There's something to be said about a  subcompact that managed to surprise its owners with its realibilty and market acceptance in North America. With its meager 3 cylinder engine, the car had a repair history that would surprise owners of more expensive sedands. With its flip down rear seats, it was used for a range of activities ranging from moving large objects to being a daily commuter. Boasting gas consumption of 40-50mpg, it represents a partial solution to help our smog infested cities deal with polution from the infamous SUV's of today. Sadly, the Sprint is no more, as a recent radiator leak proved too pricy to fix. Everyone loved to make fun of the car, calling it "shit box" or whatever else, but  it took a lot of abuse over 12 years: from carrying 5 heavy guys to negiocating unforgiving Canadian winters without ever letting me down. Sure it didn't have a passenger side wing mirror and the 55hp engine sometimes had trouble competing with passing cyclists but it was the first car that I drove and  helped me to become a better driver.

In October of 1983, Suzuki Motor Corporation released the Cultus, a 3 cylinder, a subcompact powered by a 1.0 liter displacement engine. It became known as the SA-310, Forza, and Swift outside Japan, but it was marketed as Sprint when General Motors agreed to market it under the Chevrolet badge. When GM decided to rebadge the U.S./Canada manufactured Toyota, Suzuki, and Isuzu vehicles under the Geo name in 1989, the Sprint became the Metro, while in Canada, the car became known as the Pontiac Firefly.

Located at the back of the engine bay, you could find the "dog tags" of the Sprint which clearly marked that this "Chevrolet" had an engine was manufactured by Suzuki

Other owners share my opinions about the Sprint, and a search on some car review sites yielded some interesting comments:
 

This car is something else. I mean you would never expect a car like this to last this long. It just keeps going and going I hate to get rid of it considering that it's never let me down once, but I got to say I'm getting kinda scared to drive it with all those gas hog Suv's out there. I pulled up beside one the other day and I swear you could have put three or four Sprints in that thing. I can just imagine if one of those things would hit it! -Anonymous

 

In the summer of 1989 I was looking for an economical car to travel the 50 miles one way to work daily. I accidently found this year old 1988 Chevy Sprint. It was a very small looking car and all I could see was the gas mileage sticker claiming 50 miles to the gallon. That was the thing that grabbed me. I test drove the car and was surprised at the pickup and cruising ability for such a little car. The car was only a year old and 22,000 miles. The price was $4250. After having my mechanic check out the car, I purchased it immediately. When I went to get the title in my name, the lady at the title office asked me if the current title was right. It said the car only had 3 cylinders. I told her that couldn't possibly be right, so she changed it to read 4 cylinders. Of course I found out later that it does indeed have only three. After driving this car for over a year and being very pleased with it, my wife found an almost identical car at a used car lot the next summer for only $1600. We bought that car for her and we became a two Sprint family. The cars are very easy to work on, but being truly a foreign car, we found the costs of replacement parts to be very, very expensive. One example was $140 for a small vaccuum pump that would have been only about $15 on an American car. We decided to buy another used car that was advertised in the Sunday paper for only $350, to use for parts. We drove the 50 miles to Omaha to check it out and found it in fair condition. It was good enough to drive home, so we took it. Over the next two years, we bought 5 more cars, expecting to use them for parts, but ended up able to drive them all home. We live on a farm, so some of these cars have been stored in the barn, or other out-buildings. When I had major trouble with my main, first vehicle. I went out and started one of the "parts" cars and after only puting $200 into it for exhaust, ended up driving it for two years. We now have a total of 8 (eight) Chevy Sprints. All 1988 models so all the parts are interchangable. I guess we will be a Chevy Sprint family for a long time. -Anonymous

 

I bought this car in 1990 after getting rid of my 1988 Ford Festiva which by the way is the biggest piece of JUNK ever made, I had that car only a few years and had the most problems with the engine and electricals that I've ever had with any car.  This Sprint has far outdone the Festiva, I know a neighbor of mine has a 1992 Festiva and it's only got about 88,000 miles and the engine sounds like a tractor or something and my little 3 cylinder with 174K just keeps on putting along with the 40mpg that I get even more on the highway.  Another thing you wouldn't believe is the ease this thing has on the interstate, you can go 75 or 80 and you can't even hear the little engine. This is by far the best little car I've ever owned.   -Anonymous

 

This is a great car on gas mileage, I bought it new and have always kept it up and never had any problemes out of it. I see that a lot of other people have really disliked these cars but mine has been the best since I bought it and Chevrolet has always been a great help to me when things go wrong, my sister has an 89' Metro that is the newer Sprint and she has had only the best luck with it so I'm very pleased with the little car!   -Anonymous