Gas prices drive Geos from clunkers to chic
(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, Solomon, an electrician, said. 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. See how the Geo Metro stacks up with the Toyota Prius
Solomon also 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.
