful as I am now. I drive spiritedly but I don't abuse my cars and I don't let other people drive them. The two I have gotten used are ok, this one is better than the first used one, now my issue is finding a decent mechanic.
------------------ JJFieroFan 85 2m6 (85-91) should have kept it 85 2m6 (CLONE) (00-14) sold to a friend 87 Fiero GT (13-now) 07 Nissan Murano SL AWD (07-now) 15 Nissan Juke S AWD (15-now)
I know what you mean. Lots of people, even "knowledgable" car guys, kinda turn their nose up at Fiero's. They assume they are turds, and ones that have been neglected probably are. Overall, for the period, I don't think they are poorly built or unreliable. I have been in and around other 80's cars that are assumed more reliable or prestigious then fiero's, and I think they stack up just fine. Have you ever been in an 80's Ferrari? They're horrible.
Triumph, Lotus, Ford, Chevy, Audi, NSU, Mercedes Nissan.. The Fiero is in top of the heap. Worst part is the irritating emergency brake and rear calipers. My 85 GT engine has never been apart, 140K. Original coolant hoses. This is reliability we're talking. lol
I agree that the Fiero is on or near the top of all those other cars but in my opinion, they are a full notch below most Japanese cars, especially Honda, Nissan, Mazda and especially my Toyota 22re pickup. (385k miles now and still going strong) I have two Fiero's (85 & 86 GT's) but they don't come close. And believe me, I not only take care of them, I baby them. The drivetrains in Fiero's are very good. It's the little stuff that gives the Fiero's a bad reputation for reliability. These "little things" get amplified to the general public so because so many of them get abused. I have never seen a car so abused! Well, I take that back...many an old vw bug were beaten and battered. Kit
[This message has been edited by Kitskaboodle (edited 02-22-2016).]
Bought our 88 GT back in the early 90's has approx 190k on it and never really had much issues with the car when we drove it daily (it doesn't get driven much anymore). I did put in a 3.4l a couple years ago, but it really didn't need it, but other then that mostly just general maintenance and consumable parts.
A lot of "general" Fieros that you see today have been beat to crap by a PO or they couldn't afford to fix it and just did hacks to keep it going and as such become problematic.
Originally posted by Kitskaboodle: I agree that the Fiero is on or near the top of all those other cars but in my opinion, they are a full notch below most Japanese cars, especially Honda, Nissan, Mazda and especially my Toyota 22re pickup. (385k miles now and still going strong)
Politics have done horrors for the reliability of domestic cars. The FWD and emissions regulations are part of these problems. I have owned most makes of production vehicles. It was common to put half a million miles on vehicles, years ago, before Jappanese cars came here. Good luck, now. Checker cabs often had more than 1 million miles on them, before emissions prevented continued use. I personally owned a '77 Dodge van that ran fine to over 700,000 miles. Everyone has an opinion, but I've never had good luck with Jappanese vehicles. The Mazda3, 626, and Millenium Edition Mazdas were terrible, always catching fire, blowing coolant, and stranding me. The Honda Civic & Accord seem to be poorly assembled, at best, but I'm told this was just a problem with those assembled in Mexico. The Toyota pickups were laughable as work vehicles--except that some friends of mine died, due to the fragility of one. My Tacoma had unending transmission issues. I had an Altima, and later a 350Z. Bad engines. None of these Jappanese cars made it to 100,000 miles. They eventually went back to the dealership. I've owned Korean vehicles, also. I've had them here and abroad. I'm done with Asian vehicles.
I was a vehicle tester for a while. I got to drive all sorts of vehicles before and after production. Really the only mechanical problem I had with a domestic vehicle was that the shift lever came loose in a Camaro. There were constant design and mechanical issues with Jappanese vehicles. Assembly issues were common. We broke welds, had transmissions break loose, experienced electrical issues, you name it. Some issues were fixed pre-production, and others became recalls, later on. Perhaps I'm just the wrong size.
That having been said, I understand that, when Pontiac started producing the final GTO, the original designer was at a meeting of GTO enthusiasts. One of the enthusiasts commented that ”they sure don't make them like they used to”, to which the designer replied, ”Thank God!”.
When doing comparisons, it's probably best to keep them in the same era. So, 80's Fieros to 80's whatever else. So, the Camaros, MR2s, Civics, etc of the day. How have the other cars of that era held up, compared to the Fiero?
Toyota pickups laughable? Man, that hurts. I have to admit that the "best" Toyota pickups came later in 89-95. (we are only talking the 4 cylinder variety) This is when they got fuel injection. I also agree (and you brought it up) that they are not super heavy duty work trucks but I can tell you that for what they are, they are one hell of a truck! Don't take my word for it. Ask your neighbors, friends, heck even strangers how many miles they have on their 22re and what do they think of them. Kit
I don't know about your specific model. My truck isn't for show. Some friends tried Toyotas as work trucks. The trucks self-destruct. The frame breaks, the transmission dies, or something else breaks in the drive train. That towing of a skid-steer in the commercial? We tried it. It works on a paved level surface. We had the truck smoking going uphill. The brakes don't hold downhill. Toyota even provided a vehicle with a ”tow package”. We compared to Dodge Dakota, Chevy S10, GMC Jimmy, and Ford Ranger (made by Mazda). Nissan didn't participate, because their Frontier died in the tow test the previous time. Actually, we tore the tranny out of the Ford Ranger in the tow test, also. The S10 had some stability issues in turns. We recommended better ball joints and brake bias for the S10. The Toyota needed better brakes, better ball joints, better tranny cooling, better tranny mounts, better shock mounts, less flex in the frame, better frame welds, more power, better shocks, lots of stuff. Toyota was trying to convince us to use their trucks for hauling livestock.
We did the scenic route through the hills coming back from Norfolk, VA.
From what I've seen anything considered "unreliable" about a Fiero is due to excessive rust, or long term poor storage. Things that wont happen if a car is taken care of or maintained. At this point they are old enough, they either were taken care of or they weren't. Or they were hacked /rigged. Same as any car. Perhaps the occasional bad ICM.
[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 02-24-2016).]
I bought an 88 Fiero Formula back around the year 2000, which would make may ownership of the car 16 years. I had it towed to a friends place ( J.G. in Penn.) for a complete rebuild. This included the Fiero Stores hi-performance engine kit. ( Cam, pistons, etc ) The exhaust manifolds have been ported, and I semi-reciently vented out the hood. This really improved cooling.Since then this car runs excellent, and always has. I relocated to Georgia from Jersey, and drove her down here. I drive the car pretty hard and have a good time with it. She'll purr smooth at 100 in 5th. ( I don't do that often) I let other people drive it to experience the thrill, and most have a lot of fun doing it. Only things I do regularly is burn good gas and clean Castrol oil. I love this car and get great comments everywhere I go. She runs as good today as the day I pulled her out of Jim's garage, 16 years ago. So if you want to talk reliability, as long as I got gas, may Fiero wants to go.
I think keeping these cars driven at regular intervals does wonders for the ones that aren't daily drivers. Buying a lower mileage Fiero that was in storage or hardly driven then turning it into a daily driver will eventually have issues to correct- brakes, sensors, front exhaust manifold cracks, ignition, bouncing tach to name a few. But once puzzled out, the reliability is usually very good. At least, that's my experience.
BR's,
Mark
------------------ 86 SE V6 Auto 65 Tempest 400 CID 2008 G6 GT "Street" Coupe 2005 Buick 3.6 Rendezvous 2001 Olds Silhouette (AKA The Band Van)
This is kind of a fun question because I've always wondered. Fieros seem to be known now as problematic cars, at least where i come from... They are trash talked for reliability issues. I, more or less, understand why people say these things based on the issues ive had with my own. But were fieros always like this? Out of the factory ? Mine seems to have held up great the past 109k miles it had before I got it, but the past 3k miles Ive put on it already has required alot of new parts. Back in they day, were fieros more trusty?
It depends on who "knows them to be problematic." Do they own Fieros? Do the ones who trash talk it have any personal experience with them? "Great past 109k miles" before you started having issues recently sounds pretty reliable and now it's getting old. The older something gets, the more maintenance it will need.
It's no more or less reliable than any GM vehicle of it's age. If they aren't driven regularly, they will deteriorate just from sitting.
