FABULOUS FOUR-CYLINDER FIERO
Pontiac’s unabashedly pretty, mid-engine two-seater caused a huge stir when it hit showrooms for 1984, and it’s been fodder for automotive journalists ever since. I’d venture to state that most of those column inches have been lavished on the sportier V-6 iterations of the car, along with what the press felt Pontiac did wrong — chiefly, not making sporty Fieros even sportier than they were.
The bread-and-butter four-cylinder cars were liked, but not loved, by many scribes of the past, and today are the subject of armchair speculation as to what other powerplant might be shoehorned in to replace the worthy, old Iron Duke. “Malaise Machines” will herein redress these “sins.”
The Fiero’s development is a frequently told tale of
