I must say I am impressed with how durable and reliable this little sucker is. Nothing has gone wrong yet in the 91,000 miles I've put on it, and I drive it pretty tough. There are a few rattles here and there, and the A/C isn't very powerful. The only major concern I've had is the noise it makes when shifting into reverse (a grinding, clunky sound).
This car has been fantastic! The fuel economy is nothing to sneeze at, especially when the price has gone up to $2.30 per gallon. I'm in college, so I need to save as much money as I can. And I couldn't have picked a better money-saver. It's fun to drive, has a cute little sewing-machine-like engine that purrs, and it's built like a little tank (you can feel the rigidness of the chassis when throwing it around a bit). It's a little noisy in the lower gears, but when cruising the highway in 5th gear, it's as smooth as butter. Shifting is smooth, though the aforementioned reverse gear noise is a little odd. 2nd gear has it's quirks, too. I think there might be a flaw with the synchro mesher in the gearbox. Maintenance is a snap, I do it all myself without any trouble. Rotating the tires is the easiest of all, with the tiny little wheels. All in all, this is a wonderful little car.
Your problems with the gearbox indicates a worn syncronizer and /or internal bearings going bad.
Drop in to www.teamswift.net and browse the forum with the stickys.
They provide a wealth of info on curing problems with this tranny.
No heat in my Geo, and 5th gear doesn't work now. But it's a good in town car for me. My girlfriend learned to drive in it, and now my son.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site