Any opinions on the Pontiac Fiero?

Reliant Scimitar SS1, YKIMS.

Failing that, there's always the X1/9.

No feedback on the Ponty I'm afraid, but if your selling your Saab drop me a line with a price mf900couk.

Ta Bud. Matt

X1/9's look cack IMO

My MK1 MR2 is bit rough but could look mint with a front and back bumper re-spray (easy job if you know how and can be arsed i'm told) and a bit of work on the front wings still cracking car! only thing i'll miss having the MKII turbo in a few months is the ability to throw the thing into a bend at 60 and come out the other side grining :)

Mid 80's Firebirds can be had for reasonable money, complete with a nice V8, plus you have the David Hasselhoff factor. Much bigger than the Fiero and not mid-engined of course. I had a 91 Trans-Am WS6 (sports model) which cost just over £3k but there are much cheaper examples around, a great fun car to own and drive. Never liked the Fiero's myself, too much like a Mk1 MR2 for my liking - fine if you like that sort of thing of course! ;-)

Dan (seemingly the groups only Yank enthusiast)

PS Anyone see the new Corvette on Top Gear? Got someone to tape it for me but won't get to see it for a while. Did Jeremey Clarkson make his usual cutting remarks on US cars, despite buying a Ford GT and once claiming his favourite car of all time was a Mustang?!

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net, MeatballTurbo decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Yeah, don't buy one.

Handling is actually not /that/ bad, but it's not as good as a Mk1 MR2 / MGF obviously, but they do grip well.

Suspension is one of two extremes. "Sports" suspension is made from pure granite, "Standard" suspension is made from blancmange but still manages to make the whole thing shudder when driving over something extreme, like a pebble.

Build quality is that weird Yank variable. Plastics are truly tragic but more likely to fall off than break. Think 70s Japanese and you'll get the picture.

The A/C on them is rather good though, and bits are suprisingly cheap for Yank stuff is you shop around. If you get monumentally stuck for something important, people like Rodley Motors can usually save you within a couple of days.

Easy to work on though.

In news:410d6ec9$0$6445$ snipped-for-privacy@news-text.dial.pipex.com, a decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

The 5.0 TPi one isn't a bad car to be honest. I nearly bought one once, but the Hasslehoff factor put me right off.

Hmm, I like yank stuff, but I only like decent Yank stuff - and the shaggy old early 70's stuff..

Forget it, that's all it's good for. Get a 200SX fastback, then you won't have to change name and you get directed to the VIP CCTV monitored car park to park up with the new Merc and 911 turbo. Right next to the main entrance while the plebs get to park a mile away.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

As an ex biker, drag race, nitrous system manufacturer, and Corvette fan I also see the plusses! Big, torquey, lazy, strong (likes tons of nitrous!) solutions a big old V8 casnnot be beat!

He took the piss of all the s*it cars he hates. The only thing he levelled at thew Corvette was "low tech "hard" suspension... And this was an OLD one...... He killed it anyway!

But a) hes a crap driver b) he knows f*ck all about cars or engineering...

Should get a job as a DJ (because they know f*ck all about anything that matters...) Or a Journo, because they are good at ta\lking..... About stuff they do not really understand!

And I am talking as a guy that worked for lots of bike mags, and MCN etc in his time...

Regards BURGERMAN.

The Hamster tested it. Slated the leafsprings at the year, then admitted in a simple way, it worked, just like the Holden.

Then Clarkson slated the leafsprings, and the bendy plastic bodywork, and the Stig took it out, and it came in close to the Evo for track time, but as you would expect, got a bit lairy. Not a Callaway, but not bad

Cheers mate. Glad to see it has some redeeming values.

I do like the X 1/9 and I do know it shares a lot of build components with the ferrari's of the period, and the styling is either love or hate, and that the Fiat Twinks can by fitted, or use an Uno Tubo, but it is the rust that puts me off.

I know the last models had that sorted, but they are holding their prices well, and the earlier ones make a good example of how rust attacks russian submarines and warships.

Will do.

Typical yank build quality. With a turbo they can be pretty quick. Typical yank handling. Look to the land of the rising sun for something better. You'll thank me in the long run.

Fraser

It seems to me that it's quite easy to slag Clarkson off because;

a) He's slagged off so many different things that everyone has a reason to hate him b) He's actually quite successful, despite appearing to be an arrogant tosser

FWIW, he never really states himself to be a brilliant driver - though he's no slouch - and he does seem to be massively enthusiastic about cars. I remember reading an article in Practical Classics a few years ago where one of the mag's journos challenged Clarkson to get to 0-60 in an mad old Tatra with a badly designed and over-engineered column-shifter without crunching the gears - JC started by getting in the car and immediately asking questions about how the car worked, what sort of suspension it had, etc. It seems to me that if he didn't have a clue about cars, there's no way he would have been even remotely interested in driving some old and fairly unknown car for some classic car magazine. I read his '100 greatest cars' book a few years ago as well - quite a good read, albeit mostly made up of anecdotes about the cars he had driven rather than an analytical and well-researched basis of fact (there was a Peugeot 504 in there simply because he'd had one which 'refused to die') - but then that wouldn't have been the point of a book called 'Jeremy Clarkson's 100 Greatest Cars'.

Chris.

In article , peter.usenet1 @nospam.demon.co.uk spouted forth into uk.rec.cars.modifications...

Where I work, my car (Saab 900 turbo) is considered s*it, and got my parking place redirected back to the lowest scruffiest place the company has (lovingly called rat corner, because of a mild infestation from the near by Canal). They couldn't have anything as Poverty spec as a Saab turbo near the bosses and sales in their Ferraris, Mercs, AMG, and Boxsters/911 GTs

In article , snipped-for-privacy@tamate.com spouted forth into uk.rec.cars.modifications...

Mail sent this morning, did you get it. Quite a long one.

yeah, I think that is the problem. Although it is better nick than the network managers Saab 9000 Aero (used to be the co-owners car before he got into Porsches and Ferraris, and was the F3000 pace car for a while), that gets a front race parking space.

MeatballTurbo raved thus:

:: Where I work, my car (Saab 900 turbo) is considered s*it, and got my :: parking place redirected back to the lowest scruffiest place the :: company has (lovingly called rat corner, because of a mild :: infestation from the near by Canal). They couldn't have anything as :: Poverty spec as a Saab turbo near the bosses and sales in their :: Ferraris, Mercs, AMG, and Boxsters/911 GTs

It *is* 20 years old though ;)