[Chuckmak]

Small car owners UNITE!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflif ... index.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '(')CNN) -- It's a 12-year-old oft-mocked clunker of an automobile.

But Marci Solomon is hoping she'll be the one laughing -- all the way to the bank -- when her Geo Metro saves her from skyrocketing gas prices.

Solomon, like many others, was taking a huge hit when it came to gas prices. With her 100-mile commute to and from work each day, she saw no end in sight. Then she rediscovered the Geo Metro.

"I used to be a car snob, and I used to be too vain to drive anything that doesn't shine," said Solomon, an electrician. "But now it's about, do I want to eat, or do I want to make it to work? I want to do both."

The Metro has been making a huge comeback, especially on eBay, where Solomon bought the car, because of its extremely high gas mileage.

The 1996 Metro's average of 40 miles per gallon nears that of the hybrid 2008 Toyota Prius -- priced at $21,000 for the cheapest model -- and bests most current cars by a long shot, according to government ratings. Older models of the Geo Metro, specifically cars from 1991 and the XFi edition, have the same average as the hybrid.

Solomon toyed with the idea of purchasing a Prius but decided that for a price of $7,300, the Metro was the more economical option.

For the most part, Solomon plans on using the car for commuting from her home in Rochester, Washington, to her job. The vehicle she has now, a Honda Element, was getting 28 mpg, and she was filling up twice a week, costing her nearly $100. Stations were charging $3.97 a gallon in her area Tuesday, she said. iReport: Tell us how high gas prices are affecting you

The Metro is an investment in the future, Solomon said, even if she did pay more than five times the Blue Book value of the car.

"It was all about saving money," she said. "I don't think gas is ever going to go down, and these are going to be the types of solutions we have to turn to. I wanted to beat the rush."

The rush may have begun.

The 1996 2-door 3-cylinder Metro Solomon now owns opened on eBay May 7 with a bid of $200. A week later, Solomon won the car auction with a bid of $7,300. In 1995, a new Metro hatchback sold for about $9,000, according to Auto Mall USA.

In May alone, 43 Metros of various years and models were sold on eBay, ranging in price from $221.50 to Solomon's bid of $7,300. The cars have been hot items, drawing upwards of 49 bids on certain vehicles, with many of the auctions coming down to last-second bidding wars. On Tuesday morning, 34 Metros were still up for grabs.

Since her eBay purchase, Solomon has acquired another Metro, which she is considering flipping on eBay for profit. She has her eye on a third at a local car lot.

"To be honest, I'm thinking of scarfing up any Geo Metro I can find," she said.

Solomon isn't alone in trying to profit off of a gas-saving craze. Brenton Netz has been selling fixed-up Metros and Ford Festivas for two years now.

After buying a Metro on Craigslist in Montana and driving it back to his home in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Netz realized how rarely he was making trips to the pump.

"I thought the gas gauge was broken," Netz said. "I couldn't believe the gas mileage I was getting."

He realized that he had stumbled upon a possible side business and began buying one-way tickets to states in the West to purchase as many of the cars as he could. Netz said he has sold about a dozen cars and has eight more sitting in his backyard.

His cars go up for sale only one at a time because he knows that putting up a couple at a time would drive down the value and cut into his profit.

Netz says consumers don't seem to mind paying more than the retail value, and if they do, they generally stop feeling that way after they pick up the cars. He's gotten phone calls and e-mails from customers saying how thrilled they are with the mileage.

It seems, Netz said, people are beginning to realize that their car choices need to be focused more on practicality than status and appearance.

"Gas prices are definitely driving increased popularity in the Metro, which at times wasn't cool," he said. "Now the coolness factor is stemming from the fact that you're getting 50 miles per gallon and never having to fill up."

[WisJim]

Another car from the early 1990s that gets great gas mileage, and is better performing and roomier than a Metro is the Honda Civic VX. This was their model made around 1992-95 or so that was designed for fuel efficiency. Trouble is that the VX was a light car and is popular with hot-rodders to put bigger later engines in, so finding one in stock condition with reasonable miles is getting harder and harder. We have a 2001 Chevy Metro, and one son has a 1992 Honda Civic VX, and they are both capable of over 50mpg on the highway. Another son has a Honda CRX HF, which was also built for high mileage, but it just got a newer (but original type) engine which came out of a similar car that the owner was hot-rodding, so we don't have current mpg yet--but it should get high 40s-low 50mpg on the highway too.

Sure glad we bought the Metro a couple of years ago for $1200, with 60k miles on it.

[MarkJ]

The guys that lease my auto garage are buy-here-pay-here used car dealers. I thought they were full of crap when they were telling me the insanely high prices they were getting for econoboxes with 150,000 plus miles on the clock.

I have two 97 Honda Civic HX Coupes, 2 Door, 5 Speed Stick, V-Tec E, 40MPG Highway (Garage Kept, Well Maintained, Less Than 60K Miles). A couple years ago I wanted to trade one of them for and/or towards a SUV or sports car for one of my daughters, but didn't get a single call from anyone with anything decent to trade.

[Chuckmak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WisJim', 'A')nother car from the early 1990s that gets great gas mileage, and is better performing and roomier than a Metro is the Honda Civic VX. This was their model made around 1992-95 or so that was designed for fuel efficiency. Trouble is that the VX was a light car and is popular with hot-rodders to put bigger later engines in, so finding one in stock condition with reasonable miles is getting harder and harder. We have a 2001 Chevy Metro, and one son has a 1992 Honda Civic VX, and they are both capable of over 50mpg on the highway. Another son has a Honda CRX HF, which was also built for high mileage, but it just got a newer (but original type) engine which came out of a similar car that the owner was hot-rodding, so we don't have current mpg yet--but it should get high 40s-low 50mpg on the highway too.

Sure glad we bought the Metro a couple of years ago for $1200, with 60k miles on it.

[BigTex]

I'm not sure why these people don't just go buy a Toyota Yaris for $14,000 or so.

You could finance it for longer and at a lower rate and in five years total cost of ownership would probably be a lot lower than buying a 12 year old car today for $7,300.

That's weird.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'I')'m not sure why these people don't just go buy a Toyota Yaris for $14,000 or so.

You could finance it for longer and at a lower rate and in five years total cost of ownership would probably be a lot lower than buying a 12 year old car today for $7,300.

That's weird.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '
')You could finance it for longer and at a lower rate and in five years total cost of ownership would probably be a lot lower than buying a 12 year old car today for $7,300.

That's weird.

[Specop_007]

At the end of 04, and after having been a member here for a while, we bought our car with milage being the top priority.

We went with a brand spanking new 05 Jetta TDI. Its been a fantastic car and the average of 40 MPG has been very nice. I'm a bit miffed diesel is in the lead by about 60 cents over gas prices though but none the less I really chuckle when I think about people who bought gas guzzlers while we were shopping conservatively.

[BigTex]

I traded in my pickup last summer on a 2007 Toyota Camry stick shift. I got 29mpg on my last tank in mixed city/hwy driving.

I am thrilled with the vehicle so far. I have a family to tote around, so I couldn't go with anything much smaller.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'A')t the end of 04, and after having been a member here for a while, we bought our car with milage being the top priority.

We went with a brand spanking new 05 Jetta TDI. Its been a fantastic car and the average of 40 MPG has been very nice.

[lawnchair]

My Corolla has increased in value in the last 3 years, despite 25k extra miles.

In the early 70s oil shocks, my dad drove an Opel Kadett (1.5 litre). Went from being the running joke in the teachers' lounge to strangers making him cash offers at the gas station in about a month.