Festiva vs Metro

[BlueBooger]

So i gotta wonder... how does a Festiva stack up against a Metro... or any other small econobox's like these?

[collegeboi]

lol good question , dont care i still love de festi

[BlueBooger]

hahaha nicely stated.

[Kraig]

I picked a Festiva over a Metro because they are more reliable (plus they have a FORD emblem on the front ) I don't think there are that many Metros running around with 2,3,4 or 500,000 miles on them. Plus there are engines easily swapped into a Festiva, not so with the Metro. I've owned my Festiva a little over a year and put 21,000 trouble free miles on it, it has 211K on it now, and I've averaged over 50 mpg for that distance. My opinion is they are great little cars! I'd like to get another one for the wife to drive instead of her gas HOG chevy astro.

[Axlander9289]

I'm biased but I also vote Festiva. A gauranteed 4 cylinders instead of a toss up between 3 or four, plus the possibility of a wider variety of engine swaps make it the winner. I also question the reliablility of Suzuki engines compared to Mazdas. The only place the Metro wins out is in sheer abundance, they are far easier to find than Festivas. I have a teacher who is as wild about Metros as most of us are about Festivas. He's had 5 of them. He's looking for a new Metro, but I've urged him to look for a Festiva instead. He'd like it better. The only Metro I'd look for is a convertible, and then only a manual.

[25Horseplay]

A Festiva or a what?

[monkeyracing]

Plus there are engines easily swapped into a Festiva, not so with the Metro.

Not so, while the Geo Metro/Chevy Sprint/Pontiac Firefly/Suzuki Forsa (or Swift) generally came with a base 3 cylinder, 1.0 liter engine, there were several interesting optional engines available.

The 3 cylinder turbo was the first "performance" variant. Admittedly, they didn't tend to live too long, but they were kind of zippy. A co-worker of mine has one with over 300,000kms on the clock, and it's still running strong.

The engine in the Suzuki Forsa GT (sometimes GTI) was also interesting. They were 1.3 or 1.6 liter, 16 valve rev-monsters. I drove one. Trust me, they're quick.

There are also a few engine swaps available outside of what was available from the factory.

[freshtiva]

A Festiva or a what?

Come on Brian, you know, a Metro. Here is a picture of one I think :wink:

[25Horseplay]

Oh I see, I still don't want one ^^ of those!

[Pocket_Rocket]

Plus there are engines easily swapped into a Festiva, not so with the Metro.

Not so, while the Geo Metro/Chevy Sprint/Pontiac Firefly/Suzuki Forsa (or Swift) generally came with a base 3 cylinder, 1.0 liter engine, there were several interesting optional engines available.

The 3 cylinder turbo was the first "performance" variant. Admittedly, they didn't tend to live too long, but they were kind of zippy. A co-worker of mine has one with over 300,000kms on the clock, and it's still running strong.

The engine in the Suzuki Forsa GT (sometimes GTI) was also interesting. They were 1.3 or 1.6 liter, 16 valve rev-monsters. I drove one. Trust me, they're quick.

There are also a few engine swaps available outside of what was available from the factory.

The Suzuki Swift GTis were 1.3 liters, all-aluminum twin cam 16 valve engines, and they really were reliable (I had one); I bought mine at 150000kms and beat the crap out of it until 254000kms and it still didn't burn a drop of oil. Their main problems were the rear disc brakes that were always seized up, and the transmission known for its notoriously weak 2nd gear synchros. Oh and they seem to be much more prone to structural rust than Festivas over here in eastern Canada. Engine-wise, your main choices are to build a NA G13B (1.3 DOHC 4 cyl), turbocharge it, or take a 1.6 single cam and put the G13B twin cam head on it, put vitara pistons to lower compression and slap on a turbo. But I'd still choose a Festiva for its cost/potential ratio, as it has a wider choice of engine swaps as well as parts interchangeability with other stock Mazda cars (which means upgrading a Festy can be done with less green than a Swift, and easier), plus the fact that Swift GTi parts are getting really scarce...

[switch hit]

Festiva wins just by looks.

[anomoly40]

There is a local Chevy Metro hatch (like a '99 when the new body styles were out) for sale in a local pawn shop for $2850. Coolest part is it has a HUGE Mercedes-Benz emblem on the hood.
There is also a Metro only junkyard behind it that they built the car from it's parts.

I want to buy one for some of the local rallycrosses in Memphis. 1 litre rally car that I won't feel bad about breaking!

[gottafesty]

I had a metro befor the festiva. the metro was a 1 litre 3cyl. Here's my experience.

Metro positives
mpg~metro 49 and festiva 44
doors~metro 4 and festiva 2

Festiva positives
speed up the mountain~festiva 60 and metro 45
highway passing~festiva is tolerable and metro is dangerously slow
operational~festiva (metro died)
fun factor~festiva (the only thing fun with a metro is changing plugs cuz there's only 3)
brand~festiva (I'm partial to fords)

[DuritzCrows17]

They say that suzuki is one of the more reliable car companies I thought.

[monkeyracing]

A Festiva or a what?

Come on Brian, you know, a Metro. Here is a picture of one I think :wink:

Y'know that's a Chevette, right? (Did I miss on the funny again? It's late and I'm kinda slow.)