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They are good cars if properly cared for. $2500 is about the top of the market right now and you would do well to properly vet the car before deciding to buy it. (Hopefully the car is better than the seller's command of the English language!) Take a screwdriver with you and poke at the frame where the front lower control arms mount. This is a common rot out point and can be expensive or time consuming to fix-depending on your skill level and comfort with a welder. Next up is a compression test. It's easy to do if you have the gauge. According to GM, it should be performed on a warm engine with all 3 plugs out and the throttle held open. Make sure to remove the coil wire from the coil so that it doesn't shock you and the wires don't end up shorting to ground. The acceptable range is 157-199 PSI, with a 5-10 psi ( I forget exactly off the top of my head) variance from highest to lowest. You also want to check how easy it is to engage second gear. If it is crunchy you may need to deal with the second gear synchro soon. Other than that, everything else is cheap and simple to fix provided you are not one of those people who wastes their money on a mechanic. If you are, you are best served not buying a Metro. After all, you will want to do basic services once you get the car to bring it up to perfection and paying for these services will change what should be $50-100 in materials into about $600 worth of work.
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No green technology will ever make a substantive environmental impact until it is economically viable for most people to use it. This must be from a reduction in net cost of the new technology, not an increase in the cost of the old technology through taxation
(Note: the car sees 100% city driving and is EPA rated at 37 mpg city)
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