There are several ways to determine if a Geo Metro is a XFI version or just a Base or LSI model. Here are some quick and easy steps to make sure -

• Front and rear bumpers will not be painted. They will just be a flat solid black color.

• The passenger side mirror will be missing ( in most states ).

• Steel wheels, no hubcaps

• Side body molding missing

• Vin# will have MS in it for  XFI model or a MR for LSI model

• Hard to tell, but the cam shaft is different. This is the major difference in the XFI compared to the rest. If the engine has had work done or has been replaced, make sure you know what your buying.

• The transmission also is a big deal. The gear ratio for an XFI is 3:79 while the LSI is 4:10.

• All XFI's will be 3 cylinder

• All XFI's will be 5 speeds

• All XFI's will not have air conditioning.

When I began shopping for a Geo Metro, I looked locally first. No car lots appeared to have what I wanted ( a XFI or any Metro for that matter ).

I began looking online. Of course, Ebay Motors was the first place I looked. I found several Metro's with 5 speeds and 3 cylinders and a few XFI's. Most were out of the area and the cost of driving and picking one up made it too expensive.

I visited other websites such as Motortrend.com, Automobilemag.com and other sites that had a classifieds section. I visited these every day looking through dozens of pages. This took a lot of time to do. Then I realized something. Some of those websites have " Alerts " that will email you when the type of vehicle your looking for comes up for sale. So I signed up for those websites and let them do my searching for me.

One of the best sites I found was Oodle.com. They searched many different online classified sites at once. I would get alerts once a day from Ebay and several a day from Oodle.com. I suggest you sign up for both if your seriously looking for one of these vehicles.

I ended up finding one by accident locally which I feel very fortunate and hope you find one as easily as I did.

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