Geo Metro More Than A Sum Of Its Parts

In these turbulent times, has it come to this? The Geo Metro?

That's a reasonable question, because the Metro is the highest-mileage car sold in America. The feds say it'll go 58 miles down the highway on a gallon of gas.

Drive one, and the effect probably will change your transportation perspective.

Into the mountains, over the passes, down the valleys went the Metro.

Then, 126 miles later, I drove into the fuel pits. The nozzle went in the filler tube. It clicked off before I could clean the windshield. Total purchase: 2.7 gallons. Total price: $3.52. Total miles per gallon: 46.66.

Later that day, I filled the family station wagon, and went through $22.50. That changes your perspective.

To get such results, one of the concepts you'll have to change is what constitutes a car. Once, that meant a V-8-something. But those are mostly gone now, replaced by V-6s and inline-4s.

But a Metro's even smaller. Under the hood, there's 1-liter, three-cylinder (yes! three!) motor, hooked up to a five-speed transmission, or you can have an automatic.

To get the maximum mileage in a Metro, you'll choose the XFi version, which puts out 49 horsepower.

I was driving a more luxurious LSi coupe, generating 55 horsepower. In that configuration, the Metro is only America's third-best mileage-getting car, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The LSi follows the Honda Civic CRX HF, at 49 city and 52 highway. The LSi is supposed to turn in 45 city and 50 highway, putting my 46-plus squarely in mid-range.

Many reports have called the Metro mostly suitable for commuting, but I found the car cruised easily at 65, with plenty of legroom in the front.

Instrumentation is sparse, limited to gas-and-temperature gauges and a speedometer, but a two-seat convertible version comes with sporty stuff like a tachometer.

The rental I was using had about 19,000 miles on it, and the transmission shifter seemed a little quirky. Without power steering, parking was somewhat of a chore.

Nothing about the car seemed unacceptable, however, and while I was prepared for disappointment, the Metro seemed to deliver more than the sum of its parts.

It weighs barely 1,800 pounds, and it's only 146 inches long, yet it'll seat two big adults comfortably and four with a bit more cramping.

The Metro also demonstrates how intertwined the world is. The car is sold in Chevy showrooms, and in fact used to be called the Chevy Sprint. But General Motors later started the Geo line and made the Sprint into the Metro. And the door-frame plate shows the car's really a Suzuki, made in Japan.

The Metro XFi sells for less than $6,000. It's easy to scoff at three-cylinder cars that weigh less than a ton, but when you look at what's happening in the Persian Gulf, maybe if we all drove Metros, we wouldn't be there at all.

Of course, GM also makes the largest car sold in America, the Buick Roadmaster station wagon, 217 inches long and weighing more than two tons. No matter what, something should meet your needs.

Got a traffic problem, beef, suggestion or question to share with us? Call 382-8899 weekdays or write ``Getting There,'' The Seattle Times, Box 70, Seattle 98111.

``Getting There'' appears Sundays and Wednesdays in the Northwest section of The Times.