going to buy one, maybe

[chaz132]

hi everyone, I'm new here
I am looking into buy a metro
it is a 93, I am just wondering how much work it is to keep one of these guys running
I curently have a 95 grandam se
I am fascinated by metro, partaly because of their great gas milage, and part because, well they are such little pieces of junk
I am not terribly machanicaly inclined, but I'm not an idiot, just havent had a real chance to work on cars so far
I here this is a good car to learn on
is there anything I should look out for when purchasing
and on a 93 what sorta gas milage should I expect?
o and as a final note, those of you who put turbo's on the 3cyls, what sorta performance gain did you see, and what sorta mpg hit did you have
thanks for all your help ahead of time
-zach

[Dorkula]

I think geo's are wonderful to learn on, from my experience so far, they have (even the 93) many components you see in newer vehicles, and components from older ones as well. I have compared the mycarworks geo to other newer vehicles, and there are a lot of similarities when it comes to the setup of the car, and how the engine is mounted and such.

I am still new to mechanics, but from what I have learned so far, they are worth the money.

- Anthony

[geozukigti]

Correction... They aren't pieces of junk. They're actually very excellently designed cars. People just refer to them as cheap cars, don't take care of them, floor them all the time, and trash them. If you floored any car everyday, and never changed the oil, it'd be a piece of junk too.
If you treat them right, they'll treat you pretty good. They're really easy to work on, parts are cheap. It's a perfect car to learn on. It's pretty forgiving if you mess up too.
When you buy one, look underneath. Make sure the sub frame isn't rusty, or you'll have a dangerous car on your hands. The 89-94 had a bad habit of rusting around the lower control arm mounts in not-so-fair weather climates. Make sure it doesn't burn oil too. Unless you wanna play around with an engine rebuild. Might be a good thing to understand more on how a car works tho.

[geojim]

My '93 Metro is a fun little car to drive. If you take care of it, it can last for a long time. Parts are not as cheap as I think they should be, but I guess most things are not nowadays. I drive my car everyday and it currently has 305K miles on it - not bad for being powered by 3 hamsters... Jim

[chaz132]

in your guys expierence, how long do metro engine last generaly?
I always assumed that they would explode around 100K or 150K at max

[Dorkula]

why would you think 3 cylinders would last for a shorter time than a 4, 6 or 8 would? It seems to me that 3 cylinders would last longer... :-/

[pind]

It is commonplace around here to see the 3 cylinder engines with over 300,000 km on them. they go for a long time, no problem

[geozukigti]

What other engine can you drive at a constant 4500RPM's constantly, and still have it last well over 150,000 miles? heh