We went and looked at it, and while she was excited by the fact that I sprang a car-shopping trip on her, she was less enthused about the Fiero. It was in amazing shape for a 30-year old car, but for her, it was too old and too low and too small. She wants to be able to drive 2 friends around and fill the trunk/hatch with her stuff.
I have a lead on a Cherokee, and if she hates that, then I move on to a Corolla or Saturn or something.
I was thinking the fact you can only have one passenger in a Fiero may be a good thing for a kid - the more friends they have in the car, the more distractions there will be.
I'd go for the fiero. Fieros are cool, and the fact that they only seat two reduces distractions/teen pregnancies. I almost bought one as my first car, but then I slid into the sumptuous red interior of the Cutlass.
Box_of_Rocks wrote: I had a Fiero as my first car. As a 16 year old boy with a fresh drivers license and a pretty blonde girlfriend, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world - until I realized there was no backseat and the center console was 3 feet tall.
He was asking for his daughter.
Most father's would view this as a positive!!!!
Corolla, Civic, Accord, Camry or other somewhat boring, safe four door of recent vintage would be my call if buying for my daughter today. Some of those choices aren't even that boring in certain specs.
Fiero, no.
Stock pre-'88 Fiero brakes aren't very good. Non-vented rotors, less than 10" diameter at all four wheels, and it takes a strong leg to work 'em. No power steering, either, so parallel parking is tough. And the turning radius is very big for such a little car.
Otherwise, it's just a mid-80's GM product, meaning it will be pretty reliable, but will always need something that costs $50-$100 and half a day's work.
I vote no, go with a used Honda/Toyota. It'll likely be both more reliable and safer, and that should be important since it's your daughter. OTOH, she'll be spending most of her time on the back of her boyfriend's Harley, so maybe it doesn't really matter 
I ended up with my dad's 1960's Dodge Dart "Swinger", in quotes because it was the exact opposite. Nothing worked better as birth control than that car...
pinchvalve wrote: ...She wants to be able to drive 2 friends around and ...
That right there concerns me... teens have a 2-second attention span and the LAST thing they need is backseat dramas going on. Seriously. A used standard-cab pickup truck would fix that AND make her more independant when it comes to moving stuff.
She's your kid so you can take or leave this advice.
Don't buy her a car, please. Make her spend her own money if she really wants a car. It'll be an investment of her money and she'll treat it a lot better than something just handed to her.
If you are dead set on getting something for her, please make it something with ABS. I had several several close calls as a new driver because I didn't have ABS in my first ride, you can practice all day in a parking lot with panic stops, but when it comes to the real thing, your first instinct is to slam that pedal down as hard as possible.
If she's interested in getting a car, ask her what she wants, that is in your and her price range.
While I STRONGLY believe every kid should start off with a slightly E36 M3ty car so they can learn how to fix and maintain it, thus gaining the immense respect of having nice things, I'd start out with something a bit newer with modern safety equipment. Nothing against Fieros, as I like them, but that would not be my first choice.
This is coming from the guy whose first ride was a 1964 Buick Skylark with manual, single circuit drum brakes (that sometimes didn't work), OPTIONAL front seat belts, and basically no other safety equipment, so does that make my parents terrible?
I think there was another thread here about a little Hyundai. I'll be honest with you, the Elantra my wife bought in 08 is still working great. Something like that is a great first car. Very simple. No power to get in trouble with.
3-4K will get you a clean mid 00 version and will last 5 years with very little issues.
I think your first car should inspire confidence. A car that sits that low relative to surrounding traffic would have the opposite effect I think.
Get a Testarossa with a Fiero kit.
Seriously, my college-age son is driving an early Volvo C70 'vert with a manual. It was cheap, safe, and he (thinks he) is the coolest guy around.
The thing I liked best about my first car was that I could slide up to a stop sign or red light with the wheels locked up and sideways. I'm glad my first car didn't have abs.
Don't listen to me, I was an idiot.
Do what all the dads-of-teenage-girls in this neighborhood do: Get her a used Forester, Rav4, or Rogue, or CRV. They all love the small utes. Sit up high, easy to drive, can haul friends and all the beach stuff around. Unless she's a "car girl" she probably just wants something that's "nice" and practical. Don't live vicariously through her with your choice of cars for her, lol.
We are all a bunch of GRM dudes who think it was really cool to have some random weird beater when we got our licence (for me, it was a really crappy Triumph GT6 and a Turbo Plymouth Voyager, then a 230k mile Integra). Most teenage girls aren't looking for something "different." They just want something decent and reliable to get around in, lol.
Always see lots of twaddle from people that have never owned the cars that are the subject of the threads.
First, any old car is only reliable if it has been maintained properly and may have not.
second, there is nothing at all wrong with the Fiero Gt - it was the 4 cylinder Iron Puke engines that were garbage, slow and tended to throw rods. The 140 bhp 2.8 V6 is reliable, if hardly giving blindingly fast performance by today's standards.
They have a good chassis (better suspension on the 88 - I have owned both 87 and 88) and bodywork that can't rust (but always have the underside checked out).
I did around 225,000 km on mine before finally passing it on to another enthusiast, and despite having a tuned chassis and double the stock power output it never let me down.
Is it suitable for a young girl? Only if she is the sort that likes old sports cars and will put up with a lack of modern conveniences, which doesn't sound like it is the case here.
NGTD wrote:Box_of_Rocks wrote: I had a Fiero as my first car. As a 16 year old boy with a fresh drivers license and a pretty blonde girlfriend, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world - until I realized there was no backseat and the center console was 3 feet tall.He was asking for his daughter. Most father's would view this as a positive!!!!
Yeah, I thought it was more fun to imply it, though.
I took my date to prom in a Fiero. This was back when there were hoop skirts. That was amusing.
kb58 wrote:pinchvalve wrote: ...She wants to be able to drive 2 friends around and ...That right there concerns me... teens have a 2-second attention span and the LAST thing they need is backseat dramas going on. Seriously. A used standard-cab pickup truck would fix that AND make her more independant when it comes to moving stuff.
While that my seem like a logical choice, I had exactly that in high school. Pickup bench seats are fairly roomy for fooling around and the bed with a blanket makes a surprisingly romatic spot for a high school girl to gaze at the stars. Oh and its fairly easy to sit five in the cab. Just saying.
SilverFleet wrote: While I STRONGLY believe every kid should start off with a slightly E36 M3ty car so they can learn how to fix and maintain it, thus gaining the immense respect of having nice things, I'd start out with something a bit newer with modern safety equipment. Nothing against Fieros, as I like them, but that would not be my first choice. This is coming from the guy whose first ride was a 1964 Buick Skylark with manual, single circuit drum brakes (that sometimes didn't work), OPTIONAL front seat belts, and basically no other safety equipment, so does that make my parents terrible?
on an unrelated note, the photo in your avatar is famous as our office. We created a fake worker (that's his "badge picture") with a fake name, which is occasionaly listed on real analytic products as a contributor, has his name on the "in-out" board, and such. And that picture posted in an empty chair in an empty cubicle. It gets a lot of attention :)
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