My first car/lemon was a new Fiero

[lemon]

My very first car was a brand new Pontiac Fiero - 1986.  It was a living nightmare!

The first year of owning the car it was at the dealership shop for 6+ months.

It was a 4-cylinder standard. It wouldn't go into 1st gear no matter how strong you were.  In the cold  months it was like the gears were solid.

The dealer I had it serviced at, Frank Laurier in Port Hope, Ontario, told me that it was a design flaw.  The hydraulic clutch arm shrank in cold weather so it wouldn't engage the clutch.

I paid over $17,000. with financing, and with very low kms on it I could only get $5,000. for it.

The memory of my Fiero haunts me to this day.  I still feel robbed and very, very unhappy about how badly GM treated me.  They SHOULD have given me a full refund or replaced the lemon with a real car!

I still feel that GM owes me for my suffering, embarrassment (stuck in traffic unable to force the car into gear), for the fact I was without the car for 6 months when it was brand new, and that financially it caused me 10 years of problems.  Of course I had to buy another car, and nobody wanted the Fiero.

I was the laughing stock at the factory I worked at - the big joke with the piece of crap brand new car.

Ever wonder why they stopped production?  They SHOULD have stopped before they started!

[FieroBUZZ]

Nice first post!  

Any car can be a nightmare.  However. it was nice for you to admit how dumb you were and how you let a crooked dealer roll over you for at least six months.

You must have been pretty guilible back then.  They didn't want to work on the car and you let them off.  Had you spent two days walking back and forth in front of the dealership, you would have gotten either your car fixed, or your money back.  I've seen it done.  Big sign...LEMON...Dealer ripped me off....  go to the local paper and get some coverage.  A  friend of mine's father got a new Jag replaced in 2 days.

If they had a mechanic who could actually fix a problem you'd have been fine.  Clutch problems usually are a worn master or slave (not in a new car, but easily replaced) or an adjustment of the cables (obviously beyond their scope).  

Have trouble with your new car because the metal shrinks in winter and you don't fit through the door?  I'll have to add that to the dumb lines used on stupid people.  Maybe the blinker fluid just needed topping up.

I had a parts car (rusted) that according to the paperwork, the owner spent 6,000 on clutch work over 3 years.  A month after replacing the clutch (due to wear only) it refused to shift.  Traced to a leak in the hydraulic line to the back, and the line replaced.  Unfortunately when they replaced the line they ran it through the cradle mount where it was squashed.  For the next 3 years it was in of and on and had work done that was not needed.  Their error was not discovered or fixed.

End result....dealers SUCK!!!!  They want to sell the car and take your money, not make you happy.

[FieroDough]

Well said Gary!

So Lemom, you came here to buy a new Fiero or what??

[aaron88]

It’s too bad that people make opinions on a car based on one experience with one vehicle of a particular model.  If you ask me though all cars have some sort of bad design in them.  I had some good luck with some cars that were supposed to be a lemon and I also had some bad luck with some cars that were supposed to be unbreakable.  The 91 Honda Civic SI was supposed to be a solid car, but I had some really bad luck with the one I had.  It didn’t have too much to do with the car it was just bad luck.  The car really was a good model.

I’m not saying the Fiero was a good trouble free car.  Just the opposite, but it has some real potential.  That’s why I got one.  Fix what doesn’t work right and you are left with a sweet car.

As for car dealers: A dealer is in the business of selling cars to make money.  The object is to make as much money as the can without having to spend any.  If you had picketed the dealer as FieroBuzz suggested you would have gotten your money back or a new car.  But instead you agreed to spend all this money to have the mechanic look at your car over and over again.  For the dealer, they had just found a good source of income.  You were had.  It’s that simple.  What do you think happens when a mechanic sees that the owner of a car doesn't know anything about auto mechanics.  They get all sorts of parts that they don’t need.

Take this for example:  My girlfriend had a brand new Toyota.  She flooded the car and I wouldn’t start.  Went to the dealer (which happens to be the number one dealer according to the better business burrow) where they promptly took the whole top end of the car off to air out the intake.  600 dollars later she had her running car back.  This was the best dealership she could have taken her car to and it still ripped her off.  It happens!  If we had been together at the time I could have solved her dilemma in 2 minutes with a pair of vice grips.  But that’s not what the dealer is banking on.

The moral of the story is to know something about the subject at hand and avoid giving money to a mechanic (or dealer) until you understand exactly what is going on.  Be it first hand or through someone you know and trust.

Aaron

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[Sentinel]

Dude it's been 18 years, get over it. For a car that's 16-20 years old they have out lasted all my early to mid 90's vehicles. As soon as you drive a new vehicle off the lot it drops 20% of it's value and the fact you couldn't afford your payments isn't Pontiac's fault.

[dguy]

Welcome to the forum...  I think.    

What were you hoping to accomplish with a post like that on a forum which is obviously frequented by people who after all their good, average, and unpleasant dealings with Fieros, still like them?

Are you just trolling for a fight, or still needing to vent after 20 or so years.

Read the replies above mine.  Every make/model has it's lemons, and every garage (dealer or otherwise) has it's share of poor technicians.  Sounds like you were had by the latter.  If you really must hold a grudge after all this time, hold it against the dealer & their service department with whom you were dealing.  Also give yourself a spanking for letting them walk all over you.  Given the number of Fiero success stories out there, and the number of them still on the road, do you really believe that your single unhappy time with the car is a realistic reflection on the entire model line?  

[FieroDough]

Hummmm.. the guy never came back.. should we delete this thread? seems useless?

[aaron88]

I won't miss it.

Aaron

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[fiero308]

Special !!! Today ONLY!!! Anger Management Classes!!!  HEY! No fighting in the lineup!!!!

LOLOLOLOLOLOL all the way - too funny!!!!!!!
Everyone must have found out the OWE income tax this year or something!!!

By the way, I did a special trace on "Lemon" and guess what I found out!?!!?!?  It 's actually TIE DOMI!!!!!!!!!

have a great day, everyone!!!
-signed: strapped to my desk in ottawa