Geo will always remind me of one of my favorite Simpsons scenes from the episode where Homer becomes friendly with Ned then turns obsessive: It's when Ned, Maude and the kids are in a Metro trying to escape Homer in a parody of the Terminator 2 chase scene, they're all yelling at him to drive faster and he says, "I CAN'T, IT'S A GEO!"
I wanted a Geo Metro, Tracker, or Storm when I turned sixteen, but my dad was totally worried about my safety being they were pretty small in size. I ended up with a 1986 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport instead followed by a 1988 Pontiac 6000 SE. it wasn’t until my 3rd vehicle a 1989 Ford Escort GT that I finally got a coupe instead of a sedan.
I wrenched for a living during these times late 80s to early 00s.... I remember all of these and always thought it was weird GM chose to bounce between Suzuki, Toyota and Isuzu for their Geo models....
Buddy’s dad would be a repeat buyer of the 3 cylinder Metro, since it’s introduction. For a family garage full of muscle cars, large family sedans, etc- he thought it’d be fun as hell to buy and drive one as a “fuck around car.” Could not be beat for affordability and reliability. Best part was it was so simply basic, that he’d let his boys work on it and maintain it for him, as a “learning vehicle.” Fun fact: a brand new, ‘98 Metro 3 cylinder sedan can fit 5 300lbs HS offensive lineman and one very reluctant kicker- in the cabin and still… “technically” accelerate. … to about 30 mph.
ROFL! Yeah, the Metro was cheap and easy to maintain. When Pep Boys would advertise 4 tires "starting at" 100 bucks, good chance thst was a Metro size.
I owned a 1995 Geo Metro LSi (never understood why the “i” wasn’t capitalized). Had the 3 cylinder/5sp combo. Great little car until you needed to go above 65MPH. I ran the wheels off that thing and my dad was so impressed that he went and bought a 2001 (now Chevy) Metro. That one at least had the four cylinder, but the automatic transmission dulled any possible performance enhancements. Still, my little sister managed to get not one but *two* speeding tickets in that car. To this day she’s the only person I know to have gotten a speeding ticket in a Metro.
The go anywhere, do anything Geo Metro! I remember the tag line from a commercial I cannot find. Maybe it was just a Canadian market thing. Anyways the Gung Ho reference was appreciated I kinda like that movie but very much a product of its time. A couple of friends had the Geo or the Suzuki versions, surprisingly good cars. The Twin cam rips and a friend still has the earlier Suzuki Forsa Turbo with a roll cage it's ridiculous especially with a WRX Turbo and Grand Vitara pistons and stand alone engine management. Thank you for the way back machine videos!
The movie was definitely a snapshot of a previous time. I'm sure some of the elements in it was Hollywood to a extent. But I've read about things that happened back then like strikes and the Union would drop off a Japansese car for the workers to destroy. I tried to buy a new Suzuki Swift GTi in the early 90s. Got turned away for having no credit LOL.
I owned a 19990 Geo Prizm Hatchback LSI 5 Speed best car I ever owned which I bought new. I had a 1991 Geo metro 4 door 5 speed which I LOVED...beat the shit out of it . Drove it from Massachusetts to Florida and then back when gas was hitting $4 a gallon in the mid 2000's 5 speed Drove it 70 miles a day back and forth into Boston. Me and my best friend worked together and were "Big boys." hit a bad bump on the highway and blew out the front struts. We topped the scales at 650lbs....more than the recommended max payload. The 1995 Geo tracker 2 door 5 speed. Low miles but killed by tin worm. The last was sortta a Geo ...1994 Suzuki Sidekick 4 door 4 speed auto .....LOVED it also wenr from mass to Florida and back.....had it until last year .....still ran great .....the were all amazingly reliable....and fun cars to drive slow
I liked that Metros were unapologetic for what they were. Cheap and reliable for the most part. I have a soft spot for Suzuki vehicles, and would love a Samurai in my garage. My Dad's 91 Tracker was fun to drive too back then.
@autochatter I could not kill any of them....a nice 2 door 16 valve 4x4 5 speed are about 10K or more ....I have never found a 1990 hatchback prize...and I have looked ..I found the 1968 Toyota Corona 4spd manual (1st car I owned) ...Hyundai excel are unobtanium...
@@seankirby1327 I assume you meant Prizm..Yeah I haven't seen a first gen one in forever.Ditto for Excels..They were cheap new and often treated as such.You couldn't beat on them like a Tercel or even a Metro.
I remember growing up we had a metro, I do not know the year. But I remember my dad driving that sucker basically to the ground. He used to throw newspapers out of it for a little while, and I remember seeing it loaded to the brim with newspapers at one point, he killed the driver side mirror with a newspaper and he continue to drive it like that until we sold it to one of his buddies. My dad has also never been a small person and the back of the driver seat gave out. The rest of the time we had it, he drove with a ceiling fan box behind his seat, so we really only have three seats in the car. But neither of my parents had been small people through most of my life, so all three of us squeezing into that little car was rather comedic. but I genuinely miss that car.
I forgot the most important thing I wasn’t allowed to have a car not made in the USA cuz my dad worked at US Steel in Gary Indiana so that was a household rule.
Back in the day Geo and some other captive import cars had been popular in the South-Eastern Europe too. No official importer except one as I remember. More of these were imported from the North-Americas by private ventures. It could be an export success for GM because when the Wall came down, the south-eastern european driver population had been hooked on "american cars" and these were fit in with their gas mileage, service costs, etc. And at least these cars wore fancy "american" brandnames and were available with fancy automatic transmissions and many of them had a/c inside. While their japanese and euro siblings lacked these features. From this category I personally owned two "Pontiac" Le Mans cars. Also aspirated for a Prizm respectively. But they disappeared very quickly from the used cars dealerships.
@@autochatter After the 1988 and 1990 Pontiac Le Mans, I also owned the last 1997 upgrade of its kind, the Daewoo Nexia 1.5 Litre 8V SEFI + 4 speed automatic transmission 4T40E.. It had a very soft touring suspension, and 14" wheels. Had no worries with it on the autobahn.
When Isuzu brought out the Stylus in 1991(to replace the I-Mark), I was upset that Geo didn't get a version as the new Spectrum. I certainly would have considered getting one to replace the 1987 Spectrum I used to have.
@@autochatter True, but they justified selling the NUMMI-built Chevrolet Nova and Chevrolet Spectrum at the same time in 1985-1988. They could have justified selling a Geo Prizm and Geo Spectrum at the same time in 1991-1993.
@@johnnymason2460 Yeah they did. It may have been due to Isuzu's capacities too. The Storm was hot and built on the same platform as the Stylus. They may not have been able to produce but so many Stylus models due to that. Plus the Nova started about 1500 more than a Spectrum in 1986.Thats about $4200 less in todays money.
I had a 1995 geo tracker 2 door back in 1995 and part of 1996. Since 2010 I been driving a 2003 Chevy tracker LT. From my experience very forgiving long as you change oil. These trucks and yes they are trucks as stamped certified light truck under the hood will last you forever if you take care of them properly.
I just bought a 1987 Chevy sprint 2 days ago, on the original brochure it seems like the Metro name was just a trim level, right before they switched from the chevy badge to the Geo one. I had to buy this car since it's the first car I owned, a good replacement for the continental GT I just sold 😂
That's a great question! The Chevette was developed jointly by Opel,Isuzu,and GM. There was similar cars sold overseas that were based off its same architecture. The Chevy/Geo Spectrum and Isuzu I Mark was the replacement for the Chevette. I didn't really get into the Chevette as it was a quasi import sort of not being a complete in house GM design. That being said, I do consider our Chevette a American car. It was popular at one time,but by the the 80s it was a 10 year old antique as it came out in the mid 70s originally.
Yeah..Technical issues with some of the older ones and I accidentally deleted my previous vocal tracks. I have been re recording the audio, fixing glaring little issues that bugged me, etc LOL. They may look similar, but are about 80% new from a technical standpoint. The sound alone I think is loads better. Been using a real Microphone for awhile versus my phone LOL.
I think and it's my opinion here but Geo was technically a senseless brand that probably ate a lot of otherwise Saturn sales. GM had far too many badges at this time, but it good memories of a stronger, more sensible GM. Sure Geo probably didn't make much sense, there is a logical reason of why. Much of what GM does today makes absolutely no sense and in fact it shows. GM today in many ways might be still big, it's definitely a shell of it's former self. Probably in part to decisions like this!
I guess part of the reason for it was to try to give Chevy Dealers a offering to counter imports too. I don't hate Saturn, but they blew through alot of cash to create it...Cash that may have been better spent on the existing divisions instead.
@autochatter Maybe you're right about Saturn in that it was a lot ofncash, just like they're blowing now on EVs with nothing to really sell. The industry as a whole did. Everyone but Toyota really and now them things are not selling like they thought they would. They're slowly if foolishly discovering that hybrids are probably the way of the future right now anyway. That's a lot of loss to figure that stuff out. I think Saturn was a good thing honestly as it proved that we didn't need these insane corporate stricture and UAW to produce a decent vehicle. But very expensive lessons that probably could have been done more efficiently for sure.
@PearComputingDevices Saturn had its merits, but as we all know ultimately failed...It became more of just another GM Division as time went on.. I think hybrids make the most sense now too.
@autochatter Well GM starved it of resources. But rather than focusing on making really good cars they expanded their line up of so, so models. But Saturn did a lot of things on their own to make a better car. If I remember correctly Saturn was cheaper to produce down there then the J body cars it competed with. They had some ideas right. They needed to get away from the Chevy bowtie suits, a fresh start but then they starved it of resources. Quite honestly boneheaded. I thank you for your feedback on this. I enjoy your content creation for sure. It's good stuff. May you hsve s great day!
I remember back in high school some of the kids had the Tracker / Sidekick. I wanted one and went to test drive it. Wow, what a rolling pile of junk. Horrible ride and handling. Sure, it looked cool but that's about it. The rest of the cars weren't much better. The other Japanese cars were definitely better back then, especially Honda, in my opinion
My Dad bought a 91 Tracker new..4x4 automatic. It had a short wheelbase and choppy ride. Never gave him issues though. Suzuki never had the ...."A" Tier feel like a Honda or Toyota.
Geo will always remind me of one of my favorite Simpsons scenes from the episode where Homer becomes friendly with Ned then turns obsessive: It's when Ned, Maude and the kids are in a Metro trying to escape Homer in a parody of the Terminator 2 chase scene, they're all yelling at him to drive faster and he says, "I CAN'T, IT'S A GEO!"
I thought about using that in this....But its been done. Seen Memes too. Was funny though!
I have had 4 of them, my first 3 got over 300,000 miles. The one I drive now has 606,000 miles on it. Still getting 40+mpg in the city.
I wanted a Geo Metro, Tracker, or Storm when I turned sixteen, but my dad was totally worried about my safety being they were pretty small in size. I ended up with a 1986 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport instead followed by a 1988 Pontiac 6000 SE. it wasn’t until my 3rd vehicle a 1989 Ford Escort GT that I finally got a coupe instead of a sedan.
My Dad bought a 91 Tracker new. He had it for 10 years.
I wrenched for a living during these times late 80s to early 00s.... I remember all of these and always thought it was weird GM chose to bounce between Suzuki, Toyota and Isuzu for their Geo models....
Yeah it was odd..I never understood buying a Chevy badged Toyota or Suzuki then myself.
I had a 1997 Prizm. I had it for ten years, and I sold it to a friend who drove it seven years. Very reliable.
They were solid cars!
Buddy’s dad would be a repeat buyer of the 3 cylinder Metro, since it’s introduction. For a family garage full of muscle cars, large family sedans, etc- he thought it’d be fun as hell to buy and drive one as a “fuck around car.” Could not be beat for affordability and reliability. Best part was it was so simply basic, that he’d let his boys work on it and maintain it for him, as a “learning vehicle.” Fun fact: a brand new, ‘98 Metro 3 cylinder sedan can fit 5 300lbs HS offensive lineman and one very reluctant kicker- in the cabin and still… “technically” accelerate.
… to about 30 mph.
ROFL! Yeah, the Metro was cheap and easy to maintain. When Pep Boys would advertise 4 tires "starting at" 100 bucks, good chance thst was a Metro size.
I owned a 1995 Geo Metro LSi (never understood why the “i” wasn’t capitalized). Had the 3 cylinder/5sp combo. Great little car until you needed to go above 65MPH. I ran the wheels off that thing and my dad was so impressed that he went and bought a 2001 (now Chevy) Metro. That one at least had the four cylinder, but the automatic transmission dulled any possible performance enhancements. Still, my little sister managed to get not one but *two* speeding tickets in that car. To this day she’s the only person I know to have gotten a speeding ticket in a Metro.
I guess the lower case i was borrowing from BMWs playbook, denoting fuel injected models. You did have the "fancy" trim after all!
The go anywhere, do anything Geo Metro! I remember the tag line from a commercial I cannot find. Maybe it was just a Canadian market thing. Anyways the Gung Ho reference was appreciated I kinda like that movie but very much a product of its time. A couple of friends had the Geo or the Suzuki versions, surprisingly good cars. The Twin cam rips and a friend still has the earlier Suzuki Forsa Turbo with a roll cage it's ridiculous especially with a WRX Turbo and Grand Vitara pistons and stand alone engine management. Thank you for the way back machine videos!
The movie was definitely a snapshot of a previous time. I'm sure some of the elements in it was Hollywood to a extent. But I've read about things that happened back then like strikes and the Union would drop off a Japansese car for the workers to destroy. I tried to buy a new Suzuki Swift GTi in the early 90s. Got turned away for having no credit LOL.
I owned a 19990 Geo Prizm Hatchback LSI 5 Speed best car I ever owned which I bought new. I had a 1991 Geo metro 4 door 5 speed which I LOVED...beat the shit out of it . Drove it from Massachusetts to Florida and then back when gas was hitting $4 a gallon in the mid 2000's 5 speed Drove it 70 miles a day back and forth into Boston. Me and my best friend worked together and were "Big boys." hit a bad bump on the highway and blew out the front struts. We topped the scales at 650lbs....more than the recommended max payload. The 1995 Geo tracker 2 door 5 speed. Low miles but killed by tin worm. The last was sortta a Geo ...1994 Suzuki Sidekick 4 door 4 speed auto .....LOVED it also wenr from mass to Florida and back.....had it until last year .....still ran great .....the were all amazingly reliable....and fun cars to drive slow
I liked that Metros were unapologetic for what they were. Cheap and reliable for the most part. I have a soft spot for Suzuki vehicles, and would love a Samurai in my garage. My Dad's 91 Tracker was fun to drive too back then.
@autochatter I could not kill any of them....a nice 2 door 16 valve 4x4 5 speed are about 10K or more ....I have never found a 1990 hatchback prize...and I have looked ..I found the 1968 Toyota Corona 4spd manual (1st car I owned) ...Hyundai excel are unobtanium...
@@seankirby1327 I assume you meant Prizm..Yeah I haven't seen a first gen one in forever.Ditto for Excels..They were cheap new and often treated as such.You couldn't beat on them like a Tercel or even a Metro.
I remember growing up we had a metro, I do not know the year. But I remember my dad driving that sucker basically to the ground. He used to throw newspapers out of it for a little while, and I remember seeing it loaded to the brim with newspapers at one point, he killed the driver side mirror with a newspaper and he continue to drive it like that until we sold it to one of his buddies. My dad has also never been a small person and the back of the driver seat gave out. The rest of the time we had it, he drove with a ceiling fan box behind his seat, so we really only have three seats in the car. But neither of my parents had been small people through most of my life, so all three of us squeezing into that little car was rather comedic. but I genuinely miss that car.
@@jon50 What was the sandbox for?
@@autochatter edited for clarity, should have read fan box; speech-to-text strikes again
@@jon50 Ahhh...Never knew anyone who carried one of those around on a regular basis.
@@autochatter I mean, it just kinda lived in the car and never came out. The seat back wouldn’t stay up otherwise
@@jon50 LOL...OK..NOW I get its intended purpose! I can be a bit dense at times!
I forgot the most important thing I wasn’t allowed to have a car not made in the USA cuz my dad worked at US Steel in Gary Indiana so that was a household rule.
Well by the late 80s, there was quite a few imports built here.
Back in the day Geo and some other captive import cars had been popular in the South-Eastern Europe too. No official importer except one as I remember. More of these were imported from the North-Americas by private ventures. It could be an export success for GM because when the Wall came down, the south-eastern european driver population had been hooked on "american cars" and these were fit in with their gas mileage, service costs, etc. And at least these cars wore fancy "american" brandnames and were available with fancy automatic transmissions and many of them had a/c inside. While their japanese and euro siblings lacked these features. From this category I personally owned two "Pontiac" Le Mans cars. Also aspirated for a Prizm respectively. But they disappeared very quickly from the used cars dealerships.
That's pretty cool and I was not aware of that! I talked about the LeMans in my Opel vid. They were Daewoo built Opel Kadetts.
@@autochatter After the 1988 and 1990 Pontiac Le Mans, I also owned the last 1997 upgrade of its kind, the Daewoo Nexia 1.5 Litre 8V SEFI + 4 speed automatic transmission 4T40E..
It had a very soft touring suspension, and 14" wheels. Had no worries with it on the autobahn.
Gung Ho was a very underrated movie 😊
Yes it was
I once did a head job on a Metro in under 3 hours.
I was so proud of myself lmao.
Thats cool!
The Toyota Sprinter also had the Trueno variant,u know the AE86
When Isuzu brought out the Stylus in 1991(to replace the I-Mark), I was upset that Geo didn't get a version as the new Spectrum. I certainly would have considered getting one to replace the 1987 Spectrum I used to have.
Yeah but I could see why they didn't offer it as a Geo. Way too close to the Prizm by then.
@@autochatter True, but they justified selling the NUMMI-built Chevrolet Nova and Chevrolet Spectrum at the same time in 1985-1988. They could have justified selling a Geo Prizm and Geo Spectrum at the same time in 1991-1993.
@@johnnymason2460 Yeah they did. It may have been due to Isuzu's capacities too. The Storm was hot and built on the same platform as the Stylus. They may not have been able to produce but so many Stylus models due to that. Plus the Nova started about 1500 more than a Spectrum in 1986.Thats about $4200 less in todays money.
Actually the Stylus was at first going to be badged as a Spectrum but decided last minute not too because they thought it would hurt Prizm sales
@@gregg9672 I call that being scared. The Spectrum and Prizm are for two different types of buyers.
I had a 1995 geo tracker 2 door back in 1995 and part of 1996. Since 2010 I been driving a 2003 Chevy tracker LT. From my experience very forgiving long as you change oil. These trucks and yes they are trucks as stamped certified light truck under the hood will last you forever if you take care of them properly.
They are definately trucks! Always liked the little Suzuki SUVs, and still wouldnt mind finding a nice Samurai.
I just bought a 1987 Chevy sprint 2 days ago, on the original brochure it seems like the Metro name was just a trim level, right before they switched from the chevy badge to the Geo one.
I had to buy this car since it's the first car I owned, a good replacement for the continental GT I just sold 😂
Yes..It was a trim level untill the Metro debuted. Should have kept the Bentley and stuck the Sprint in the trunk for a spare LOL.
So whats the point of having two identical vehicles sold under different brands?
Someone in marketing at the time had their reasons lol.
How did the Chevette fit into this situation? The Chevette seemed fairly popular.
That's a great question! The Chevette was developed jointly by Opel,Isuzu,and GM. There was similar cars sold overseas that were based off its same architecture. The Chevy/Geo Spectrum and Isuzu I Mark was the replacement for the Chevette. I didn't really get into the Chevette as it was a quasi import sort of not being a complete in house GM design. That being said, I do consider our Chevette a American car. It was popular at one time,but by the the 80s it was a 10 year old antique as it came out in the mid 70s originally.
now on my 10th Metro being ground up restore 1993 67 K miles cant beat 65 mpg.
@jdkoozer Wow...Thats low mileage!
I have a 1992 Geo metro two-door coupe it’s in good shape running condition turn key and go
Not many left. They did have a tendency to run a long time!
I've noticed that you're reauploading some videos.
Yeah..Technical issues with some of the older ones and I accidentally deleted my previous vocal tracks. I have been re recording the audio, fixing glaring little issues that bugged me, etc LOL. They may look similar, but are about 80% new from a technical standpoint. The sound alone I think is loads better. Been using a real Microphone for awhile versus my phone LOL.
Love these cars
Yeah..I liked Geos too.
Love the metro
I think and it's my opinion here but Geo was technically a senseless brand that probably ate a lot of otherwise Saturn sales. GM had far too many badges at this time, but it good memories of a stronger, more sensible GM. Sure Geo probably didn't make much sense, there is a logical reason of why. Much of what GM does today makes absolutely no sense and in fact it shows. GM today in many ways might be still big, it's definitely a shell of it's former self. Probably in part to decisions like this!
I guess part of the reason for it was to try to give Chevy Dealers a offering to counter imports too. I don't hate Saturn, but they blew through alot of cash to create it...Cash that may have been better spent on the existing divisions instead.
@autochatter Maybe you're right about Saturn in that it was a lot ofncash, just like they're blowing now on EVs with nothing to really sell. The industry as a whole did. Everyone but Toyota really and now them things are not selling like they thought they would. They're slowly if foolishly discovering that hybrids are probably the way of the future right now anyway. That's a lot of loss to figure that stuff out. I think Saturn was a good thing honestly as it proved that we didn't need these insane corporate stricture and UAW to produce a decent vehicle. But very expensive lessons that probably could have been done more efficiently for sure.
@PearComputingDevices Saturn had its merits, but as we all know ultimately failed...It became more of just another GM Division as time went on.. I think hybrids make the most sense now too.
@autochatter Well GM starved it of resources. But rather than focusing on making really good cars they expanded their line up of so, so models. But Saturn did a lot of things on their own to make a better car. If I remember correctly Saturn was cheaper to produce down there then the J body cars it competed with. They had some ideas right. They needed to get away from the Chevy bowtie suits, a fresh start but then they starved it of resources. Quite honestly boneheaded. I thank you for your feedback on this. I enjoy your content creation for sure. It's good stuff. May you hsve s great day!
@@PearComputingDevices I enjoyed reading your thoughts immensely! I again appreciate the praise! The week is the Jeep Cj from 1945 to 1986!
I remember back in high school some of the kids had the Tracker / Sidekick. I wanted one and went to test drive it. Wow, what a rolling pile of junk. Horrible ride and handling. Sure, it looked cool but that's about it. The rest of the cars weren't much better. The other Japanese cars were definitely better back then, especially Honda, in my opinion
My Dad bought a 91 Tracker new..4x4 automatic. It had a short wheelbase and choppy ride. Never gave him issues though. Suzuki never had the ...."A" Tier feel like a Honda or Toyota.
Geo Metro Convertible was a popular car with woman today are a oddity 😊
@user-tg9qz2ul2k They are now? There can't be but so many still running around.