1995 Pontiac Firebird User Reviews

Inexpensive To Buy, Fun To Drive, Looks Great And Not Hard To Work On — I'm 42 years old and have owned 27 cars and 3 motorcycles. I've bought and sold cars for just about every reason imagineable, alhough I only drove 2 to the grave. My latest acquisition was a 95 Firebird Convertible. It had a couple issues and I bought it at a dangerously low price of $2100. Well, after only a few hours I fixed what was wrong with it for about $30 and detailed the car completely. The car is now worth almost 5 grand. I read another review, complaining that it's noisy. Well, it's a sportscar. They're noisy. As far as a towncar handling better? highly unlikely. The laws of physics pretty much rule that out. My review: The firebird's body is made up of a lot of plastic or fiberglass. Unlike metal bodys, there can be more flex if someone is careless and pushes too hard. When this happens, the paint can crack. On the upside, the majority of the panels don't crack and better yet don't dent or rust. Paint, also looks better longer on composite than on metal. The 3.4 engine was surprisingly far back under the hood, likely improving weight distribution. Space under the hood with the 3.4 V6 is slightly cramped by still workable although some components may be difficult to get at, requiring disassembly of other things to gain access. This can drive up the cost of a repair. Parts, on the other hand are surprisingly affordable for the firebird and 3.4 V6 in particular. Even a replacement roof to match the original can be gotten for $450, including the glass back window with defroster. The ride is surprisingly smooth when compared to a newer 350Z, which gave my kidneys the ride of their lives. The firebird, on the other hand smooths out medium bumps in a well-tuned manner. Handling? Well mine came equipped with new 11-inch wide Goodyear F1 tires. Cornering feels like a cranival ride. This car can take lateral G's that will leave a big Ford sedan for the jaws of life to open. The convertible top is nicely fitted, and is raised/lowered with hydraulic rams. The mechanism seems to be well-designed and the fit-and-finish is excellent for any convertible top. The interior, well sure you need either an amputee or half-pint kids back there. If their lack of footspace bugs them, open up the roof and they'll be entertained. NOTE: A kid's car seat will NOT fit, at least not with a kid in it, BUT the rear seats are practically kid seats anyway. They epitomize "bucket seats". In the front, especially for the driver, the inside is all sportscar. The middle console is high, the shifter is in a nice placement, the gauge cluster has all the gauges expected, the air conditioning vents are durable, nicely directional and visually nice. When the roof is up, there is a blind spot just behind the passenger door window, a wedge mirror applied to the passenger RV mirror can eliminate that blind spot, I install them on all my vehicles. My interior is dark grey leather, the steering wheel is wrapped in leather and has a surprising amount of stereo controls. The driver's seat has an adjustable lumbar and other controls. The stereo has poor bass response. I plan to swap out the speakers, which are in the doors (2 each) and on the sides in the rear. The dashboard is a vast plain, but that is because the windshield is so shallow, it's about 4 feet from the front (bottom) edge to the roofline. A benefit if having such a shallow windshield, aside from aerodynamics, is that over the life of the car it will encounter fewer permanent pits (ever see all the imperfections in your high-mileage windshield when the sun is low?) less of that with a firebird. Oh, and the wipers work well. The center console boasts a covered storage bin and a cupholder. The shifter has no gear display at the steering column in the gauge cluster, only at the middle console (unlike my Grand Prix GT). The front seats are comfortable and there is ample leg room for a 6' tall man such as myself. There is a hump in the passenger-front floor (probably for the catilytic converter), but it dosen't seem to cause much trouble except to get the floor mat to conform well to that part of the floor. Visually, this car is stunning. It's bold. It's sleek. It has attitude. Sure, it's not a corvette, but for what it is and what I paid for it, I am extremely satisfied.

Owner for 1 years, 2 months

Miles Driven per Year:15,000

I Wanna Keep This Car Over All Others I Have Had. — My car is great at acceleration. The braking is not as great. The handling is horrible, it has no power steering. It needs a new passenger side window, a windshield, tune-up, starter, clutch, pressure plate, and throwout bearing. The interior is decent for the car sitting for 3 years. It has 2 small dents and needs new rims. The gas mileage is great for 5 speed and I have not had to do anything to it yet. The car is very fun to drive. I love dropping the clutch and spinning the tires off.

Primary Use: Commuting to work

An Overall Nice Car. — Great car! It's reliable, and looks great. The only real thing that's wrong with it is that it needs a new air compressor. Besides that, the only bad thing is that the suspension is really rough when it comes to bumps. Otherwise, it's a really good vehicle to drive.

Primary Use: Commuting to work

95 Pontiac Firebird 2dr Standard Coupe Auto Transmission 3.4l V6 — This car is my first car, but i cant see myself having another one unless i still have this in my driveway. I bought it for 2900 with 116000 miles on it. It drives like its new. grips the road very well, very smooth turning very stable, handles higher speeds very well, its only a 3.4L V6 but that is all you need good gas mileage, 25 mph city about 28 highway, and even better when you can control your rpms. The only cons to this car are some cosmetic defaults that were probably done by the person who owned it before me, which probably didnt treat this car right, the cigarette burns in the vinyl tell me this, just cosmetic problems, which will be a pain to fix, but even with out fixing it, just vacuum it out armour all the dash and vinyls, wash it up and wax it, and its gorgeous in my opinion. Other than that the other cons are that this car should not be driven in the snow due to its powerful rear wheel drive, other than that i see no problems that irk me.

Fun & Economical Sports Car For The Money — Convertible, Great MPG, Fast and sounds beefy, Good handling, Sharp Looks, Power Everything, makes a better 2 seater, rear seats better for kids or misc. things, flip up head lights, A lot of car for the money, Sure to be a collector's car one day, Pontiac & FireBird are both legends.