$200X Challaengers: You can forget about Geo Metros

I'll sell mine (nice one) right now for $7300.

Any takers??

I'm tempted to list my 318is with all this frenzy. If I put a geo badge on it I'd probably fool half the buyers.

I still want a nice ford festiva.

I just love the envious looks I get from SUV drivers at the pumps when I'm filling my Civic hatch. We just picked up a CRX DX for a friend to be his new DD.

Now if only I could find another stock Fiesta, mine doesn't get the best MPG with all the modifications.

It's the revenge of the sub-compacts! Fiestas, Festivas, and Justys oh my!

I've always wanted to stuff a really fast engine in a really tiny metro. Like, Honda H22 or Nissan's SR-20DET. Man, $7,000+ for a Metro is retarded though. Lots of nice, safe, and fun cars get very close to the same mileage and cost less! You guys named a bunch of examples - the 318 sticks in my mind. I do love driving Metros though (expecially the 3 cyl version). :nice:

Our current fuel situation makes me wonder though: what kinds of stupid-cool vehicles are going to be made available to us now at really low prices? Ford is offering 0% financing on the Mustang GT. I wonder how cheap my dad and I could find a pickup truck / tow vehicle for Lacy (my Miata) - people will no longer want them just for commuting.

Metros, Swifts and other minicars kind of fell out of favor with the SUV craze at its height. Nice to see that turning around now. Maybe some daring manufacturer will bring in one of the current Japanese microcars, seeing how the Smart seems to be catching on.

Back when those things were dirt cheap, I actually considered a Challenge project of converting one to rear wheel drive and sticking a 13B in the front. I guess those days are long gone.

Dad has 4 metros, two of them run. My old 94, which is the best metro I've ever seen (it had a TACH!) and his old 92, it needs a clutch. He claims he's going to sell the 4 door as a roller (no rust on the control arms) and basically keep the two running as long as he can. We've been shopping for a "cheap" 'vert for nearly 5 years now, but to no avail.

Part of the expense of especially the first gen metros is that they all rusted to pieces. The control arm rust is basically unrepairable, so unless you get them from the west (like the guy in TFA does) they're getting pretty scarce.

The real travesty is that the Chevy Aveo, which should slot in at the same place as the Metro, only gets like 35MPG. WTF, Chevy? (Or should I say DAEWOO?!)

jstein77 wrote: Metros, Swifts and other minicars kind of fell out of favor with the SUV craze at its height. Nice to see that turning around now. Maybe some daring manufacturer will bring in one of the current Japanese microcars, seeing how the Smart seems to be catching on.

I've been secretly hoping that fuel prices skyrocket so that we'll get all those sweet subcompacts and microcars everyone else gets to play with.

I still want to see some kind of Mazdaspeed 2 (Ford Fiesta SVT?) in the US. I'm still pissed they didn't bring over the Autozam AZ-1 in the 90s.

weconway wrote: I've been secretly hoping that fuel prices skyrocket so that we'll get all those sweet subcompacts and microcars everyone else gets to play with. I still want to see some kind of Mazdaspeed 2 (Ford Fiesta SVT?) in the US. I'm still pissed they didn't bring over the Autozam AZ-1 in the 90s.

I'm totally with you. I'd do horrible things to be able to drive a Suzuki Cappuccino every day...

therex wrote: I'd do horrible things to be able to drive a Suzuki Cappuccino every day...

I don't know if i could drive a car called the cappuccino...these things are very important you know.

If this becomes enough of a trend you may see automakers do exactly what so many people here (including myself) have been clamoring for, which is a ultra-base level MPG version of some smaller cars. The Yaris is already only a few grand over that Geo, and i bet if they were to make a super-stripper version they could get it dangerously close to that $10K mark.... so let the price on metros SOAR i say!

P.S.: Yes wally, i know i said the phrase "super stripper", you can go back to trawling for bizzarre news now :nice:

just think how much the convertible metro's are going to go for.....

My buddy was looking to buy a second car since his Excursion Diesel costs over $160 to fill up every two weeks. I mentioned the Civic VX and he did a quick nationwide Autotrader search. He only found a few and people were asking $7000 and more in some cases with 150,000 miles and such. Crazy. I told him you could have bought that car for half that 5 years ago and it probably didn't cost much more than that brand new. Talk about holding your value!

PubBurgers wrote: Makes me wonder if i should put my CRX DX for sale at some ludicrous price. Think it would work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___1991-CRX-HF-IN-EXCELENT-SHAPE-BLOWN-HEAD-GASKET_W0QQitemZ160240997918QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item160240997918&

Does this answer your question?

This gas craze is making the 318i I bought last Saturday look even better... now, instead of being slow, it "accelerates economically."

QuasiMondo wrote:

PubBurgers wrote: Makes me wonder if i should put my CRX DX for sale at some ludicrous price. Think it would work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___1991-CRX-HF-IN-EXCELENT-SHAPE-BLOWN-HEAD-GASKET_W0QQitemZ160240997918QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item160240997918& Does this answer your question?

Holy Carp!

Maybe this will pound the message into the automakers' collective thick skulls to just give us a car that has one engine and gets good mileage! The only cars close to this are the Smart Fortwo and the Mazda2, and they still haven't reached the efficiency and performance of a late 80s/early 90s car.

If I can buy a motorcycle and ride it around town with nothing more than a DOT-approved army-style feelgood helmet, why can't I buy a light car that has much better safety?

With a little work, you could make a decent commuter out of this one.

GameboyRMH wrote: If I can buy a motorcycle and ride it around town with nothing more than a DOT-approved army-style feelgood helmet, why can't I buy a light car that has much better safety?

EXACTLY!!!!

Gearhead_42 wrote: With a little work, you could make a decent commuter out of this one.

HOLY MOLEY! That is off the chain!

Hoop wrote:

QuasiMondo wrote:

PubBurgers wrote: Makes me wonder if i should put my CRX DX for sale at some ludicrous price. Think it would work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___1991-CRX-HF-IN-EXCELENT-SHAPE-BLOWN-HEAD-GASKET_W0QQitemZ160240997918QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item160240997918& Does this answer your question?

Holy Carp!

Holy crap indeed. Mines not quite as nice but it doesn't have a blown HG either...