The Metro Investment

A few weeks ago CNN reported an article on the rising cost of gas has forced consumers to get creative with ways to beat the costs at the pump. The Geo Metro, a forgotten piece of economical transport, the laughing-stock in automotive circles for its miniscule engine, a 3- cylinder powerplant producing a whopping 55 horsepower. One eBay listing was bidded up to the astonishing price of $7600 according to the article!! The price of one of these econoboxes back in the early 90's was around $9000, by my calculations those depreciation costs put almost every car to shame including such ultra-exclusive exotics such as the Ferrari 348 (cost of new example in 1992 = $94,000, cost today, about $44,000 for nice example). The Porsche Turbo from that same year cost $118K, and a used retail example according to Edmunds would only fetch $38,000 or so (still a hefty sum for a 16 year-old car).

In fact a look at eBay showed a top of the line LSI example of the Metro going for $2900 and this listing still had two days before the auction closed. As for the features on this faded puke-yellow example: it has a tachometer, automatic, air conditioning, and a flip up sunroof. No power windows, no power locks, no remote for unlocking the doors from halfway accross the parking lot.

To put things into perspective, a search of eBay for a Ford Bronco of a one-year newer vintage yielded 6 results and the only model with bids was a loaded model (leather, power seats/windows/locks, cruise control, etc.) and the highest bid was $710! Of course when one of these gas hogs gets 17 MPG tops going with the wind, it makes me glad that I sold my Grand Wagoneer a few years back!