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I'm partial to the Metro, the FE is great, the build quality and reliability are not bad at all. You would be hard pressed to pay more than $5k for a low mileage '99.
Having said that, I spent one week per month on business in the Boulder area for a couple years. IMO the normally aspirated 4 cylinder cars are already somewhat anemic in the relatively thin 5000ft. elv. air, a 3 cylinder might be akin to moped performance. I wouldn't buy a Metro if I lived in Mile-high Denver or needed to go up into and over the Rockies with any regularity, unless I strapped a turbo on it, but even a homebrewed system will break your budget and reduce your reliability.
If it were me, I'd look at buying an early 5-speed 90's Honda Civic, maybe an accord. I put over 120k miles on an older one, just sold my '88 with 240k mi on the clock that was still going strong. In my mind, cheap vehicles are all over the place, the trick is to get a base model of basic transportation so the repairs don't kill you. Low mileage "grandma cars" like Cressida can also be a good value, but most are FE killing automatics.
What you'll find (with gas prices recently going up) is you aren't alone in your quest, competition for a clean Honda that hasn't been 'tuned on' is tough. When I was shopping for my 'in high demand' metro, I carried a pocket full of cash and was on standby to leave work to go look at a car, if the right candidate showed up on Craig's List. I even started carrying a tow bar
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