Interesting..... think back to Geo's

[MikeMcLarenF1]

see.... it's kinda funny for me to bring this up because everyone knows Geo isn't a good company... but I was just thinking the other day, and I realized that many cars Geo has is based on other jap cars.....

Prizm = Toyota Corolla
Storm = Isuzu Impulse
Tracker = um.... Suzuki?

now here's what I've been wondering. Since they brought the plans from the other companies, they had to hire service technicians from there right? or did they just hire anyone, and thats y their reliability went down with that..... lol I'm being random

[cls12vg30]

Geo Tracker = Suzuki Sidekick
Geo Metro = Suzuki Swift
GM didn't "buy the plans" the Geo's were made in the same factories beside their siblings from Toyota, Isuzu, and Suzuki. The Prism and many Corollas were made in a GM/Toyota joint venture factory in the U.S. GM had controlling interest in Isuzu then, I believe.

As for technicians, they are used to working on different models. I'm sure when they introduced Geo the Chevy dealers sprung for a bit of training for at least some of their technicians to familiarize them with the new models, but it wouldn't be much different from familiarizing them with new Chevy models.

As for reliability, the Tracker and Metro were decent, the Storm was no more or less reliable than the Impulse, and of course the Prism was quite well made, being more or less a Corolla.

[Quiggs]

I try not to think back to Geo's. :D

[cls12vg30]

Heh....when my wife and I were dating, she had a 1990 Geo Storm GSi. It was decently reliable engine-wise, the Isuzu 1.8 DOHC motor made about 140 hp which made that little care quite peppy.

That being said, the interior fit-and-finish was horrible, the shifter was like a stick in a box of rocks, the body rusted badly, and the wiring seemed to have been done by monkeys.

But if you can find the rare AWD turbo Isuzu Impulse (sister to the Storm), it might be worth dealing with that other stuff.