1995 Geo Metro LSi review from North America

There seems to be a problem with the dashes on these cars drying out early, especially if they aren't kept in a garage. As one of the previous posters mentioned, these cars really don't like climbing those steep hills very much. I have been having some problems with the alternator and the belt on my little Metro. Before that, I had gratefully enjoyed a few trouble-free years of service out of her. The alternator and/or alternator belt squeals a little within a couple of days after I first get the belt on, then progressively gets worse, and usually within a few days it starts squealing and squeaking even more, until finally the belt burns up, or the rubber dust shorts the alternator, or the alternator bearings wear out. The rubber dust from the belt gets everywhere under the hood too, and I am afraid that my little precious darling is having to breathe in a lot of that rubber dust. A mechanic told me that the pulleys weren't lined up, and showed me, but he didn't fix it like he said he would and ripped me off! Only a couple of days after I got the car back from the shop, it started making the noise again. I don't really think this is the problem anyway, because the pulleys are only very slightly mis-aligned, and the belt started squeaking and squealing only after I had to leave my Metro parked, and then let the car set up for about 9 months. The noise got progressively worse after I started running her again after that, until finally I changed the belt. The noise, though, hasn't stopped since. So far I have gone through 4 belts and 3 alternators! I have done a lot of the work to her myself, and only took her in to a "pro" as a last ditch attempt to fix her. Obviously though, she likes me more than the mechanics :o) If anyone has any suggestions or stories to share, they would certainly be appreciated. I don't want to have to get rid of my darling, but after several of months of this problem, and trying to get the problem rectified, it is becoming a little bit frustrating, what's even worse, many times I don't have a ride when I need one!

I like my little red Metro a lot! She is an LSI 3cyl 1.0L with manual transmission, manual windows, manual door locks, cassette player, rear window defrost delete, rear window wiper delete, and sunroof delete. I love it-less stuff to go bad. Besides, ultimately you don't really NEED all of that jazz anyway. The interesting look of this vehicle turns heads. I think the styling and the fuel economy are the two main reasons why I dig them so much. Sometimes I go sooo long without having to pump gas, that it spoils me, and I dread the inconvenience of having to pump it when the time comes! What can you expect though from a motor that's smaller than the size of a lot of motorcycle engines.