Low-mileage Fieros don’t surface very often, especially ones that have stayed close to their original form, and this 1988 Pontiac Fiero GT listed on craigslist stands out for that exact reason. Showing just 12,440 miles and offered by its second owner, this example appears to have lived a relatively quiet life and is now ready for someone new to take over. Thanks for the tip, Tony Primo!
According to the seller, the car was acquired from a friend who only drove it occasionally on weekends. That kind of light use may help explain the low mileage, and the seller notes that the car is believed to be original, with no known modifications. For enthusiasts who appreciate cars that haven’t been altered over the years, that alone can make this one worth a closer look.
The Fiero GT represents the final year of Pontiac’s mid-engine experiment, and by 1988, the platform had seen refinements that improved its overall driving experience. While the listing doesn’t go into mechanical specifics beyond the basics, the seller confirms that the car runs and drives, which is always a key factor for any vehicle that has seen limited use over time.
Functionality also appears to be intact, with the seller noting that the power windows, power locks, and lighting systems are all working as they should. That’s encouraging for a car of this age, especially one that hasn’t been used as a daily driver in recent years.
As expected with an original car, there are a few cosmetic notes mentioned. The seller points out swirl marks in the clear coat along with some minor scratches. These kinds of imperfections are fairly typical and don’t take away from the overall appeal of a low-mile, largely untouched example.
The current owner mentions that it’s time for someone else to enjoy the car, which suggests this Fiero hasn’t been driven much during their ownership either. That leaves an opportunity for the next enthusiast to decide how they want to use it—whether that means preserving it as a low-mile survivor or putting it back into more regular rotation.
The 1988 Fiero GT has developed a following thanks to its unique layout and place in Pontiac history. Finding one with mileage this low and in what is described as original condition isn’t something that happens every day.
If you’ve been waiting for a clean, lightly used example of Pontiac’s mid-engine coupe, this one might be worth a serious look.
An item of note is that for ’88, the Fiero finally had its own suspension, rather than bits & pieces from Chevette & Citation. This dramatically improved handling over earlier models. However, too little too late. With the 6 and a manual, these were quite the little urban guerilla.
Listed as a manual transmission but appears to be an automatic ? ? ?
Does anyone else see it different ?
I’ve seen this a lot lately, if the shifter is on the floor or console, it gets listed as a manual. I think they think it generates more clicks to get interest in their car.
This GT has the TH-125 3 speed automatic.
My ’85 SE has the M-17 Muncie 4 speed auto.
This Fiero has most of the desired options.
I always preferred the tan interior color on red cars. The gray interior option just kind of looked dull to me.
Price is about the going rate for a clean example, so I see a fair deal.
Apparently I had a memory lapse when posting the above. My Fiero has the Muncie M-17 4 speed manual, but I inadvertently typed auto.
It says automatic now so it must have been updated.
Sure looks like an automatic to me.
The listing says “odometer rolled over” so it’s probably not a low-mileage car.
Good eye, no wonder it is still for sale.
I saw that too, but the pic of the odometer does show 012440. Certainly not a 2k mile survivor in any case.
Where in the add does it say it’s a 2K mile survivor?
It’s a six digit odometer, if it rolled over it would show 112,440 miles.
I saw that too. But it sure is clean for a 112K miles car
Six digit odometer shows 012,so it is 12k, but the automatic spoiled it for me.
The odometer didn’t “roll over”, as evidenced by the leading zero before the twelve. It’s a V6 (good), but an automatic transmission (bad) and the ad decals are ugly, but easily removed. The headline should have read: “12k Mile Survivor: 1988 Pontiac Fiero”. The “Arrest Me!” red paint and “Saddle” interior are also plusses in my book!
Growing up in the 1980s the husband of my 3rd grade teacher traded his red saab 900 hatchback for one of these . It looked just like this one without those white decals.
If this were mine I would remove said decals , have the cosmetics taken care of and any rubber gaskets and seals replaced then take it to all the local car shows. Say no to garage queens guys and gals!!
The headline says 2K-Mile Survivor??
Where does it say that???
It’s been revised/corrected.
The ’88 GTs sure look great, the buttressed rear window looks sharp. Imagine what they could’ve been, if Pontiac had kept developing it. I’d bet it would’ve gotten the super-charged 3.8l, eventually, maybe even a V8. Perhaps GM recognized that the ‘Vette was ultimately going to have to go mid-engined, saw the Fiero as a conflicting product?
Danno- That’s EXACTLY what happened.
I heard that the 89 was going to have the Quad4. Not sure if the HO Quad4 was available for 89, but I seem to recall it was used in the Beretta GTZ (180hp), or the Olds Quad 442 (190hp). Given the lighter weight of those engines, performance would have been super.
The way it should have been from the get-go, but the Iron Duke was used instead! Doh! I’ve inserted a link to a Curbside Classic article with pictures of the stillborn 1989 Fiero, with the Quad4 as the base engine and the V6 as the optional upgrade path (see link below).
The Brazilian “Family Two” 2.0L four cylinder that the Sunbird got would have been a much better choice for the base engine in the Fiero from the start, even with the Citation/Chevette suspension bits. Just as powerful as the Iron Duke, but smaller and lighter, it would have made the Fiero much more competitive with the “Mister Two” from Toyota! Rats!
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/forgotten-future/forgotten-future-1990-pontiac-fiero-prototype/
Ah, what might have been! Curbside Classic had a full photo layout of the stillborn ’89 Fiero in a write up, with both the Quad 4 and V6 engines installed. The new styling had shades of its bigger brother, the Firebird! The interior got some minor upgrades as well, but still needed some work to compete with the best from Toyota and Japan, Inc.. Still, it was a much better car than in the beginning, but by then, sales were in the toilet, thanks to GM’s inability to produce quality cars at launch, so the bean counters pulled the plug! I tried to post a link to the write up in an earlier reply, but it didn’t take, so you’ll just have to Google search it!
The Fiero is the most frustrating car GM ever made, IMHO, simply because it had the best chance to be great! The Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky twins (sold as an Opel GT in Europe), were much better, but still suffered simply because the Japanese had also gotten better at the same time. The Big Thing that let the Sky/Solstice down was the convertible top. A relative nightmare to raise and lower compared to the class-leading Miata, which could be raised and lowered with one hand, GM took top design lessons from the British, LOL, and it hurt sales! If the top had been easier to raise or lower, the Sky/Solstice could have been a good entry-level sports car for GM, using it as a stepping stone to the Corvette as the customer got older and more affluent! The same thing could be said about the Fiero, actually, if GM had gotten that correct out of the box as well, but we all saw what happened instead! Rob Sad!
This is another example of GM working the bugs out of an originally problematic car, then pulling the plug. Remember the Chevy Citation? Same deal, a turkey that was developed into a swan then discontinued. They’ll be remembered as bad cars yet at the time of their demise they weren’t half bad at all.
Pretty typical for GM. The last year of a model is always the best.
Lots of examples of that at GM over the years. The 1961-63 Y-Body “Senior Compacts”, the 215 aluminum V8, the Delorean OHC six-cylinder at Pontiac, the LL8 “Vortec” straight-six in the Trailblazer, the Corvair, the Fiero, they all had the plug pulled before the Engineers had a chance to work the bugs out of them. If they had been correct from the start, they all might have been hits, but the “bean counters” at GM never had any patience, all they saw was the money going out, not the money that might have come in if those projects were allowed to succeed! Since the CEO of GM was always an accountant and not an Engineer, the bean counters ruled the roost at GM, and the results were as predictable as they were dismal when myopic accountants are in charge instead of visionary Engineers! Sad!
Also the Corvair. By 1969 it had become quite a good car. Yep, time to pull the plug GM
I remember reading that Pontiac pulled the Fiero due to pressure from the Chevrolet division. Chevy didn’t like the fact that the Fiero was out handling the dog of the Corvettes they were trying to sell.
Chevrolet has always been the tail that wags the GM dog. No other division can offer a product that shows up one of their offerings for very long, because they’ll go straight to the executive suite to get things made right, and no other division’s market niche can be theirs exclusively if Chevy thinks that there’s a buck to be made there. It has always been that way at the General, and no doubt always will be.
Lovely looking car. It’s too damn bad Pontiac discontinued the Fiero. They had a good idea, they should’ve continued it. I would’ve gladly bought one had I been old enough at the time to drive a car.
Nothing screams 80s like a Fiero with Tears for Fears on the radio… Back in those ’80s a work friend had one of these in sliver with the 6 and a manual. I was running an X1/9 at the time… Although they were both mid-engined, they were polar opposites in character. The Bertone was a “point and squirt, slow car fun to drive fast” ride… and the Fiero GT was a surprisingly good GT cruiser.
I’ve always liked these cars but never purchased one because the thought of twisting myself into some weird shape to access the spark plugs or some other tune up parts just wasn’t appealing to me. Then I got to see 2-3 catch fire and burn up so I lost interest. I think the seller has it posted on the wrong site if not for Elizabeth posting it here the listing would have stayed local to the sellers area.
It was always Toyota “Mister Two” versus the Fiero, and the MR-2 would have been in my driveway if it weren’t for dealer gouging, with markups of $3k to $6k over list price for the Toyota! With apologies to Sean Connery in “The Untouchables” (1987), GM was bringing a knife to a gun fight, LOL! With the Iron Duke in back, and hard plastics inside, the Fiero felt cheap and noisy, compared to the Toyota’s high-quality, soft-touch interior and sweet motor singing behind your ears! By the time GM got it right, the Fiero’s poor quality reputation had killed any chance of better sales. GM hadn’t yet learned the lesson that “You only get one chance to make a good first impression!”, and it cost them, big time!
All fine with me , except the advertisement stickers and the red steering wheel.
Having owned two GT’s an 86 and 87 I did my fair share of work on them. As far as the spark plugs, alternator and a few other parts all you had to do was remove one bolt on the K brace (dog bone) and put the car in neutral and push it to make the engine move and you had perfect access.
As much as i loved the fiero , it offered no convertibles so , i ended up with 2 mr-2 ‘s and they were a blast , then went to a boxster .
This fiero looks good and its the final year which is way better but the mileage issue is a concern
Which generation MR-2’s did you own? The first generation offered a sun roof and later, T-Tops. The second generation only offered a sunroof. The third and final iteration was the only droptop in the bunch.
My 1993 (2nd gen) has T top.
Hi, if my memory doesn’t fool me a 2001&a2003 , first a 5 stick and second a 6 smt both underpowered , the reason for the boxster appearing, i am still debating on buying another reliable toyota mr-2 , the go kart handling is out of this world
Wow, this is such an awesome looking Fierro! I agree about it’s too bad it doesn’t have a manual transmission, but otherwise it looks perfect!
If GM were serious about an entry-level sports car to replace either the Fiero or the Sky/Solstice twins, they could do it. Hell, they probably still own most of the tooling for either the Fiero or the Sky/Solstice twins, so a few tweaks to update the styling, with better engines to go with them, and the sales might just be there, as the Corvette, with its six-figure price tag, is beyond the reach of mere mortals and is rapidly approaching supercar territory! GM needs another entry-level sports car, if for no other reason than to provide a reason for people to go into the showrooms. They may not buy a Fiero/Sky/Solstice, but if the other products are competitive, they might sell the folks another crossover, like the new Trailblazer instead!
I would prefer it if GM resurrected the Fiero, with a 300 hp four-cylinder behind your head in a 2200 pound (1,000 kg) package, it would really scream! Now that Toyota doesn’t have anything in its lineup to offer direct competition, GM might have a chance to prove that they can build a car just as good as a Toyota before Toyota has a chance to steal their thunder. Make it a convertible, Targa top or a at a minimum, offer T-Tops, and you might win some import customers back into the GM fold, if the quality is there. The plastic body panels will help, now that GM seems to have figured out how to inoculate their steel bodies against the dreaded “tin worm”, LOL! Since Pontiac has gone to the “happy hunting ground”, it could be either a Chevy or a Buick, if GM is worried about stealing sales from the Corvette!