Oddly enough, they were a very stout little car for their time. No airbags or anything like that, but the subframe was made to take a pretty good hit without damaging the engine or passenger compartment. Side crash zones were decent, but nothing spectacular.
I took a hard hit sitting still in my '85 Fiero back in 1990, the car that hit me was doing 45MPH. The crumple zone did exactly what it was supposed to do... it crushed in to the end of the luggage compartment, then held firm. Nothing in the engine bay was damaged.
You never really "feel" safe in the car, as your rear end is literally 4-5 inches off the ground. If a car comes up behind you at a stop light, don't be surprised if their headlights hit your rear-view mirror dead on. I used to have issues with pickup trucks turning on their brights to pull a prank on me when they stopped behind me... I bought a highly reflective sticker and put it right behind my head. Solved that problem...
Now, no offense, but I hope you're a short person. When I had my Fiero, it was my first vehicle, and I was about 5'9". When I wore a ballcap, the little knob on the top of the cap would rest against the headliner. When I grew to 6'4" in one summer, the Fiero had to go. We gave it to my mother, who drove it without issue up to 150,000 miles.
