Towing Tidbits: Now With Even More Drunks!

[Bardmaiden]

I may be able to quote vast chunks of Ladyhawke

[EricKei]

My brother used to drive a Geo Metro back when we were in school in the 90's. I was his passenger most days (before I had my DL)...It was shit, but the damn thing held together for longer than we had any reasonable expectation of it doing so.

Problem was, he drove it very, very aggressively. He was a BAD driver, but has improved since then by a vast degree. One of the defining moments in that rattletrap was the day he thought it would be fun to get close up behind an 18-wheeler, maybe he was trying to draft in an attempt to exceed 60mph or something. As soon as he got within about ten feet, the Geo started shaking and rattling more than usual, prompting me to quip "it's afraid of the higher vehicular life-form! o_O"

Fast forward to this past year -- In a fit of nostalgia -- or possibly just in a fit of "I can buy this POS, fix it up, and resell it for a profit," he dragged me along on a 6-hour (each way) trip to buy a Metro from some guy in rural Far East Bumfuck, Louisiana. He regaled me along the way with tales of people who have effectively created a "tuner" culture around the damn things -- people would strip it down to its bare essentials (read: remove all seats aside from the driver's, replace the shitty bumpers with something even lighter, etc), dropping in slightly beefier engines, and the like. Apparently, when properly stripped down, one of those fuckers can actually maintain 80mph, or, if driven at more like 60-65, get gas mileage in excess of 50mpg if you were lucky. And this is from a pre-electric-era, rollerskate of a Matchbox car. As the guy was...less than honest about certain of its mechanical issues (we knew that the outside door handle on the driver's side was busted, but he neglected to mention the teeny tiny little issue of '"It doesn't always start moving just because you're stepping on the accelerator"), he ended up paying something like $600 for it (they guy wanted a grand more than that)...He's sold it since, but I never asked him for how much...Hopefully, at least enough profit to pay for the gas it cost us to get it.

[Shyla]

Yes I rented the Geo Metro from Enterprise but I couldn't choose which car because the dealer was paying for it while I got warranty repairs.

I thought Carmen Sandiego had all kids as contestants. How could they give away a car?

[EricKei]

Any prizes given to a minor are *technically* given to their parental unit/guardian anyway, so I can see that happening if they had an episode with teenage contestants, I suppose.

[DiRF]

Traded it in for a Prism (this was after the Geo brands were sold to Chevrolet), which was a very good car with a surprisingly strong engine. Was sorry to see it taken off the market.

The Prizm/Prism is one of the true gems on the used car market... a Toyota Corolla, built on the same line as other Corollas, but because it's wearing a Geo/Chevrolet badge, it's half the price. (Same deal with the Pontiac Vibe... coworker just picked up a used one for a ludicrously low price, but it's just as rock solid as you would expect a tall Corolla wagon to be.)

[AccountingDrone]

Talk about obscure/forgotten personal vehicles, my family had one too.

Had...

And every spring, following a road saltlicious winter.... we had less and less and LESS of it.

Until one day the farmer next door bought it for $100 so he could go get firewood with it. I actually found it's skeletal remains in the back 40 of his property a decade ago, by now, even they're probably gone too.

I loved my scout. With the lovely v8 that was the same one they put in the *school bus* I could blow the doors off a porsche in a sustained run with the porsche on 395 southbound and me going up the entrance ramp. The naval officer that owned hte porsche was paying about $4000 per year for insurance, I was paying $500 per year insurance. It took Rob hitting a patch of black ice, going through a stacked stone fence, over several saplings and wedging it between a pair of century old oak trees and wiping the radiator and oil pan, and bending the frame behind the passenger door frame. I put close to 400 000 miles on it over 15 years. The first thing I did when it hit 250 000 miles on the odometer was need to replace the water pump. At about 275 000 miles I replaced the accelerator linkage because it broke on a road trip to central NJ and I drove it back at 3 am using a scavenged speaker wire to manually pull the linkage to control the gas. According to the parts manager at the local IH dealer I had the last remaining OEM various parts in the country, like the drive shaft that broke when I got forced into a ditch by an exfiance stalker. [over time we were rebuilding the suspension and various bits and pieces as I got the money to. *sigh* we were almost to reskinning the doors when Rob killed it. ]

Why yes, at some point we do intend to get another scout. As a straight utility vehicle [ain't no sport about a scout!] they are very hard to beat, when treated right they are incredibly durable and able vehicles. I laugh at the various climbing races, I always wanted to hook up a small 10 foot travel trailer, climb to the top of one of the hills used, and set up with a tailgate party to watch the fancy crap try to make it up the hills.

[otakuneko]

gas mileage in excess of 50mpg

I seem to recall the stock Metro was EPA rated 50mpg Highway. >.>

[EricKei]

on - I thought it was more like 35 (??). Maybe they squeezed out more? I only know of these "Metro tuners" by proxy.


edit : both off, in different directions Wiki sez 42.

Still impressive for a gas-only car.

[Deserted]

Jesus, that's better than I often got in a Prius!

[wolfie]

Why yes, at some point we do intend to get another scout. As a straight utility vehicle [ain't no sport about a scout!] they are very hard to beat,

The "Sport" in Sport Utility Vehicle doesn't mean driving it for motorsport, it means that it's a vehicle you use to get to the sport (usually hunting/fishing/camping/etc.).

[AccountingDrone]

Jesus, that's better than I often got in a Prius!

Mentioned it before, my bog standard 2006 diesel Jetta gets 42-44 consistently. Hella cheaper to buy, maintain and insure than a Prius also, and I don't have the battery issue that hybrids have.

[I paid $16 000 + whatever the taxes, tags and such were, and I pay out $1200 a year insurance for full coverage instead of just liability. ]

[roxtar]

. (Same deal with the Pontiac Vibe... coworker just picked up a used one for a ludicrously low price, but it's just as rock solid as you would expect a tall Corolla wagon to be.)

yep, the Vibe is a Toyota Matrix with slightly different sheet metal. Assembled at NUMMI in california rather than TMMI in ontario.
both are based on a corolla chassis.

/I admin a toyota matrix forum.

[Teskeria]

I used to have a geo metro. It got Excellent gas milage. I miss it.

[BPFH]

on - I thought it was more like 35 (??). Maybe they squeezed out more? I only know of these "Metro tuners" by proxy.


edit : both off, in different directions Wiki sez 42.

Still impressive for a gas-only car.

Sounds about right. The highest I remember getting in mine was 48 mpg.

Alas, later that fall I found out what happens when a 16-year-old driver who'd had his license for three weeks introduces his father's F150 to your Metro. (Hint: it involves a broken rear axle on the Metro.)

[Ophbalance]

Mentioned it before, my bog standard 2006 diesel Jetta gets 42-44 consistently. Hella cheaper to buy, maintain and insure than a Prius also, and I don't have the battery issue that hybrids have.

I'd rather have hybrid problems over the issues most VW diesels develop as they age . There's very little to do as far as maintenance goes. I'm still on the original drums and pads at 130k miles. It's been oil and tire changes, and two air fillers. And I'm a bit lost on cheaper... They should be about the same. At least they do average about the same for the same year on autotrader.