This car is the definition of what a pizza delivery guy would drive in a 90's movie.

I love how you could literally beat the living snot out of them, and they just come back for more. Such a happy little engine to always give you it's all. Not much, but it does all it can. All the time. Great car.

“Drive faster Neddy” “I can’t, it’s a Geo!”

A friend had a geo prism, and the backlight on the radio had stopped working. He drove it down a hill at a high rate of speed (for the prism, not sure it was actually that fast) and hit a pothole, went slightly airborne, and the light started working again.

Geo Metro Hill Climb should be a motorsports series

I remember I was driving home from work one day and one of these went flying by me at like 85-90 mph. I didn't even know that was possible

I drove my 1990 metro from Sacramento California to Schuylkill County Pa in 1991 for less than $80 in gas and that was with 2 adults, a full roof rack, 2 dogs and a loaded car. It had 200k miles on it when we finally got rid of it. Bought it new for $5k and definitely got my money’s worth out of it.

My Dad had a late 90s Chevy Metro after the Geo name was dropped. Same spec. Good little car. When I would come back from college I would sometimes add a gallon of gas to the tank without telling him. Inevitably a week or two later he would call me crazy excited about the 71 mph he just measured at the pump.😂 He did average in the 50s regularly on his commute.

The jean jacket is as nostalgic and probably as old as the car. Approved 👍🏻

Years ago, I knew someone who drove a 1st gen Geo Metro convertible. What made it hilarious is that he was a college football player and was a big guy. I mean 350+ lbs, built like a Mack truck, broad guy. Driving a Metro convertible. The driver's seat was completely blown out - as flat as a city bus seat. The car leaned a little bit even with him out of it. There was zero room for a passenger to sit unless the passenger was under the teenage years. The top never really went up because there would have been no room for his head. And yet he drove that car and loved it. How that engine continued to run is beyond me. But that was my first intro to a Geo Metro - cramming myself in that car, wondering how that seat belt managed to wrap around him, and wondering if it could even move forward around the flat streets of Kansas.

Probably one of the only cars on the road today that gives that 25mph limit sign any significance.

We got pulled over for peeling out from a stop sign and having the music too loud in a small midwestern town in 1993 in one of these. We had no idea that we were living our best lives at the moment. Life is still good but the early 90’s are missed.

In Europe we had the Suzuki Swift. Came with a variety of engines from 1,0-1,6. My neighbor used to have a gti version with a twin-cam 1,3 engine, that produced around a 100hp. But with weight of less than 800kg it did 0-100 kmh (60mph) in 8,6 seconds. Quite the difference compared to the 1,0 :)

I had a '98 Metro... Same 1 liter engine, but I did have A/C. Drove it in West Virginia. Good times.

I can't quite put my finger on why, but I find this much more entertaining than some other more popular KZfaqr driving around in a Ferrari

love these rcr pov drive videos. listening to mr regular and the owner talk makes me feel happy

I had a job in college picking up medical samples for testing from doctors offices all over San Diego in Geo Metros. It was so much fun tearing around in those cars at their absolute limits that I became a car enthusiast from the experience. You might have a compression issue because they weren't that slow. I could wind it out in every gear and get up some pretty steep hills without too much trouble. Maybe it just the fog of nostalgia and that I had only driven other slow cars up to that point but I will always love Metros.

leaning in a metro like it's a motorcycle is the pinnacle of the geo experience

I bought a 94 new. It got 80 mpg. Great car, even if it had no power. I loved that I could change the oil, from the top...just kick the catch pan under it. Glad you're finally making a vid about the metro.

Makes me really appreciate my '16 fiesta with a 1.0 3-cylinder turbo and a 5 speed. We've come a long way!

That 3 cyl may be slow but it sounds great!

It's actually got a nice engine note. Better than most v6's lol

Faster than the bus, does the job.

Kunkleman offered a sweet performance package for this specific model.

I generally like big slow cruisers with long gears, thats this but in a tiny package, what an interesting car.

Here's a PA story. I once had to drive my aunts Geo Storm from OCMD back home to Scranton. It was a 4 spd auto. That had no overdrive. At 70 mph the car was at 4K on the tac. Got like 15 mpg on the trip. And it had 11 gallon tank. Had to stop twice for gas.

omg! my summer car is what brought me to your channel in the first place; the desire to learn more about cars!

My buddy had the Pontiac version of this, a '98 Firefly. He got it because his mom insisted he had to buy new and the budget was low. He lowered it with some nice light 14s and a cat back exhaust and it somehow felt peppy! He once got ticketed at 100mph!

Love to see the POV drives coming back!

I’ve always wanted to put a hopped up 2 stroke snowmobile engine in my 1994 Geo metro but I can’t bring myself to do it. I bought it on a whim to go on a road trip to Colorado from Texas because it was only 1000 bucks which was cheaper than a rental car. The previous owner claimed it had a rebuilt engine but wouldn’t you know it, lost the receipts… that was 2018 still daily driving it now averaging about 53 mpg. It’s like daily driving a go kart. I fill up once every 2 weeks sometimes 3.

That was the family car when I was a kid. So many good memories 🥲

Back in the day my first good car that had a legal inspection sticker was a 1987 Ford escort, a fwd 4 cylinder 4 speed that I drove like a race car. My friend had a 1987 Ford Mustang that was a rwd 4 cylinder 4 speed. We used to race each other and it was always a tie. No ac, ps, pb, pw pl, but did have a automatic seat belt...

I had a friend who had the convertible automatic version, it may have been a rust palace, but it was actually novel and interesting for todays standards. Would drive again.

I love how in europe this power to weight ratio is perfectly acceptable

I had a 2000 4 runner exactly like yours. It was taken out in a collision with a cargo van in July with 300 miles away from 250,000. Total loss, funds from insurance wasn’t enough to buy another one. The market priced me out. I’m still furious about the incident and, I’ll never not miss that truck. Hold on to yours!

Wow. Haven't been in one of these since high school. 2005, senior year, my best friend and I drove his metro from Flint Michigan to Barstow California. It sucked! Good memories though. Thanks RCR!

I thought you shifted 1 to 3 up that hill at first, wow that gearing is WIDE apart! With closer ratio gears I bet this thing would liven up a ton, or at least feel more lively

The only time I drove a Geo Metro was August 8th 1988. After that drive I decided to test drive a 1985 Honda Civic and bought that one.

There's a unicorn 1990 (?) droptop version of one of these in my town, clean as the day it was extruded, and it makes me smile because it's so awful. I live in BC, so my assumption is it rolled into the valley one year and didn't have the guts to climb back up the mountain. No joke:, it's a 6% grade, there's no way that's getting out of here under its own power.

A friend in highschool had a 89 lx 5.0 and he lost it going into second and crashed into a metro. The metros whole engine compartment completely separated from the cab part of the car. Mustang needed a new bumper 🤣

It's much more fun to go fast in a slow car than slow in a fast car!

I had a Geo Storm which was a Toyota and on I4 going to Tampa it would rip. I had it when I first met my wife. It had a electrical fire and I scrapped it. Those were fun days, I wish I still had both of them. Lost her in 2020. Cool Video Thanks for the Memories, they were great ones!!!

My first car at age 19 was a 2000 Opel Corsa with 54 horsepower. I can tell you it was hard to make this thing move. 0-60 about 17 seconds, and 50-62 mph felt like an eternity. But despite weighing about 240 pounds more than the Geo it wasn't impossible to get it moving. In the twisty turns it was absolutely insane, the fact that I could put bus lengths between me and a car that's stuck behind me when going uphill says a lot. Of course it was no race but it felt faster than it should have. I think the maximum range I could get with this thing was 450 miles despite the fact I was pushing it literally everywhere. I went to car shows that were a hundred miles away in any weather conditions, no A/C, always at the top speed which was like 94 mph or something (German Autobahn in case you're wondering). I couldn't really go to the right lane because it would have taken forever for me to overtake the car in front. I had a person or two cheer for me for actually keeping pace with them. I really miss the car sometimes. Almost killed myself when I crashed it. A few months afterwards I got a 2009 Ford Mondeo and the 800 mile range is just so out of this world that I can forget about the aspects that made the previous so fun for me. In other words, it may not be that fun but it's equally reliable and no pain to drive on the highway. A few big goods for one or two bads seems like no bad trade to me.

Thank You for uploading POV test drive videos again, Roger. I really liked those.

Had a geo metro powered single seater sand rail growing up. It was turbo charged with the automatic transmission and cutting brakes. Literally took the front end of the car with the struts and made it the back of the buggy. Super light weight. Was 13 and could lift up the front end. The guy who it was built for was in a wheelchair so it had arm and hand controls for him originally before we got it. Super fun machine.

It's like an adult gocart. One time, we got the rear of my buddy's metro hung up in a snow bank. His brother was starving and got impatient, so he hooked his arms under the rear and heaved it out. It even rolled a couple feet afterwards. So insane. He was a strong bastard.

Best... video... ever... You are really hitting your stride, my brother. Ride the wave : )

I had a Red 1988 Hyundai Excel GS 5-speed. $8200.00 Fully loaded. Had AC, cruise control, am/fm cassette stereo. It was such a craptacular car. But God, did I love it. 68 whopping horsepower. Took between 14 and 16 seconds to her to 60 mph. That car got me through 3 Maine winters, 2 winters in Ohio. Never got stuck. Got pulled over by the cops in Cary NC. Reason, NOBODY DRIVES A HYUNDAI IN CARY, NC at the time. Electrical system only caught fire once. The 5-speed gear shifter fell out the floor when it sawed through the slider bar. Held up by the leatherette boot. Welded a quarter inch steel plate to replace the slider. Worked like a charm. You could beat that 1.5 liter and the 5-speed transmission to death, and it would still come back for more. Put 200,000 miles on it before trading it in. There are so many memories. It was a fun car. Wish I could have it back.

In high school drivers education they had a couple four door Geo Metros, with automatic transmissions. I’ve never driven another car that slow and unresponsive! Great car for learning to drive on empty roads, but not so great for rush hour highway driving, unless it’s 5 mph bumper to bumper gridlock

I'm 27 but I have serious and anemoia for cars like these. Extremely reliable, extremely simple, extremely cheap to repair, and 50 miles per gallon - and of course, a manual transmission. I have a 300hp Genesis coupe for weekends which I love but I drive for a living so I'd love to have a car like a Metro.

I had a 94 metro. Such a garbage little car, but something very lovable about it. Slow, but entertaining to drive somehow. It never failed me and was a workhorse that got 51mpg. I don’t know why, but I miss that little car!

Awesome that you mentioned My Summer Car! I always wondered if you knew about that

Great to see another driving vid

I had a 94, with the 1.0, Every stop light, I was racing the person next to me. They had no idea they were winning most the time

I had three Geo Metros over the years. A 94, 95, and 98. I absolutely loved them. The 94 and 95 had the XFI package and got upper 40s in suburban driving, and 55 mpg on the highway. This car was made to be basic gas sipping reliable car. It was excellent for that. It would cruise along on the highway just fine. If you took care of them they would last.

My mom and dad bought one in 89. Special ordered it with air conditioning, and a rear wiper believe it or not. 3 cylinder stick. My dad let me drive it in high school. I remember when the air conditioning on, I didn't want to go up any hills. I had no problem doing 65 or even 70 on the interstate though. One of the most fun cars I've ever driven. You hardly had to fill the tank. Great little commuter. If I could find another one that nice I'd buy it.

For some GM dealerships in the early and mid 90's Geo Metro's were "second chance finance" vehicles for people with bad credit. A lot of buyers got hit with interest rates in the high 20's and paid MSRP!

I remember reading a forum about this car. There was a guy who talked about the radio. They never came with a stereo system when they got released in America. The guy said he had a job at the time to install radios and speakers into every geo metro that came to the lot.

I've owned 3 of these. 2 '92's, 3cyl 5 spd, and a '98 4cyl auto with a/c and power steering. These cars don't need power steering, but with it, it feels like an old over assisted land yacht but but it's a go cart. Great for making quick U turns in alleys and tiny side streets.

4:46 Hearing you mention My Summer Car caught me off guard. I love that game.

I recently bought the modern version of the Geo Metro, a 2020 Mitsubishi Mirage with a 1200cc three cylinder engine. It actually does pretty well. It has two Drive positions on the gear shifter, Eco Drive and Sport Drive. I wouldn't say it is very sporty but I'm getting 43 miles to the gallon, albeit I drive like an old lady. My 1988 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic has a 1300cc engine that is slower. And the Harley only gets 30 miles per gallon of premium gasoline.

We had a neighbor that bought 10 through its run and the worst was getting stuck behind him driving home from town. We had a Bronco and my dad passed him after he pulled over because he knew how slow it was. My father cracked the joke that the little metro could probably run on the unburned fuel coming out the tailpipe of the Bronco. The high spec cousin was the Swift GTi and 100hp 1.3L DOHC rev happy engine with upgraded suspension and brakes and wheels and tires , it was a rocket.

Btw, the rubber bandy feeling is a lot of the bits connecting. If you upgrade your motor mounts, night and day. If you want better shifting, it's steel cable and going larger diameter helps

I've got a '97 Metro 3 cyl 5 speed, as a summer time hobby car. I guess you could say, it's made for a different realm of max performance, miles per gallon vs horsepower. Seen as high as 53 mpg with it on a highway trip. I keep the tires at 40 lbs, for less resistance, and still seems to ride ok. 5W-30 synthetic engine oil. Synthetic Synchromesh trans oil. I tune the engine exactly to factory specs. For accelerating, I wind it out a bit in the first two gears to basically get it up to speed, and then shift directly into 5th. It seems to move out faster this way, and is a couple of less shifts to have to do. I don't downshift to come to a stop from speed, I let it coast down in 5th, then just before it starts to lug, I just push in the clutch and use the brakes. I also found that the parking brake if kept one notch up from all the way down will turn off the daytime running headlights without engaging the parking brakes, i figure this saves a skosh more engine labor.

I owed my Geo for 16 years and never had one problem. 47 mpg around town and 52 on highway. Tires never wore out. Super cheap maintenance and insurance. Oil change 2.25 qts. One of the most reliable cars ever built.

We inherited a Geo Metro from my wife’s older brother. Idaho winters were interesting. It and several parked car were hit while curbside. The other cars dented. The Metro dented & jumped the curb and ended in the grass.

Oh sweet another video. Definitely sounds like this is more of a flatland car than something you would drive in the Rockies. I wonder how many of these were sold in the San Francisco area?

The internet is full of guys who can talk tech all day about Porsche and Ferrari, but RCR finds the one guy in the world who can speak knowlegably about the electronic transmission control unit on a 30-year-old motorized breadbox. Love it

Love it! Memories....

I once had a 1989 Nissan Micra 1.0, seems similar in many ways. The simplicity, the sound it makes at still doesn’t go anywhere. Strangely enough, I enjoyed driving that car. It never died on me. Only time it felt like it was going to blow up was in -30celcius at 120km/h, the engine started to complain and coolant temp was dropping so I had to slow down and hope for the best.

Man that thing is clean. I love the simplicity.

My future wife's friend Tina had one in high school. They would get nuts and go full speed down the hill by the high school. These cars were fun.

For a seemingly disposable car, that engine sounds so good! Just like a little straight 6. (Obviously since it has the same firing pattern) so much better than a 4 cylinder. In Australia don't see these things at all, we just the new shape suzuki swift, which is everywhere!

My ex coworker had a REALLY nice Metro XFI (that he recently sold, sadly), and he dealt with it in Sacramento traffic, somehow, driving 30+ miles each way. That takes nerves of steel.

"Ballast to your side!" Holy shit that's funny.

I like these behind the scenes videos

This is actually the perfect city car. If we really gave a shit about conserving resources, there’s be a 2023 version of it that would get even better mileage. Sadly we have regulations that make everything on the road 30% heavier than it need be, so we don’t get it.

I can't recall how many times I climbed Flaming Gorge in Utah in 3rd gear in my Metro. I sure miss that little car.

Saw a Metro convertible rolling around Erie a few weeks ago.

I had an Australian made Toyota Camry that had disc changer buttons but no CD functionality. Luckily I kept my Take That tape set. 👌

The radio head unit was made by Kenwood. It's a debadged version of the Kenwood unit that equipped the Suzuki Swift GTI

The holly sniper systems use 4-8 separate "injectors", but I think the modern computer mapping is why they are so good.

Dayumn you're hard on clutches xD

my daily right now is a 1998 chevy metro LSI (just a geo with a chevy tag) its the 4 door sedan but I have the 1.3L I4 with the 5 speed and I honestly love the car

sounds a lot better than i thought at WOT being a tiny 3 cyl

I bought my first Metro in November of 93. It was a 94 year model. I had to drive from Salem, OR to LA California and back every week on my 3 day weekends. I put 210K miles on it in only 2 years. The only time it saw 55mph was when it was on its way to 85mph. I got it down to 12 hours to drive the 900 miles. You’ve got to use the gears to get the maximum out of the 55hp. 4th and 5th gears are both Overdrive. In 96 I sold it and bought another Metro, but I no longer had to drive to LA, so I drove my 96 for 13 years and put only 95K miles on it. I’m looking for a Metro Convertible in good condition and low mileage with a 5spd

My friend's family had a Metro in the early 90's. I remember him showing me that he (6-foot-0) could roll down the driver's window and grab the wheel well without opening the door.

I bought a 94 metro from a elderly man who was widowed. It was his wifes car. It sat for over a decade in his garage. It had 140k on it with really no problems.paid 1,500 for it. My job is 116 miles from my front door and this little commute car has done great! Ac works ,but it really eats away at what little power it already has lol every now and then I'll have coworkers commute with me and this poor little car doesn't like it especially when theres 4 or five of us packed into it. I live in Wyoming so there is alot of grades ,hills and wind. Extreme weather from -25 below in winter to 100+ in summer. It has 206k on it now and only things I've needed to do so far was tires, Belts, waterpump, and thermostat. Great fun work car. Reliable little thing..

He's so damn excited. I love it.

This totally reminds me of the 86 Toyota Tercel of my stepmother's I drove in high school. Foot to the floor all. the. time. It had AC, but if you used it the car slowed down significantly.

I drove the predecessor vehicle, the Chevrolet Sprint. I was 17 years old at the time. Getting behind the wheel of any vehicle was better than public transportation. It belonged to a family member who used it as a commuter car to get to and from work. On the weekends he would let me use it. He only asked to bring it back with the same amount of gas when I got it, bring it back clean, and bring it back in one piece. It was not that bad of a vehicle. 5spd manual with a 1.0 Liter 3 cyl engine. A speed demon it was not. It was adequate for the streets of Chicago, as long as you avoided potholes. If I could find a Chevrolet Sprint or a Geo Metro I would seriously consider buying one.

That is not an OEM radio. My 1995 Pontiac Firefly SE came with a Delco unit with both the cassette player and CD player - single disc, all in one unit. When I purchased the car back in 1995 I remember the dealers lot had lots of 3 cylinder 5 speed manual's with the blank plate where the radio would be. My car was the 4 cylinder, which only came with automatic that year. My car also had the SE package which meant - rear wiper, rear cargo cover, stereo & upgraded cloth on the seats. The dealer likely in an effort to draw young people in had several cars with tinted windows and stripe/decal packages and they would install an aftermarket stereo for you.

Experiences with this car probably vary very widely between owners in mountainous states vs flat ones

The Prizm was built at NUMMI in Fremont. Now a Tesla factory. This plant was owned by GM so they used assorted AC Delco parts on both GEO and Toyota Corolla models in the 1990's. The Metro was all Suzuki.

The version with the air-con must be hilarious!

Seeing two guys in that reminds me of a Cessna 170…

usually back in the day disk changers were placed in the back

I had forgotten how much I loved the sound of that engine.

I'd bet the difference between a modern Holley Sniper and early '90s Rochester TBI just comes down to computing power. The modern stuff can figure out what's happening and react to a change in fuel demand cylinder pulse by cylinder pulse even though it only has the one set of injectors, whereas the TBI and even early port injection was entirely batch fire and treated the engine like it was one big single cylinder. TBI was still better than carb for things like emissions and cold starts because it could sense temperature and do basic lambda fuel trim correction, but that's all less important when you're stomping on the throttle and expecting that response that you get when your fuel delivery is just purely physical.

sounds so much like my 2015 forfour i love it