Now, when you think of cars today you think of them as these marvels of modern engineering and why wouldn’t you? They have an entertainment system, lane assistance, can make calls, take notifications, warmed seats, ambient lighting, custom interiors, oh yes, it has many many features now that if one were to take any of these off then it’d be a loss of value rather than a feature.
However, the one thing that the average person (especially if they’re not car people) care about is the gas mileage. But nothing quite compared to the 1990 Geo Metro XFI. It was simply built different and the first of our series built different series where we compare something that was ahead of its time and nothing modern quite compares to it today.
What was the 1990 Geo Metro XFI?
So the Geo Metro XFi (specifically the 1990 version) was a trim specially designed to do one thing very good and that one thing is to be very fuel efficient. Everything about it was maxed out to be as fuel efficient as possible and forgoing essentially everything else. From the tiny 1.0-liter 3-cylinder engine creating very little horsepower, weighting only a concerning 1,500 to 1,600 lbs, and having everything absolutely stripped out like the air conditioner to even not having a passenger side mirror. But these sacrifices were so so worth it and only grew in value long after manufacturing of the car ended and gas prices climb ever higher.
With all of these the things combined the Geo Metro XFI was able to achieve an astonishing 53 city / 58 highway MPG 40 years ago. Modern cars can’t even do that. It may look ugly but this is an amazing marvel of engineering.
Why this can Never be Replicated Today
In order to answer why this can never be replicated today we have to address the elephant in the room; cars are just becoming more expensive. Cars today are so software dependent, heavy with so much features (which most of people can’t or don’t know how to use), and over designed with the need to meet both safety standards and regulated safety emissions for the environment. As of now, the cheapest compact car is the Kia K4 and even that has an MSRP of about $22,000. The Neo Geo was around$6,500 and with inflation that would be around $17,000.
Sure that sounds absurd that with just $5,000 more you’ll be able to get a lot more value like the infotainment, but that’s for each person to decide. And the more savy consumer can put in after market parts to meet their needs.
There are quite a few cars now that rival or match this famous MPG but it’s mainly hybrids and although they are much more common (every flagship car out there pretty much has a hybrid version) but not too many people are keen on hybrids due to the cost of battery replacement and the question if it truly is Eco friendly.
We Need Very Specific Car Specialization
The major problem I believe is the death of analog or the downfall of making everything electric or automatic. Think of crank up or down windows or switches and knobs. Instead now everything is inflated for the sake of convenience and mark up cost. It’s sort of like living in an apartment complex that has a pool that you don’t use but still pay for the ability to use.
Now, if this sounds very similar well you wouldn’t be wrong because the slate truck has already done something similar, yet the price is still somewhat absurd. The MSRP of it still floats somewhere between $25,000 which is still too high in my opinion and that’s just the bare bones model. At that point used comes into the question which defeats the whole purpose of car specialization.
If only there were more de la carte models for consumers where we paid for what we need and not what it comes with.
Why the 1990 Geo Metro XFI Will Forever be Built Different
The Geo Metro XFI isn’t just some slow bare bones light weight death trap of a car. To me, it is something every consumer can relate to. If someone were to walk up to the dealership back then and say they want the cheapest highest MPG car out there then the salesmen would point them to this. It’s not the prettiest, it’s the most safe, it’s not the most innovative but it is exactly what you came here for.
I think that value in simplicity is what UALD is all about. That and I can’t tell you how much I felt FOMO when I read up on this car and found that I was about 4o years too late to buy one.
When people say the expression of ‘think before you buy something’ they usually think if you’re ever going to use it. Now another layer to that question is ‘what if they stop making them?’