Overview & Reviews

As the market for import automotive brands became dramatically larger in the late 1980s, the Detroit automobile companies created their own import-style sales divisions. In 1989 General Motors introduced its Geo division, which became the most successful of these attempts before the division was discontinued in 1998.

Geo re-badged various GM cars made for world markets. Its most notable success came with the Geo Prizm, a version of the Toyota Corolla then being built cooperatively in a California assembly plant by Toyota and GM. The Geo Metro compact car began life as the Suzuki Swift, while the Geo Tracker sport-utility vehicle was derived from the Suzuki Sidekick. The Geo Spectrum sedan was an Isuzu I-Mark and the Geo Storm coupe was an Isuzu Impulse.

The experiment ended because the Geo division was unable to establish a stronger identity than the brands from which its products were taken. Moreover, GM quickly realized that Geo was simply funneling its brand loyalists into the import brands of other companies.

User Reviews:

• 

  Fantastic Car!!! - 1995 Geo Prizm
  By AHanson - December 13 - 1:55 am

  This car is great in every respect. Good power around town, decent passing power on the highway - runs out of steam around 90 or 95 mph, but its only a 1.8 liter. Love the standard transmission, and it still averages 33 mpg. Interior is like new, as is the paint. 147,000 miles and its only been in the shop twice (wheel bearing assembly and clutch slave cylinder). Upgraded tires (Yoko Avid T4) give more sporty handling with a really smooth, quiet ride. Much smoother than my Explorer. There is no better car out there for the money. Period. Do yourself and buy this re-badged Corolla. Great first or commuter car. Rock solid reliable w/good performance and great MPG.

• 

  Just WOW... - 1993 Geo Prizm
  By Ryan - November 12 - 10:45 pm

  This car has been beaten on for 13 years! It has 237,000 miles on it with hardly any problems other than the body starting to rust from salt! Best longest lasting car ive seen on the road for this price! No problems! Maybe I just got lucky?

• 

  True Love - 1994 Geo Prizm
  By prizmlove - November 10 - 4:21 am

  Love the pep, the ease of handling, the smooth shifting, the look of the body. Im sick over this car getting old enough that it might have to be replaced! Cant even feel the engine when its idling, and that at 187K. Needing a new clutch and one exhaust pipe after replacing part of one gas line last year due to rust. . . My dream is to find another out there, standard shift, of 94-97 vintage. What a fabulous car. Bought it at 24K, loved every day of driving it.

• 

  Best First car One Could Ask For! - 1992 Geo Storm
  By Brian - November 2 - 10:38 pm

  I just bought this car about a couple months ago for my first car and I couldnt have asked for a better vehicle! My 1992 Geo Storm might be 13 years old and have 92,000 miles on it but it runs like new and can really fly! The car is great on gas, and hasnt given me any problems yet! Bring back the Geo Storm!!! I want a 2006! lol

• 

  Best Car Ever - 1993 Geo Prizm
  By Geo Fan - October 21 - 3:04 pm

  Ive had my Geo for 13 yrs and driven it 235K miles. It has been a terrific car!!! SO VERY RELIABLE! GREAT GAS MILEAGE! AFFORDABLE REPAIRS ON THE RARE OCCASIONS THEYRE NEEDED! Theres not enough space to tell you how much we love this car and how great it has been for our quality of life - leaving us with $$$ for graduate school, vacations, house payments, etc. Much of its life we drove it commuting in Chicago. Now we live in the Rocky Mtns and, while it gets around great on the winter roads with studded tires, it lacks the ground clearance needed for our super snowy rural driveway, so were replacing it with an SUV :( Thanks for the memories Prizm!

• 

  getting 50-MPG & then some - 1996 Geo Metro
  By dp - October 11 - 3:46 pm

  Owned for < 1mth, been highly reliable, incredible mileage ranging from 44.3- 50.2 combined driving. A little noisy around town, surprisingly quiet on hwys. The 5 spd trans is smooth, however the dash mounted shift-light is annoying. The built-in headrests are uncomfortable & theres no lumbar support. Could use armrests. Plenty headroom for big hair or tall hat. Lots of rear cargo storage with seat down, (I removed bottom part of seat for a flat-fold). This 4cyl LSI came w/o AC & radio - miss them both. In summary, a great commuter car, reliable, with current MPG & gas at $3/gal it should pay for itself in about 6 mths.

• 

  Definitely "NOT" a Throw-Away-Car. - 1994 Geo Metro
  By Dave - September 6 - 7:27 pm

  I had owned a Geo Metro for almost ten years, and it was the most reliable and fuel efficient car that Ive ever own. Its definitely not a sports car, but thats not why you would buy one. In spite of their lack of acceleration, its their gas mileage which more than redeems them. With regards to freeway driving, the Geo Metro does more that just keep up with traffic. Ill put it to you like this,"A Geo Metro can do 95 miles per hour... it doesnt like to, but it can do it". Speeds between 65 mph and 90 mph are quite manageable for this car. Additionally, their little 1.0 liter engines are remarkably tough.

• 

  The Awesome Prizm (My baby) - 1997 Geo Prizm
  By Amber - August 8 - 8:46 pm

  This is one of the best reliable cars that I have ever owned. It has outlasted a Toyota Camry and a Honda Civic. It will probably outlast my brand new Hyundai Santa Fe!!!

• 

  good car - 1991 Geo Prizm
  By prizm - July 28 - 9:48 pm

  great car.Thankful that toyota made it and Geo just rebadged it as a chevy.the best Gm product you can buy.have 180000 miles and still running

• 

  My little Red Prism - 1997 Geo Prizm
  By Gene Rager - July 27 - 11:42 pm

  I presently have 178000 miles on my Prizm and it runs as good today as the day I bought it. I have not sufferred any major problems at all. I am 64" tall and I can wear my western styled hat while I drive. I routinely get 37 miles per gallon. This is a combination of city and hiway driving. I manage this milage on midrange gasoline. Based on the foregoing I do not understand why the car was discontinued. My next car shall be as close to the Prizm that I can get. Thank you