Great car for the price

Author's Rating:

Pros: small and cheap

Cons: small and cheap

The Bottom Line: 
Good affordable, no-frills transportation, but lightweight parts and body wear out quickly. Excellent winter car.

Author's Review
I like my cars small and simple. All I really ask is reliability, good gas mileage, a small turning radius, and enough room inside to carry a pair of cross-country skis. And I don't like to spend a lot of money on a car. By those criteria, the Geo Metro is a winner. The gas mileage is extraordinary: 40-50 mpg in my 2-door 5-speed. You can park in the smallest of spaces, and turn around in any street with no backing and filling. And the skis? The back seat folds down to make it easy to slide the skis in the hatchback, and the tips of the skis just fit between the two front seats without getting in the way of the gear shift.

As for price - I was originally shopping for a "good used car" when I realized that the used cars I was looking at cost more than a brand-new Metro on end-of-model-year closeout. I didn't expect it to last forever, and it hasn't. I always said I'd be perfectly satisfied if I got 100,000 miles out of it. It's now at 99,980, and about ready for the scrap heap. The parts on this car are very light-weight, and they wear out, rust through and fall off. That's the tradeoff for the great mileage, and I'm satisfied with the bargain.

Lightweight parts aside, the car is well-built. Other than a bad oxygen sensor (replaced by the dealer at no cost) my Metro was trouble-free until it reached its middle years. Then there were the usual things to replace - tires, brakes, exhaust. The engine used practically no oil at all, and performed magnificently for such a tiny thing (1.0 liter, 3 cylinders). I found it to be plenty peppy, especially for a lone commuter. It zooms right up that steep entrance ramp near my house without requiring a downshift, which meets my requirement for "power." It goes as fast as I ever want to drive, which is about 70 mph tops (and only when I'm passing). People who like high speeds and face-flattening acceleration should not even think about driving a Geo Metro. Ever. It's just not that kind of a car.

The two things that wore out before I thought they should were the clutch (replaced at 50,000) and the brake rotors, which are so thin that they could only be ground once and had to be replaced at the second brake job. Also, at about 80,000 miles, the front engine seal blew out and ran the car almost out of oil. I had it fixed, but the engine's never been quite the same since. Probably my fault for not getting it to a garage quicker when the oil light started flickering (something it had never done before).

At 90,000, things started to deteriorate quickly. One day the driver's side window jumped its track and could no longer be rolled down. A few days later the windshield cracked. The door hinges started to sag and the doors had to be lifted a little to get them to shut properly. Then my daughter slid into the car ahead of her at a stop light on an icy day. The impact was slight, and didn't leave a mark on the other car. The Geo's bumper did not dent, but CRACKED, and the hood crumpled. And yes, there DOES appear to be Styrofoam inside the bumper! Probably not the safest car in a real collision. Then the brakes started to shudder (probably warped rotors, although the rotors are only 2 years old). It's still drivable, but no longer worth putting money into - it's just too decrepit. This car has many fine qualities, but I would never describe it as durable.

Of course, the other reviewers who used that word probably weren't driving their cars in Minnesota. The hailstorms, battery-destroying cold, slippery city streets and tons of road salt are hard on a car.

Which brings me back to the positive side. Other than the deteriorating body, this has been the best cold-weather car I've ever owned! The flyweight engine seems to be perfectly balanced over the front wheel drive - this baby climbs right out of snowdrifts! I have NEVER gotten stuck in this car, in 7 years of parking on Minneapolis streets, and that's saying something. I can't say I've never skidded on ice (see fender bender above), but compared to the other vehicles I see fishtailing all over the road in icy weather, the Metro holds the road like a champ. It always starts, even in the coldest weather. The original battery lasted for about 6 years (something that never happens in Minnesota), possibly because it takes so little energy to turn the engine over. And the over-achieving heater heats the car up in a flash.

Tips for used car buyers
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The weakest point of this car is the light weight, easily damaged body, which is fortunately something you can see. Less obvious weak points are the clutch and the brake rotors. If the clutch has never been replaced you may be looking at an expensive repair soon. Ask about oil use - if it uses any oil at all between oil changes, the engine may have been damaged. Roll the windows up and down, and check the door hinges, since both of these mechanisms can wear out.

Strong points: spectacular mpg, easy to park, cheap to maintain. Well-built engine. Handles well: tight, responsive steering and solid front-end (mine has never needed any kind of front-end work, not even an alignment). There is no power ANYTHING on this car, not even power steering (which it really doesn't need, being so small). When you are buying an 8-year-old car, this is a positive, not a negative, since things like power steering pumps always seem to wear out at 8-10 years.