What's Old is New Again: Consumer Interest in Fuel-Efficient Used Cars, Like the Geo Metro, Skyrocket

High sticker prices and long waiting lists for popular fuel-efficient vehicles like the Toyota Prius have some consumers looking for cheaper alternatives to save money at the pump.

Economy cars that were built in the mid- to late '90s have seen a dramatic increase in the number of consumer searches on Cars.com. Cars like the Geo Metro and Geo Prizm have seen consumer searches rise by more than 200 percent year over year. Renewed interest in these cheap, fuel-efficient vehicles has also driven up their prices: Several Geo Metros from the mid-90s, which have a book value of around $1,300, are listed for sale on Cars.com for more than $4,000.

"Despite their renewed popularity and the ability to potentially save some money, there are several precautions that people should take when looking at older subcompacts like the Ford Festiva and Geo Metro," said Cars.com senior editor Joe Wiesenfelder. "While they may save money on gas, many of these cars can bear greater costs when it comes to safety and reliability, which is part of the reason these cars weren't popular when they were first introduced. Over time automakers have both changed the way they construct vehicles and added safety features not found in earlier models, improving crashworthiness across the board."

Here are a few simple things to keep in mind if you're looking for a cheaper form of fuel-efficient transportation:

Consider a newer used car, even if its fuel economy isn't quite as good as an older one's. The earlier subcompact cars' strength -- good gas mileage -- comes from small size, light weight and simplicity, all of which are weaknesses in terms of crashworthiness. Comparable small cars from the past several years are designed to be safer, and the field as a whole is more reliable than it was 10 years ago.

Ensure that the car has side-impact airbags: Though they proliferated in small cars in the early 2000s, side-impact airbags were almost always optional, so availability is limited. Cars equipped with them will have an "SRS" or "airbag" label on the side of either front seat's backrest, facing the door, and/or a similar label on the pillar next to the windshield or between the side windows, indicating a curtain-style airbag. Side airbags don't ensure high crash-test results, but their effect is overwhelmingly positive.

Do the math: Consider keeping your current car. The prospect of infrequent fill-ups and less money spent on gas is attractive, but it doesn't make replacing a car that's already paid for a better move in the long run. Four or five mpg looks like a big improvement, but it depends on how efficient your current car is. Calculate how much money you're likely to save with a more efficient car versus the cost and possible sacrifice of giving up your current ride and buying a different one. Demand is high for efficient cars and low for guzzlers, so you might see a significant loss before you realize a gain -- if you do at all.

Motorists shopping for more mileage in cars

By Pat Curtis

With gas prices hitting record heights, it's not surprising that motorists are shopping for more fuel efficient vehicles. The situation has even boosted demand for some cars that are no longer in production, such as the 40-plus mile a gallon Geo Metro. Jim Bintner, general manager of one of Iowa's largest car dealerships in Des Moines, says his customers' top priority is finding an economical drive.

"They've decided that they're either going to trade in their SUV or not drive it as much," Bintner said. "They're looking for something they can commute with and something that's going to give them good fuel economy that they can afford to drive." Bintner says smaller cars are now "in," while gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs are out.

"They're looking for older cars that are fuel efficient, for example, the Geo Metro is one, the Ford Festiva, the Ford Focus and the Escort all get great fuel economy," Bintner said. "The value of those cars have gone up greatly." The top selling car in the United States in May was the Honda Civic, followed by the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Camry. Bintner says those vehicles do get good gas mileage, but many American-made cars do too.

Bintner says the challenge for the big American manufacturers - Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler - is overcoming "the perception" that they don't make as fuel efficient, or as good of cars, as the foreign manufacturers. According to Kelley Blue Book's rankings, the top fuel efficient vehicle is the Honda Civic Hybrid, which can travel 45 miles per gallon on the highway.

The Ford Escape Hybrid leads the list of high-mileage SUVs (30 mpg highway). General Motors announced plant closings Tuesday in Wisconsin, Ohio, Canada and Mexico. The affected GM plants make pickups and SUVs. GM plans to focus on smaller cars, including the Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric.

The Geo Metro Rides Again, Sort Of

The high price of gas has sparked a fad for the fuel-sipping Geo Metro, a tiny, rebadged Suzuki hatchback Chevrolet dealers sold from the late 1980s to 1998.

The Geo could be called the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" brand. General Motors (GM) and its Detroit rivals at the time offered fuel-efficient cars co-developed with Japanese partners including Suzuki (SZKMF), Mitsubishi (MMTOF), and Toyota Motor (TM), but only GM created a separate brand for its import-inspired small cars.

Like the Geo Metro, several of these models were both imported and built in joint-venture factories in North America. They included the Geo Prizm, which was co-developed with Toyota. GM dropped the Geo brand at the end of 1997, but continued to offer the former Geo Metro, Geo Prizm, and the small Geo Tracker SUV for a few more years, renamed as Chevrolets. Sales petered out as domestic brands moved to bigger vehicles, especially SUVs.

A Little Pricing Confusion

Fortunately for bargain hunters, Geo Metros aren't scarce. GM sold more than 700,000 from 1989 to 1998. At various times, body styles included a Geo Metro sedan, a hatchback, and even a little two-door convertible. AutoTrader.com online classified ads listed 51 Geo Metros nationwide recently, ranging in price from $500 to as high as $7,000.

Watch out for those $7,000 ones. The Geo Metro was only about $8,000 to $10,000 suggested retail when it was new. According to Automotive Lease Guide, a benchmark for resale values, the average new car depreciates 40% as soon as it's driven off the lot, and 55% after three years. That makes a $7,000 Geo Metro sound like a poor value, unless it has about $5,000 cash in the glove compartment.

In general, prices for newer models of small used cars are rising while other segments' prices are down, especially big pickups and SUVs. This trend should be encouraging for Chevrolet, which announced in late 2007 it will build a minicar based on the Beat concept car, co-developed with its South Korean partner, GM Daewoo.

Don't Expect Zip

The idea is to build a successor to the old Geo concept, but the modern minicar will be sold as a Chevrolet from the beginning, and the underlying platform will be more thoroughly integrated into GM's worldwide lineup. The new car is expected to get 50 mpg, with production starting in 2009. The Beat-based car was not expected to come to the U.S. market right away, but if people are lining up to buy 10-year-old Geo Metros, maybe GM ought to rethink that.

Before jumping on the bandwagon, shoppers should keep in mind that older cars with tiny engines like the 55-hp Geo Metro offer dismal acceleration—take the Metro's zero to 60 mph in a leisurely 12 seconds. For many, that may seem an acceptable trade-off for mileage that rivals a gasoline-electric hybrid. Regular gas hit an average national price of $3.95 per gallon on May 29, vs. $3.20 a year ago, according to the American Automobile Assn.'s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

The 1997 Geo Metro gets an estimated 44 mpg on the highway, according to the U.S. Energy Dept.'s fueleconomy.gov Web site. The site says its estimate is more realistic than the car's original EPA highway estimate of 49 mpg.

Save Gas - Drive a Geo

For drivers hurt by high gas prices, the answer to gas savings may be the Geo Metro.

The small sedan, discontinued in 2001, has nearly tripled in price on used-car lots in the past few months, pushed upward by customers who yearn for 40-plus mile-per-gallon fuel efficiency.

Many car dealers say the demand for the model far outstrips supply, an observation in line with national statistics that show compact cars are the top sellers in an otherwise sluggish market for used vehicles. The heightened demand extends to nearly all small cars, including the Honda Civic and Ford Focus.

The Metro was introduced in 1989 and sold until 1997 under the Geo banner. From 1998 to 2001, it was sold as the Chevrolet Metro.

Kelley Blue Book, a provider of vehicle-pricing data, said in its current edition that a 1990 Metro was worth $1,175. The company's Web site provides updated information and says the model is now selling for $3,000.

Robyn Eckard, director of public relations for Kelley Blue Book, said the increase is one of the most dramatic shifts of any model, brought on by the relative scarcity of the cars. Other gas-sipping cars have risen in value but not nearly as much.

"We are seeing people looking at more fuel-efficient cars than ever before," Eckard said.

National statistics underscore his point. J.D. Power and Associates has found that the smallest used cars had the fastest-growing prices in March and April. The category, known as compact basic -- which includes the Metro and Toyota Yaris, among others -- had an average price of $10,039, up 7.3 percent from the same period the year before.

The other top categories also were geared toward fuel efficiency, while the categories with the worst price performances were pickups and SUVs.

Overall, used-car prices dropped 0.5 percent, with an average price of $16,609.

Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for J.D. Power, said used-car prices are a great barometer of the overall auto market because car dealers have broad authority to set prices, while new-car inventories and prices often are out of local dealers' hands.

And right now, the barometer says fuel economy is by far the top consideration, a factor that just happens to be the chief virtue of the Geo Metro.

Libby said the surge in the Metro's value "makes perfect sense."

"It's a highly fuel-efficient vehicle and there probably aren't that many around. In today's environment, it's very valuable," he said.