Even in these latitudes filled with Korean and Japanese fuel efficient machinery, Swifts and Metros come out of the woodwork when gas prices swell. In the last few months these little gas-savers have been appearing all over, and on the virtual sales world, commanding an uptick in trade prices.
Tatra87 gets pristine curbsides, while those in Oregon get inventive ones. I get a lot of non-creative shabby ones; with this bumblebee Swift/Metro proving the exemption, as it’s as inventive as locals get. Besides the unique color treatment, the use of badges has been freely exercised, as locals LOVE their stinking badges (The Treasure of Sierra Madre be damned!). That Autobots hood emblem shows the forces of good are ready to take on the Decepticons and save the earth, all with low fuel consumption to boot.
Transformers made a HUGE splash in Central America during the 80’s, and with Michael Bay reviving the franchise, those tacky emblems appear rather often in daily traffic. Clearly, this Autobot Swift/Metro had a bit of work done besides the paint job; with that hood scoop being as fake as fake can be, and its shoddy handiwork showing no real Cybertronic technology was involved.
Meanwhile, Dunlop, Darkside Motoring and Falken are joining in some kind of promotional ménage á trois affair. Was this even consensual? Locals also love their stinking stickers, in case you didn’t notice. As for the taped-in zebra motive in the back gate, don’t ask me what the thinking was. I guess… err, reasons?
For those not into hatchbacks, here’s the upscale sedan Swift/Metro version. Why adding a boot made a vehicle upscale has always been beyond my grasping. In the good ol’ 90’s, sales of sedans outpaced that of hatchbacks in the US supposedly for that reason, or so it was claimed. Maybe those tiny hatches just brought too many memories of the dreary early 80’s. So, for those with snobby tendencies, this Geo Metro can bring that upscale experience with the same gas-saving qualities of its hatchback companion.
Regrettably, while US assembled Metros are as reliable as Japanese ones, this sample aches of the same biodegradable lacquer GM vehicles suffered from in the 80’s-90’s. A not quite up to spec US provider perhaps? Either that or this model was left for too long under the wrong tree. Some of our local tropical fruits do have paint-corrosive innards.
Don’t get me wrong, I like these Suzuki-developed little critters (though I prefer the squarish lines of the previous generation). Maybe that ruined paint could be a good canvas for some creative soul? With some badges and color stripes, I’m sure some knock off Autobot can be created.
More Swifts/Metros:
Ha ! .
I remember similar paint schemes in Guatemala .
It’s good to see a few of these are still chugging along doing yeoman duty .
-Nate
More like cockroaches of the roads; can’t kill them. But they’re not always pretty.
Not many survivors here even with sky high fuel prices that would make you guys cry, poorly applied clearcoat is almost universal, we have really fierce UV levels here and Japan doesnt so most of the Kiwi fleet being Japanese either new here or landed used has peeling clear, it can be fixed but not quickly or cheaply so nobody bothers.
I like the bumblebee Suzuki it isnt the same as others.
I never understood why GM had two totally different cars in this segment and both were even available in some markets under the same badge. However the Metro seems to be made of the most cheapest materials as they get nasty too fast, I can’t say what could destroy its painting faster, the sun or washing it regularly. Its plastic parts were also terrible like the ones of European Fords. It’s sad because Metro had the cutter design if compared to the Corsa, it looks like a baby Cavalier.
Someone here in my small, central Florida town has a silver Metro sedan, and I see a blue, older Metro hatch every now and then…I just have to be in the right place at the right time to see it. So they do keep hanging on, at least in the warmer climates.
Nanny government and Karen have conspired to make the fuel efficent car of their dreams impossible. If they could totally eliminate safety equipment from cars, hardlimit them to 85 MPH (up for debate), we would have 40 MPG and more on desirable 300 HP cars and Mavericks, and 50+ MPG on little runt cars like this, although no guarantees anyone would buy them like the Spark on today.
Your rant is self-contradictory, among other things. What’s the point of 300 hp cars with 85 mph speed limiters? You rant about “nanny government” but you want speed limiters? Mavericks??
You can get easily 40 mpg today on cars that are very fast. And 51 mpg on a 208 hp Camry.
As to runt cars, you can see how well the Spark sold. Not.