Happy 1st Anniversary Geo!

[Peakster]

That's right, precisely one year ago (August 17th, 2006) is when I purchased my Geo Metro. I can't believe it's only been one year. Seems to be longer than that to me. Anyways, this is what I've racked up since that special day:

$6,839.04 spent on the whole car (the car itself, insurance, gasoline, repairs, maintainance, etc.).
Comes to $0.167 per kilometre ($0.269 per mile) and $569.92 per month.
$1,876.02 of that was spent on fuel (27.4% of total cost).
535.73 gallons were used
Drove over 41,000 kms (25,425 miles) in a 12 month span (112kms (69.4 miles) a day on average ).
47.7 MPG(US) overall.

That's a lot of travel within one year. It would've been murder on fuel if I hadn't bought the Geo and kept the '91 T-Bird (but then again, I probably wouldn't have driven the Ford as much).

[unstable bob]

You really did rack up some miles! Those Geos are great little cars. GM really dropped the ball when they stopped offering them!

[MetroMPG]

Happy anniversary, Peakster!

It's interesting to compare our cars. In my first year I spent about the same total that you did for purchase, taxes, insurance & maintenance (about $500 more than you) . But the biggest part of my $ outlay was a $4500 purchase price.

[minic6]

The Metro could not meet any of the new crash standards. Thats why we have a 2400 lb. Aveo, instead of 1650 for the Metro. Plus in the end the biggest buyers were rental fleets. People didn't seem to care about FE in 2000 and 01.

[Peakster]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

...the biggest part of my $ outlay was a $4500 purchase price.

That's a pretty good price for a car that had such low mileage when you bought it. How much driving did you do your first year of ownership, MetroMPG?

Overall, I'm happy with the first year of my Geo. The engine just keeps going and going... .

Originally Posted by minic6

The Metro could not meet any of the new crash standards. Thats why we have a 2400 lb. Aveo, instead of 1650 for the Metro. Plus in the end the biggest buyers were rental fleets. People didn't seem to care about FE in 2000 and 01.

I was wondering how much the Aveo weighed. I saw one parked across from my hotel room today next to a Grand Am and thought that the Aveo looked taller. It actually kind of reminded me of a minivan.

[MetroMPG]

I put on about 8600 km in my first year.

I don't buy the weight = safety argument. The current Smart car meets all crash standards and at 730 kg / 1609 lbs ( http://www.thesmart.ca/index.cfm?id=4730 ) it is lighter than our 1830 lb pigs - even lighter than the gen 2 & 3 Metroids.

[QDM]

I'm just tickled pink with my Swift. I bought it 13 months ago for $800 and have driven it 24,000 miles. I did have to put about $500 worth of work into it to get it into the shape I wanted, but now it runs like new and gets >50 mpg on the highway. One of the best investments I've ever made.

Q

[minic6]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I put on about 8600 km in my first year.

I don't buy the weight = safety argument. The current Smart car meets all crash standards and at 730 kg / 1609 lbs ( http://www.thesmart.ca/index.cfm?id=4730 ) it is lighter than our 1830 lb pigs - even lighter than the gen 2 & 3 Metroids.

Smart car comparison to the Aveo is an apple to oranges comparison. Add two doors and the extra length and it would weigh alot more than it currently does. Aveo would do better if they would spring for the same technolgy used on the Smart car. But then the base price would jump to $21,995 US versus $10,560! Double the cost, you can go along ways on $10,000 worth of gas even though the Aveo only gets 34 or 5 compared to 60 for the Smart. Technology always cost the consumer alot of cash. One of the reasons the Aveo is doing as well as it is in sales, is it's price.

I will be curious as to the Smart cars sales after a couple of years.

Moot question with most of us on this forum as we seem to like older cheaper cars.

[Peakster]

Originally Posted by minic6

Smart car comparison to the Aveo is an apple to oranges comparison. Add two doors and the extra length and it would weigh alot more than it currently does. Aveo would do better if they would spring for the same technolgy used on the Smart car. But then the base price would jump to $21,995 US versus $10,560! Double the cost, you can go along ways on $10,000 worth of gas even though the Aveo only gets 34 or 5 compared to 60 for the Smart. Technology always cost the consumer alot of cash. One of the reasons the Aveo is doing as well as it is in sales, is it's price.

I will be curious as to the Smart cars sales after a couple of years.

Moot question with most of us on this forum as we seem to like older cheaper cars.

The Smart car has declined in interest in Canada for sure. Some dealerships still have 'new' 2006 models on their lots.

Simple solution to the Aveo? Remove that 1.6L and throw in the 1.0L three cylinder the Metroids had . I wonder how fast the Aveos go with their 4 cylinder engines.

By the way, didn't the 1995+ Metroids get a 4 star full frontal impact safety rating? That's pretty good in my books.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Peakster

The Smart car has declined in interest in Canada for sure. Some dealerships still have 'new' 2006 models on their lots.

That's not from declining interest - it's so they could continue selling diesels despite the stricter emission standards on 07 diesels. There are no 07 smarts - they just held over the 06 model for an extra year. (The 08's will be gasoline only apparently.)

I suspect actually that the sales of smarts have gone up, since they're eligible for a $2k rebate through the ecoAUTO program. Couldn't find any figures though.