At $4,500, Is This 1995 Geo Metro a Mileage-Making Marvel?

When it was new, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Geo was the only three-cylinder car sold in America. That tiny triple helps the Metro achieve an astounding 50 mpg. Let’s see if its price tag is equally frugal.

Does the phrase “adult-owned” in a car ad strike you as being somewhat… oh, I don’t know, salacious? The seller of yesterday’s 2005 Honda S2000 described themselves as a “42yo car enthusiast,” implying that the Honda hadn’t suffered from any youthful exuberance. At $19,800 its price was fairly adult as well. Most of you felt such maturity was well warranted, giving the Honda a solid 58 percent Nice Price win at that asking.

In a classic Simpsons episode, “Homer Loves Ned,” the Flanders family flee Homerʼs smothering attempts at making Ned his BFF by crashing through their garage door and hightailing it down the street. In Terminator-like fashion, Homer chases them while Maude shouts, ʻCome on, Ned, move this thing! Sweat-flinging and sawing at the wheel, Ned fatalistically responds, ʻI canʼt! Itʼs a Geo!ʼ

While funny, sardonic, and pretty much a spot-on take, at least you can bet Ned was getting some pretty good-iddly-ood mileage. And that will be the case with todayʼs 1995 Geo Metro as well, which the seller says can get up to 50 miles on a single paltry gallon of unleaded. We can attribute that parsimony to the Metro’s tiny 3 cylinder hummingbird of a motor.

Built by Suzuki — makers of the mighty Hayabusa — the 998cc Metro motor seems like a Chihuahua to the bike motorʼs rabid Chow-Chow. However, what it loses in rail gun-like acceleration, it more than makes up for in lack of power. The SOHC triple utilizes several tricks to reduce both friction and mass, among them a hollow camshaft, all-aluminum construction, and the conspicuous absence of a fourth piston. Those efforts pay off with exceptional fuel economy. They also make for an output of 55-horses which will move the diminutive hatchback adequately.

Ok, so it’s not going to win any drag races. Still, it’s a lot of fun to drive a slow car fast, blah, blah, blah. When taken as a commuter or just a city car, this Metro offers a great deal of appeal. It’s also old enough and seemingly in good enough nick that it wouldn’t look out of place at a Cars and Coffee meet or one of those Radwood shows that the kids are all vaping about.

According to the seller, the car is a time capsule from 1995. It’s also so small that it might at any moment disgorge a stream of tumbling clowns. That’s a nightmare for another time. Despite the age and small size, this Metro still has dual front airbags, ABS brakes, and, amazingly enough, A/C.

The paint is a very ‘90s Tropical Green Metallic and that’s matched with an interior filled with gray plastics and patterned cloth on the seats. The bodywork shows well and wears some Saab-aping Walmart wheel covers. Overall it appears to be in decent shape for its age. The cabin looks clean and comfortable enough for what it is.

In total there are 140,510 miles on the car, and it comes with a clean title and the boast of being the last car sold in America with a throttle body injection engine. It also has that funky three-cylinder motor and a $4,500 cash-in-hand asking price.

What’s your take on this littlest Geo and that price tag? Does that seem like a deal to be able to boast about great mileage and live a Simpsons fantasy? Or, at $4,500, does this Metro have you moving on?

You decide!

Helena, Montana, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Michael Sweeney for the hookup!

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