Topic: Pontiac Firefly Chevrolet Sprint

[mitsu_fan]

Does anyone remember Pontiac Firefly Turbo's or Chevrolet Sprint Turbo's? I had one a few years ago, great little cars that were indestructible and amazing on gas. And they were pretty quick, not as fast as a Suzuki Swift GT but quick. If I remember correctly the Turbos had 70 Hp! Anyone seen any recently?

[weebl]

Most have died out, I think.  Had one as my first car, but not turbo.  Slow as a slug, and died a slow, painful death (multiple tranny failures, and eventually dead engine from worn piston rings).  Good thing about it was it was great on gas, and easy to fit into tiny parking spots.  That's about all I can say they had going for them.

[Craig]

As it turns out, not so indestructible.

[Mdxtasy]

I was stuck behind a Chevy Sprint today.  White. Rust all over the rear hatch.  It blew a nice shade of blue out the 1/2" tailpipe.  It made clunking noises...the signal light didn't work.  The car squeaked when the brakes were applied.  It wasn't a turbo but I don't think it mattered.  

I recall a friend in high school had the Pontiac Firefly....the doors were flimsy, the plastic was flimsy...the car was built to a price point.  It did have pep...but it was no rocketship.  Cool when you were 17 but I'm not sure it has the same allure now.

[chrischasescars]

A Swift GT (GTi) would be a hot little car for autox-ing, but the base Swift/Metro/Firefly were anything but swift.
I wouldn't touch a used Metro or Firefly turbo these days. The cheap cars tend to be the ones that are neglected, so unless you were willing to rebuild/replace the engine and turbo, I wouldn't call these "good" used car value.
If you were handy though, it might make a nifty project to build one up... maybe find one with the 1.3l engine and turbo that instead, even if just to see what it could do performance wise.

[The Fuzz]

I had a blue Pontiac Firefly as a winter beater one year. It almost dies of a heart attack going up Sandplant Hill into Niagara Falls. It was a POS then and I imagine it's a bigger one now!

[y2chuck]

my first car was a 1987 Pontiac Firefly.  What a piece of crap.  Bought it when I just turned 18 and the dealer didn't have any oil in it when they sold it to me.
Engine blew after 2 weeks.  then the windsheild motor, brakes, master cylinder etc etc....ugh.

[weebl]

Y2chuck, that sure didn't sound like a good experience!  Mine was a hand-me-down, bought cheap from my dad, which he got when new.  It was an '88, and I got it when I was 17, used it to go to high school and work.  At that point, it was already on the 4th tranny (2 rebuilds under warranty: 1st at about 70,000 kms, then again 2 weeks later; out of warranty around 150,000).

By the time I was taking it to university, it started to fall apart more - daily climb up the SFU hill sure helped kill it.  Cooling pump failed, and the resulting temperature increase I think fried the tranny yet again.  No rebuild this time, instead, it coud still be driven by shifting it manually.  Then my brother got it dirt cheap from me to go to high school, and it finally died in front of our driveway one day when the engine seized up.

[alldz]

Trying googling "team swift" --- like almost every car out there, there are quite a few guys into them, quite a few here in southern Ontario.

[wanderwill]

I'm driving a Chevy Turbo Sprint now.  Bought it used in 1991. What fun passing 'muscle cars' uphill. 41 mpg(US) 188,000 miles.  Will be trying my own design of water injection to boost mileage soon.

[walter]

I actually thought suzuki made the motor in the sprint and firefly. Or was it someone like Singer or Pfaff - Just kidding. ;-) What does yours say Wanderwill?

[hondasalesguy]

Wasn't that 1.3L a Suzuki engine? And the turbo too? I remember doing an autocross in a parking lot back in 88 or 89, I had a CRX Si and there was this guy with the Turbo Sprint, and we were among the quicker cars that particular day. One set of tires later and the afternoon was done.

[AVToller]

Yes, they were all Suzuki engines. The Swift (I had a '91) had the 1.3L 4-cylinder, the Firefly had the 1.0L 3-cylinder version of the same engine. The turbo 1.0L produced exactly the same HP as the 1.3L (77 if memory serves). I quite enjoyed mine. It was even quite acceptable on forestry roads with it's short wheelbase, short overhangs, and narrow track - little chance of scraping much.

[wanderwill]

The 87 Sprint Turbo is Suzuki all the way. Says Suzuki Motors on the placard under the hood. 3-Cyl 1.0 Liter.  I think they only made white and red that year for Chevy Sprint turbo.  I bought the original Chev. color brochure a couple years ago on eBay.