The 1989 Geo Metro got 58 MPG on the highway and 53 MPG in the city. |
GLENN: Today I'm going to help you out. Have you heard that the Geo Metro is selling at a record clip? Now, when I first heard this yesterday, I thought the Geo -- I didn't even know the Geo Metro was even made anymore. Wasn't the Geo Metro like a piece of crap car? The Geo Metro when it was originally released sold for $9,000. The Blue Book on it is $1,000. You can buy them now -- I've seen one that went for $7,000. Blue Book is $1,000. Why are they going for so much money? Because the Geo Metro got -- Stu, was it 50 miles a gallon?
STU: Yeah.
GLENN: When did this car come out? In the mid-90s?
STU: Yeah, it was in the mid-90s but in the mid-90s gas prices were so low, it wasn't exactly a hot seller.
GLENN: Hang on just a second. Doesn't the Prius get like 52 miles a gallon?
STU: I think the Prius gets 52 or 56, something like that?
GLENN: Wait a minute. We had a regular combustion engine that was doing 50 miles a gallon?
STU: Yes, but you had to be inside of a Geo Metro to get that, which was the big problem.
GLENN: You have to be inside of a Prius.
STU: Yes, yes.
GLENN: I mean, so it's really not that much better.
STU: Let's see. The Prius, if I click on it right now gets -- I mean, it's listed here. I think they did change the way they do the mileage.
GLENN: Calculate the mileage?
STU: But this is listing it as 48 according to the Toyota website.
GLENN: I'm trying to -- I've got to Google Geo Metro. I remember --
STU: It used to be 60. The new adjustments has brought it from 60 to 48.
GLENN: What does that mean?
STU: They changed the way -- because they used to -- remember no one ever got 60 miles per gallon in a Prius. It was because of, you know, the way they calculated it. It wasn't real world conditions. They tried to update that as of this year and it knocked it -- which is funny because I haven't heard too many environmentalists touting that. They seem to -- I mean, that's a -- what was that, a 20% reduction in mileage? All this time they have been calculating these Prius as the savior of the universe and now it just lost 20% of its mileage when you use it in real world terms.
GLENN: What's the problem with that? Here's one. In 1989 Geo Metro, gets 75 miles to the gallon. I mean, look what people have done to them.
STU: Yeah. Well, some of them have been jacked up. But even the normal one was just --
GLENN: Get one and jack it up and give it away. That's what I want to do. I want to give it -- I want to find a Geo Metro -- can you get Doug Norris on? I don't even know how much -- can you get him on?
STU: We're trying.
GLENN: He's a car dealer down in Tampa, a good friend of mine. And by the way, GM has come out. Did you hear they are thinking about getting rid of Buick. Buick may be gone. Did you know -- you know what I read? It's in The Wall Street Journal today. Listen to this. General Motors resembles an aging starlet fighting the ravages of time. Despite a crash diet and costly makeover, her pool of loyal admirers keeps shrinking. The dramatic turnaround won't happen at GM unless they can persuade owners of import vehicles to buy its cars again. Drivers these days don't show much allegiance to any car dealer or any carmaker in Detroit. Even with dealers doling out cash rebates, warranties and other incentives. 54% of the American buyer won't even consider driving a domestic vehicle. 54% of us won't even consider getting into an American made car? Wow. Right now they're expected today to see data that will show another decline that could push domestic market share to less than 20% and the skid might not be over yet for American cars.
We have Doug on the phone? Doug. Doug?
NORRIS: Yes.
GLENN: Hey, how are you?
NORRIS: I'm doing fine, Glenn. How are you?
GLENN: Hey, I heard today that General Motors is coming out. Is there a chance that Buick goes away?
NORRIS: I have not heard that.
GLENN: I heard that on the news, heard that on the news today, that Buick may go away.
NORRIS: Well, I've seen the new 2010 Buick Lacrosse and if it's any -- and I know that it is, any kind of car like the Buick Enclave, it shouldn't go away because what a beautiful vehicle. No, I have not heard that.
GLENN: Have you heard that Geo Metros are selling all around the country?
NORRIS: I did. I heard on the news about a week ago that people are buying old Geo Metros and they are fixing them up and they are selling them because of the gas mileage rating.
GLENN: How did we have an American car that was getting 50 miles to the gallon and the Prius only gets 48 miles to the gallon?
NORRIS: I'm sorry, Glenn. What did you say again?
GLENN: I said how is it that we had an American car that was out in the 1980s and 1990s that was getting 50 miles to the gallon and yet the Prius only gets 48 miles to the gallon?
NORRIS: Well, I mean, we've had a lot of cars. General Motors has the most cars in production that get over 30 miles per gallon. So I mean, we've got a lot of cars that get 36 miles a gallon. Our Vibe does. So we've had some cars all through the years that get great gas mileage. But when people weren't all that worried about gasoline, when it was only $1.25 a gallon, I guess that's -- they weren't willing to -- there wasn't a sacrifice that needed to be made at that time.
GLENN: Now, how do I get a Geo Metro? Can you get your hands on a Geo Metro for me?
NORRIS: I checked with -- it's funny you asked that question. I checked with a guy that goes out on the road for us and he ran a little report just to try and find out. Within 1,000 miles of our dealership there is one Geo Metro running through any Mannheim auction.
GLENN: How much is it going for?
NORRIS: 150,000 miles on it.
GLENN: So that's got about, what, negative 10 miles left on it? You're going to have to push it.
NORRIS: Well, and that's what I'm trying to figure out. I know they say that people are fixing these cars up but what are they spending on them to fix them up.
GLENN: Yeah. So what is this car going for?
NORRIS: Oh, I don't know. It hasn't run yet. It's supposed to run this week. So I could try and keep track of it.
GLENN: Yeah, can you? Can you buy it for us? I mean, if Blue Book is $1,000, right?
NORRIS: Yeah. I mean, I don't know what this little car would bring. I can pull it up on the computer here to see if anything's run over the last, you know, month or so.
GLENN: Somebody said -- Stu, was it you that said that there was a Geo Metro that ran for -- that sold for $7,000?
STU: Yeah. The Blue Book is, you know, with that many miles is probably right around $1,000 but one sold on eBay for $7300.
GLENN: Was it souped up? Did it --
STU: I'll see if I can find it. I haven't seen the specific car but I mean, $7300, when the Geo Metro was new in 1996, it sold for $9,000 and it's selling for $7300 now. It's insane.
NORRIS: Isn't there a little panic going on there?
GLENN: No! No. A Geo Metro going for $7300? That doesn't sound crazy to me. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine if you have a Geo Metro -- I want to hear from somebody in the audience that has a Geo Metro right now that is like, oh, yeah, everybody was making fun of me for all these years. Yeah, read them and weep. There's got to be somebody out in the audience. If you have one you're willing to sell it to me, I'm not willing to pay top dollar, but I'm willing to buy it from ya.