the pontiac fiero

[ecofiero151ci]

since this website about fuel economy, i would like to talk about a car that changed the game in fuel economy and sport.

the pontiac fiero is a car that changed the game of sport and fuel economy.

back in 1979, the fuel crisis was hitting north america hard. the guys at pontiac had to develop a car that would grab the market of car buyers and show them that you didnt have to sacrafice fuel economy for a performance car. and in 1984 they released the pontiac fiero as a economic commuter car. it had the engine in the back not just for handling benifits, but was also used to make a more aerodynamic car. it had a 2.5, 151ci 4cyl out of many famous chevorlets such as the chevette, s-15, and even some jeep products.

the fuel economy was rated at 27mpg in the city, and 40mpg on the highway for manuals. the automatic lowered the highway to 32mpg. this car appealed to a market niche for which the Corvette was unsuitable.

these cars have also been upgraded to be full eletric cars, or to put the smaller, more updated 2.2 ecotech they use in the cavaleir,cobalt, and many other small chevorlet cars.

if you have any questions on this thread eather comment on the thread or message me.

[Debonair]

I've thought about getting one of these cars for a while. They're so light (2500-2800) and have great handling.

you could get a great performance and/or fuel efficient vehicle.

After swapping in a turbo'd ecotec motor with a 5 or 6 speed. or even a small V8 like the 4.8, the power and gas mileage would be pretty nice.

these cars are cheap too.

[user removed]

The 2.5 engine was derived from the smaller 6 cylinders used in compact cars in the 60s, with 2 cylinders lopped off. The Chevette used a 1.6 liter engine and also a diesel which one member here has a diesel version, or had one.

The Fiero was heavy compared to cars of similar size, but was a refreshing change from the typical cars of the time.

If I could get a car from 1984 in pristine condition, I would get a CRX 1.3 which was tested by one of the mags back then and got 73 MPG at 55 MPH, the national speed limit at the time.

I bought an 84 CRX new in the fall of 83, 1.5 because the 1.3 took 13.5 seconds to get to 60 MPH. The 4 cylinder Fieros were rather sluggish and had problems with engine fires, problems so serious they supposedly had one catch on fire driven off the assembly line.

I keep my eyes on craigslist for nice examples of some of the era cars, but in the last years of carburetors the vacuum hoses were a nightmare. Fuel Injection came to be the norm and the spaghetti vacuum hose nightmares were relegated to history.

regards
Mech