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Well, I never thought I’d see a Geo Metro on these pages, but here it is! Most of these 3-cylinder econoboxes were driven into the ground long ago, so it was a shock to find one with so few miles. It could be the nicest Metro I’ve ever seen. The condition of the interior makes the the odometer figure believable, but rims did throw me off a bit. Luckily, the seller does have the full story on what was changed by the first owner. This Geo is located in Thurman, Ohio and is listed here on eBay. These cars were known for their excellent fuel economy, so it would be interesting to know if the people bidding are looking for a commuter or if there are actually Metro collectors out there. What do you think? Thanks goes to Jon for the tip!
Pebble Beach, get ready for your first concourse Geo Metro!!!!
The current bid is $6200 with 6 days left!!
I will never forget I was cruising along in my 70 Mach 1 on the highway one afternoon when one of these passed me. It had a bumper sticker on it that said you have just been passed by a three cylinder. That was good for a laugh.
Wow I never thought I’d see that.
I actually and drawn to it for some inexplicable reason.
They were awful cars, probably explains the low mileage! My wife had one in its Suzuki Swift costume as her first car, I couldn’t wait to see the back of it. When you shut the doors they didn’t clunk, they clinked, like crushing a Coke can! (‘Soda can’ across the pond!)
I had a 1996 geo that I used for a 85 mile commute every day. Bought it used for 2500.00. Drove it for 4 years and it had 260000 miles on it. Still ran strong and good. It was parked on the road and a lady side swiped it. Insurance wrote it off and gave me 2750.00 Best deal I ever had. I loved that car. You could race in it all day long and no one ever knew you were racing! I did manage to beat the odd 10 speed bike and tractor trailer.
Dan you’ll Never top that !!
Does anyone think this may be a repaint? Engine and under car seems a different shade…and I seem to remember these having emblems. Am I being paranoid or could these be ordered sans badging?
I think what you’re seeing is areas that didn’t get the clearcoat. Seems to me I’ve seen a number of factory-fresh cars that didn’t get the clear under the hood and inside some hard-to-reach panels.
The lack of badges is kinda worrisome, though. Could someone have taken a heat gun to ’em early enough to not leave marks?
Not that I’m unduly concerned. Drove several of these back in the day — Suzuki versions, too — and was not exactly charmed.
Yes it is a repaint, that model year came with grey body side guard moldings, not colour keyed.
I sold dozens of these and found them to be nearly bulletproof. The people bought ’em cheap, financed ’em, never gave ’em any love, and they kept on rollin’. Not many of today’s sub-compacts could compete…$149/mo..lol
Jim you may have something there! These cars always faded and in fact I never seen one that didn’t unless it was garage kept and I don’t think that ever happened much lol.
Too bad it wasn’t a Mustang or a Camaro or a Firebird anything but a Metro. I would lower that reserve real fast. Sorry but someone had to say it!
it has a/c. love the story about buying this for his wife and then she wants a divorce. i too wonder about the badges. if the reserve is not to high the this good be a nice daily driver, commuter car, autocross car. doesn’t someone on the site use these to deliver pizza? great find.
I still have the ’95 Metro I bought in early 1998 with 10K miles. Now it has 170K and has never needed much more than routine maintenance. It’s a 5-speed, 3-cylinder with no options, not even A/C. It still averages 43-44 MPG, the upholstery looks new, and people frequently offer to buy it.
Yes, it was and is a cheap car; the clearcoat is failing, the headliner is droopy, and the dash is turning to gray powder. The synchromesh on 1st and 2nd is failing, and it will need a transmission rebuild eventually. But all things considered, it’s the best all-round car I have ever owned. It’s not fast but it handles well and is fun to drive, it’s comfortable, it swallows an amazing amount of stuff in that rear hatch, and I even use it to tow a small utility trailer when I need to haul a load of whatever to wherever.
It doesn’t take much effort to maintain these cars, and when they aren’t treated as disposable appliances they are durable and very reliable. I’m a huge fan. Maybe it’s a bit early for them to be collector cars, but I have no doubt that time is coming.
Is insurance relatively cheap on these Since I have to commute to work twice a day at 16mpg. This might be the perfect weekday work shuttle Geo in general I mean. Not the one for 6.5Gs in eBay
I had the Suzuki version with the uprated turbo or supercharged engine. It was a blast and got me through Highschool along with a couple MGBs and a TR6 I bought, restored and sold. Was an awesome little car that met it’s match in the name of a snowplow after a storm when it was covered and looked like a drift…
Red Flag. There are no emblems/stickers on this car. It had GEO Metro on the back and the little world thing on the hood.
The little world shaped emblem was the geo badge, as I recall. With that said let’s lump this in with the chevettes, pintos, and the yugo that have infiltrated these pages, roll our eyes and ask why and then move on….
When I met my wife she had a brand new ’92 and it was a great car. It got a terminal rust where the body intersected with the left front suspension. Found out too late that was a common area. Other than that, it lasted for years with NO mechanical issues. She used it to do weekly three hour drives each on the turnpike and it ran great on the that road. Tempted to send the link to this for her :-)
THAT was the only weak point of these cars. If we could do it again. I would have rustproofed the shut out of that area. Other than that, for commuter car they were bulletproof
What was final model year. Were all 3 cyl ?
I had a 1997 with a 1.0 and 5 spd. I bought new. Had a 50 min. drive to work. It was a boring drive. Mostly all two lane that merged into a newer four lane. One morning on my way to work I noticed a friend who worked at the same place several cars back in my rearview. I could see he was trying to catch up me. I was having no part of it. I floored it and shot ahead. I hit the four lane and still had the hammer down. Then it happened. Ahead parked behind a bridge deck between the road. The State Patrol. Yep. He passed my buddy and nailed me. Got a ticket for 97 mph in a 55 zone In the Geo. Don’t laugh. My Metro would cruise all day long and seem to smooth out at around 70 mph. Long story short. Had nothing to loose called an attorney out of a phone book at work. He handled traffic cases. Got his last appointment for the day. Walked out with me when it was over and said is that the car?? No way. The morning of the court appearence. The cop didn’t show. Case was dropped. Great lesson. Cost $250. and avoided a wreckless op and to this day never go over the speed limit. Sold the car with 245K miles. Still ran great. I miss it. and too am a huge fan. You have to drive them to appreciate them.
If I had a Geo Metro, I wouldn’t drive it either.
Hey, If I bought this and gave it to my wife today, she’d divorce me before putting another 750 miles on it like the first owner’s wife did!
Lack of badges is troublesome to me, otherwise that is one minty looking Geo!
Leon, there were two generations; this one is the last year of the first generation. 2nd gen was from 1995 to 2001, the last 4 years as the Chevy Metro (Geo badge was dropped). 3-cylinder was standard, 4-cylinder was optional. My insurance seems to be based more on mileage than the type of car; my Carrera 4 cabriolet is only slightly more than the Geo. I think that’s probably because I’m an old fart; if I was 21 things would probably be very different insurance-wise.
Chris in Nashville, I also have a ’92 Suzuki Swift 1.3GT, which sounds like what you are describing. It is a totally different animal than the Geo; twin-cam 16V 4-cylinder which revs like a bike engine and puts out about 100 hp. That doesn’t sound like much but it’s a small, light car, and it’s a little rocketship. I’ve taken it to track days a couple of times and it surprises the crap out of a lot of people. It’s like an original Mini Cooper, but quicker.
I remember these well we had a 96 suzuki Swift gt I bought it from a buy here pay here lot it had the big head 4 valve port injection 7500 redline 125hp it came from Canada Florida let me keep it but could not get full coverage insurance on it because the the vin was not assigned for USA anyway it was a great car top speed was 140 mph all out and hard to get parts got here but surprised a lot of cars in the 10 yrs I had it wished I never sold