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flaps10 · 07-25-2015, 08:31 AM

Do you means sales flop, or the car was a piece of crap?

Keep in mind that one man's flop is another man's bargain. Sort of how I ended up with a cheap Porsche.

I'm going to preface this next part by admitting to the only GM car I've ever owned. My typical opinion of their products is just this side of my thoughts on Chrysler.

Way, way back in the day I fell into a deal for a Fiero (it was a 2 year old '86 model). They were known for bursting into flames and the early models s*** the bed for the entire production run because of clutch problems. GM solutions were weak at best.

On the flip side, it was a very comfortable two seat road tripping car. I'm 6'2" and you could be considerably taller than me and be comfortable. The stock stereo including speakers in the head rests is probably responsible for most of my hearing loss.

Hate it if you want, it was a low slung mid engine car and that always pays in smiles. I even had the most hated 2.5 four cylinder (aka 151cu in "iron duke"). It was a push rod motor that was completely out of breath past 4500 rpm. The gearing however was perfectly spaced so that you could keep the car between it's 4k rpm torque peak and 4400 rpm hp peak at all times. It was possible to maintain some very high speeds in the corners.

The clutch problems were because the pivot shaft was too tight. Curable with a bit of tinkering and a piece of sandpaper.

The tendency to burst into flames was often due to oil starvation in high G turns (my car had amazing rubber and rims). The dry engine would throw a rod and puke what little oil it had left on the exhaust manifold. There were work arounds with large capacity oil filters, running slightly more oil (one recall just gave you a different dip stick to do just that). I kept a halon fire extinguisher in the car but never used it.

Glitchy throttle position sensors were another pain. They failed randomly even if new. The solution was to crack it open and solder three metal tabs to the contacts they were touching and then silicone it shut.

My car broke a head bolt. A head gasket set was $40 and I was back in business.

In the end, not my worst car experience. Cheap to run and still holds my fastest time across the state of Washington (by over 40 minutes).

07-25-2015, 08:31 AM	#10
flaps10 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Tacoma Posts: 429	Do you means sales flop, or the car was a piece of crap? Keep in mind that one man's flop is another man's bargain. Sort of how I ended up with a cheap Porsche. I'm going to preface this next part by admitting to the only GM car I've ever owned. My typical opinion of their products is just this side of my thoughts on Chrysler. Way, way back in the day I fell into a deal for a Fiero (it was a 2 year old '86 model). They were known for bursting into flames and the early models s*** the bed for the entire production run because of clutch problems. GM solutions were weak at best. On the flip side, it was a very comfortable two seat road tripping car. I'm 6'2" and you could be considerably taller than me and be comfortable. The stock stereo including speakers in the head rests is probably responsible for most of my hearing loss. Hate it if you want, it was a low slung mid engine car and that always pays in smiles. I even had the most hated 2.5 four cylinder (aka 151cu in "iron duke"). It was a push rod motor that was completely out of breath past 4500 rpm. The gearing however was perfectly spaced so that you could keep the car between it's 4k rpm torque peak and 4400 rpm hp peak at all times. It was possible to maintain some very high speeds in the corners. The clutch problems were because the pivot shaft was too tight. Curable with a bit of tinkering and a piece of sandpaper. The tendency to burst into flames was often due to oil starvation in high G turns (my car had amazing rubber and rims). The dry engine would throw a rod and puke what little oil it had left on the exhaust manifold. There were work arounds with large capacity oil filters, running slightly more oil (one recall just gave you a different dip stick to do just that). I kept a halon fire extinguisher in the car but never used it. Glitchy throttle position sensors were another pain. They failed randomly even if new. The solution was to crack it open and solder three metal tabs to the contacts they were touching and then silicone it shut. My car broke a head bolt. A head gasket set was $40 and I was back in business. In the end, not my worst car experience. Cheap to run and still holds my fastest time across the state of Washington (by over 40 minutes).