...which is the 1997 Geo Metro she bought a few years back to replace her beloved Roller Skate (1988 Festiva). Verdict: two thumbs down. Quite simply, she hates the car. Basically, the Festiva did almost everything better. Both had hard rides, but the Festiva's handling was tight and predictable (even with 270,000 miles), while the Metro's is simply bad, occasionally bordering on scary. Mileage is superb (about 51), but the car just doesn't do anything else well. The A/C is weak (not to mention bogging down the already-anemic 3-cylinder engine), the driving position is poor (no tilt column), the highway ride is buzzy, unsettled, and incredibly raucous, more even than the Festiva. Expansion joints make the entire car jump, and can be downright scary if on a curve. The car's oddly curved body eats some head & shoulder space, not to mention way too much cargo room. Rear visibility is only fair. The inside mirror has an incredibly-annoying vibration above about 40MPH. The car has a ferocious appetite for front brakes, eating three sets of pads and one pair of rotors in about 40,000 miles. (Her Festiva easily managed 35,000 on its tiny brakes, her big Blazer has about half the pad left with 35,000 miles.) Cliffs notes: to the Metro, Liz says "yuck."
Getting an econo-box to last 270K is an accomplishment in and of itself. They tend to self-destruct at some point in their lifetime, regardless of regular maintenance...stuff just wears out.
riding in the back seat of a chevy sprint(metro in GM clothes) was an adventure. A friend in the back with me put our shoulers together and our hands on the inside walls and started to rock sideways....had the rear end of that little car skipping all over the road
Speaking of breeze, I had a Chevy truck on my tail tonight on the freeway. He was road raging because it first started with him riding my tail. Mind you I own a 1989 Nissan 240 SX with 74,000 original miles and I get about 30 mpg on the highway. The speed limit was 60 and I was cruising along at 70 with traffic. He wanted this big bad truck of his to plow through two lanes of traffic when there was no way to get around. After blinding me for the last time, I found a hole between the car in the right lane (I was in the left), and sped up to over 100 mph. I know, it's crazy. I haven't done it in years. It was all uphilll too. I left that pickup in the breeze all right and my gas gauge didn't move a bit!!! What a darn good car she is!
Many economy cars run 200,000+ miles (my mother sold her Omni with 280K, the Mustang II the Omni replaced went over 200K)...the Festiva was a superb car. 45MPG (with no overdrive and no fuel injection), good handling even on its tiny 12" tires, stable on the highway, and stone-reliable. Unfortunately, the engine scattered and the car (which was starting to get rusty) wasn't worth a new engine...final odometer reading: 273,161.
