CNN lists a 280Z in top 10 cheap collector cars.

[GeeZ]

I hardly ever agree with anything on CNN, but I will agree with the Z.

[Rolling Parts]

Almost all cars in the 80's had bad interiors and I never thought the fieros was all that bad. Thats just a matter of opinion. If the cars you drove were bad in the rain blame the tires because Ive had 2 and 4 diff set of tires and the only time it sucked was on the bald tires that my first car came with. How are the headlights dumb? Because they had pop up lights? Lots of cars have done that. And since when is 46/54% weight distribution horrible. Most people would consider that rather good. I beat a few porsche 944's and 80's rx7's with my stock 2.8 in autocross. Ill give you that it had some blind spots but they arnt huge. They arnt really any larger then say a miata or solstice with the top up.

 

 

GM had particularly bad interiors in the 80's, I've never heard anyone rave about them.

I drove a brand new Fiero in the rain and the front end hydroplaned badly.

The headlights are like 2 huge drag chutes that pop up right into your view.

The Chevy Citation power plant and suspension is not top-drawer engineering design.

The weight distribution (as I remember it) was more like 40/60.

It was not just the blind spots, it was also lack of usable space and functionality.

 

It was a car that looked interesting, I just don't think GM had their heart in making a serious competitor to the other 2 seat GM sports offering. YMMV.

[klork]

GM had particularly bad interiors in the 80's, I've never heard anyone rave about them.

I drove a brand new Fiero in the rain and the front end hydroplaned badly.

The headlights are like 2 huge drag chutes that pop up right into your view.

The Chevy Citation power plant and suspension is not top-drawer engineering design.

The weight distribution (as I remember it) was more like 40/60.

It was not just the blind spots, it was also lack of usable space and functionality.

 

It was a car that looked interesting, I just don't think GM had their heart in making a serious competitor to the other 2 seat GM sports offering. YMMV.

 

The S30 headlights arent exactly stellar for being aerodynamic either and with a drag coefficient of .34 its miles ahead of the i believe .467 an S30 is or even the .385 the 280zx is. Its was designed for style either you like em or you dont and allot of people did. No the suspension isnt the most sophisticated but it was one of the few affordable cars with independant suspension on all 4 corners and it did its job rather well. Cornering g's of .84 was considered quite good in the 80's. And since when do you buy a mid engine sports car for usable space and functionality. Your not buying a station wagon or a hatchback its a 2 passenger sports car.

[hoov100]

Dude, if I could get my hands on a Fiero GT for a decent price, I would $natch it up in a heartbeat. Those cars look awesome with chop-tops:

 

 

That much windshield angle on the z at that roof height, would look awesome on an s30.

[jc052685]

And then there is always this option....

 

 

 

[240z8]

That much windshield angle on the z at that roof height, would look awesome on an s30.

 

Yeah, that would look great. I was thinking that and did a quick photoshop. It's not very good, but what do you expect for 15 minutes of work? I don't think I got the window angle right though.

 

[klork]

Is say that looks pretty sweet. So whos gonna do it?

[Rolling Parts]

The S30 headlights arent exactly stellar for being aerodynamic either and with a drag coefficient of .34 its miles ahead of the i believe .467 an S30 is or even the .385 the 280zx is. Its was designed for style either you like em or you dont and allot of people did. No the suspension isnt the most sophisticated but it was one of the few affordable cars with independant suspension on all 4 corners and it did its job rather well. Cornering g's of .84 was considered quite good in the 80's. And since when do you buy a mid engine sports car for usable space and functionality. Your not buying a station wagon or a hatchback its a 2 passenger sports car.

 

The Z was a lot more than style (every sports car had a style). The Z was finally a car with dependability, serviceability, and could win races.

The Fiero on the other hand was hobbled by GM Citation parts, hard to work on, and I would not call it a "mid engine sports car" because people who owned mid engine sports cars did not consider the Fiero to be one. Moving a Citation FWD package to the rear of a car made it a RWD Citation. Sacrificing all usable space without gaining performance is not an engineering triumph or a selling point.

 

I thought the Fiero was an "almost car", GM stopped short of going the extra effort to make it a winner. I just saw one yesterday on the road with it's headlights wired permanently in the up position.

[klork]

The Z was a lot more than style (every sports car had a style). The Z was finally a car with dependability, serviceability, and could win races.

The Fiero on the other hand was hobbled by GM Citation parts, hard to work on, and I would not call it a "mid engine sports car" because people who owned mid engine sports cars did not consider the Fiero to be one. Moving a Citation FWD package to the rear of a car made it a RWD Citation. Sacrificing all usable space without gaining performance is not an engineering triumph or a selling point.

 

I thought the Fiero was an "almost car", GM stopped short of going the extra effort to make it a winner. I just saw one yesterday on the road with it's headlights wired permanently in the up position.

 

 

There is almost nothing on the fiero that is hard to work on. Between the 2 that I have had I have taken apart almost everything on the car and it is much easier to got to things then on most modern cars. Hell to remove the engine and trans its just 10 bolts then disconect hoses and wires. Trust me just because it has the front suspension of a citation doesnt make it a rwd citation. I have a friend who has an 80 citation and it is one of the weakest looking unibody i have ever seen. The Fiero on the other hand has what is called a space frame is GM used it to prove the technology for the vette. Yes headlight gearboxes are prone to failure but there are rebuild kits that are about $50 so its a fairly inexspensive fix. As to it not being a mid engine sports car because other people who own mid engine sports cars is just rediculous. Most mid engine sports cars are ultra high dollar cars owned buy stuck up people who think if it doesnt have a prancing horse or a raging bull on the front its not a proper sports car. These people would call a ZR1 or Z06 vette crap even tho it would beat their ultra expensive and finicky sports car.

[19762802+2]

Is say that looks pretty sweet. So whos gonna do it?

 

Already been done or still being done.

 

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/645045

[klork]

That is badass. Looks awsome

[rossman]

I'm going to agree with Rolling Parts here. Fiero's were built from GM's spare parts bin. The engine and drive train were from the lovely Phoenix/Citation - except mounted in the back with the steering capability of the wheels locked out. The front suspension was from the even more lovable Chevette. My mom owned an '80 Phoenix . That thing was the biggest POS. It lived at the dealer. I think we had the transmission replaced 3 times over it's life. The carb had a bad habit of dying in a turn if you tried to accelerate. I'm also not a big fan of the SHO. Ugly, very ugly. Seems like a collectors car would at least have to have good looks.

[hoov100]

Already been done or still being done.

 

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/645045

 

:hail::hail:

[Rolling Parts]

There is almost nothing on the fiero that is hard to work on. Between the 2 that I have had I have taken apart almost everything on the car and it is much easier to got to things then on most modern cars. Hell to remove the engine and trans its just 10 bolts then disconect hoses and wires. Trust me just because it has the front suspension of a citation doesnt make it a rwd citation. I have a friend who has an 80 citation and it is one of the weakest looking unibody i have ever seen. The Fiero on the other hand has what is called a space frame is GM used it to prove the technology for the vette. Yes headlight gearboxes are prone to failure but there are rebuild kits that are about $50 so its a fairly inexspensive fix. As to it not being a mid engine sports car because other people who own mid engine sports cars is just rediculous. Most mid engine sports cars are ultra high dollar cars owned buy stuck up people who think if it doesnt have a prancing horse or a raging bull on the front its not a proper sports car. These people would call a ZR1 or Z06 vette crap even tho it would beat their ultra expensive and finicky sports car.

 

 

I'm glad that there are still parts. Yea, I thought that the 2M4 had the "test mule" look to it so I can believe that it was a technology testbed for the Corvette. If they had started with the cleaner looks and better power of the later V6 cars then maybe they would have had better success. I was completely underwhelmed driving the 2M4.

 

Well, if you define "mid-engine" as having just the crankshaft of a transverse engine located between the axles then lots of cars can claim to be mid-engined. I'm not so sure that the Fiero's engines were ever "mid" enough to actually get better balance to the car. The RWD S130 had a 50/50 weight distribution with a front engined cars so I don't see the Fiero had any advantage gained by moving the FWD package to the rear.

 

It's an interesting car and a snapshot of GM from the 80's. It made the list.

[klork]

I'm glad that there are still parts. Yea, I thought that the 2M4 had the "test mule" look to it so I can believe that it was a technology testbed for the Corvette. If they had started with the cleaner looks and better power of the later V6 cars then maybe they would have had better success. I was completely underwhelmed driving the 2M4.

 

Well, if you define "mid-engine" as having just the crankshaft of a transverse engine located between the axles then lots of cars can claim to be mid-engined. I'm not so sure that the Fiero's engines were ever "mid" enough to actually get better balance to the car. The RWD S130 had a 50/50 weight distribution with a front engined cars so I don't see the Fiero had any advantage gained by moving the FWD package to the rear.

 

It's an interesting car and a snapshot of GM from the 80's. It made the list.

 

I never drove a duke powered car but I could see how at 90hp it could ruin the image of the car. I will admit that I never really liked the 84 or 85 cars looks. Out of the 3 front bumpers the aero front nose used on the Indy GT and SE was by far the best looking. The mini vette nose was alright and the the pointy nose and the 1'st 2 model years never thrilled me.

The biggest handling issue that the Fiero has is drop throttle over steer. Which is when your in the car and your pushing really hard and you suddenly let off the throttle the car will very suddenly spin around on you and there is almost no way to save it. Basicly you have to go against instinct and keep your foot in it. Other then that its typical production car that pushes when you drive it hard. It would make an absolutly terrible drift car if someone ever thought about it.