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Saw this at a general automotive forum....

I bought a 92 Metro XFI new, and (stupidly) sold it just short of 200,000 miles. Trouble-free except for routine timing belt replacements and a brake job. I missed getting 50 MPG so bought another 94 XFI off Ebay, drove it home from Ohio. It has over 220,000 miles now and runs like a top, but being a northern car has some rust problems. I figure the body may disintegrate before the engine gives up! Metros are frugal and extremely reliable, if GM were still selling them today they'd be making money rather than facing bankruptcy. If you find a nice Metro that hasn't been flogged to death by teenagers hang on to it, when gas hits $5 a gallon you'll love it more every day :^)

Hi Chuck:

___I know some of the GS guys love them! I have however read of the 3-cylinder 1.0’s having rear block to head issues when the gasket lets loose at the most inopportune times. I saw a few posts about this when I was writing up the fuel efficient used car article a few months ago. It just popped up a warning flag for me although like the writer in your quote, some of them appear to last a very very long time.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

The Metro's are thrifty.

When I purchased my Festiva, Metro's, Civic, Justy were all in the running.

The Hondas flat out cost way to darn much. Way to much! My dealer wasnt in the game at that time with fare pricing.

I purchased a Justy just to have it fail within days of purchase. I went to war and got my money back. Darn CVT let go within 72 hours. That ment contract time frame wasnt final. So I got my down payment back and walked.

The Metro's had a huge problem of flat out falling apart around here. If it wasnt one thing it was another. A good buddy of mine bought a Metro. Before driving it off the lot the seat back adjustment handel broke off in his hand. Wasnt a good sign at all. He and his wife werent hard on cars at all. he got over 300k miles on his old f-150 before he put it down. It was a really bad car. Truth is you dont see many here at all. And never saw many. The local Chevy dealer wouldnt stock them unless corprate made them buy one or two.

The Festiva was a wonderful car! I would go buy 2ea new ones right now if they still made it. I paided 7k OTD for mine with everything you could get in a MT GL except CC. It had the alloy wheels, painted bumpers, A/C, 4 speaker audio. it was trimed out well for a ubber cheap car. It had a Mazda 1.3L I4 in it thats bullet proof. A 5MT that used ATF fluid. < Talk about no fluid induced restance in the tranny. :) Built for Ford by KIA with Mazda and KIA parts. It would get EPA or better at the drop of a hat driving it normal. Which ment throttle to the floor pan. Any basicy hypermiling tatics would add 10 mpg,, no problem. I auto crossed it, Hunted in it, basicly abuse it to no end. I let it go at least twice 20k miles between oil changes. When i stoped driving it at 138k miles and the wife and kids took it over. I had only changed the timing belt twice and basic maint. done on a very poor rate. In the end the wife and kids ruined the car. Wasnt a straight fender on it. When i sold it for a mere $500 it still started and ran like the day I bought it. and you couldnt make it use oil.

Lesson learned here. never,,, I mean never let the wife or kids drive your car. To this day the wife has never driven my Civic.

Sorry for the ramble. I have a soft spot for subcompacts. Raised in Fiats and brought up around other small/mini autos. I really like them.

Hi Psy:

___I absolutely love your kind of owner story! The Ford Fiesta (has some lineage to the Ford Festiva of days gone by) is one of Europe’s best sellers today and if you saw how they are equipped, you would be drooling all over yourself ;)

___Your Festiva story timing could not be any better either! If it were not for the Ka, the European based Ford Fiesta w/ the 1.4 TDCi at ~ 60 mpg US EPA would probably be in my drive right **** now!!! If I could purchase one that is :(

PRIVATE BUYERS BOOST FORD'S SALES LEAD IN SEPTEMBER. (http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=24510&make_id=trust)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/European_Ford_Fiesta.jpg

BRENTWOOD, Essex, 5 October, 2006 - Ford is on course for 30 years as Britain's top selling car brand thanks to surging sales of the new "56" plate models to private buyers.

For the first time in 2006, the Ford Fiesta became the UK's favorite car, displacing the Ford Focus to second place. In total over 70,000 "56"- plated Ford cars and commercial vehicles took to the road last month, taking 15 per cent of the market - a full percentage point up on a year ago …

___Good Luck

___Wayne