>I talked to a friend last night that has a Geo Metro & she says she gets 42mpg and paid only $900 for the car. She also pointed out that highway driving was "not at all enjoyable" and the car's top speed is around 70mph. She's also a short girl - just over 5 foot. I suspect someone 6'6' would have a difficult time folding themselves up to get in & out of a Metro...hahahaha

Many years ago a friend and I took measurements of a Geo Metro and discovered that it we could fit it inside the bed of his pickup truck. Jokingly I mentioned that he could buy one and carry it on the bed of his truck as an "escape pod". I remember how thin the body panels were on the Geo Metro -- I could flex the body panel by simply pushing with a finger.

I used to drive around in a "hand-me-down" '84 Honda Civic -- as long as it was tuned up I could squeeze out close to 41~42 mpg on the freeway between Los Angeles, CA and Fresno, CA. Just had to make sure that I:
* didn't exceed 55mph -- otherwise gas milage would suffer
* didn't run with the windows open (gas milage would degrade due to increased drag)
* didn't turn on the A/C (additional load on engine would equate to less gas mileage)
(those last two items made drives in the San Joaquin valley during summer close to unbearable)
As for driving habbits making a difference, once the car "settled in" on my driving style, I was consistently getting better mileage than what my sister (who owned the car before me) had ever got in the car.

I do remember travelling between Los Angeles, CA to Gilroy, CA on the freeway in my '01 Civic and coming up with a figure of about 42mpg (based on odometer reading and fuel consumption as indicated by how much gasoline I put in during refueling stops) -- not bad as I was travelling between 70~80mph.