6 people in a Geo Metro? Crossing that bridge tomorrow!

[Peakster]

It started out with me and 2 friends deciding someday to take a 'road trip' to Vibank Saskatchewan; a conservative community of 270 people or so located about 30 miles southeast of my city, Regina.

Next thing I know, another friend took work off this upcoming weekend to tag along and 2 other friends of the original one invited are coming too. All to have a sleep-over at the house of the friend who declared riding 'shotgun'.

Of course, I'm all for it! Crazy stuff always happens when I drive during road trips (always bring a video-camera to capture the craziness). I can't wait for the fun to begin.

However, there are several large issues: My Geo seats a maximum of 4 people and it only has 55hp! 9hp for each 150 pound person. My gas mileage is going to suck! Big time. Moreover, how am I going to fit 6 people in my Geo Metro? Obviously I'm driving, Freakishly Tall Dude will be seated in front (due to his excessive legginess) so that means that the other 4 friends will have to be packed like sardines in the back! Lucky that I have tinted rear windows and Saskatchewan Law being that seat belts are required where available. AND all of the stuff that we will be needing for the trip will need to be stored in the tiny area behind the rear seat.

It sounds like a challenge! I'm sure we'll figure out a way (this coming from a guy that managed to pack all of his personal belongings from his university dormroom in a Pontiac Fiero... lets just say that the only way I could see out my passanger side mirror was through my turtle aquarium!). My rear bumper will be dragging on the ground tomorrow!

What kinds of crazy trips have you had with your cars?

- Peakster

[FormulaTwo]

I am heading out to colorado in december to do some snowboarding.
Should be a crazy road trip for me.

I doubt we will be taking my car though. Its good on gas but i really do not trust it to make it all that way from North Carolina.


6 people in a metro def bring up images in my mind of clowns packed into old minicoopers at the circus.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Me and mah buddies weigh in at somethin' like 700-850lbs combined and used to putz around in my diesel bunny before I shelved it after graduating/moving. That poor thing had worse aero and less power but still turned low to mid forties in mixed driving. The only really sucky part is going to be cramming you all in there.

[onegammyleg]

Originally Posted by Peakster

how am I going to fit 6 people in my Geo Metro?

I had 7 in my Swift , 3 in the back side by side and one sitting on them .. and 3 up front , one sitting on the handbrake.
Rear suspension was down to the bump stops for this 5 mile drive.

It was quite safe , relatively speaking of course.

[Silveredwings]

Forget about the suspension, think about the ventillation. Can you say odor control?

Lessee... Deodorant and TicTacs all around, and nobody takes off their shoes!

[JanGeo]

I once drove from RI to Norfolk Va and back to RI in my 65 Rambler America with all my brothers stuff when he got out of the Navy - that included 6 motorcycles 500cc and up all in pieces in the car and all his gear. The bag on his lap got kinda heavy after a while. We were so loaded on the way back that I could not fill the gas tank more than half without the rear leaf springs bottoming out. I remember an exit ramp in NY we were totally bottomed out on the rubber stops in back. My trip to Western PA in my Geo was light going out there but loaded with wood on the way back - got the best mileage when fully loaded - just rev the engine more and it works great. Got over 60mpg coming back on the highway at 70mph. I think there was some ground effects working with all the weight lowering the Geo closer to the ground.

I would say take out the front seat on the passenger side and stuff in two lawnchairs to sit on. I hope you all are really good friends!

[kickflipjr]

My dad always tells me a story about when he was a kid they had 6 people in a fiat 500 on a trip to our cabin (100miles away). But 4 of the people were kids. but still...

[onegammyleg]

Originally Posted by kickflipjr

-in a fiat 500 [/img]

..and apparently there has never been a confirmed case of sumone getting raped in a fiat 500 (maybe it was 600?).

so thats a good thing

[Peakster]

Just came back for the trip tonight. It was really fun (but small town people are scary!).

onegammyleg said: "I had 7 in my Swift , 3 in the back side by side and one sitting on them"

That's what we ended up doing. 3 people were seated in the back and the 4th sat on her boyfriend's lap.

The trip certainly killed my fuel efficiency (see gaslog). The rear shocks were at their limit and the car couldn't go faster than 55mph (even worse on the gravel roads)! The car felt like it had rocket acceleration when it was empty when I drove all my friends home.

Oh yeah, and it was really stuffy in the car. The windows kept fogging up.

My Geo is rated for a maximum capacity of 688 pounds (including cargo). Assuming that each of us averaged 140 pounds and add another 30 for cargo, there was about 870 pounds of us in there.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

that rated weight is only a sugestion averaged out over the life of the vehicle, right?
the best way to judge gas mileage is to take your miles per gallon, and multiply it by the number of people, to figure out what kind of mileage each person would have to get in their own vehicle to use the same amount of fuel to go the same distance, for example a greyhound bus gets 7mpg, but if you have it half full, that is around 22 people, now the mpg per person is 154mpg.