I've been
on the hunt for a car to replace the
1997 Sunfire I've been driving around for the past ~6 months. The stipulations were pretty strict as I was choosing to be cheap. ~$1200, manual trans, and better mileage than the Sunfire (better than 30 mpg, boo for automatic transmissions). Anyway, last night I found a 1999 Chevrolet Metro 1.0L 5 speed hatch with 120k miles on it. It fell right exactly into the price range (paid $1200), and of course it needs a little love. However, the low miles and great fuel economy lured me in.
As mentioned, the car needs some love. Its been taken care of okay. The interior is in great shape, but the road salt has taken its toll on the exterior of the car over the years. Some general and preventative maintenance is definitely in order. Here are a few things that it needs:
- Fix rear sway bar mounts - they have rusted off the chassis
- Weld up control arm mounts - driver's side has a couple holes
- Fix sagging exhaust - its sitting and rattling on the front sway bar
- Get 2 new tires - the fronts are nearly bald
- Clean the EGR valve passages - prevents cylinder #2 damage if it clogs
- Fix some other rusty areas and some rust prevention
These are things I've gleaned from reading other Metro stuff. If you metro owners have any other suggestions I'm all ears. I'll get some more pictures up soon of the car and the problem areas.