If you're tall, simply entering or leaving the Firebird can be a minor athletic event. The car is low and getting into it–or out–is not as easy as sliding behind the wheel of a sedan. Or, to be more accurate, about midway between inside and outside. If there's a sore spot with the F-bodies, it's found inside. It will out-handle most of its sporty competitors, and it will also deliver fuel economy ratings of 19 mpg city, 30 highway and go 100,000 miles between major tuneups. What you get for that amount is a terrific-looking car that's fun and rewarding to drive beyond all measure of what you paid for it. Our specific Firebird was also fitted with an assortment of comfort and convenience features, but still stayed below the $20,000 barrier. imported or domestic sporty car and cost less than most of them. It would blow the doors off practically any 4-cyl. ![]() ![]() Add a sound system and you have yourself a quick, efficient, great handling car for less than $17,000. It includes a limited-slip differential, 4-wheel disc brakes, quicker steering, dual exhaust outlets, 3.42:1 axle ratio and P235/55R-16 tires on 5-spoke alloy wheels. High on our priorities was Pontiac option Y87, known as the 3800 Performance Package. Remember that what is said here about the Firebird could be essentially duplicated in Camaro form, as they share the same platform and powertrains. The Formula and Trans Am are the V8 versions for this review we concentrated on the base car with the 3800 Series II V6 and 5-speed manual, and a carefully selected option list. There are three models in the line Firebird, Formula and Trans Am, each available as a coupe or convertible. economy, a total price under $20,000 and a car your insurance agent probably won't notice unless you get giddy and tell him. What you have with the V6 Firebird is V8-level performance, 6-cyl. It doesn't require elephantine memory to remember when V8 Firebirds didn't have 200 horsepower. The base Firebird–and its Camaro cousin–is fitted with GM's 3800 Series II, a 3.8-liter V6 that's been massaged and polished to 200 hp and 225 lb.-ft. With the optional WS6 Ram Air package, horsepower is upped to a remarkable 305, zero-60 mph will take less than six seconds and the top speed will nudge 160.īut there's something even more surprising than that–and with more real-world significance, as well. At the top you'll find the Firebird Formula and Trans Am, available with GM's familiar 5.7-liter V8 rated at 285 hp. The current Firebird and Camaro are far faster than their ancestors ever thought about being, and they're better in every other way, too. Some diehard sentimentalists moan the passing of what they remember as truly fast cars, but they ought to open their eyes. And of all these fairly affordable muscle cars that once poured off the American industry's assembly lines, the General Motors F-body cousins–the Pontiac Firebird and Chevrolet Camaro–are the only two that have offered, year in and year out, an unbroken line of performance of this uniquely American recipe. ![]() Big engines, driving the rear wheels, in swoopy 2-door bodies. The definition of the American muscle car centers on lots of performance for not much money.
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