This Vintage SUV Is a Low-Mileage, Cheap 4×4 That Might be Kinda Cool
There’s something funny going on in the automotive world. The cars many of us were given as hand-me-downs or begrudgingly bought in Autotrader as our first set of wheels are now weirdly stylish, even expensive in some cases. When was the last time you daydreamed about putting the top down on your cherry Geo Tracker and hitting the town with your pals? Never? Same. Well, this, albeit super clean, 1993 Geo Tracker with only 50,000 miles is on Bring-A-Trailer. As of now, it’s pretty cheap with no reserve – in case you’re interested.
Are Geo Trackers cool?
This is tough. I feel like the correct answer is no – Geo Trackers aren’t cool. However, the idea of what’s cool is changing rapidly in the car world. I guess coolness is also pretty subjective and open to plenty of opinions and perspectives. To that end, Car & Driver took a Geo Tracker across the Mojave desert in 1989 with some other little 4x4s. The testers seemed to think it was cool. Maybe, there is more than one “correct” answer here.
The idea of the Geo Tracker still feels a little goofy. However, if you look at this one objectively, given the weirdness of our current market, there is something to it. The one we are looking at here is a unique and efficient 4×4, in great shape, and finished in a brilliant, fun color – Oh, and it’s cheap.
Because buying a used car today is a great way to feel like you have made a horrible financial decision, spending $8,000-$10,000 (maybe) on a low-mileage and efficient 4×4 SUV sounds pretty nice. Now, that price range is only an estimation. The auction has six days left, and the bid price at the time of this writing is $8,888 with no reserve.
Are Geo Trackers good cars?
Again, I can’t and won’t argue that the Geo Tracker is a cool car, but I might argue that it can be pretty good. Powered by a 1.6-liter inline-four paired with a three-speed automatic transmission and a dual-range transfer case, the little convertible (yep, that hard top comes off) 4×4 SUV is right in line with the current trends in the SUV market. One of the Tracker’s most commonly complained-about features is its size. Even this trend is coming back around; look at the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz.
Cars.com surveyed Geo Tracker owners about their time with the teeny SUVs. The results are overwhelmingly positive. The reviews on the site describe a fun, dependable, efficient, and cheerful little SUV. Cars.com values the Tracker around $13k, for what that’s worth. The only real negative reviews were about the interior size and design. This has to be expected of such a pint-sized SUV. Nevertheless, if the reviews are half right, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better SUV for the same money.
Not all that glitters is gold…
The Geo Tracker listed on Bring-A-Trailer is a special example. The hottest trend in the collector car market these days is condition and mileage over just a cool model. A car that few people even want can become quite valuable if a clean enough, low-mileage example turns up. Check the car auctions, and you’ll see what we mean. Otherwise, boring or run-of-the-mill cars and trucks from the ’80s and ’90s that are super clean are fetching crazy prices. This could easily be the case with this crispy-clean Geo Tracker.
It’s interesting to look back at an older car model out of context. The context of the time when this 1993 Geo Tracker hit the road was that it was a goofy little SUV for folks on a budget. That said, it could still somewhat hang with a Jeep Wrangler off-road. While that may still be objectively true today, the subjective viewpoint can argue that it is an underpriced 4×4 SUV that gets good gas mileage and offers a lot of bang for the buck.
Check out the listing at Bring-A-Trailer to see images of the Geo Tracker and learn more about its condition. Maybe something about the goofy Geo Tracker can grab hold of something in you.
