The Pontiac Fiero is a 2-door fastback coupé / 2-door notchback coupé from Pontiac, built from 1983 to 1988, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. Under the bonnet: 151 CID Iron Duke engine#LR8. Hulki Aldikacti / George Milidrag drew it. The total made was 370,168.
How it came about
The Pontiac Fiero is a rear mid-engine, light economy car manufactured and marketed by Pontiac for model years 1984 – 1988. Originally designed as a small sports car, it was subsequently revised for production into an economical commuter car with modest performance aspirations. The Fiero was Pontiac's first two-seater since their 1926 to 1938 coupes, and the first mass-produced, rear mid-engine car by any American manufacturer. In addition to using 4- and 6-cylinder engines to help Pontiac meet America's 'CAFE' average fuel economy requirements, the Fiero's chassis and structure technology used non-load-bearing, composite body-panels, contributing to the car's light-weight and its unique selling proposition.
Its mild performance, reliability and safety issues were common points of criticism. Pontiac engineers subsequently modified the design over its life to resolve reliability and safety issues and to enhance performance in an attempt to reposition the two-seater closer to the implications of its sporty configuration. The Fiero 2M4 (two-seat, mid-engine, four-cylinder) placed on Car and Driver magazine's Ten Best list for 1984, and was the Official Pace Car of the Indianapolis 500 for 1984. A total of 370,168 Fieros were manufactured over five years' production. The Fiero was discontinued after 1988 after annual sales fell steadily.
The hardware
Power comes from 151 CID Iron Duke engine#LR8; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 1116 to. It shifts through a 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic 125 / THM-125 Automatic transmission / automatic / 4-speed Muncie Manual transmission / manual / 5-speed Getrag 282 transmission / Getrag 282 manual / 5-sp. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2373 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: its successor was the Pontiac Solstice; assembly was at Pontiac, Michigan (Pontiac Assembly), United States. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Fiat Uno, the Toyota 4Runner, the Peugeot 205 — show what else the money bought that year. Its Pontiac stablemates include the Pontiac 2+2 and the Pontiac 6.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Pontiac Fiero — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.