Someone Put Together The Coolest Hype Video Just To Sell A Geo Metro On Facebook

The Geo Metro is one of those cars that doesn’t quite get the modern recognition that it needs. This was a car that easily got over 50 miles per gallon without the use of wonder materials, hybrid propulsion, and even without the use of aggressive streamlining. It was just a good car that did exactly as it said on the tin.

It’s been 24 years since the very last Geo Metro left the production line, and unless you’re a car nerd, you’ve probably forgotten that these things even existed. Most people probably see the Metros littering Facebook and Craigslist not as cheap ways to 50 miles per gallon, but as just another old, crappy car. But that’s also what makes the Metro such a great underdog.

Selling cars on Facebook can be a huge headache, from the tire kickers and scammers to the people who can’t read. I’ve even gotten death threats for not taking a dude’s lowball offer on a broken motorcycle. Selling an old and underappreciated car can sometimes just amplify all of the reasons why Facebook sucks. How will someone passing by your listing know that your car is a bit more special than the actual junkers next to it in the search results?

Phillip found out the coolest way to sell an old car by giving his restored 1994 Geo Metro LSi a hype reel. Watch the video above and tell me that you don’t want a Geo Metro now.

The King Of Frugality

Part of the magic of the Geo Metro was that it came from one of GM’s weirdest eras. General Motors spent the tail end of the 20th century trying to pry young buyers away from Toyota, Honda, and other affordable imports. The Detroit giant had already spent considerable time slapping American badges on imports from Europe and Japan and fostering a relationship with Toyota in the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI). But this wasn’t enough, and GM wanted even more.

Geo was created in 1989 as the Chevrolet subsidiary that housed GM’s captive imports. The idea was that you’d go to Geo for that cheap economy car rather than to Toyota. But with hindsight vision being perfect, it was a little weird since Geo products were often not that different than their base vehicle. A Geo Prizm was just a Toyota Corolla by another name.

Leading the pack in fuel economy was the Geo Metro, which scored an incredible 58 highway mpg in EPA testing. Even when the EPA revised its fuel economy ratings in 2007, the Metro retained a 52 mph highway rating. The Geo Metro is seriously so thrifty that the only ways to best it would be to buy certain diesels or to buy a hybrid.

The Metro, which borrows its bones from the Suzuki Cultus, was simply the king of cheap. Sure, it wasn’t luxurious, but if you wanted to drive long distances for less than the price of a ticket on a decent airline, the Metro was hard to beat. That remains the case today, more than two decades after the last one was built.

The Geo Metro was also sold under more than a dozen different names. If you’re one of our international readers, there’s a good chance you’ve driven one of the cars above.

A Restored Geo Metro

So, that gets us to Phillip’s 1994 Geo Metro LSi that is for sale on Facebook.

The first thing that draws you into Phillip’s listing is the epic hype video. Once you’re amped up, you might end up shocked at the $6,500 asking price. I still occasionally see Metros pop up for sale for under $1,000, with nicer ones maybe cresting $3,000 on a good day.

What makes this one different? Well, this 1994 Geo Metro LSi has gone through a restoration, which is wild to say about a car that people treated as disposable when they were new.

Phillip says that this is what was done to it:

The details:
– Engine REBUILD at 80k miles (with receipts for proof)
– Coolant, trans fluid, wheel bearings, brakes, accessory drives, plugs, wires, fuel injector, etc. If you can name it, it’s new
– Comes with a LITERAL truckload of parts. Two spare motors, several hoods, bumpers, brakes, axles, etc. You name it, I probably have it. (Included)
– Garaged, babied, and petted nightly

Yes, it technically has A/C. It was blowing cold until recently. Just needs a recharge. That’s it. No “mysterious electrical gremlins” or “climate control modules.”

The part I’m most fascinated by is the restoration. Most people restore ’55 Chevrolets or other classics from their childhood. Far fewer people look at an economy car and think, “I need to save that.” However, as I’ve written so many times on these pages, I think regular cars are deserving of rescue, too. Everyone saves the icons and the legends, but the regular cars that regular people drove every day should be saved, too. I asked Phillip about that:

I’ve always been a huge fan of ’90s cars, and the Geo is the pinnacle of ’90s simplicity. I bought my first Metro with a bunch of friends as a joke, but after driving it I realized this silly little car has a lot of personality and is quite endearing. This little car puts a smile on my face every time I drive it, and brings smiles to car shows.

I also asked about why he went through all of the work to make a sweet ad for Facebook:

I wanted to make a final send-off for this car, for me. I love this car so unbelievably much that I wanted something I could look back on with fondness in the years to come. I realized also that I should include it in my ad as a way to show how cool this little car is.

Sure enough, I’ve found that Phillip is in the same classic GM FWD car groups I’m in. It’s so cool to see that even the Geo Metro can get the kind of love that something like a Pontiac GTO might get.

Phillip continues in his ad by saying that this example gets over 40 mpg all day. Apparently, the photos don’t lie, either. This car is in museum and show car condition. Thus, he’d love for the next owner to take care of the Metro like he did. That means no driving it in harsh Midwestern winters — you don’t want it to rust, after all — and people looking for a $1,500 beater with a heater should probably be looking somewhere else. I mean, just look at how perfect the interior is.

Slow, But Awesome

Power in this LSi comes from a 1.0-liter inline triple, good for 52 HP and 58 lb-ft of torque. That’s only a morsel of power by today’s standards, but this is also a car that weighs in the ballpark of 1,650 pounds. My 1989 Suzuki Every Japanese Kei van weighs 200 pounds more than that, as do most of my Smart Fortwos.

Sadly, this car does come with one potential big downside, and it’s that you aren’t getting the Metro’s standard five-speed manual. Instead, this car has a three-speed automatic. In my experience, the auto is neither engaging nor particularly fast, but it does do its job of scooting the car down the road. Besides, these cars are simple enough that, if you really wanted to, I bet you could swap in a manual.

You get all of this in a car with just 102,000 miles, which is pretty low for something that, again, was largely forgotten by most people. If you’re sold by the ad and the car, you’ll find it on Facebook Marketplace in Rochester, Minnesota. Should you buy this thing, please stop by Illinois on your way home because I’d love to drive it.

Update: Phillip has informed me that he performed only a drivetrain restoration on the vehicle. That’s why it has some inconsistencies like a missing badge and the iffy air-conditioner.

Otherwise, I hope to keep seeing stuff like this as I get older. Everyone wants to save the most popular cars from their favorite eras, which can sometimes lead to the near extinction of some common, but still cool cars. Maybe more people will want to save the common stuff so that future generations can see what regular driving was like before they were born. I hope to find more Phillips out there.