Good morning, Autopians, and happy Monday! I just flew back from Los Angeles, and boy are my arms tired. (Don’t roll your eyes like that; old jokes are the best jokes.) Today, we’re going to look at two different ways of efficient commuting from days gone by, but first, let’s look at the results from Friday’s tow-truck matchup:
Huh, that’s more lopsided than I expected, given how evenly matched the two trucks are in capability and condition. Did the branded title really scare off that many people? That might be worth investigating at some point: how much does a dirty title really matter on a twenty-year-old vehicle?
But today, we have smaller matters to consider, in the form of two different city vehicles. I couldn’t help but notice the price of gasoline in the LA area: still well over six dollars a gallon. This got me thinking about all the times throughout the years that automakers, big and small, introduced the next big thing meant to save drivers on fuel. So we’re going to look at a car from the 1990s that only sips gas, and one designed in the 1970s that doesn’t use any at all.
1993 Geo Metro XFi – $2,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.0 liter inline 3, 5 speed manual, FWD
Location: Visalia, CA
Odometer reading: 283,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yep
Darling of hypermilers and fuel efficiency enthusiasts, the Geo Metro is the poster car for good gas mileage. That’s especially true of this XFi variant, which used a milder cam and longer gearing among other minor fuel-saving tweaks. These changes improved fuel economy quite a bit, but took some spring out of the Metro’s step, and it didn’t have a whole hell of a lot to begin with.
Still, the Metro is a charming little car, and even fun to drive in that go-kart sort of way. It’s feather-light, completely mechanical, and never lets you forget you’re in a car stripped to its bare essentials in the name of fuel economy, but at least it’s honest about its intentions.
This Metro has what can only be called a shit-ton of miles on it, nearly three hundred thousand. That’s a lot for any engine, but this tiny three-cylinder has been rebuilt and is said to run well and pass a smog test. The seller notes a minor problem with the 5 speed manual transmission, stating that you must come to a stop to shift to second or first gear. This is indicative of worn-out syncrhonizers in the transmission, but you can always double-clutch it. (Apparently the seller doesn’t know how.)
Even with all the miles, this Metro looks pretty good. The seat cover isn’t surprising, because I think the seat fabric was actually tissue paper on these, and it’s probably not in great shape under there. But nothing looks abused or egregiously broken, and the outside looks fine. Except for the color, that is; why are so many economy cars white?
1980 ComutaCar – $1,200
Motor/drivetrain: 6 hp DC motor, direct drive, RWD
Location: Woodland, CA
Odometer reading: 2,400 miles
Runs/drives? Should, with new batteries
When people say “Electric cars have come a long way,” it’s important to realize just how far. Decades before the Nissan Leaf, before Polestars and Plaid Modes, there was Sebring-Vanguard and their tiny wedge called the Citicar. And as quaint and ridiculous as this car may look today, Sebring-Vanguard sold enough of them to become the number-six automaker in the country in 1976, behind the Big Three, AMC, and Checker. Not bad for what basically amounts to an enclosed golf cart with a license plate.
By 1980, when this car rolled silently off the lot, Sebring-Vanguard had been bought out by Commuter Vehicles, Inc., and the car had been renamed the ComutaCar. Gigantic 5 MPH bumpers were added to satisfy DOT requirements, and the batteries (eight 6V lead-acid units, as far as I can tell) were moved from under the seats to a pair of trays at the front and rear.
This ComutaCar covered 2,400 miles early on, and then sat disused. The batteries are, as a result, toast. But they’re all present, so you can get your core charges back when you replace them. The original wheels and tires are long gone, replaced by a set of Harbor Freight trailer wheels and tires. Normally I wouldn’t suggest these as a safe alternative to real automobile road tires, but the ComutaCar has a top speed of under 40 MPH, so they’re probably fine.
From what we can see in the photos, it looks like it’s in decent shape. It’s probably not very useful in its original spec, with an absurdly primitive three-step microswitch-activated speed control, but with new batteries and a modern controller, it would probably run all right. You could up the voltage from 48 to 72 without much trouble (6×12 volts instead of 8×6 volts). And if the motor needs replacing, that’s another opportunity to upgrade.
Everybody wants to save money on gas when the price spikes. The best way is still to just drive less – and drive slower – but if you want to pick a cheap vehicle to help you save at the pump, here are a couple options for you. Which one will it be?
(Image credits – Craigslist sellers)
Agree with everyone here. Are you looking for a Winter Beater/Commuter car or a cheap piece of history (Automotive oddity)? Metro wins 9 times out of 10 as something that could reasonably be used on most roadways.
That said……
Do you guys have $1,200 in the budget to buy this thing yourselves, throw in new batteries and do a $1,200 EV comparo w the Changli?
PLEASE!!!!!
Come On you guys are sponsored by OPTIMA batteries. MAKE it HAPPEN!!!!!
If there ever was a case of run away screaming from both items, this is it.
$2000 for a Metro with a bad transmission? Nope. The other stuff I can live with or fix as needed. Maybe $500 and I get it fixed.
The Comutacar is a winner based on price and honesty. You are buying this to own a piece of history.
If you want an interesting project, the Comutacar. If you want something usable, the Geo.
I’m not interested in having a project so I went with the Geo.
Now having said that, if I did want a project, I’d take that Comutacar, get it back to as close as original condition as possible, but with more modern/lighter batteries. And I’d do something about those tires/wheels as well.
Now having said that, putting in modern Lithium batteries would also mean, changing the charger and other electrical bits… and that may be worth doing if the original bits are missing or are broken and unfixable.
“Except for the color, that is; why are so many economy cars white?”
It’s for two reasons. First, white is typically the “no options” color for the cheapest of skates. Second, white is the most thermally efficient color for a vehicle:
https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/black-or-white-fuel-economy-may-be-linked-to-cars-color
The rolling moldy cheese wedge that is the ComutaCar is fascinating but I think it will cost far more than it’s worth to get it moving again. Also, the thought of using the batteries as bumpers is terrifying. I have to go with the Metro for this reason, and because back in college I had a friend with one who would regularly push it to 80mph+ on the 5 in San Diego (which was kind of terrifying in its own right). His was blue though, far better than white.
They had a pretty nice blue, my family members had several painted that shade.
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So, you voted Metro?
I had a ’96 metro and had a blast wringing the shit out of it… so I’ll go with that. Such a car makes no real promises other than saving gas – and if it runs and drives (despite maybe needing to replace a clutch pack) it’s probably worth it. The other one? 6 freaking horses? That makes the Geo look like a freaking Bugatti in terms of performance. No thanks. Gimme the Suzuki in GM clothing any day.
Uncle Eddie in Grounded For Life drove a ComutaCar. Therefor, it must be terrible.
https://pics.imcdb.org/3502/groundedforlifes4e21000003.jpg
Let’s not forget Rollie from Counting Cars. Bought one in this kind of shape
And he somehow made it worse! ????
Metro for real world of course, but in my fantasies, ComutaCar b/c it made a brief appearance in the PBS ’80s movie version of Ursula Le Guin’s “The Lathe of Heaven” as a suitable conveyance for the main character as he navigates his (subconsciously-changeable) dystopian world.
Georgeorgeorgeorgeorge
I’d take the Metro because I know from first hand experience how much you can abuse the shit out of them and how much fun it is to do it. An ex-girlfriend drove hers almost as if the throttle was binary: 100% on the floor, or none at all. Even driven like that, it had nearly as many miles as this one and was still running strong when she left the area.
Was her name Sarah? Because this sounds really familiar…
“I couldn’t help but notice the price of gasoline in the LA area: still well over six dollars a gallon”
Not according to Gasbuddy. I’m seeing regular at most L.A. stations under $5/gal. Even premium is typically just over the $5 mark.
Depends on where in LA… the stations close to the freeway and in fancier neighborhoods are still around 6ish. If you’re visiting LA, those are probably the ones you’d see.
The Geo is a fully-functional car, I know because I owned one for several years around the turn of the millennium.
The ComutaCar is a museum piece, a curiosity from the armpit of the Crap Era of Electric Cars.
In honor of Berlin, I’ll ride on the MetroOOOooo.
Besides, if I’m replacing batteries, a battery management controller, and most likely a motor, I might as well just do an EV conversion of the Metro.
Buy both and put the engine from the Geo in the Comutacar!
Hard to choose.
It would cost about $2,500 in LiFePO4 batteries and charger, plus perhaps the cost of a new controller, to get the Comutacar going again with modern reliable batteries. Lead acid batteries in this car won’t last long enough to see appreciable cost savings over using a gasoline car, due to its short range and the fact that you’d be deep cycling the batteries most of the time, so a long cycle life battery is a necessity lest the purpose of the car be defeated. That is, if you intend to daily the car, which I would.
But the Metro is an overall better base platform to make an EV out of. It has better aerodynamics, is more stable, has better suspension, better safety, ect. But I’d want to turn it into a performance car with 150+ mile of range and it would cost about $15,000 to do so. But I could have a system of about 150 horsepower in it to make it do 0-60 mph in around 6 seconds and top more than 130 mph, and could delete that transmission at the same time to eliminate its issues. I think it would be worth the money and hassle to have a sleeper of a Metro.
Ummm. Can I combine the prices and just buy an electric bicycle or golf cart?
If not the Geo. They are horrifying to drive or the street. But with a few tasteful mods they make decent off-road/ gravel cars.
The other one. Well plastics that old actually will cause more harm than good in the event of a crash.
Voted Geo, just because I have a 45 minute one way commute. That being said, since I already have a DD, if I were buying one it would be the Comutacar as a project. Update the electricals to something a little more modern and have fun at car shows.
These two vehicles are too different for a meaningful comparison. The Metro is a lousy car, but it is an actual car that can be driven places.
That being said, if my local course would allow me to use it as a golf cart, I might buy the Comutacar for that purpose. Even with the cost of new batteries, it would still be cheaper than a lot of used golf carts (I would only need maybe 10 miles of range, so batteries wouldn’t be too expensive). An enclosed cart would be nice for playing on cold or rainy days.
Except you could get a brand new Changli delivered to the US for the price of what it would take to get that ComutaThingy capable of making it through all 18 holes.
The Changli appears to be a complete piece of garbage (no offense, Torch). As I recall, Torchinsky’s broke after a few months and hasn’t been used since. The Comutacar may need a new motor and other electrical bits, but those are cheap if your target top speed is 15 mph and you don’t need it to be street legal. A new Changli might be cheaper initially, but it won’t be more reliable, and probably won’t be cheaper over the long term.
I think you are drastically over-estimating the reliability of a 40+ y.o. EV made by a defunct company in a warehouse using the cheapest parts they could scrounge up.
Also, I’m pretty sure the Changli lasted a year or two, including an auto cross competition, before it melted. You should be able to get a half-dozen rounds in before succumbing to a similar fate.
I would agree a Comutacar with the original powertrain wouldn’t be more reliable than the Changli. I didn’t make it clear, but I would replace most (maybe all?) of the running components with modern equipment. Since my goal is a literal golf cart, it wouldn’t be exorbitantly expensive.
As for the Changli, I am curious how many miles it drove before it broke. I know Torch drove it for over a year, but low speed vehicles don’t rack up a lot of miles, even with daily use. I guess I’m underwhelmed by the Changli. I’m not saying I expected better for a $1200 new car, but I am saying $1200 isn’t enough money to build a new car. As lousy as the ComutaCar was, enough people drove them and kept them that some are still around in 2022. I highly doubt there will be a shitbox showdown in 2062 between a Changli and anything.
I’ll stick with the ComutaGolfCart.
Oh come on, only one of these is even a car.
Voted for Cumutacar, but my heart is with the Metro.
My 11th grade geometry teacher told a story of how he was driving his Metro down the road with his arm out the window when a Hummingbird flew into his arm and stuck. Not kidding.
Worn out synchros in the Metro/Swift 5 speed are a well known issue. I’ve been double clutching my Swift for over 20 years.
Vin Diesel, is that you!?
Yeah, I used to shift these without the clutch. Not very hard. Especially with the miles on this one. YMMV.
The Comutacar wins. Not on utility, of course. It’s just something that’s actually interesting. Throw it on a trailer and take it to car shows. Cruise around town and become the local cryptid that Jason is with his Changli. Just enjoy the weirdness.
Geo. It can at least go highway speeds. Sell it to some other skinflint when done putting up with it.
The electric car with the front and rear shock absorbing lead-acid bombs doesn’t have the range for my commute.
Even if it did, well I got rear-ended last week cause of the idiots around here. Its a good reminder to NOT have the batteries be a crucial component of your crumple zones.
You got it all wrong.. YOU are the crumple zone, the batteries just do the crumpling.
I’m not really big on EVs but that Comutacar would be awesome for tooling around our little town getting weird looks. I’m sure it would be great at car shows too!