1997 Pontiac Firebird consumer reviews

97 Trans Am with LT1. Incredibly cool and smooth cruiser, monster sprinter and all round fun as xxxx to drive. Fuel economy surprisingly good by todays standards. Engine rated at 285HP but seems to be at least 300. Super comfy in the front, even on long haul journeys. Horrible in the back! Interior looks fine but is cheaply built, plastic interior comes loose all over the place. Rain gets in the car as well, windows don’t close properly. I also had issues with window motors… Handles very nicely and carves the curves. Wonderful voice :) Great heating and ac. Terrible windshield, glares and reflects like xxxx. Got mine second hand in top notch condition for 7000, so a xxxx fine deal

I love my Firebird. It's fast, fun to drive. Very comfortable to drive and handles like it's on rails. My opinion - it's like driving a jet powered go kart. Also, very affordable to repair and/or modify.

Its not designed for comfort but it IS designed for speed and that’s exactly what this car will give you. Perfect for impressing pretty much anyone!

I've owned my 1997 Trans am automatic for 12 years! I truly love this car but it comes with it's issues. If you want to buy one, look for one that has been taken care of properly. The good: It's fast and handles pretty well in warm weather. I've street raced a ton of people being 18 when I bought it, and won a majority of the races, outside of a Corvette, a ls1 Camaro, a mach 1 mustang (newer version), and a twin turbo rs-7. It runs faster than most cars on the road and the couple times I've taken it to the drag track it's been fun! Sounds great! Have magnaflow exhaust and it's perfect. T-tops are nice. Reliable*** if you consider getting you a-b this thing has only broken down twice from 98k-183k miles. Fuel pump was my fault when I ran it out of gas and a random broken distributor cap from prior owner neglecting to change it. All in all with proper maintenance I would never have been on the side of the road. Never burned any oil Auto Transmission is BULLETPROOF and can handle up to 450hp supposedly no problem. Looks. The bad: this thing constantly needs something repaired. To name a few you will have to replace window motors and headlight motors due to large windows and faulty headlight motor gear. It's leaked oil the whole time I've owned it, now it's leaking power steering fluid, emissions is a constant battle for everyone with these cars and not easy to figure out what is wrong, I've replaced every peice of emmissions equipment except O2 sensors and the check engine light is on for that now, burns some coolant and the low coolant light is known for coming on in these things. Other issues are more normal maintenance but most of the listed issues have gone on the entire time I've owned the vehicle. Everything is tightly fit, so there's no easy task when working on the engine. Changing spark plugs is a nightmare. This thing should not be driven in snow or ice. I did for 5 years and it was by far the worst driving vehicle I've driven in those conditions. It's spins tires super easy when it's cold out with all that torque and limited electronic control which sucks because part of what makes it so fun is that it's fast, and it's not fast 5 months out of the year in Idaho because the tires spin so easy- make sure you plan on paying for untra high performance all seasons or get a set of winter tires. Even a nice 40 degree day could end up with you sideways on a public road. Gas mileage is 13.5 winter 16 summer and you have to use premium. 19-20 going 80 on the highway. You will do better with a 6 speed based on what others say but only a couple mpg. Not horrible but again, not great for daily driver. Loud- this car is loud which is fun for a bit, but I've taken it on trips and mountain drives and getting into my 30s it will give me a headache. Not just the exhaust I have which is pretty mild but there is tons of road and wind noise. Overall: this is a purpose built vehicle that's fun to drive on the weekends and a younger me wasn't bothered by all of the bad things, but this isnt a good daily driver for most people. I still love this vehicle and it has a lot of sentimental value from all of the good times and just being a badass muscle car that looks and sounds good and is pretty fast. If I lived in a warm climate year round and didn't have to pay for a daily driver allowing me to afford to fix all the little issues as they came up I would probably give the trans am a really high rating. If you have extra money and want to spend time wrenching on your vehicle then this is a fun updated version of a muscle car that would be perfect for you

I truly love this car! It turns heads and is unbelievable. The car corners like "it is on rails." Accelerating into a sharp curve is the norm. The power is superior. The vehicle can easily pass multiple cars in a flash. This vehicle is a modern muscle car with a sleek design and intriguing exterior. The amazing design, power and agility of this car is like no other. Gas mileage is decent for a V8 engine. The T-tops are awesome in warm weather, but leak when it rains. I think this is a design flaw. The bucket seats sit on the floor of the vehicle, so long rides can become quite uncomfortable. The original stock seats lack pelvic and lumbar cushioning. The doors swing out wide, so it is nearly impossible to exit the vehicle if someone parks close to you. Advice, park far away from everyone and anyone. The visibility isn't great. The vehicle has blind spots and sits low to the ground, nose diving over areas with uneven payment. The vehicle is reliable, if you can keep up with constant repairs. Many parts on the vehicle are made cheaply or simply not designed to last. The parts are not expensive to replace, but labor adds up quickly. I would recommend this vehicle, but only if you have/know a good mechanic. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend.

I have had trans ams or firebirds for many, many years. they are sporty cars. and I wish GM would bring them back. and they get great gas mileage, with the 6 cylinder

Car is fast ,fun ,and get a lot of attention, kids take up all my time ,can't drive it much anymore ,wish I could keep it ,but doesn't do not good for it to sit

We just purchased a 97 Firebird from Preowned Solutions in Des Moines.Drove it home to NE Iowa.3 hr drive ,no problems,we are happy.Tab at the dealership was friendly,helpful and knew his cars,we would recommend the dealership! JeffnSue

I've had my Firebird for about 5 years now. Yeah its a great looking car! And yes its fast but that's about it for me. I'm a 23 year old women and when you want to go get groceries or go out with friends or travel.. their is really no room at all. I have to stuffed people into the back of my car. They usually have to sit side wades on top of one another. If you have the t-tops off and needs to put something in your "truck" well you cant because that's were the t-tops go. This car is perfect for you if you are always alone or just have a friend in the passengers seat. Don't expect to be showing your car off with a lot of your friends. Next, I have had nothing but problems with this car. Now I'm not saying this will happen to all firebirds but this is what has happened to mine. I live in Ohio. SO I cant use the car all year long. I drive the car from usually march to the first sign of snow or ice which is usually October or even sometimes late September. So I only drive this car about 8 months out of the year if that. When its not being driven I put it away in storage and visit it every week to start the engine. Well in the past 5 years I've spent more money in repairs than I paid for the car. In 5 years BOTH of my automatic windows stopped working. The motors worked but some how BOTH windows fell off the track while the window was down.. That was fun when it started to rain. Then my water pump went out of no where. Luckily I had triple A to tow it back home to be fixed. Then my anti-freeze was leaking after the water pump had been fixed.. The gas tank had a leek. And then after taken the car out of the shop for a routine oil change my re end went on the highway. And this all happened mind you in two years time. Yeah not a happy camper. After all my "car problems" were fixed it ran well for about 4 months. Now my engine miss fires like crazy. i cant go 5 minutes without it miss firing. I've had it in the shop at least 6 times to find out what the problem is and for some reason they cant find anything. I am so sick and tired of spending so much money on a car that get 17MPG.

My previous car was a Nissan350Z. It was great, but was missing something even after I modified the exhaust and intake. It still seemed a little sluggish, and did not have the right sound. I upgraded to my 1997 Trans Am WS6, and it is like night and day. Even at idle, you can tell that the car has power with the exhaust rumble and the car shake. Handling is good for a car of this size, but you will definitely feel every bump and crack in the road. If you want a car with smooth driving, this is not the car for you. Fuel economy is also surprisingly good, as long as you do not step on the accelerator. The car will lumber along happily at low RPM. I had to get used to the fact that in 6th gear, at a mere 2000 RPM, you are doing a little over 80 MPH already! The limit is over 6000 RPM! For fuel economy though, again, if you are concerned about the price of gas, this is not the car for you. I always get admirers of my car, and where every "hotrod" Civic or pickup truck with a catback exhaust would want to race my 350Z, all that they have to do is listen to the exhaust at idle in my Trans Am and they back down. Trans Ams have a reputation as being very fast cars, and I have yet to have a Mustang, Challenger, or Camaro want to try to play with me, which is good, as I do not really desire to race. The interior is very comfortable, and I took a long trip driving my car back to Texas from Oklahoma. It was not cramped, and I was comfortable the whole time. My 350Z seemed a little claustrophobic, and after a little while my legs would start to cramp. Not so in this car. It may have larger dimensions, but despite this, it only weighs 100 pounds more than a 350Z, as opposed to the 4000+ pound Mustangs/ Challengers/ Camaros of today. It may be an older car, but it will still more than keep up with modern day American performance cars. Definitely a great buy!