I know this is a forum for mostly technical advice, but I though I’d start a thread where people could tell the story of their metro. I happened to work with a guy about two years ago who happened to own a 1993 2 door red geo metro. When gas hit $3.00 a gallon I talked him into selling it to me. I talked to him recently he said if I ever want to get rid of it he’d buy it back. Yeah right, I don’t think me and the metro will ever parts ways. I don’t know why, but it seems that metro owners are some of the people that are the most attached to their cars. I’ve had people come up to me in the parking lot and be like “man, I had one of those cars back in the day”. Their tone of voice sounds like they are talking about an old girlfriend or something. Really funny. I love just jumpin in the metro and taking off. It’s really a fun car to drive, maybe not the safest though. And economical. I mean what other car can buy $20 new tires for (although they are becoming harder to find). Or put a new clutch in for $100. Or drive 40 miles on one gallon of gas. Or pay $30 a month for insurance. Or just replace the rotor instead of turning them because they’re only $12. I could go on and on. Anyways, here’s the story of my metro. Feel free to post yours.

- I bought my metro in 05 for $800. It had 53k on it. Seriously, 53k on a 12 year old car.
- It was funny driving it for the first time. It felt like I was in a go kart.
- The first night I brought it home my roommates at the time picked it up and turned it about 45 degrees in the driveway.
- I got a speeding ticket for going 83 in the metro. I have to admit I was going down a hill. I could tell the state trooper wanted to laugh.
-I have hauled just about anything you can imagine in the metro. A hot water heater, twice. Materials to build a fence (concrete mix, 4x4’s, 2x4’s, 1x6x6 pickets). For this one I took out the front seat and back seat. Anytime I got oboe 50 the car started to swerve from all the weight. It was a sight to see. I mean every square inch of the metro was full. I wish I had a picture of that. I rehabbed a whole house and used the metro haul just about everything I needed for the job.
- When I take my dog with me (he’s a 95 pound chocolate lab), I usually take out the passenger seat and he rides up front with me.
-My metro got broken into while it parked overnight at my girlfriend’s (now fiancée’s) house. More about her later. They smashed in the hatch window to steal my $30 sub and $25 knock-off brand from Wal-mart amp. I called around to the junkyards and found a hatch for $75. Put it on in about ten minutes and spray painted to a close-enough shade of red. It doesn’t match that well, but hell who cares(well the HOA I guess, more about that later).
- I was sitting at a red light one day and a guy backed into me. Dented up the hood and passenger fender. I spent $20 on a new headlight, and have been driving it that way since. I got a $1,200 check from his insurance.
- I put a new JDM motor in it about 2k miles ago. Bought the motor from a place in Houston for $500. Took me a while to do it, but if I were to do it again, it could probably be done in a day, maybe two, if I had all the gaskets, seal and tools ready. I could not believe how small the block and head is. My friend and I just lifted it out . It looks like it should belong on a motorcycle.
-My fiancée has only ridden in the metro maybe ten times. She’s not as fond of the metro as I am. I should just feel lucky I guess that she’ll still marry me even though I’m driving a metro.
-The HOA for the neighborhood I live in has a problem with the metro. They sent a letter about a week ago saying I could not store it in the driveway because, in short, it was wrecked and ugly. I looked up the declaration of covenants and it defines storing as seven or more consecutive days, so I called this bi*** back and explained to her that I was not storing my metro in the driveway, because I drive it about 100 miles day. She said it didn’t matter, I couldn’t park it in the driveway. I’m waiting to see what happens. I’ve read through the covenants and am pretty sure I can beat this lady in court if I have to.
- One of these days, I’ll make it out to the junkyard to get the hood, headlight housing, fender, radiator support, corner light, etc. and fix it up real nice, maybe even a new paint job from one of those cheap places.
-In short, I just really like the metro for all that it has to offer. I’m tired of typing, too.

Here's a link to some pictures. Hope it works.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22584385@N05/

I'd like to say thanks to all the guys that post on here. Way better info on here than in Chilton’s. Thanks guys.

Good story. Thanks for taking the time to post it. I have 2 geos, and even though I can afford to drive a newer car daily, I won't. I love working on the geos. One geo I out a JDM into and the other got a reman from e-bay. These were the first engines that I have every done, and I take pride in doing something myself.

You guys are making me proud! I got MY 1999 Chevy Metro free, as it was really beat up and ugly and mis-treated by god knows WHAT had owned it before. It was going to be junked (??) I was HAPPY to take it!!! All it DIDN'T need was an engine/tranny. Make a long story short, after body work, interior, brakes, engine accessories & MAACO paint job, it looks like (almost) new. I LOVE driving it! Gives me back 44 & change MPG. Nimble, cute as can be, dependable as the sunrise! It is surprisingly comfortable to drive too. I have about $2000 dollars into it now and I'm proud of my work! It really is the car of the times and out of production??? Where's THAT logic? Anyway, it's up to us intelligent car keepers to maintain our Metros as long as we can. Soon everyone will be asking us Merto drivers, when gas is 4 - 5 $ a gallon "You wanna sell that?" (Haha!) But don't! These are the orignal "Smart" cars!!! DangerDude

I was looking for a Metro in the fall of 2005 and came across a 1995 green Metro about an hour and a half a way, Car only had 60,000 miles but had some major rust developing on the rocker panels and at the time wasn't educated about under body A arms rust that can kill Metros. In hindsight I bet this car had that going on. Dealer had car and wanted a lot for it and AC did not work.

I went home to think about it and just happened to look at the newspaper that just came and saw a 1995 GEO Metro LSI 5 speed cylinder locally from a private owner. Went and looked at it and it was in much better shape than the Green one I had looked at but had a lot more miles 129,000. Interior was in great shape and I doubt anyone ever sat in back seat it was so clean. I asked owner if I could take car to my mechanic. Mechanic put car up on hoist and said under body was in good shape aside from minor rocker panel rust developing. A arms were fine. Mechanically the car checked out fine.

I ended up buying the 1995 Red Metro from private owner for about 1/2 the price they were asking for the green one and love it. This spring I plan on rebuilding engine since it now has 137,000 and is using some oil and most likely needs rings and valves. Eventually I want to get body spruced up and hopefully it will look like a new one.

I live in Midwest so I store car in the winter because salt is a killer on these cars. I am always on the lookout for another Metro not to replace one I have just to have two. However the prices have gone up so much with Metros in decent shape that I have abandoned my search and will concentrate on fixing up the one I have to look like new and keep as long as possible.

My story albeit a long one. Something about driving a Metro is hard to explain, fun car to drive.

Mark

I got tired of hearing my buddy at work always bragging when people were complaining of gas prices that he got 44mpg. And if he hit 30 dollars in gas he must have a hole in the tank.
I drive a 01 Silverado Z71 (paid off) that gets 16 mpg on a good day. Pull my boat and it's 14. Driving 50 miles round trip was killing me in gas. About 80 bucks a week. I was talking to a guy at work about getting one. "There's one down on 100th st, I seen it Saturday."
So I drove down there and sure enough a 93 XFI for 600 OBO. Got it for 400 cash. Bragged about it at work and after a month I bought new tires for $220 installed. "See, it's already costing you money!" Everyone would say.

A month after that the exhaust broke and cost me 50 bucks. Same day I just put in a new alternator to the tune of $125.00. "Great investment!" Everyone was saying. And "But look at it this way, you're saving on gas!"

I have about 400 extra into the car in the 5 months I've owned it. Doing the math it's still cheaper than my truck.

My wife and I follow Dave Ramsey quite abit with the exception of selling off everything we own, and like he says "The average car payment is 380 a month." So like I tell my buddies, "If this car cost me 400 a month in repairs, it'll take about 4 months (1600 dollars) and my car will be like brand new, and you'll still have a payment for 4.5 more years, and mine will run another 10 without putting anymore than brakes and an occasional tune up in it."

That's the story of my Metro, and I love this car to death. To tell you honestly when the exhaust shop took it into the shop to put it on the hoist I asked if I could watch because I honestly had a gut ache thinking they'd hurt it. Sound's terrible but these cars kick rear!

Oh and of all the Silverado owners out there laughing at us, (most popular vehicle where I work) when gas hits $4.50 a gallon like we keep hearing, your 26 gallon tank will cost 117.00 to fill. Even though the Metro has a 10.6 gallon tank, even after 400 miles I can only sqeeze in 8.5.

Do the math you gas guzzling drivers at there!!!!!!! That's still less than 40 bucks!!

FOR GOD'S SAKE, BIG 3, SOMEONE RESSURECT THE MIGHTY METRO!!!!:runaround:

How do you insert picture into message?



Oh and of all the Silverado owners out there laughing at us, (most popular vehicle where I work) when gas hits $4.50 a gallon like we keep hearing, your 26 gallon tank will cost 117.00 to fill. Even though the Metro has a 10.6 gallon tank, even after 400 miles I can only sqeeze in 8.5.

Do the math you gas guzzling drivers at there!!!!!!! That's still less than 40 bucks!!

FOR GOD'S SAKE, BIG 3, SOMEONE RESSURECT THE MIGHTY METRO!!!!:runaround:

do a search on here. Doctorbill covers it perfectly.

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8046/1011174qp4.jpg

I searched and could not find thread on posting pictures, help please

Type in post pictures and it will come up. I like many have a membership (free) with image shack and it will let you upload pics from your pc and when you click on the info in image shack highlight the "forums" and right click and hit copy. then on your Metro thread hit Control V and it will insert pic.

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1830/1995metrokg3.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1995metrokg3.jpg)

My Metro is the most rewarding $500 I ever spent. Got it with 134k about 5 years ago. It has cost me a set of snow tires, a few oil changes, two batteries, a headlight and one diagnostic session with my mechanic to find an abraded wire that was shorting out the Fuel Inj. circuit. Great little car for around town. Bit too noisy for highway travel. My wife has mostly been using it since the price of fuel rose sharply, and leaving the Subaru in the driveway.

Nice story.....

well I got to say that my 1996 hatch was the best $600 ive ever spent .... 82k when i bought it in Dec 2005 and now its got 117k+ .....i love it so much i only use 93 oct. gas in it for the past year.:screwy:

Here's my story.... My wife bought our 94 metro in 96 with <30k miles on it before we were married. I wanted to sale the "roller skate" as I called it and get something a little bigger. Man am I glad I didn't. I worked as a service tech for Xerox for 6 years and drove this lil roller skate every day 250 plus miles. over the six years I recieved 36000 dollars in milage reimbursment and my wife paid 5000 for the car.

I have put 6 timing belts on it, a water pump, starter, 2 clutches and one rebuilt 5 speed. Best little car I have ever owned. I have a little over 310000 thousand miles on it now. I figure with gas prices, I'll see 1,000000 miles on it before its all said and done. "I'm gonna drive this thing till Jesus comes back"

Mike

My Metro Story,

I purchased mine of Ebay for under 1,400 about two years ago. At the time I paid the going rate for one with Automatic and A/C that worked. At the time it only had 69K miles on it.

Since then I have installed new KYB on all four corner and with new rubber. Did the struts myself in my driveway over one weekend. Recently I change the T-Belt and Water Pump just as it reached 85K miles. I also changed out all the wheel bearings at the four corner to quiet the car down. It is running great and even though it is an AUTO tranny I acheived 40 MPG cruising at 60 to 65 MPH with a three passengers and full load in the hatch on long highway runs.
[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh79/cubano112266/Geo%20Metro%201992/metro1.jpg[IMG]
GO METRO....

:-)

It is a great time to own a Metro and not be looking to buy a Metro. Prices have gotten outrageous. Best thing to do is take care of your Metro and keep as long as possible.

Mark

I may have told this once already, but here goes.................

I was at work and this little 1998 Chevy Metro came in for a run rough diagnostics. Checked codes and found #1 misfire. I checked spark and it was good. The next step was a compression test which revealed #1 cylinder had 70 PSI and the other two were around 150 PSI. We quoted him teardown and inspect for around $120.00 on top of his $70.00 diagnostic charge and State Inspection. The guy said he was just going to junk it and for some odd reason, I asked him if he would give me the car and I would pay his bill for him. He went out to the car and got the title out and signed it.

I asked one of the techs I work with if he would stay over a few hours to help me yank the head and we agreed on a day. I then got on the internet and found the reason for my dead cylinder was from exhaust valves so I ordered up a head gasket kit, timing belt, and 3 new exhaust valves.

With help from the other tech, I had the head basically rebuilt and the car running again in less than 7 hours. I posted the repair HERE (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=901427). After the repair, I did have a low power issue and found my catalytic convertor was clogged and soon after I replaced the entire exhaust. Since I got most of the bugs worked out of it, I still have less money invested in this car than the gas it would of cost me to drive my 4X4 truck which has not been run since I got the Metro.

I love this little car and now with the price of gas, I plan on keeping it forever!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i315/planetetf/98metro.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i315/planetetf/98metro2.jpg

Ok, I'll insert my :2cents: into this thread. My 1st Geo Metro (a 94 2-Dr Auto) I got for $300.00 from a neighbor in 2005 for a work beater. The car was in excellent shape except it had the usual low compression in all 3 cylinders (Were talking 90 in each here)...... I Installed A JDM replacement engine into it at the house and all was good for a year or so.......Then we had a Tornado miss my GM Plant by just a couple of miles while I was at work, and Golfball + size hail came down at the plant and turned the Metro into swiss cheese.....:crying: . The Ins Co paid me off $1100.00 for it (Not to total it), and I continued to drive it for a couple of more months. Then 1 day at work, a guy walked up to me and said " I See you drive a Geo Metro....I have a 94 Geo Metro 4-Dr Manual in my garage at home with a blown motor in it, it's in perfect shape, just needs a new engine.....Want it?, Come pick it up for FREE!. I did and I pulled the JDM engine out of the Swiss Cheesed Metro, and Swapped it into the 94 4 Dr I just picked up, along with a new Exedy Clutch kit too :cool: . I Completly parted out the rest of the Swiss cheesed Metro and sold most of that on E-Bay, then sadly took the rest of Body to the metal recyclers for scrap...:shakehead . The spare engine that the guy thought was "Blown" as he said just needs the head redone......I pulled that engine apart last month and bought full rebuild kit from parts dinosaur for it, and I'm in the process of doing the full rebuild on it for a spare engine as we speak!......:grinyes:

My Current 1994 Geo Metro 4 Dr Manual Trans

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c83/MrBBody/Geo.jpg



The Hail Damaged 2 Dr Metro at the scrap yard .....:crying:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c83/MrBBody/94GeoBoneyard.jpg