Jammer -
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Originally Posted by Jammer
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cfg83: I had NO IDEA about the same plastic molding ideas and whatever being used in The Saturns! I have often wondered why GM never used the same idea for other cars, because it was a good idea when used on a well constructed frame. It was the small oil pan that got them in legal trouble (not on the non-GTs 4-bangers, they drove slow but fine except in bad weather). The only problem I had with my 85 fiero was the plastic still had a plastic look to it. I have pictures, heck my friend and I even made a professional VIDEO of the car to a song of (*gasp-cough*) Phil Collins. My video engineer friend worked at a large TV station and we could borrow their expensive video gear long before camcorders became popular. So I can look at the video and the photos and my car never had that waxed down glowing look of modern cars. But I bet they can do it now with newer technology and better paints etc.
One of the biggest drawbacks for me on the Fiero GT was not only the price of car insurance costing me MORE than my actual car payment, but the fact the car could not drive on snow one bit- I lived in Michigan, it snows there!! Even in heavy rain this car would spin off the road. I had many close calls with it due to lack of traction of the tires. It seemed the car was only good for nice dry weather days.
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I always loved the look of the Fiero but it didn't meet my MPG standard and it was out of production by the time I could afford a new car. I heard that the engine fires were fixed but the stigma was there to stay (ha ha, Fiero *does* mean fire, after all). It was a 2 seater with a 2600+ curb weight. It was definetly safe, but too heavy for good MPG. My 4 seater is 2400 lbs.
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy — Autoblog
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The cars themselves weren't that great. They were designed using a space frame construction covered with plastic body panels, a technique that General Motors had perfected with the Pontiac Fiero. The idea was that the plastic panels were so much cheaper to tool that Saturn would be able to do more frequent styling changes and that would keep it ahead of the competition. But that's not what happened.
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There's another frequent complaint about the gaps in the plastic being too wide, which implies low quality. But the plastic expands/contracts more than metal, so large gaps were needed.
My hope was that the Kit Car crowd would adopt Saturns the way they adopted the Fiero, but it never happened.
CarloSW2