Where to find Metros?
 

To anyone who might know or who has bought a Metro....

Where did you find it?

I have been all over the local paper, craigslist, driving around old neighborhoods, etc and can not find one locally.

I have asked around but everyone laughs at me! UGH! My landlord wants one too but after a year still hasn't found one for himself as well!

Also, I would love to get an XFi. Which years are the best for those or what year whas the best for any Metro?

I found mine by chance on www.usedregina.com . Just look at autotraders, papers, etc, and you'll find one eventually. I'd stongly suggest getting a 1996 and up model because of their ScanGauge compatibility (and the 2000 models have a much easier to beat EPA rating than earlier models).

Also look for the Suzuki Swift. It's the exact same car with a different badge.

Did they come in 3 cylinder versions though?

The US Swifts are all 4-cylinder cars though.

I found my 2 Fireflies in the Auto Trader. I got the 2 ForkenSwift cars from peoples' yards.

I'm with Peakster: get a 96 or newer for the SG ability. Mechanically, the cars are pretty much unchanged regardless of what year you get. The 95's and up are a little heavier (about 200 lbs).

XFIs are almost impossible to find. Most early metros are rusted out by now.

Later metros are more common.

Never thought about autotrader! Nice. Also never heard of usedregina? I'll give it a shot!

Thanks for the tips on getting a 96 or newer. Have to save up a little bit more for those but will be a lot easier to find.

As far as rust. Cars in my area have very little as long as the paint is good. The BEST place I ever lived for clean rust free cars was Las Vegas. I had a neighbor that sanded the paint off of the hood of his truck and 3 weeks later there was only the slightest bit of rust flash!!!!!! If I tried that here in the swaps of new Orleans it would be completely covered in 24 hours!

:p usedregina won't do you much good if you don't live in Regina! There's probably used-stuff website chains designed for your area, so do a google search.

I found mine by word of mouth. My brother knew someone trying to sell one that needed work. Other than that, I rarely see them around my area if at all. If I do, it is an auto, a 4cyl, or is way over priced. I've been keeping my eye out for another one since I like mine so much, but no luck. I did see an xfi in a parking lot at the local grocery store and was tempted to leave a note asking if they were interested in selling it.

In other words, they are hard to come by in my area.

There's a '93 or '94 Xfi in a 'yard near me. I'm about to ask for a battery to try to start the car. It failed inspection in December of '06 (obviously) due to frame rust. Do you want anything out of the car? Transmission? ECU? Camshaft? Let me know.

I'm sure someone would want to buy the cam...

It would be nice to have the tranny and engine to use for parts, but I should find something closer to home (Is it in NJ/VA area?). That would be too hard to get home. I'm not that ambitious.
Thanks though.

How much should I pay for a second generation Metro?

I found a couple of used 1st gens on autotrader at dealerships and they want $3000!!!!!!

That's crazy. Edmonds quotes $59 trade in and $500 resale at dealership. this is no where near reality for us in New Orleans.

There is a local dealer with a 1990 with only 55K on it! Didn't say what the price was. They want you to call for it.

$3k is crazy, unless it's a super clean, very low mileage car.

$500 sounds more like it for one of the 89-94's.

I paid $175 for the blue ForkenSwift ('92 or '93 - I always forget), and with some work (rusty floor) and what would have been a couple hundred bucks worth of parts (we got them from the red car) it passed safety inspection.

I also looked for a long time before getting my cars. Patience. Patience...

Craiglist can be a PITA because for some mysterious reason, they don't want you to be able to do wider area searches easily (bot-phobia?). :confused:

In Most areas, ads will stay up for a whole month even after the item is sold. In other areas they're only up a week. It helps to check often. To make it easier, you can save bookmarks to specific searches.

For example, in the northeast, I have:
https://boston.craigslist.org/search/car?query=metro (this search has a lot of noise because of an area called 'Metro West')
https://capecod.craigslist.org/search/car?query=metro
https://maine.craigslist.org/search/car?query=metro
https://hartford.craigslist.org/search/car?query=metro
https://worcester.craigslist.org/search/car?query=metro
https://burlington.craigslist.org/search/car?query=metro
https://providence.craigslist.org/search/car?query=metro
https://westernmass.craigslist.org/se...ar?query=metro
https://southcoast.craigslist.org/search/car?query=metro

If you use Firefox, make use of the 'Live' bookmarks to specific searches by clicking on the https://www.mozilla.org/images/livemarks16.png icon at the right end of the address bar and adding the link to your bookmarks.

Alternatively, you can use the Bookmark Manager (see Manage Bookmarks under Bookmarks menu) and choose New Live Bookmark... from the File menu. Adding '&format=rss' to the end of the above urls for each live bookmark. For example, https://nh.craigslist.org/search/car?...tro&format=rss (note, if you just click on this url, you'll see raw XML since it doesn't have a stylesheet associated with it. Instead, paste it into the Feed Location property of your live bookmark). Too geeky? Just click on the https://www.mozilla.org/images/livemarks16.png icon once you have the search the way you like it. :cool:

You can create a folder full that you can scan in seconds for any new entries. Use IE? :eek: V7 has a similar function supporting RSS feeds.

Silveredwings, WOW that was a lot of help. Thanks!

I walked into my local Winn-Dixie this morning and my next door neighbor was working the ********.

She has a Metro. 1996 I think. Black 4 door w/ auto tranny. Both outside mirrors are gone. She said they fell off.

Anyhow, She got a job offer out of state and will be leaving. I told here this morning that I would give her $400 for her car. She busted out with a laugh and said Really? I told her yes, I really want one.

she said hell, I'll just give you the car! I was floored! Only issue is that she needs her car now. Her brother however has a late 90's model Metro. It's a hatchback. No powersteering. Not sure whatelse the car has or doesn't. She said she would call him to see if he was willing to part with his. I'm sure he will. He already has a pick-up truck he drives for working.

I hope this pans out!

Damnit, I'm very jealous, I'm always looking for that kind of deal...I wish I knew someone with a metro...

well, brelandt has a bead on a couple now...

*shrug* Mehbe one day, the best I have yet to do is a 93 with a blown engine for 200 bucks, and it's auto, *sigh*

I think I saw one recently in CL like that in northern NH. Too far for me. There was another one in RI asking ~$125 but the distance was a hassle for me... prob gone now (nobody on CL ever returns emails).

True, CL can be annoying, currently I'm pool table shopping on there as well and it's a big pain...

I chdeck autotrader and the ones i see there are 4 cyl and automatics. almost everyone says the same thing: "Great Mileage"!

Wow, I just looked at the EPA for the 4dr automatic and it's BAD! 30-34......Does this even sound right? Would her car have a 3 or 4 cylinder?

Can I just swap the auto out for a 5 speed? Lots to think about :(

The sedans are all 4 cyl.

I'd aim for a 3 cyl hatchback with the 5-speed. The 3 cyl cars don't perform well (FE wise) with the automatics (I think they're only 3 speeds).

If it's free, its free! You can always resell (or regive).

Now for my secret Craigslist search engine (ok, not secret but seems not too many people know about it). This is a HUGE help - just did a search and found a bunch of them.

www.crazedlist.org

and for my "How I found my Metro" story.

I was at an auction (just junk stuff, no cars) with my father and saw a Metro in the parking lot and mention to my dad that I wouldn't mind finding a nice one of those. He said my uncle had one and the estate was trying to sell it - my uncle had died the previous week. I called my aunt (executor) and asked the specifics and she didn't have a clue but someone wanted it and was about to give $1000 for it. I told her to make sure they wanted it and if they didn't I'd probably take it once she told me the year model, engine, options etc. My dad had seen it and said it was a $500 car if they were lucky and the person willing to give $1k will most likey back out, he was right.

The car turned out to be a 95lsi 3dr 3cyl with 77,000 miles. Sounded good and promising until they described it to me. Tires BAD, wouldn't start so I had no idea of good it ran. I told them I'd drive up and look at it anyway as they said he drove it until he got sick then it sat for a few months - "drive up" meant go from FL to PA. The next week we headed up in the truck with car dolly attached. Once my wife and I saw it she wasn't happy. It looked like a POS. Paint faded, missing hubcaps, smoked once we got it started, A/C didn't work, ran rough and it was dirty dirty dirty.

About 4 hours later - ran great (tune up), didn't smoke (changed oil), drove fine (new tires), looked great (shampooed interior, washed and wax - detailed w/clay bar, hubcaps were in the trunk now installed), A/C worked (charged it), battery charged from driving. I did this all BEFORE I told my aunt if I would buy it, I did tell her upon intially seeing it that it "looked to be a $500 car IF I could get it running". Since it was family and the estate needed $$$ I went ahead and gave $1k for it. Also the 4 hours I spent was around $190 plus the drive up was about $300 or so, so I had a little less than $1500 in it. Now with a CD player, FULL synthetic fluids EVERYWHERE and my racing disc hubcaps I have almost $1700 total in the car.

Result: a relatively low mileage (82k miles), nice looking, great running car that I have gotten over 50mpg with when driving easy. I love the car but the wife says I have too many toys so I told her IF gas breaks $3 for an extended period (a month or so) it will go to eBay as I'm SURE I'll get my money and then some out of it.

:thumbup: to crazedlist...it deserves it's own post!

PS: Nice metro story, too, :p

Why does CL always move in a shut down every tool like that someone creates? :confused: There's a whole list of them. :( Kudos though. :thumbup: