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:

• 

  The Car that Wont Die - 1995 Geo Prizm
  By Danny McGirr - August 13 - 3:05 pm

  Purchased for $2000 with 149k on it, and have driven it a lot since purchased. Consistently gets 41 - 42 mpg on highway trips. Have driven from Washington to Utah, to Oklahoma, to California, and never had a problem. Drives smooth and is super reliable.

• 

  Best Car Ever - 1995 Geo Prizm
  By Jan Sanders - August 12 - 11:12 pm

  I bought this car 12 years ago and until recently (111,000 miles) I have not done anything but oil changes and the usual things that youd expect to be done. This car has been the most reliable car I have ever owned and I wish they were still being made.

• 

  Geo Tracker - 1996 Geo Tracker
  By Dave - August 10 - 12:57 pm

  Personally I wanted to buy a truck with good gas mileage but 4wd to have sum fun on the trails on weekends. When I had bought this one I had driven one before, so it wasnt a surprise but this thing really goes any where

• 

  great car - 1995 Geo Metro
  By jim - July 19 - 1:09 pm

  This car wont quit. I work for FEMA and have taken it to the keys three times on the job for hurricanes work. Yeah I even did Katrina with it. Ive been all over the us in this car. I have 155,000 miles on a three cyc engine. I pulled it out of the junkyard about 6 years ago and put a front bumper on when it only had 49,000 miles on the engine. One mans junk is now another mans treasure. In six years Ive watched my friends buy and sell their cars, I still have my car. It might not pick up a date but thats what rentals are for. We need to keep this car around.

• 

  Farewell Trusted Friend - 1995 Geo Prizm
  By brooktroutchaser - July 4 - 12:22 pm

  This is a farewell I am selling my Prizm after some twelve years. It has been reliable and cheap. The next owner should enjoy many more years of service. It has but 128,800 miles. However, I bought a slightly used 05 Scion Xa, so it is time to part ways. The Prizm has served me well, never let me down, and Ill certainly miss her. She has a hum in the dash she didnt have before, but still drives well. I hope her next owner gives her an oil change every 3000 miles and hand waxes her as Ive done.

• 

  A great car - 1996 Geo Prizm
  By paganpink - May 30 - 1:58 pm

  Although my car has only 91,600 miles which is very low for a 13 year old vehicle I can safely say that its reliability is really astounding. Everything still works fine- cold air, radio/cassette, etc. etc. It simply never needs anything other than routine maintenance to be done on it, year after year after year. What a great car. And its comfortable to boot, although its not a prestigious looking car, but nonetheless they are the automotive equivalent of the Energizer bunny.

• 

  WOW... all you need - 1991 Geo Metro
  By Andrew - May 22 - 3:14 pm

  I love this car. Second car I bought and only car I will need again. I get 50 mpg if Im gentle. I have beaten on the vehicle a lot and does not want to break. Only magor issue was the rear main seal and it was a ok fix. I have put 30,000 miles on it since I bought it with and done only oil change and main seal. If I could only car I would drive. Vehicle handles better then my Jeep in the winter. The car gets a lot of laughs but when the gas prices reached $4 a gallon I was laughing and people started buying metros for $4000. I will have to say it is not the greatest car by a long shot. But compared to what I put in and got out. Im very happy. Perfect college car

• 

  The ride that keeps on going - 1992 Geo Prizm
  By ronniezlove - May 15 - 8:29 pm

  The drivers door handle has broken off and is non functional as well as the inside handle. We open the inside with the handle of a crescent wrench . The passenger door opens from the outside only and we have to use the wrench to get out. So I will say they should have come up with a better door handle system. No problems with the drive train. It does use 5 or 6 qts. of oil a year. Overall, I LOVE this car and would recommend one just like it to anyone!

• 

  Loved it! - 1996 Geo Metro
  By pfrey71 - May 14 - 1:44 pm

  I had my Geo Metro 4 door (4 cyl) from 1996 through 1999. I loved that car! The only money I had to put into it other than regular maintenance items was a fuel pump relay ($5 part, $50 tow). I had 136,000 miles on it when it was involved in a multi-car pile up and was totalled due to its high mileage (two days after I mailed in my final payment- UGH!). I wish I could have kept it until it died. As for safety, it was impacted four times in that accident...once by a tractor trailer, twice by an Audi, and then it hit the wall and of all six cars involved in the accident mine was the only car that was able to be driven away from the scene and I suffered no injuries. Fabulous car!

• 

  Hurray for Geo - 1995 Geo Prizm
  By Hurray for Geo - May 14 - 12:19 pm

  Excellent little car that was always there as we went through other cars. The little geo was a work horse and we are passing it on to our nephew to use. Great fun little car that ran smooth. 210,000 miles replacing the engine so that we can keep it.