1996 Geo Metro from North America

Summary:

Great little car, dependable

Faults:

None.

General Comments:

Great economic car, lacks any luxurious features, but seriously dependable.

I wish they'd manufacture new GEOs.

It didn't spend much time in shop except regular maintenance. Engine and road noise is bad but it runs great. 30 mpg on highway, 21 mpg in city. Never gave me any trouble except the first time I bought I had to replace a few parts, probably due to previous owner's carelessness.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st November, 2005

1996 Geo Metro 1.1 from North America

Summary:

Economical and fun to drive in the city

Faults:

I too have had problems with the exhaust system. I keep taking it back on one of those Lifetime Replacement guarantees - they hate me.

Recently I had to replace the pump on the windshield washer. It is pretty easy once you figure it is inside the fender behind the headlight on the bottom of the washer tank.

I had problems with a front brake overheating sporadically. Never would do it when I took it in, but it got hot enough to slow the car down - and too hot to touch.

Finally just had to replace the full rotor and brake assembly for about $200.

This was my daughters car and she left it here when she moved to Philly. I have so much fun driving it I can't sell it.

Is 40 mile per gallon the average?

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 30th October, 2005

31st Oct 2005, 20:16

40 MPG, hmm.. Is that just in the city, or highway, or both? For a 96 OBD2 Metro, it's not too bad. The Metro got a fair bit heavier in 96, so that little 3 cylinder engine has to work harder to move that weight around. Make sure you have the engine properly tuned, and check the O2 sensors (I believe OBD2 cars have more than one). Also, be sure to check www.teamswift.net and create yourself an account there and post on the message board.

1996 Geo Metro LSi 1.3 from North America

Summary:

Mighty Metro

Faults:

My rear defrost button has never worked for some reason. A little bit of duct tape solved that really easy.

All of the belts stopped working on my car for some reason. I took it to the dealership and they explained that some bolts on my crankshaft were loose. They tightened the bolts and sent me on my way. $120 CDN total. Canadian Tire told me I was going to need a new engine...

Most recent thing is my transmission blew. First gear got stripped. Other than that everything has worked beautifully.

General Comments:

I love my little Metro. I actually call her the Mighty Metro because of how great she has preformed. This car has a small engine, but the way she is geared she keeps up with the best of them. I think I just got a lemon where my gear got stripped. Perfect student car where it is extremely cheap on gas.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 23rd June, 2005

1996 Geo Metro LSI 1.3 from North America

Summary:

This is a terrific economical fun little car

Faults:

CV joints went out at 102000. I replaced the struts and tires around 100000 miles. The former owner did very little in the line of routine service.

General Comments:

This little car gets between 46 and 56 miles per gallon, depending upon the type of driving that you are doing.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th March, 2005

1996 Geo Metro 1.0 from North America

Faults:

Front brakes at 90,000 miles.

Rear brakes at 100,000. Didn't really need to change the rear brakes yet, but I had bought the parts so it did them anyways.

Exhaust system from catalytic converter and back at 90,000.

Fan belt at 90,000, fairly easy to replace yourself.

Radiator at 125,000. Very easy to do yourself.

Heater fan now only works on last 2 settings. Car doesn't seem to have a resistor pack so the problem is probably the fan switch itself.

Started having rough idling at 130k which seems to be affecting gas mileage. Down to about 39 mpg. Haven't figured out this problem yet. Could be a simple tune up (I hope).

General Comments:

Great car. Very reliable. Great mileage (used to get between 48 and 52 mpg). Everything is easy to work on yourself.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th March, 2005

15th Mar 2005, 19:53

Do a compression test, and pay close attention to the compression reading from the number 3 cylinder. I don't know if the problem was fixed my 96, but earlier G10 engines had a problem with the EGR system plugging up, thereby causing the valves in the number 3 combustion chamber to literally burn away, causing a rough idle, loss of power and fuel mileage. I had a 93 with a burnt valve, and I had the rough idle, low power and low fuel mileage. One good thing is that these engines are very simple to work on. An complete engine swap can be done in half a day, and swapping a cylinder head, which is what I suspect you might be in for, takes just a few hours. Shop around at some local junkyards, you're very likely to find a good cylinder head for your little Geo for peanuts. And obviously, if you do change the head, change the timing belt as well. Email me jason.bright@gmail.com if you'd like to talk more about this.

15th Mar 2005, 20:07

You have the identical twin sister of the Suzuki Swift! And Suzukis are awesome, reliable cars, of which I am a huge fan. Get that tune up! Get it taken care of and your car will last as long as you want it to. I just bought my 3rd Suzuki. First was on lease (shoulda just bought it, oh well). Crashed the second (but I'm alive and well! Even though I hit a tree at 40 mph due to black ice). I bought my 3rd Suzuki soon after. I will never buy anything else. All the non Suzuki cars I've owned (4) have had varying numbers of costly problems. The frequency varied, but they all did. The Suzukis? Most problems I ever had was one, and it was not the least bit costly. I love Suzukis.

17th Mar 2005, 18:14

It is in the switch believe me I've replaced mine twice since 1995, great car very reliable.