Anybody have any experance with a 3 cylinder 5 speed Geo Metro? It is a 1990 model -

They any good? what sort of mileage can you expect? Big enough for a man to sit behind the wheel?

 

i almost bought one when they first came out. but the dealership was trying to screw me. so i walked out.

knew someone who one once, after repairs she let it roll into the lake.

 

A guy I work with had one for awhile. He wanted to paint it up like it was a mini cooper with a British flag on the roof and such. I'll check with him and see what he thought of the vehicle.

There are a lot of them on the road and seem to be holding up pretty well. I think if you drove a ride on lawn mower, with proper maintenance, it would get you where you need to go. I wouldn't count on it being comfortable if you are a big guy.

 

My former roomate liked hers a lot. It got around 35-40mpg. It was a little on the smallish side for me. If you like the fit I'd say go for it. I haven't seen too many on the road lately but, they seemed like a pretty decent high mileage cars in their day. They make a good toad I hear for pulling behind motorhomes as well. I see a few that way.

 

For what it's worth, I saw more of them in the wrecking yard last week than any other model of Geo...and I was looking for Geos as I needed a P/S pump from a Storm.

I suppose that little transverse 3-banger would be okay on the flat, but if you need to go up a hill you'd need to open both doors and hope for a tailwind...

 

Anyone who would dare to paint a Geo like it was a Mini should be penalized to the full extent of the law. Kind of like "Play an accordian, go to jail!" in my opinion. Please note my sig line below...

But seriously, there are actually Minifolk out there that have done a swap of a Geo Metro engine/gearbox into their classic Mini and gotten very good results. They also tend to tweak the heck out of them to get as much HP as they can.

 

OK, I know this much. It's a 4cyl 1.6L, fwd and Consumer Reports doesn't even list it. But,
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My roomate claimed 35mpg however.

I'd say one with under 100K would be worth $1000.

Most reviews are positive for the little car. Here are a couple from kbb:

"it was my first car it ran great... i had it for 8 years. I actualy bought it in 1999 it had 210,000 miles on it! It actually just died on me a week ago.... The enigine blew.. But it has 467,000 miles on it!! thats the most miles i have ever put on a car or heard of a car go up to! its verry reliable!! i might even get another one"

"I had bought this car brand new and had it for 11 years. Upon getting rid of it I had managed to put 375,000 miles on it and only had a few things go wrong over them years. Had to replace a clutch but had taught many people how to drive a 5 speed. Water pump and timing went out once and had to replace the altenator. Ball joints and all the axle problems began when I got rid of it. But this was the best car I had ever had and honestly miss it. I wish they still made them, I wouldn't hestitate in buying another. And always got compliments of how cute of a car it was.. God I miss that car.."

"This car was my very first, and I paid $1000 for it. It was in good condition and it was perfect for me to learn on and get use to driving. It had a fair amount of acceleration, but after a few years that sort of waned a bit. I can't complain because the car had 130,000 on it when I bought it, and I can say that after 4 years I have definitely gotten my money our of it."



I'd say it's a good little car. It does look like people want about $3000 now that there is a gas crunch. Ouch !!!

Did I miss read this or did the title change? I guess I was just tired forget ^^^^^^

I guess your thinking about the Geo Metro. That was a three cylinder 1.0L and gets:

38 City, 41 Combined, and 45 Hwy

Experience - Yes, rental LAX about 10 years ago. Great gas mileage but, the slowest thing I ever drove. I think a Fiesta in the day was a race car in comparison. Even a Yugo felt fast. But, it did get great gas mileage, would get up to freeway speed and had a fair to good ride too.

 

Man, it is a bitter pill to swallow - it was built by Chevy. I guess I can think of it as a motorized air conditioner - the car is in good mechanical shape with low mileage - just over 100K, recent smog and new tires. And the gas mileage is better than the new hybrids.

And it will save enough gas to pay for itself this summer. But I have not owned a GM built vehicle in 30 years - and never to keep.

I have owned motorcycles with more horse power!

 

47 city/50 highway --- and small enough we can load it in Thumper's box. It is a step up from the original VW bug!

picture of one I found on the internet - not the one I am looking at!

 

Hey Clint,
Geo was owned by GM, but the Geo storm was made by Isuzu (a modified Impulse) and the Geo Metro was made by Suzuki and is the same as the Suzuki Swift. There was a Geo Prism that was made by Toyota and was the same as the Corolla. I don't know if that gives you any comfort though.

A neighbor of mine has a metro and gets 42+ on the highway going to Davis everyday. I helped him replace the engine after his daughter destroyed it from neglect. After the engine swap, he kept it and let the daughter buy her own car.

Kind of interesting that GM tried to come up with a new brand by rebadging and lightly modifying other makers' cars.

 

Oh, I just thought someone else that had one. My buddy from NASA. Before he came to NASA he used to drive his while on Hawaii. He liked it so much that he brought it to the states. We never went on the freeway in his and the speed limit in Hawaii is 50mph at the time so it wasn't an issue. It rode OK but, he was a pipe smoker and smelled bad from that. Other than that, it was a cute car.

 

I would much rather have a Mini Cooper myself, and I mean a real one, not the BMW fakey thing that they pass of as a Mini these days. But then, I'm sort of a masochist and actually like English cars...

 

Eh mate remember the Italian Job and the recent remake? Cool little cars. I think people put cosworth supercharged motors in the older ones and make them really move out.

Oh and then there is the Borne Identity.... of course.

I like the old spitfires. They were fun too.

 

I've been biting my tongue since this thread was started...

BUT WTF YOU THINKING OF?

Okay, I know have that off my chest

Before you plunk down a dime, check parts availibility for the common stuff, it'd be a bummer if the waterpump went out and you had to search for 3 months to find one....or find out it was a 200 dollar item.

As much as I like GM...for economy and long lasting, I'd be thinking Japanese.

 

Mike you forget a Geo Metro runs on squirrel power. All you have to have is a few peanuts and your good to go.



BTW - One more and Clint hits 5000 posts.... Hurray for Clint !!!