Bring back the Metro?

[cavalier36]

Wouldnt this be a good time to think about bringing back the Metro to production? this car got 58 mpg in 1992!! I know we have the Aveo but its no better than a Cobalt in mileage. id say lets bring over the 3 door aveo and put a 1.0L 3cyl in the engine bay and bam we have ourselves a 50 MPG car.. this car didnt sell really well in 1992 because gas was $1.25 a gallon, it WOULD sell with gas near $4.00 a gallon.

[ocnblu]

Well, a Metro prolly weighed about 300 pounds with a full 4 gallon tank. All these safety advances since then have made cars fat. A simple, 1.0L gas engine wouldn't work in today's Aveo, imo. We have fat, complicated cars nowadays.

[SuperSport623]

in my quest for a daily driver, the lure of the metro's gas mileage is outweighed by the fact that a metro is one of the biggest girl repellents ever created...

[cavalier36]

in my quest for a daily driver, the lure of the metro's gas mileage is outweighed by the fact that a metro is one of the biggest girl repellents ever created...

I know. I had a LIGHT BLUE Metro once for a rental car when I went on spring break in Miami beach.

[cavalier36]

Well, a Metro prolly weighed about 300 pounds with a full 4 gallon tank. All these safety advances since then have made cars fat. A simple, 1.0L gas engine wouldn't work in today's Aveo, imo. We have fat, complicated cars nowadays.

yeah, but how does that smart car pass all the safety tests. when it is smaller than a Metro was? we could probably do another Metro but we would have to use light weight materials to make up for the added weight of safety/complicated equipment. which would make it too expensive even if it was assembled in mexico or south korea.

but why couldnt we do a "hybrid" Aveo?? if GM could just make a small car and even get it to 45 mpg.

[CARBIZ]

I almost choked when I saw the heading. Bring back the Metro? EEEK! The Aveo is 10X the car that the Metro was. Have you ever driven a Metro? They couldn't get out of their own way, let alone pass anything. Crash tests? FOGETTUBOUTIT! The new 1.6 should improve things quite a bit on the '09 Aveo. I'm sure GM has a couple aces up its sleeves with the NG Aveo.

Let the Suzuki, er, I mean Metro rest in pieces.

[loki]

or how about a turbo 1L four....? market it towards a smart competitor

[Robert Hall]

The Metro as it was in the '90s was unsafe at any speed...on roads filled with 5000-6000 SUVs and trucks, I wouldn't want to be in a small death trap like that...(or an Aveo either).

Edited April 27, 2008 by moltar

[Intrepidation]

I'd rather pay the extra money for gas in a car I know I won't die in should I get into an accident with a shopping cart.

[VenSeattle]

If Chevrolet would build and bring over production versions of the triplet concepts Beat, Groove, and Trax then we'll have our Metro(s)...

[The O.C.]

The Metro as it was in the '90s was unsafe at any speed...on roads filled with 5000-6000 SUVs and trucks, I wouldn't want to be in a small death trap like that...(or an Aveo either).

Moltar,

Why do you have a Dalek in your sig?

[siegen]

Wouldnt this be a good time to think about bringing back the Metro to production? this car got 58 mpg in 1992!!

40mpg seems to be the average for the Metro. A Yaris is only a few MPG off.

The early 90's Civic VX also did low 40's, and was larger with a larger engine. The early 90's, late 80's CRX did low-mid 40's with a larger engine and was undoubtedly more car and funner to drive than the Metro.

The Metro was a POS all around. The Aveo is the modern day subcompact, and there's a good reason GM decided not to use the name Metro for it.

[PurdueGuy]

40mpg seems to be the average for the Metro. A Yaris is only a few MPG off.

The early 90's Civic VX also did low 40's, and was larger with a larger engine. The early 90's, late 80's CRX did low-mid 40's with a larger engine and was undoubtedly more car and funner to drive than the Metro.

The Metro was a POS all around. The Aveo is the modern day subcompact, and there's a good reason GM decided not to use the name Metro for it.

I think the point is that the Aveo's mpgs are underwhelming to say the least. Heck, the HP & weight of the Aveo is almost exactly the same as the Saturn SOHC S-Series, yet the SOHC S-Series was rated (granted, under the older system) at 40mpg highway, and users regularly achieve that. Unless the Aveo is seeing real world MPGs far higher than it's epa rating, it's a rather disappointing car when it comes to economy.

The Metro couldn't even be legally mass produced & sold in the US today due to new safety standards, but I do agree that GM needs something better in the cheap/high mpg car category. Hopefully the NG Aveo or some other upcoming car will do so.

[FAPTurbo]

The Metro is Erectile Dysfunction on wheels.

I don't think consumers would settle for a vehicle like it these days, especially when consumers prioritize safety, and features.

[Mule Bakersdozen LS]

The 1998-2001 facelifted, Chevy half of the second (third if counting the 1985-88 Sprint) generation made Metro look decent. But it was still a horrible, too-small, too-underequipped, too whatever car. So no, please, for nearly every one of our sakes, leave it dead and nearly forgotten. But boost the Aveo's abysmal fuel mileage to near or at Metro-levels (I swear, nothing gets mileage as good as it did a few years ago-didn't a 2005 Impala get 31-32 highway MPG?) But seriously, make Beat a little bigger or stretch it a little, take off a few inches from Aveo, and that's your sub-Cobalt lineup.

[Sixty8panther]

What a coincidence:

Tight Whips member no. 3 (Speeding Penguin) who is a commercial

parts manager at a local Autozone just texted me about 2 hrs. ago

to say:

"LOL took a Geo Metro clutch out of

a box, it's literally the size of a CD"

Now as far as bringing back the Metro, it would probably be 400 or

so lbs. heavier due to all the extra safety requirements and therfore

even SLOWER than before with way worse fuel economy.

Some people would still buy it but then some people still buy Ford

Rangers & VCRs.

[Eric77TA]

Now as far as bringing back the Metro, it would probably be 400 or

so lbs. heavier due to all the extra safety requirements and therfore

even SLOWER than before with way worse fuel economy.

I'd say way more than that. A Yaris 3 door weighs about 1,000 pounds more than a Metro.

I had a Metro when I was in college (a 1994 I bought new) and it got 50 mpg easy. You did have to turn of the AC on onramps, but if you planned well, it was livable and was a perfect runabout for a college town. I did drive it from Warrensburg Missouri to Louisville Kentucky on a single tank of gas once.

Prices on Metros (and Aspires, Fiestas, Excels) are actually going UP:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-0...rs-resale_N.htm

[Robert Hall]

yeah, but how does that smart car pass all the safety tests. when it is smaller than a Metro was?

DB engineering.

Edited May 19, 2008 by moltar

[Robert Hall]

Moltar,

Why do you have a Dalek in your sig?

I'm a Doctor Who fan...I have a Dalek in my cube at work also.

[cire]

I would have to say "NO" to the resurrection of the Metro. That car really did nothing to improve the image of Chevrolet or GM.

I would say yes to importing the Corsa 3-door & 5-door and Tigra "TwinTop" (could be marketed as a Corsa "TwinTop" instead to save marketing costs) with a 1.(Something) turbo 4 cylinder as Saturn models. You would get quality, fuel efficiency, and a little get-up-&-go in a great looking Eurocentric package.

The Metro was very fuel efficient, but that point alone doesn't necessarily mean that it should be brought back from the dead. GM has some great products in their global arsenal that would make great fuel efficient products for the U.S. market also.

[thegriffon]

The updated engines in the Aveo give much better mileage. The new 1.4 would be a good choice, a little less power than the new 1.6, and even better economy. Most markets get a new 1.2 as well.

[regfootball]

Gas prices make Geo Metros Chic - CNN

[siegen]

Gas prices make Geo Metros Chic - CNN

Wow, that person paid $7,300 for an older Metro.

I would rather walk the 100 miles... or sleep in the office. Seriously, sleeping in the office and coming home on the weekends seems far more livable.

A 92-95 Civic VX with similar mileage would be livable. With manual transmission, they aren't that slow.

A manual-transmission Insight will get 60-70mpg easily. Probably really hard to find though.

I don't mind other people owning Geo Metro's. I prefer it over trucks and SUV's.

Edited May 20, 2008 by siegen

[regfootball]

Wow, that person paid $7,300 for an older Metro.

I would rather walk the 100 miles... or sleep in the office. Seriously, sleeping in the office and coming home on the weekends seems far more livable.

A 92-95 Civic VX with similar mileage would be livable. With manual transmission, they aren't that slow.

A manual-transmission Insight will get 60-70mpg easily. Probably really hard to find though.

I don't mind other people owning Geo Metro's. I prefer it over trucks and SUV's.

i test drove a metro once. i was scared. I could live with an old CRX though!

[daves87rs]

Last time I was in a Metro it broke down during rush hour on I 75.....

Scary.

[EMan]

A friend of mine had a Metro as a first car and we beat the ... out if. That was in the late 90's, after about 10 years and a little over 200k it finaly died. Very sad, sad day for us.

[Hudson]

I've driven Metros (and Sprints) and Swifts for many years. I never felt unsafe in them. As a matter of fact, I've still got a Swift (GT) and as soon as they put new struts on it (to replace the 17-year old originals), I may drive it daily. Well, almost daily since it doesn't have air conditioning and my current daily driver, which gets about 10 mpg less, does.

[haypops]

A friend of mine had a Metro as a first car and we beat the ... out if. That was in the late 90's, after about 10 years and a little over 200k it finaly died. Very sad, sad day for us.

I drove a workmate's metro with over 100,000 miles on it. Everything felt solid. Very impressive.

[ponchoman49]

I'm a Doctor Who fan...I have a Dalek in my cube at work also.

Big Dr Who fan here also. The new series is one of the few bright spots in these troubled times we live in.

[Sixty8panther]

"Everything felt SOLID"?

Ive driven many a metro including brand new ones... 3 & 4 cylinder

ones at the Chevy Dealer (MY2000) even sold a 4dr/4cyl./5-spd to

a customer who traded in a corsica and I can NOT think of one thing

that felt "solid" even though they were brand new.

I know the Metro got great MPGs but let's not get carried away here.

[Hudson]

"Everything felt SOLID"?

"Solid" may be a bit of an overstatement, but it was a well-built little car. They don't usually rattle as much as other little cars and hold up very well. This summer will be the 18th anniversary of the assembly of my Swift and it's still a great, reliable, unembarrasing car.

[Sixty8panther]

"Solid" may be a bit of an overstatement, but it was a well-built little car. They don't usually rattle as much as other little cars and hold up very well. This summer will be the 18th anniversary of the assembly of my Swift and it's still a great, reliable, unembarrasing car.

It is what it is.

No shame in that ...but even as a 21 year old kid I drove a

rusted 5.0 powered Cougar XR7 with 90K miles, I remember

thinking how depressing it would be to own such a spartan,

boring, cheap & flimsy car.

Good luck to anyone in a Metro who is in the slow lane doing

60mph on the highways around here... when a Peterbilt 379

or Kenworth W900 passes by you at 79mph you'll end up

blowing off the road into a ditch.

[Drew Dowdell]

What were the old aircooled VW Beetles good for mileage wise?

[biff]

I knew a girl in college that was changing a flat rear tire on her metro and it fell of the jack. So I lifted the car and she replaced the jack.... Never felt safe in that car again.

[biff]

Wow, that person paid $7,300 for an older Metro.

Isn't that about what they sold for new?

[CARBIZ]

"Well built" can mean many different things. The original Beetle was considered rock solid, for example - not that it wasn't without its flaws. The Metro was noisy, underpowered and, well, tinny, but their drivetrains were pretty solid and many have been known to be kept in the family for 12-15 years and still running fine.

[Hudson]

Isn't that about what they sold for new?

The article claimed that this $7,300 Metro sold for about $9,000 in 1996.

[Eric77TA]

What were the old aircooled VW Beetles good for mileage wise?

Low 20s in the city in real world driving and approaching 30 on the highway if you've got a long flat stretch.